From Wedding Dress to Heirloom Bear

My wedding dress had been hanging in the back of my wardrobe ever since the day after I got married. I don’t even remember sending it away to be cleaned but it still held the memories of what was one of the best days of my life. The day I married Shilts, my lover and best friend, the day I became Mrs Shilton and I gave my promise that I would be his wife from that day forward until death us do part.

My wedding dress was handmade by my Mom, a very talented and clever lady who has over the years made hundreds of brides dreams come true and I was no exception. I loved my wedding dress, it was made up of two parts; a full skirt and train made from ivory duchess satin and a bustier inspired top made from a gold swirl and ivory jacquard. My Mom had hand embroidered gold swirls on the train and used a organza ribbon to thread through the loops at the back of the top to pull it all together. It was a wonderful dress and I have many happy memories from wearing it.

I wanted to do something pretty special with my wedding dress so when I saw the work of Keepsakes From My Sewing Room I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it.

Keepsakes From My Sewing Room is run by Gemma, a very talented seamstress who turns treasured items of clothing into precious keepsakes. I’ve been following her page on Facebook for well over a year and have seen many amazing examples of her work; newborn baby grows have been turned into keepsake lions, precious outfits into cushions all embroidered with their unique details to turn them into one of a kind. I was in awe with the results so I knew this is exactly what I wanted to do with my wedding dress.

Gemma made the ordering process very easy, I told her what type of keepsake I wanted and chose to turn my wedding dress into a keepsake heirloom bear complete with embroidered paws detailing both mine and hubby’s names and our wedding date. I sent my payment and then sent her my dress (I was nervous but knew my dress was in safe hands) and upon receiving it, Gemma kept me informed throughout the whole process letting me know the progress of my order.

To say I was excited to receive my bear was an understatement. I was ridiculously excited to see what she had done with the dress and I couldn’t wait to see how she had used the fabric to form the bears head, arms, legs and body.

I am in love!

Isn’t he adorable!

I love how Gemma has used the bodice of my dress for the top of his head and his ears. He looks absolutely beautiful and I’m so pleased with him.

His embroidered paws are the perfect finishing touches to such a special keepsake.

The attention to detail that Gemma has given my heirloom bear is outstanding. She has taken such great care to preserve the details from my dress, one of his legs has the gold embroidered swirls that my Mom lovingly hand stitched onto the train of my dress and as requested, Gemma’s also kept the name tag my Mom had sewn into my dress.

My lovely heirloom bear is complete with jointed limbs and a beautiful bow around his neck which was once the ties that were threaded at the back of my dress.

I am thrilled with my heirloom bear. He is absolutely perfect and is a wonderful reminder of our fantastic wedding day. Thank you SO much Gemma, you have done a fantastic job. I’m so happy with him.

Please go check out Gemma’s gallery on her website, she is a very clever lady and will turn your precious clothing into a wonderful treasured keepsake that you can keep forever. You can find her on Facebook – Keepsakes From My Sewing Room and if you decide to order, let her know where you found out about her lovely keepsakes. You won’t be disappointed.