A wedding dress.

I was thinking about my wedding dress the other night, discussing with a friend the idea of making it into a keepsake quilt and we got on the subject of handmade dresses.

My mom and dad were married in New Hampshire, in either 1979 or 1980, I can't remember. They are no longer together and haven't been for about 23 years, so that is the reason I don't know their marriage year. Anyway, I've had my mom's handmade wedding dress for most of my life. I don't know why she let me have it or what I will do with it, but every time I come across it again I'm happy it's here and this time I want to share it with you.

My mom is really talented- pretty much anything she tries she excels at, especially if it is art/craft related. She made her own dress, down to the little button loops on the sleeves and back. 

The lace flowers and vines are painstakingly hand-sewn onto their sheer base and along the full hem of the dress.

I love the creamy buttery color of the fabric and the tone-on-tone flowers woven throughout. I used to put this on (I think the last time was when I was 12- I then grew out of it!) and I thought it was the dreamiest dress I'd ever seen. I still think so, partly because of nostalgia, but at this point I know the work that went into it and I'm ever so thankful to have grownup around this handiwork and to have been inspired to grow up and create my own handiwork someday. It's a dream within a dress.