TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

REPURPOSE YOUR DUDS

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2008

Malinda Barton wore a bright orange bridesmaid dress to her sister's wedding in November 2000.

The bridesmaids at Lynne Lloveras' July 1991 nuptials went down the aisle in shiny blue.

Both women decided later to turn those gowns green - by recycling them for Halloween.

Barton, of Zephyrhills, dressed a pumpkin man decoration as a pumpkin woman. Lloveras, who lives in Clearwater, and some of her pals used their dresses for ghoulish Guavaween costumes.

While most of us have bagged and tagged at least one old bridesmaid dress and shoved it into the back of a closet, more and more women are repurposing their frocks into pillows, patchwork quilts or other creative contrivances. Here are some other recycling ideas we found:

The Kindest Cut: Don't be afraid to take the scissors to your gown; you can reuse trim, beads, a cool collar or whole swatches of fabric. Watch designer Julia Barbee turn bad dresses into funky fashions at expertvillage

.com/videos/old-clothing-sculpting.htm.

Costumes, Of Course: Once a scary dress, always a scary dress, so why not just admit it and turn it into a Halloween costume or decoration like Barton and Lloveras did? Throw on a pair of Nikes, and you're "The Runaway Bride" (movie or real-life version). Douse yourself in a bucket of fake blood and you're Carrie. Add a sparkly wand and you're Glinda the Good Witch from "The Wizard of Oz."

Lay Your Head Upon My Shoulder Pad: If the bride sees you've taken the gown she so lovingly chose and turned it into a pillow, you'll have to fib a bit ("I loved the dress so much I wanted to sleep with it!"), but that silky dress fabric does make a luxuriously soft place to lay one's head. Get instructions for how to make a slipcover out of your bridesmaid dress at associatedcontent.com/article/151163/how_to_make_pillows_out_of_old

_bridesmaid.html.

Party On: We love this very fun idea from www.aisle

dash.com: Have guests at a bachelorette party wear bridesmaid dresses from their past, hop into a limo and hit the town!

Kim Folstad

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT