Just last night I was noodling around on the 'holiday' part of the forum. I saw a great post on what to do with a wedding dress. It's titled 'Either your'e creative or losing it". I made a small post to bump it up to the top. It would work for me....I left a tree up for three years! My mother made my dress for my first wedding. I still remember the hours she spent covering buttons with satin, and making button loops of satin, and these went down the back and on the sleeves. My dad stepped on the train at the altar, and almost ripped it off when I stepped forward to take my husband to be's hand. The best man took the rings out of his pocket and realized they were stuck one inside the other. He stood there and fiddled with them, and when they popped apart, he dropped one. Instead of looking for it, he just kind of knelt down and felt around, hoping he would find it. Someone in a front pew had seen it roll under the train, got up, and got it for him. About ten years later a close friend mentioned her daughter had a part in the high school play 'Fiddler on the Roof', and she needed to find a wedding dress for her. I loaned it to her, it fit like a dream, got filthy, they had it cleaned, and I stuck it in a box in the closet. I was cleaning out the closet one day, opened the box, and saw that mice had chewed into the box and pooped all over it. Man, that storage problem was solved in a New York minute! Besides, I was onto number 2 anyway.... My mother wanted her sister's wedding dress after she passed away. It was beautiful ivory silk. She gave the dress to another aunt, and she made beautiful angels for all the nieces and nephews for Christmas. It was a wonderful way to honor the dress, and to share a nice family memory in a fairly small space. I think the Christmas tree skirt is a pretty nifty idea too if one doesn't want to keep the dress intact. Barbara Barbara

kathi, I know what you mean.. I used all the wedding dress, except I did have to made a new bodic...and then I added the wedding dress cap sleeves and took the ruffel from the wedding dress and added to the front of the dress.. This little grand daughter is a little on the plump side and my neice was about a size 2... the dress back was longer than the front so I did have to do some fancy foot work there to make it work.. I also was able to use the netting from the dress for her vail..then I just added some ribbons and little tiny rose buds to the waist band which was a new piece and a large bow in the back.. I also added some rose buds to each stremer of ribbon down the front of the dress. It sure did save her mother a ton on money.. as the rest of the girls dresses cost almost $100.00 or more and our cost aprox.. $6.00.. I was lucky the wedding dress was not realy fancy and I was able to wash the dress... believe it or not.. before I started.. which worked out great.. I am all for recycle when ever I can.. Thanks for looking Huggybear

So good of you to visit your MIL. Funny story how you ended up with a different dog than you had in mind. Goldens are known for their gentle nature & Shepards are very intelligent, so I'd say you got a great mix : ) Today, I tried making tailor tacks as they're called in one of my books (with red thread). I took pictures of part of the pattern (the back) so you can see all the dart lines. They are curved in some parts and I don't know how to transfer the lines for sewing. The front pattern piece looks similar. On the front fabric piece, I have already cut (slashed) along the solid line to the square. Step 2 says staystitch front edges 1/8" from solid lines, ending opposite squares. I'm skipping that part for this practice dress. Next, it says to fold front right sides together, matching circles, then Stitch. I'm going to hand baste this dress first..to see how it fits. If you look carefully, you can see where the dart starts out wide (1-1/4") near the armhole narrows to 5/8" fairly quickly, then widens near the waist to 3/4", then narrows all the way to the point. I'm thinking of basting this dart as best I can without lines drawn on the fabric to guide me. When I get to the waist, I will not increase the width, just keep with 5/8" or a little less. What do you think? I have not done anything more on the skirt, yet. I'll keep you posted this weekend. My absolute favorite tv show is on tonight at 9 in our area, Channel 10. It's a British sitcom with Judi Dench called As Time Goes By..either of you watch this? If not, give it a look. Size 18 Vogue Dress You can see the white paper where I raised the neckline

I agree. I don't see how you could be overdressed. In fact, you may want to have a shawl to have over your shoulders. I think it's a great dress and if you can pull it off, wear it and enjoy the wedding. If others aren't dressed as nicely, that won't reflect on you.