Special Order Purses | Purses from Vintage Wedding Dresses | Vintage Wedding Dresses Revisited

Special Order Purses

Peruse these galleries to see special order purses that were designed by the customers

Caitlin & Karl

Caitlin and Karl were married in the Autumn and Caitlin wanted a purse that would reflect the season. A leaf pin was the perfect addition and can be removed. The map themed lining was added to reflect how the bride and groom met as geography majors in college. We also added a pocket perfect for a driver’s license and/or credit card.

Caitlin’s Mom made her own dress for the wedding and wanted her purse to match her dress. We were able to use the left over fabric to create her purse. Because she wanted a purse that was very neutral, we used the black for the outside and the green for the lining. We added a wristlet strap for easy carrying and a cute charm to reflect the geography theme.

Purses from Vintage Wedding Dresses

These galleries contain purses designed by customers using their vintage wedding dresses

Fawn & Marissa

Fawn and Marissa took Mom’s dress from the 1980s and designed 3 purses, 3 pocket squares, a garter and three flower pins/hair clips

The applique motifs were removed from the dress and then reapplied to the purses

As was typical of the dresses from the 1980s, this dress did not have any lace but rather embroidered appliques

Beautiful roses used for pins/hair clips

The backs with a small motif

Karen

Karen brought me this dress and bridesmaid dress from 1982 to create a purse for her daughter Rebecca’s wedding. Rebecca wanted an envelope style clutch purse that incorporated the bridesmaid dress. She chose the size and requested a wristlet strap, a zippered top and pockets on the inside.

Flap

The blue flap fabric came from the bridesmaid’s dress

The inside featured card pockets, a wristlet strap that can be tucked inside and a zippered closure

This dress featured embroidered motifs applied strategically over the completed dress that had to be removed and reapplied to the purse

Rosemary circa 1948

Worn by Rosemary in 1948, this dress became 30 heirloom keepsake purses and pocket squares for her children and grandchildren.

Fabric

Silk charmeuse with lace overlay

This lace was very delicate and was handled with great care

Pins

Rose pins with buttons from the dress as centers were created to honor Rosemary . Pins can be removed.

Labels

Labels created to personalize the purses for the new brides

Linings

Lining colors selected to personalize the clutches for the new brides

Purse Frames

Modern style frames in burnished gold were chosen to compliment the cream color of the original dress.

Sisters in 1945

Worn for the first time in 1945, this iconic style dress was subsequently worn by two more sisters. The daughter of the original bride wanted two keepsake purses from the dress and then the dress was passed on to other family members.

Fabric

A beautiful satin brocade with netting overlay

The bow pins were created to mimic the bow on the original dress and can be removed

Frame style and color

The classic style silver purse frame was chosen to compliment the style and color of the dress

Straps

Straps made from the dress fabric in a short style can be removed

Special Additions

A pocket was added to accommodate a pearl from the original bride

Label

The original bride's photo was scanned and added to the lining

Fee

Fee’s mom had this dress made for her wedding in Italy in 1959. Soon after, she brought the dress with her when she emigrated to the US. Fee then had the dress totally and wore it for her own wedding. The 60 year old dress was fragile so we used the more sturdy parts of it to make a purse for Fee’s daughter for her wedding.

Lace

Beautiful lack with sequins and pearls

Lace

So much beautiful but extremely fragile lace to work with.

Strap

She wanted a wrist length strap made from the dress fabric

Strap

The strap tucks into the purse when not needed

Sharon

Sharon wore this dress in the 1980s and she and her daughter designed this purse for her daughter’s wedding.

Pearl pin

The dress featured a lovely pearl feature that we were able to turn into a pin

Appliques

Lovely appliques loaded with pearls created a beautiful overlay

Appliques and pearls

No actual lace on this dress but the appliques were combined to create a lace look

Label

We were able to incorporate a label written in mom’s handwriting

Vintage Wedding Dresses Revisited

Scroll to see some amazing vintage wedding dress makeovers!

Jewelry Rolls

Bridget’s dress from 1952 came to me via her daughter Julianne who designed these jewelry rolls for Bridget’s daughters and granddaughters

Satin and pearls

Lovely cream satin with beautiful pearl trim

A label with a lovely sentiment will always remind the recipient of their loved one

A shamrock charm to remember Bridget’s Irish heritage

The only decoration on this dress, the beautiful bead work around the neckline, was carefully removed from the dress and applied to the rolls

Arielle

Arielle’s Wedding (part 1) Grandmother’s dress from 1947

We were able to keep the back buttons intact on the back and the sleeves

Arielle wanted to wear her Grandmother’s dress for an event during her wedding week so she designed an updated version. First we soaked the original dress to remove the discoloration. Removing the skirt made the top a bit too short so we added a peplum made from the satin and lace from the original skirt. Finally we created a pencil skirt from the original skirt fabric. We were able to keep the original buttons down the back and on the sleeves. The lace was very fragile so we spent many hours repairing the lace so that it was stable enough to wear without tearing.

Arielle’s Wedding (part 2): Aunt’s Wedding Dress from 1975

Aunt Linda’s dress had lovely lace motifs and trim that worked beautifully for this camisole and tap pants.

Arielle’s Wedding (part 3-A): Mom Amy’s Wedding Dress from 1981

The overlay on this dress was removed to create a modernized version that Arielle was able to wear to her wedding reception!

Arielle’s Wedding (part 3-B): Mom Amy’s Wedding Dress from 1981

The overlay on Amy’s dress had a unique and beautiful back for which Amy and Arielle envisioned a robe. Because there was a train, we were able to use the length of the back to make a full length robe. We were then able to use the trim from the original bottom of the overlay front and the sleeves to trim the front of the robe. There was a bit of the original sleeves that we were able to create short sleeves. We then took individual motifs from various parts of the unused overlay to hand applique a bit of trim on the sleeves.

Flowers

Flowers created from the long lace sleeves to be used in the 3 granddaughter’s wedding bouquets! The covered buttons that were at the bottom of the sleeves were used to create the center of the flowers.