Vintage Wedding Dress Upcycle for Madelie

lace sleeves added to vintage wedding dress

Madalie came to me for a vintage wedding dress upcycle. She had her mother’s beautiful 1970’s wedding dress and she wanted to wear it, made anew, for her own wedding day.

The dress Madalie brought to our consultation meeting wasn’t the right size or style for her modern wedding day. We agreed to unpick and reuse the skirt section and the trim as a way to upcyle this vintage wedding dress. I designed and made her a new bodice in new, matching materials. I enclosed the preserved bodice pieces of her mothers dress inside the layers of her new bodice. So in a sense she was wearing the whole of her mother’s dress on her wedding day.

Design Details

Madalie’s dress redesigned had a lightly boned bodice made in duchess satin and chiffon. I cut it with a square neckline and straps. I gathered the chiffon into the underbust seam and a waist panel had an upward pointed seam feature. Madalie sourced beautiful embroidered tulle lace which I used to create a second neckline and delicate short sleeves. The lace neckline came up to a standing collar, almost like a bolero jacket. The lace was hand cut around each flower and finished with an uneven organic edge. There were longer fronds hanging down from the curling edges of the collar.

The back of the dress closed with a zip and I sewed lots of little cover buttons all down the back. A chiffon sash tied with a bow as a pretty detail.

Madalie’s vintage wedding dress upcycle used her mother’s original chiffon skirt, which had been cut in graduated tiers with a curled hem. I added a new layer of the delicate floral lace on top. I cut in petalled points each with sewn extra flowers to soften the edges. A tiny daisy trim was sewn along the bodice neckline and I added individual daisies on to the lace.

handsewn Daisy flower lace for custom wedding dress
vintage wedding dress alterations

Designing the vintage wedding dress upcycle

Madelie came to me with many ideas, which I love! A pinterest board, magazine pages or even a client’s own sketches are all very welcome as part of the design process. We already had the style and shape of her mother’s wedding dress skirt as part of our upcycle design. So we then looked at lots of different options for the bodice, neckline and sleeves.

The Final Design

Final dress design

To see another vintage wedding dress restyle visit Sophie’s wedding dress

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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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⁠When Iram saw the ⁠custom Asian fusion wedding trousers and top that I had made for a bridal shoot, she decided she had to have them for her own London wedding – and I don’t blame her! This outfit looks perfect on her.⁠ It's the ideal look for a chic, modern, summer wedding.

The ‘Evie’ separates comprise of a beautiful wedding top and trouser set with beaded waistband for a bride who is not afraid to make a statement. And Iram was definitely not afraid! She exudes chilled, modern bride energy in this cool and comfortable combo. 

If you love this custom Asian fusion wedding trousers, you can find the Evie bridal separates on my Etsy 💜

Photography @saidigitaluk
Since 1753, when the Marriage Act first came into existence, UK marriage law has come a long way. Some things have taken much longer than they should have (I'm looking at you, 1991 and 2013, 2023). But there's still more than can be done. The association of @independentcelebrants is campaigning for the UK government to follow the recommendations of the 2022 wedding law reform report.

"At least 10,000 wedding ceremonies a year in England and Wales are led by independent celebrants. These ceremonies are perfectly legal to hold, but as it stands a celebrant cannot perform a legally binding marriage – that part must be done separately, meaning added inconvenience and cost for couples."

I'm all about supporting couples to have the wedding day of their dream, and that rarely includes having to find time and money to go to the registry office.

If you want to help with this, then you can spread awareness! Share this post, or make your own. Talk about it with friends and family. And once you've done that, you can always get in touch with your local MP. The Independent Celebrants website has a PDF guide to help you with how to go about doing that.

Is this an issue you're aware of? Is there anything I've missed out?

#ChangeWeddingLaw #SpeakUpForCelebrants #LegaliseCelebrantWeddings
I created this Regency-inspired wedding dress for a Bridgerton themed wedding shoot. I used modern fabrics like tulle, beaded lace and shantung, but with period accurate details like the empire line waist, square neckline and boned stays (corset). ⁠
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I love to work with versality when it comes to my creations, so the dress was designed with multiple layers; the main dress has an embroidered tulle bodice and asymmetric beaded lace skirt. A lilac and pink dip-dyed tulle skirt can be added over the floral train of the main dress for some dreamy ombre magic. A lilac silk dupion 'spencer jacket' with hand appliqued beaded lace completes the ensemble. ⁠

 All these options make it possible to have lots of different looks throughout your wedding day. ⁠

Which Bridgerton character can you imagine wearing this outfit?

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#regencyweddingdress #bridgerton #historicalweddingdress #periodwedding #colouredweddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #surreydressmaker #londondressmaker #vintagebride #romanticbride #weddingveil #purpleweddingdress #bespokeweddingdress #fantasyballgown
Now and again I'll take one of the wedding dresses I've made, and break down some of the elements. So, if there's something you love about a dress, but you don't know the 'proper words' to reference them, hopefully this will help you out.⁠
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This beautiful 1950’s style wedding dress with delicate cream lace over golden-orange silk has lots of really scrummy details:⁠
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🧡 the opening at the back of the dress is called a keyhole (or you could call this a slit opening). This one is closed at the top with three covered buttons.⁠
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🧡 the base dress is made of a beautiful russet orange silk dupion, with dark ivory lace layered on top.⁠
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🧡 the base dress is essentially a halter neck, with a turn over collar at the front, with the ivory layer providing semi-sheer, full length sleeves.⁠
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🧡 the edges of the ivory layer are cut along the floral pattern of the lace, making a pretty scalloped edge.⁠
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🧡 this length of skirt is called 'ballet' or 'ballerina'.⁠
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🧡 the front of the dress has a line of false buttons (buttons that are just there for decoration), that match the buttons at the back.⁠
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Those are just some of the details of this dress. If you have any questions about anything else, just leave a comment. I could talk dress making all day!⁠
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in