Joanna came to me 6 weeks before her wedding. She had heard
about Twice Blushed through National Cleaners, my preferred drycleaner, who
specializes in restorative cleaning.
Joanna walked through my door and said “I hope you can help
me”, and began to unwrap the dress bags telling me the significance of her gown’s
story. When I saw her dress I was stone
struck speechless. My thought was Grace
Kelly meets White Christmas or Singin’ in the Rain. It had the grace and glitz of
iconic 40’s and 50’s movie glam and so beautifully made. The story was as precious as the dress
itself. It was made for Joanna’s
maternal Grandmother in London in the 1950’s and was worn as the receiving gown
for the reception. A full floating
light weight skirt constructed of yards of Bias cut silk tulle attached to a
low square neck line sleeved top that was dripping with shimmering sequins.
Underneath was a separate boned strapless slip also made from the silk
tulle. The slip could have been worn as
a dress on its own, undoubtedly a perfect design. After her grandmother wed in the 1950’s the
dress was carefully packaged and saved for the first daughter, Joanna’s mother
who married Joanna’s father, in the early 80’s and also wore the stunning
dress. Way to go against the 80’s
sleeves and massive bum bows! The dress
was again saved for another daughter that would be Joanna. So fantastic to have a stunning treasure like
that in the attic! Sadly when Joanna got
her hands on the dress it had been passed about a few times as family’s
migrated and moved. She acquired it in a
black plastic garbage bag. Yeah, my eyes
nearly popped out of their sockets, thank goodness for great drycleaners.
The heartbreaker to Joanna’s story is that she lost her mom as
a child. To Joanna this dress embodies
her mother. She would have done anything to make sure she was wearing in on her
big day. Which brings me back to Joanna hoping I could help when she walked in,
“Is there any way you can make it fit?”
My favorite loaded question. 1st
off the tulle was so fragile I was honestly afraid to touch it, let alone work
on it. 2nd is my personal rule when reworking dresses, don’t destroy
the integrity of beautiful vintage. The
zipper had a three inch gap through the lowest rib section. As did the under slip. By looking at the stitching I could tell the
entire top was built by hand due to the intense beading and sequins and any work
that I would do, would also be by hand.
Of course, there is no additional fabric and no way would I be able to
find a fabric match in that short amount of time. The best option was to keep the integrity of
the dress and make it fit Joanna by removing the sleeves and converting them to
side seam insets. While explaining this
to Joanna, she said that the sleeves had been removed for her mom then
reattached after the wedding because they were too snug so she was fine with
that option. I did remind her that
turning them into insets means they can never go back on as sleeves they would
be permanently gone. She was determined
to wear the dress. The under slip had no
sleeves to spare so I had to create a panel to inset where the side hook
closures were.
Aside from the beauty and irreplaceable sentimental value of
the dress the work was quick. First I
removed the sleeves and opened the sides of the dress. At the fitting i double checked the seam gaps
so I could create the appropriate size inset, and then got to work.
When Joanna picked up the dress she was ecstatic, teary, relieved, and looked wonderful.
