Monday, July 16, 2012

Train Roots: To Sleeve or not to Sleeve?

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.