The Ultimate Handme Down

Can you imagine being able to wear the exact gown that not only your mother wore, but your Grandmother before her along with your sisters and cousins.  Well this is the case for the Zgorski women, their Grandmother's gown has been worn by 7 family members spanning 3 generations. 

Such a beautiful story of family tradition.

read the full story here

My heart just swoons at the thought of having one of my christening gowns worn by so many family members and spanning over multiple generations.

Photo by: Joseph Victor Stefanchik/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The above photo has to be my most favorite photos from the Washington Post Article.  Notice the labels sew into the under skirt; it reminds me of a slip I did for a current project. 

The front of the christening slip has the baby's monogram and christening date embroidered on it.  While there is a tiny label hand sewn in the back that lists the great-grandmother's monogram and wedding date along with the maternal grandmother's monogram and wedding date. 

The actual christening gown was made from the wedding dresses of the maternal great grandmother and maternal grandmother.  It was a very moving project to be able to lovingly refashion two gowns into something that will be worn by all the new babies welcomed into the family ... Starting with baby Aubry.

 

Baby Carlie

I hope everyone had a fabulous Mothers Day!

For me, Mother's Day 2012 began on Friday morning when I went to drop off my latest project,

Baby Carlie's Christening outfit. 
It was made from the train of her Mother's wedding gown.

I love the fact that her Mom saved the picture of her wedding gown

that she tore out of the bridal magazine at the salon almost 15 years ago.

Carlie's has three older brothers ages; 12, 8 and 2.  Her mom has been waiting 14 years for this little princess to arrive.  She has told me that since the day she was married she dreamed about having a daughter
and having her wedding gown made into the christening gown. 

This was such a fun project to complete.

I really enjoyed removing the lace from the hem of her train and

 reworking it for Carlie's Christening Gown and Blanket.

Her Mother also requested that I make a Monogramed Christening Blanket.

Above are a few detail shots of her blanket

When Chris opened the box that contained Carlie's Christening Gown

her eyes filled with tears.

It was an amazing moment to watch her face light up and hear her reminisce about buying her wedding gown and talk about how she dreamed of having a daughter who would be able to wear a Christening gown made from her Wedding dress.

This Mother's day I was able to help make one mom's dream become a reality.

Life doesn't get much better than that :)

Interested in having a dress like this made for your little one ... email me at:

willowbeanstudio@gmail.com

Wedding Gown Conversion

Your big day has come and gone, and the dress that you dreamed about since you were a little girl sits quietly in a box stowed away out of site.  It could be tucked on a shelf in your closet, under the guest room bed or worse sitting in your musty basement ...

Wouldn't it be nice to give your special gown a second life so it may be used and treasured for generations to come.  I can happily accommodate most wedding gown conversion requests.  With over 8 years of experience in this area I know you will be thrilled with the one of a kind design I create for you. 

 Wedding Gown Conversion to An Anniversary Jacket

             The Maddison                                                     Convertable Christening

       Convertable Christening                                            The Fiona

If you like what you see and would like to learn more about my

wedding gown conversion services send an email to:

Willowbeanstudio@gmail.com

A Fairy Birthday Party

Back in October, my Little Bean turned 3!

I can't believe her 3rd birthday party was 6 months ago ....

She is becoming more and more of a

Big Girl

everyday

This thought makes me so sad

But, do you want to know what makes me happy?

These little wings!

I found them in the dollar section at my local Target Store.

I embellished them with a little green glitter fabric paint,

some ribbons,

crystals and the one big flower.

I think they are stinkin' cute

that I have them hanging on the wall

in her bedroom so I can see them everyday.

They make me HAPPY!

This little fairy party dress also makes me

HAPPY

I used the bodice portion of my Farilicious Pattern

to create the top of this dress.

Instead of smocking it with elastic thread like I did for

 Kim from 733's daughter's dress

I used sewed multiple rows of pintucks

and then ran a straight seam across them;

making the pintucks "kiss" on opposite rows

to create this smocked bodice.

Wanna learn more about smocking? 

Check out this post 

I have provided some links to a few great tutorials

Willow loved her

Big Tinker Belle Birthday Party Bash

and her special party dress.

Wanna know, what else makes me happy?

Knowing in just 6 months I get host another party

for my favorite little fairy.

I wonder what her party theme should be this year?

Any suggestions ...

Bean's Latest Request ...

Mommy will you make me a VOLCANO DRESS for Easter?

Those were the words uttered by my sweet 3 year old daughter.

My first thought was, Dear God!

What in the world could she possibly mean by that ...

So I started to spin those creative wheels in head

and this is what I came up with

I'm not sure if this can be classified as a Volcano Dress ...

as she was not engulfed in flames and ashes

But I guess you could say there was an

EXPLOSION OF TULLE

Oh please take note of the beautiful Silpada bracelet that the Easter Bunny brought Miss Willow,

cuz she lost it in under 3hours ... Aughhhhh!

Thank Goodness for the kind Waiter who humored me

and took a second look at where we were seated for Easter Brunch. 

Not sure when she will get to wear it again ...lol!!!

This is one of my favorite pics from the day.

She looks so thoughtful 

Brother and Sister

Nothing could be sweeter

If I only knew what secrets they were sharing.

Hope you had a Happy Easter!

Baby Fiona

A few weeks back I posted a sneak peak of my latest christening project. 

I recently received photos from Fiona's parents that were taken at the actually christening.

Oh they were so worth the wait!

If you live in the Philadelphia / South Jersey area please look up

Nicole Nurthen Photography

Such Amazing Photos

of such a special day for the family

Happiness is ...

What brings you happiness theses days?

A Sneak Peak

I know I have said it before, but I love what I do.

I get to take someone’s most precious garment ...

their wedding gown and turn it into a family heirloom.

Below are some “BEFORE PICS" I took from a recent project.

I loved the lace details on this gown

And ohhhh the green sash....

LOVE THE SPLASH OF COLOR!

Hope I have peeked your interest to see how this wedding gown

was transformed into a christening gown!

Check back later this week to see how it turn out.

From Pants to Shorts to a Skirt; an Upcycled Story

So I bought my husband a pair of khaki pants for Christmas

He proceeded to tear the leg like the 3rd time he wore them

Aughhhh...

I put them away in my "to fix"pile

Okay it took me 8 months but I finally got around to turning them into these

It took me ten minutes to cut the pants legs off below the tear

a quick hem and my hubby gained some new shorts.

I was all set to pack up my machine for the night

when I realized I still had the two legs that I had cut off.

The fabric was really nice and I hated to just throw it away.

After much thought I realized that they could become a skirt for the Bean!

First I ripped open the inseam of each cut off leg

I then cut the legs down the the length I wanted the skirt to be

plus 1 1/2" for the turn back at the waist.

I joined the two legs together

Folded the top back a 1/4" then 1 1/4 to create the casing for a 1" elastic waistband.

I made two patch pockets from the remaining scraps

A cute new skirt for free

Gotta love that!

One Stylin' Little Man

I just wanted to share pics from my latest project.

Typically I make all my Christening garments from the

mother's wedding gown for this one I purchased some silk dupioni.

I love this shade of white and how crisp the fabric was. 

I feel it added a level of formality to the romper.

 I don't know about you but I think there is something so

irresistible about baby clothes.  I'm just lovin' the little sleeves!

Six tiny pin tucks frame the hand embroidered cross. 

I used an opalescent thread to embroider the cross.

I am so happy with the results;

 it almost has the same nubbiness of the dupioni.

Add a little Jeff Cap

and this little man will be stylin' on his big day!