How to Upcycle Your Mother’s Wedding Dress for Your Big Day

Your wedding day is one of the most special days of your entire life, and to upcycle your mother’s wedding dress and wear it for the big day just makes everything even more special. If you are planning to wear your mom’s wedding dress to your own wedding, you will be pleased to discover that not only is it possible, but there are also so many different ways you can do it. In this post, we will discuss how to upcycle your mother’s wedding dress for your big day.

Do Plenty of Research First

So you know you want to preserve and honor the legacy of your mother’s wedding dress by upcycling it to wear for your big day. That’s the first step. The next thing you need to do is solidify an idea of what you want the dress to look like. Are you going to keep everything intact and wear her dress the same way she wore it on her wedding day? Or are you planning to alter it to preserve the vintage style, but add some modernity to it? If you aren’t sure yet, hop online and browse photos of what other women did with their upcycled wedding dresses. Explore Pinterest boards and read online articles about how others successfully upcycled vintage gowns. By browsing hundreds if not thousands of photos online, you can start to get a better idea of what wedding dress style you want.

Have a Vision

Having a great vision for anything means paying attention to the little details. Once you start to cement your idea for the upcycled wedding dress, make a list of things you know you want to be incorporated into the look. Will you be cutting the length? Are you only planning to cut key pieces of the vintage wedding dress and have them sewn onto a new wedding dress? Are you keeping the sleeves if there are sleeves? Is there a veil, and do you plan to wear the veil the same way your mother did or creatively incorporate it into the new wedding dress? If you are working with a professional tailor, go over all your prerequisites with them and brainstorm ideas if some things are still left up in the air.

Upcycling Idea #1: Give It Some Color

Like the idea of nixing the traditional all-white wedding dress look? You could add a pop of color to the vintage wedding dress by dyeing unique elements or adding colorful details with other fabrics. Going the route of dyeing parts of the wedding dress will also allow you to wear the dress for occasions after the wedding. This is something you should definitely have a bridal designer help you with since you will, after all, be working with a wedding dress and color dye.

Upcycling Idea #2: It’s All About the Details

There are many ways to enhance the details of a wedding dress. If you are working with a wedding dress that is very simple, elegant, and minimalist, you could add details with new fabrics for the sleeves, the hem, or the veil. Or, if you want to take pieces of your mother’s wedding dress and add them to a new dress, you can have them incorporated into any area of the dress. You could preserve much of the fabric of your mom’s wedding dress yet give it a totally different cut style by switching up some of the detail placement.

Keep Upcycling the Dress

If the idea of seeing your mom’s wedding dress (and after your big day, your wedding dress too!) not getting any use saddens you, then upcycle it again to be able to wear it for special occasions. Wouldn’t it be nice to honor both your mother and the dress by wearing the dress as often as you could instead of letting it collect dust somewhere in the corner of your closet? If you plan to change the length of the dress, this will require some cutting of the garment. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that yourself, take the dress to a professional tailor and work out your ideas for it with them. You may want to preserve key details, such as certain buttons, lace trim, or any other unique elements of the dress. If you do cut fabric and end up with extra pieces, see if you can incorporate it into the dress, add them to another dress, or donate them to someone who could use the materials. Whatever you do, it’s best not to waste or throw out anything that could be used.