My mother taught me that you should always honor your word…whatever you said you would do, you should do it. The most memorable example of this was when I was in high school…a boy that I was friends with asked me to the prom…I said yes, figured it would be just a casual date. Then a boy I really liked asked me…and my mom reminded me that I couldn’t change my mind…I needed to do what I said I would do.
And so I’ve stood by my word…whether its been a simple request or a major commitment…though I’ve learned to stop and think before I give my answer. When a friend recently asked me if I would take on a major sewing project for her, I thought a minute…and said yes. Part of the reason for agreeing is that I was intrigued…she wanted me to take her 1980's wedding dress and remake it into a bridal robe for her daughter’s upcoming wedding…a robe that the daughter would wear while getting her hair and makeup done before the ceremony. I had never heard of this…but as I googled it, I discovered it was a “thing” that was news to me. A week later, the dress was delivered… in its hermetically sealed box…all 20lbs of satin, lace, beading and mesh…I went to work.
For me, this was the ultimate upcycling/recycling project…taking something old and making it into something new…something that once had one use and now giving it another…passing on a family heirloom from mother to daughter but in a way that honored the past while acknowledging the future…how could I say no.
The first challenge was in deconstructing the entire gown…after removing the taffeta petticoat and the mesh and beaded bodice, I spent quite a bit of time ripping apart all of the seams. Since most of the skirt and train of the dress were cut on the bias, I needed every inch of fabric to lay out the new pattern pieces.
The next challenge was finding a pattern…something loose and unfitted…I couldn’t really find what I wanted…and the bride to be is a tall, athletic woman so I wanted to have a robe that she would feel totally comfortable wearing. Amazingly the perfect pattern appeared…as an ad in my Instagram feed (you know, they track and know everything about you…the meta-verse…its foolish to think otherwise!) It was an ad from Seamworks…an online sewing community that encourages people to sew the clothes that fit their bodies, whatever size one is. I could download their Quince robe pattern for free…it was a kimono robe with a range of sizes from 0 - 26 ( I have never understood how one can be a size 0?!) I printed out the pattern…27 pages that I needed to trim and then tape together to have all the requisite pieces ready to lay out on the fabric and cut it out.
It was then that I started to think that maybe I had signed on for more than I could manage. But if I’m anything, I am persistent…I can do it…this “can-do” attitude of mine has seen me through worse scenarios than this…I persevered.
All the fabric pieces of the robe are cut out…I begin to sew…its all going great…until I get to the end of the pattern sewing instructions…because this is where I veered off course. I had to make a few adjustments…partly because I only had so much fabric that was in a usable shape…and partly because I wanted to incorporate more of the lace trim of the original dress into the design of the new robe.
I have to admit that I am a problem-solver to the nth degree…tell me something can’t be done and I will show you otherwise…its part of the process of collage construction that I love the most…how to make it all fit together…finding the key that unlocks the process…I guess this aptitude of problem-solving spills over into other aspects of my life.
At this point, there is no way that a pile of satin and lace is going to get the better of me…I begin to sew, figuring out, not only my design alterations, but how to make it work while upholding the standards of tailoring that my mom taught me - that the inside of the garment should look as finished as the outside of the garment.
As I tackle each step and its challenges, I begin to see progress…figuring out how to finish the seams so they don’t fray out, keeping clear which side is the right side of the fabric and not sewing anything with the wrong sides together and trying against all odds to iron out all of the wrinkles…when something is packed away for 30+ years, there’s a lot of wrinkles!
At last, it is finished…I’m not posting pictures of the robe here because the wedding has yet to occur and the bride should be the first to see the completed robe. Even though I pride myself on being a seamstress’s daughter (did I inherit some of those sewing genes…I like to think so), its not perfect…satin and lace are not my wheelhouse but I think I will make the mother of the bride happy…and that’s perfect for me.
