From blah to ahhh

October 15, 2007 in Attendants,Bridesmaids,Bridesmaids Dresses,Dresses with 11 Comments

Raise your hand if you have a bridesmaid dress hanging in your closet? Raise both hands if you haven’t touched it in ages and probably won’t ever wear it again. I’m lucky…all of the dresses I’ve worn in other people’s weddings have seen a fair amount of use later on down the line. It’s a good thing, too, as I am not terribly crafty where clothing is concerned unless said craft involves jury rigging a one-time use garment.

Snore…

If you’re craftier than I am (God help you if you’re less crafty) and you happen to have a very basic bridesmaid dress hanging in the back of your closet, Bridesmaid Revisited, an article that first appeared in Martha Stewart’s Blueprint, aims to help you alter said frock so it’s once again worthy of its allotted closet real estate.

Here is the skirt portion of the dress above after Martha’s people got their crafty little hands on it:

Way more wearable

Check out the article for four more ways to spruce up an old bridesmaid dress with paints, lace, fringe, and other stuff you may or may not have lying about your domicile. Have any of you guys ever turned a blah dress into something worthy of oohs and ahhs? Show us your before and after pics…no sock monkeys, please.

About Christa Terry: Christa Terry is a writer and wedding and lifestyle expert whose book iDo: Planning Your Wedding with Nothing But ‘Net is a one-stop planning resource for modern, free-thinking brides and grooms. With one husband, one toddler, and more on the way – kids, not husbands – Christa somehow manages to stay on top of the tricks and trends that make getting married and living life stylish and fun.

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11 Responses to “From blah to ahhh”

  1. KateriBella October 15, 2007 at 7:28 pm #

    Unfortunately, the ‘after’ skirt made me think of a pretty cream tablecloth with a spring runner down the middle. The husband took one look over my shoulder and laughed himself all the way into the kitchen to check on supper.

  2. Molly October 16, 2007 at 10:09 am #

    Or you could (re)sell it on eBay because David’s Bridal in particular carries the same styles and color for a couple years at a time and many bridesmaids could use a cheap dress.

    It took me a couple weddings to get wise to buying my dress used, but now I know and I’m never going back!

  3. thepinkeminence October 16, 2007 at 8:20 pm #

    I must say, I’m a huge Martha fan, but those dress re-creations are hideous, nobody could seriously wear them. Somebody, somewhere may figure out how to recycle bridesmaid dresses, but it hasn’t been done yet.

  4. Carol October 17, 2007 at 8:15 am #

    Spending another $35-$100 to “re-do” a dress that you probably spend $200+ on to begin with? No thanks. Sell it on eBay and be done with it.

  5. Anusha October 17, 2007 at 11:35 am #

    I bought my BM dress used, on eBay, and it was the BEST thing! Instead of paying $200 for a periwinkle polyester dress I’ll never, ever wear again, I paid $20. I felt sort of bad for the other BMs, who had to spend so much money on a dress (the one I bought was the only one they had on eBay in that particular color). I did the basic alteration (shorten the hemline) on the dress, myself, with my mom’s help.

    If more BMs sold their dresses on eBay, I think it would be a Godsend for the budgets of soooooooooo many women. And most BM dresses are only worn once, so it’s not like you’ll be buying a garment that’s very used. It was the best thing, for me!

  6. Dianasaur October 17, 2007 at 12:09 pm #

    I work with middle school students at my church. I and a couple other ladies brought our BM dresses to the church and surprised the girls by fixing their hair and make-up and putting them in our dresses, then taking them out for dessert. They were so in awe and excited. It’s the best re-use I could have done for my dresses!

  7. Never teh Bride October 17, 2007 at 2:28 pm #

    Aw, that’s so sweet, Dianasaur!

  8. Toni October 18, 2007 at 8:59 am #

    I’m sure I’ve posted this before, (because I’m so proud of it) but I re-purposed my wedding dress to wear it again.

    The original: (sorry, I can’t figure out how to embed links)

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonibduguid/250735934/in/set-72157594297438420/

    The after: I had it hemmed to knee-length and I dyed it teal

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonibduguid/379449070/in/set-72157602216636517/

  9. Toni October 18, 2007 at 9:04 am #

    Oh! I also re-did one of my prom dresses from high school. (Please, don’t laugh too hard at the photos.)

    The before: (So young!)

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonibduguid/1455967040/in/set-72157601237653162/

    The after: I hemmed it to knee-length, and removed all the roses from the bodice. I then dyed it a dusty rose. I cut out a flower outline in various sizes from sticky-backed paper, and used that along with fabric spray paint to create the floral pattern. I then sewed a silk flower flat to the waist.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonibduguid/823009495/in/set-72157600843574347/

  10. Never teh Bride October 18, 2007 at 11:53 am #

    Wow, Toni! That’s absolutely fantastic! I envy your mad skillz.

  11. Blurgle October 22, 2007 at 9:12 pm #

    Yeah, the “after” above is incredibly, gut-churningly hideous. It looks like something you would have found in a Salvation Army thrift store in 1974.

    Martha’s insane.