s/o of wedding dress thread: what to do with my mother's wedding dress?

[HIU8]

My mother's wedding dress is from 1968. She and my dad are divorced. The dress has been preserved and is in my house. I do not want it. My mom does not want it. I looked into wedding consignment shops in my area but dresses have to be no more than 2 yrs old in general (means I can't even consign my own dress for that matter). Should I just give the dress to goowill or salvation army? Any ideas of something to make out of the dress for DD (she is 2 1/2). I really wanted to do something with the dress that wasn't just giving it away--hoping it went to a place that could use it as a wedding dress in some way--I think I'm being unrealistic for a 42 yr old dress though.....

[hellokitty]

Would a historical society or museum be interested in it? They could use it for a display. Maybe a place that sells vintage clothes might be interested?

[klwa]

I know there are people out there who will take old clothing & make a Teddy Bear out of it. My SIL talked about getting DNiece one made out of some of Momma's clothes when Momma passed away. But, I have no idea how to go about finding someone who would do that....

[mommy111]

It would probably be perfect for a holiday dress for your DD. Or a summer dress and scarf. I would look up some sewing blogs and see what you can do with it.
There must be some places that take vintage dresses....they are so beautiful and the material is gorgeous....if we were close, we would be happy to take it off your hands, I'm always looking for unusual material for DD's dresses :)

[MamaMolly]

I like the idea of finding a seamstress to make DD a dress. It could be a dress up bride dress or a regular summer dress. Try asking at your dry cleaners or tailors. They would either be able to do it or know someone who could.

Simplicity probably has a teddy bear pattern if you want to make one of those. Cute idea! I was going to suggest making a hanky for DD's wedding day out of it, or a baptism dress or bonnet out of it for future DCs.

[kellyd]

You could gather up some favorite fabrics from your mom and dad and have a quilt made from it.

You could have a christening dress made (assuming that's religiously appropriate for you) and pass it to her for her child to wear.
(Probably enough material for this and a play dress for her)

Depending on how ornate the dress is, you could make a set of 6 or 12 holiday ornaments w/ the fabric (cover glass balls with the material) (again only if that's appropriate for you) and then give them to her for her tree when she is grown.

[gatorsmom]

Depending on how ornate the dress is, you could make a set of 6 or 12 holiday ornaments w/ the fabric (cover glass balls with the material) (again only if that's appropriate for you) and then give them to her for her tree when she is grown.

I think this is a great idea. My favorite wedding present was a box of beautiful ornate Christmas tree ornaments. I love hanging them every year.

If you aren't Christian, maybe there is a similar keepsake with the dress that you could make that she or her grandchildren would appreciate on Holidays?

I wanted to add that I've had some of my mom's skirts from the 60's altered to fit me and EVERY seamstress who works on them wants to know where I got them. They all say that you just can't find quality fabric like that nowadays.

[Kidrepair]

http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

I have heard that this organization will take wedding gowns and make them into sleeping gowns for babies that have passed away,it doesn 't show anything tht I can find about it but I've read on their site before that they have done this..

[infocrazy]

http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

I have heard that this organization will take wedding gowns and make them into sleeping gowns for babies that have passed away,it doesn 't show anything tht I can find about it but I've read on their site before that they have done this..

I will have to look into this. That is a great organization and maybe a good use for my wedding dress living in the closet.

[karenj2]

When we were helping my grandparents move from their house, we found her old wedding dress! It wasn't wearable - mice had gotten to one bit, and it had stains from being in the attic, but my mom took it anyway, got it drycleaned, then used the fabric for an accent fabric to quilts she made for each one of us (my siblings) when we got married. Each of us got a heart sewn somewhere on the quilt.

Another thing you could do is to have it dyed, and keep it as-is for a play dress for your daughter. We used to use my mom's fancy dresses when we played dress-up. (Her white coming out dress was our "wedding dress" until it started to fall apart, then my older sister used it as a halloween cosutme for as "bride of Frankenstein" and ruined it.)