Monday, August 22, 2011

Something Old, Something New...

 My daughter just got married this Summer in a beautiful, eco-frugal, vintage, DIY wedding. Whew. The wedding day was so much fun, but so was all the preparation.  One of the questions we had to answer was how do you come up with a bouquet that doesn't involve fresh or silk flowers, that can be made ahead of time and has personal meaning?  Our answer was to fashion fabric flowers from clothing that belonged to some of the Bride's Grandmothers.
  We took silk scarves, a fancy nightie, old brooches, feathers  and the jewlery that the Bride wore to prom with the Groom, and turned it into  a vintage chic bouquet.
Some of the flowers were made from a Grandmother's "fancy" nightie that was also worn in the Father of the Bride's "first" wedding!
The bouquet ended up being a really fun project that brought a lot of memories with it.  We learned a lot about making a bouquet.  One of the best tips I learned was to create individual picks for the jewelry and flower combos and then it was a lot easier to arrange the larger bouquet. We also learned that tea staining and coffee staining are cool eco- friendly tips to help blend newer materials with antiques.  Also, you can blow-dry feathers, and they stink when you do so, but not once they dry, thank goodness!


a sad little feather after a brief coffee soak, tea just didn't do it.

Post fluffing with a blow dryer
Much better and stink-free!!

11 comments:

  1. Wow, the bouquet is gorgeous. I am always amaze with the transformation of old items making them usable again. I love the way it turned out. I too have started with some dress refashion and I am loving it. Thanks for sharing.
    http://prelovedtrend.blogspot.com

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  2. just popping over from New Dress a Day. Love this idea!!!!! I do believe I'll be doing something like this when I get married. :) Thanks for sharing, for sure!!

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  3. Simply stunning! This is such a wonderful idea and I love the green, both eco and economical, aspects!

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  4. It turned out very nicely!! A lovely idea for repurposing other lovely things.

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  5. New Dress A Day reade here...thanks for the inspiration! It turned out beautifully!!

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  6. Thanks for all the lovely comments ladies! It was very scary to cut apart some of the items used, but it was worth it!

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  7. Another New Dress reader. LOVE this idea and the execution!!! Fantastic job! And what a great momento for years to come!

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  8. I wanna get married again just to do that!!! :D I mean, married again to my current husband of course :D :D

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  9. oh, one more thing, you should share this with OffBeatBride.com :)

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  10. Awesome! Saw this post via newdressaday.com. Great idea!!!

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