{a beautiful little blessing dress}

Alrighty ladies and gents! Here is the moment you have all been waiting for. (Okay, not really... but I have been really excited for this post for a long while. It's taken me a long time to put it together just the way I want. So thanks for your patience. I am really happy with the way the dress turned out!

So here is the story:

It was the end of the month, and because I am a Visiting Teaching supervisor, I was texting all of my girls to get their reports. I was about to text one of the girls from my list, Lauren, when I remembered that she was supposed to have had her baby around that time. So I jumped on the internet and after a few clicks I was blog-stalking away. On her blog I found this post where she asked if anyone knew someone who would be willing to make a blessing dress for little Bridget out of her wedding dress! As I read her post, I was like "Me! I could do that!" So I texted her and offered her my services. Within just a few short days I was at my house, with Laurens wedding dress and just an idea of what Lauren was looking for.

The front of the dress.

It's actually pretty cool. When I was getting married, a lady in my home ward told me that she had made her daughters blessing dress out of her wedding dress. Ever since then I had kind of toyed with the idea of maybe someday cutting up my wedding dress to make an heirloom for my daughter. Maybe even using pieces of my dress to make all of my daughters blessing dresses. My thinking is that my daughters are not going to want to wear my dress when they get married, so all it will do is sit in a box or bag forever until someone finally decides to get rid of it. So, instead... you could take a piece of the dress and give it to each daughter to treasure forever. I love the idea, but am not sure that I would actually be able to commit to it. This was a great way to practice cutting up a wedding dress and turning it into a blessing dress without actually having to commit to clipping up my own dress! (Sounds terrible, I know. But I was really excited.)

Lauren and I had just briefly discussed what she was looking for, so I went on a quest to figure out exactly how I was going to make the idea a reality. My sweet sister-in-law, Amy, helped me scour the Quilted Bear for an example (Lauren had seen one that she liked there), and when we finally found it... she helped talk me through exactly what I would have to do to make a blessing dress like that. Then I went to the fabric store and bought a blessing dress pattern that looked simple enough that I could modify it without much problem.

Before too long I had measured out exactly where I was going to cut on the wedding dress and was ready to get snipping! David was sitting on the couch doing some homework, and I was sitting on the floor trying to prep myself for what I was about to do. (I was really nervous!) Our conversation went something like this:

Shantel: Hey David, I am about ready to cut into the dress.
David: Yep.
Shantel: No really, I'm going to cut it up. A wedding dress.
David: I know, we have talked about this for a couple of weeks now.
Shantel: I mean it! These scissors in my hands. They are going to cut into this dress, which is a wedding dress. After I start, there is no going back. I will have ruined this beautiful dress that someone actually wore on their wedding day.
David: *gets up from the couch, comes over to where I am sitting* Are you nervous? Because I know that you are going to do a great job.
Shantel: I'm a little nervous. *Starts cutting the dress along the designated line*
David: *Goes back to the couch and continues working on his incredible interesting accounting homework.*

I guess I just needed some moral support to actually start cutting the dress. As soon as I made the first cut I was fine.  

(David was so incredibly supportive of me throughout the entire process. I am so grateful for him and the fact that he never let me forget that he knew I was capable of success.)

Here are some more pictures of the dress before I so cruelly took shears to it!

The back of the dress. Isn't it gorgeous?

A close-up


After the cutting was completed, the really intense part started! I cut everything out and started piecing it together. (Cutting out is my very LEAST favorite part of the entire sewing process.) It was fairly slow going, but bit by bit it all came together! (A special thanks to Amy and my mother-in-law Sue, who helped me figure out how to put the beads on each bunch, and how to do the lining.) After an epic battle with an invisible zipper and a midnight run to Wal-mart to get pinking shears... the dress was finally completed. I am so happy with the way it turned out!


And now... for the final reveal.... 

Here she is!

 I realize that many of you may be astounded by the number of pictures that I am going to now post of this little dress. I just hope that you understand that when you spend so much time, effort, and love on something... it creates its own little space in your life. Besides, these pictures are all I have of this little dress now... so just bear with me.

A little closer, so you can see the detail. The three little beads around the neckline turned out really cute, but were actually very necessary. There was a little pucker right at the front of the neck, and the beads did an excellent job at disguising that little piece of, ahem, character.

 The front again, with a little bit of fence added in.

This picture is simply so I can pretend that I am a super-cool blogger that can take crazy angle shots of the subject and get away with it.

The back. Please, please, please be impressed with the invisible zipper.
Please, please, please don't judge me because the ribbon in the back doesn't match up.

 Here is the blessing dress by the wedding dress. The dress had a super long train, so I just used the fabric from the train to make the dress. That way, if Lauren decides she wants to preserve her dress after all, it is still mostly intact.

Closer up of the two dresses.
(And of the almond bark in the background. I had just finished making the most delicious Oreo Truffles. Trust me, they are divine.)

See how proud I am? I love the way it turned out!

And now for those of you who would like to see little Bridget in the dress:

(I stole these from Lauren's blog, but don't worry... I got permission to post pictures of her baby on my blog. Head over there to see more pictures... I only pulled off a few.)

Doesn't she look adorable? I was really worried about the dress being WAY too big for her. However, I think it turned out pretty good. It's a tiny bit big, but not too terrible.

This was such a great experience. I'm grateful that Lauren trusted me enough to give me her wedding dress with just the promise that I would do my best! (I felt like I should give her a resume of past sewing projects that I had completed successfully.) Lauren is gorgeous, and her little baby is incredibly beautiful.

Many people have asked me whether this experience has made me more or less likely to make a blessing dress of my own out of my wedding dress, and my honest answer is: I don't know. I still love the idea, and am definitely more likely to make the blessing dress than to buy one. However, I am still a little shy of committing to the idea. I loved the way it turned out for Lauren and Bridget. We will just have to see if it happens for me!

Thanks to everyone who helped me and encouraged me through this. It doesn't seem like a huge deal, but it really was a big deal to me. I hope you have enjoyed looking at the pictures of the final product!