Weddingbee Blog

I knew that I would be ready to help my friend Miss J with any sewing help for her wedding this summer. I had just been laid off, and although I was job searching and starting to think about my own wedding planning, I had quite a bit of free time on my hands (no pun intended!).

Miss J had two projects that she asked me to do. The first was to make a little lace bolero jacket to wear over her wedding dress. The inspiration:

A cute black lace jacket that she wore to a friend’s wedding last summer. I set out to create a similar feeling jacket, but bridal style.

The second project was initially to make a detachable train from material taken from her mother’s wedding gown from the late 1960’s.

Miss J’s mother had cancer and passed away a number of years ago, and she really wanted to incorporate her mother’s dress into her own bridal attire. Her mother’s gown had a beautiful, long detachable train, but it had been badly stained. Dozens upon dozens of dark rust colored spots covered the entire thing - the spots were from the glue that was used to attach sequins or beads, which had since fallen off, and the acid in the glue turned a very dark color with age.

Miss J described all of this to me, but told me that most parts of the actual dress were not damaged and could be used to make a “new” train. When I went to her house to see the dress and train, I was so taken with the beauty of the original train, which was all white and new looking except for the dark spots. In comparison, the wedding gown did not have spots, but had yellowed very badly. When I took a closer look at the rusty spots on the train, I was surprised to see that the spots were in a clear decorative pattern, mimicking whatever sequins were on top of it originally.

I decided that it would be possible to embroider over the spots on the train, restoring it to its natural beauty. I knew this would all have to be done by hand, but I had the time and really wanted to help Miss J. She teared up when she realized that she would be able to wear the same train as her mother. Seeing how much it meant to her was all I needed to get started.

I should have taken more before pictures, but I was so excited about the project that I jumped right in. Here you can see the rusty spot - the others on this part of the applique had already been embroidered over with white silk thread, then beaded on top.

These spots were on each flower on the three center appliques, and all along the edges of both sides of the train.

The whole restoration process took about 60 hours. It was totally worth it; the train looked brand new and Miss J was overjoyed. She waited until the night before the wedding to tell her dad that she was able to use this part of her mother’s dress.

And now, the lovely bride models the results on the morning of her wedding!

A closer shot of the jacket, while Miss J makes an adjustment:

Here’s a shot of the whole ensemble. The train looked brand new!

A closer look at the train and the back of the jacket- notice the adorable organza bow at the top of the train! I love the details on dresses from this era.

I wasn’t the only friend who helped with the restoration. Our friend Amy added lace from the wedding gown to Miss J’s mother’s original veil. She did a great job!

All images in this post taken by yours truly.

I am so pleased with how the jacket and train restoration turned out. Maybe Miss J’s future daughters will be able to use it as well!

Have you incorporated family wedding gowns into your bridal attire?