Well, this is a new one for me. Dear husband's co-worker asked me if I would turn her gorgeous, expensive wedding gown into a Christmas tree skirt. I'm always up for a challenge, so I said, "Sure, how hard can it be?" Gulp..... Very seldom does anyone in my family turn down a request...and the joke in our family is that someone always says, "How hard can it be?" Followed by a fit of giggles as we rattle off the disasters we've overcome as we tried our hand at various ventures.....most of which took 3 times as long as they should have, had we known how to do them correctly in the first place.
But, I digress. Did I mention that the wedding gown was
really expensive? And so, the gown and accompanying veil sat.....and sat......and sat.....for 2 months draped over my dining room chair. I know, I know. I was procrastinating because I was really unsure of just where to begin.
Finally last week I opened both bags and stared down my nemesis....um, I mean my newest project.
Breath, Debbie, breath.
Isn't it gorgeous? I can just picture Natalie in it, walking down the aisle with her new husband. Ok, enough daydreaming. It's time to get down to business.
And so, the moment of reckoning had come. Where and what to cut first? Just the thought of taking a scissors to the gown made my palms sweat. But I had to start somewhere, right?
The gown was so full and hard to work with so I decided to remove the crinoline from inside first. Ok, keep breathing....so far, so good. That was easy.
Cute! It even stands up on it's own!
Onto the bodice. The only way to remove the boning and stays was to use a trusty razor blade on the tiny stitches holding them to the gown.
That's a lot of stays! At least now the gown is more flexible and easier to work with.
I was starting to feel more confident by now as I gently removed the handstitching that held the delicate laces to the bodice. Natalie's favorite part of the gown was the back with all the beautiful lacework and the long row of satin covered buttons, so I wanted to do everything I could to keep that intact. Because of that I only removed the lace up to within 1" of the back zipper and the buttons.
As I was feeling pretty convinced I now had a good plan of attack, I plowed forward and made a design decision about the length I needed to cut off the gown in order to start forming the proper width for the tree skirt. I did a bunch of research on the internet about the width of tree skirts and different tree stands. Remember, this gown has to fit over a tree stand. And Natalie told me when I asked her what size tree they usually purchase that she likes to get at least a 9 footer! So, that meant the tree skirt had to be pretty wide or it would look skimpy under the tree.
To be continued....
Debbie
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