KB's Wedding Dress

My newest sister-in-law is KB.

She and Uncle Brad got married in March and from beginning to end, and after the end, her wedding dress gave her trouble. There was finding the perfect one, then arranging the perfect fit, then a cleaning that led to another cleaning...then the wedding, then another cleaning, that actually never happened (warning to brides: when a "cleaners" cleans or preserves your dress - CHECK IT because it's possible it's not cleaned...)

So KB's mom tried to consign the dress, and the consignment shop wouldn't accept it due to the filth, so she let me cut it up and make some things out of it.

I cut the side out first to save the brooch. Then I cut squares out of the rest of the skirt and nipped and tucked "flowers" into each square. Then I took the lining and cut sashing out of that to connect the flower squares to the center square.

Then I took more of the lining to do two more rounds around the top, one with pleats and one smooth.

Then I found a large sheet of ice blue raw silk lining in my scrap stash to use for the backing. It will be REALLY smooth.

I was originally going to go with high loft batting so the quilt would be thick, but then changed my mind and went with organic bamboo (I thought KB would dig that).

I layered the blue raw silk, the bamboo batting and the quilt top and stitch along all the edges.

Since this dress has been so much trouble, here's what I was going for in cutting it up and changing it around:

1. Comfort - that this lap quilt would provide KB with a sense of soft, smooth comfiness, at the end of the day, middle of the day or at its beginning.

2. Bliss - that KB would have a sense of bliss - like the kind after a great hard soccer game, a long hot shower, and then a moment under a lightweight, super-smooth, comfy blanket to watch movies with an old friend...or a football game with a funny husband...or skype from Asia with her parents.

3. Wonder - that KB would maintain a sense of wonder that something used...or worn...or experienced once, can change and change and change again. Just like marriage.

Here it is:

I saved the zipper in the back to make a bag:

And save the top and some of the tulle under the skirt to make the most ridiculous apron ever:

(courtesy shot with a shaved Sugar in the foreground...in case she was missing her own Harper).

Love you KB! We'll turn around any dress with bad juju that you have!