Train Roots: 70’s polyester to country whimsical chic

Who would have thought that a polyester dress from the 70’s would have reusable materials?

Andrea came to me and said “I have no creative ability, here is a
picture of a dress I love, (Simple, strapless, sweetheart bodice with
a full skirt made with layers of different stripped fabrics gathered
and pleated in variations creating a whimsical playful dress) and this
is my mom’s wedding dress.” The next question is always the same; can
you do anything with it? Her mom’s dress was tiny. The bodice had
beaded lace that was glued on so that was a negative. The skirt had a
great deal of lace trim and a double ruffle of chiffon along the hem which had potential.

Fabric combinations started darting about in my head and I pulled out my bins

of fabric scraps and parts. Andrea, her mother and I began to select textured

fabrics, and trims that would blend with her mother’s dress creating the textured

strips that would become Andrea’s skirt. The bodice would definitely be made from new materials.

A design of this nature is a lot of fun as it allows the designer to
be completely creative throughout the construction. It’s the fabric
form of painting. You create a rough outline of the strips details
based on the amounts of fabric, pleats and treatment to the strips and
number of desired strips. You have the freedom to change the lay-out
as you go if you are sparked with a fresh idea. From start to finish
Andrea’s patched skirt took 35 hours, almost a full work week. The
best part of Andrea’s creation is that her dress is the only one. Of
course the design could be replicated but the layers of fabric would
never be exactly the same.

On the flip side, the scary part about designing a dress like this is
that you get one chance and hope that the bride was able to visualize
as you had described and loves the end result when they see it. It’s
not easy to work a dress like this in segments to allow the bride or
client to see it while it’s in process. They often are confused
because they cannot visualize the end result or get worried when they
see their dress in pieces.

When Andrea came to pick up her dress it was a perfect fit. Exactly
what she had imagined, elegant, playful, sentimental and one of a
kind.