THREE WHITE DRESSES

There is a poem entitled Three White Dresses. It talks about a blessing dress (a.k.a. Christening Gown), a Baptism Dress, and a Wedding Dress. I remember this poem from when I was a Young Woman and the simplicity and purity that it spoke of. I aspired to these three white dresses.

Here are my Three White Dresses.

When I was going to BYU-Idaho, my major required us to take a Bridal Design course. We could create any formal gown for anyone. (Bridal and Formal are really the same thing, just different color scheme). I chose to make my own wedding dress. (I was not engaged at the time - which is good - because my real wedding plans happened so fast, it would not have been an easy time to design and create my dress during that engagement.)

This is my WEDDING DRESS

The design process began with a sketch and some inspiration.

My design inspirations were: the dresses of the Early Renaissance, Audrey Hepburn's Embassy Ball gown in My Fair Lady, and three dresses in The Princess Bride. (These remain two of my all-time favorite movies to this day.)

Audrey Hepburn: Embassy Ball gown from My Fair Lady, 1964




My Fair Lady: Embassy Ball gown in action.

Princess Bride




This is the movie trailer. All three dresses are in this trailer, if but for a short second. You just need to go see the whole movie...;)




(This dress is my favorite of the Princess Bride three. The video quality is not super - I suggest pulling out your copy - you SHOULD have one - :) This dress is in the wedding scene right before this scene AND in the final scene where she jumps out of the window onto the white horses.)

My fabrics were ivory silk crepe de chine and silk georgette. I did silk ribbon embroidery on the bodice and first head piece, and used french alencon lace and silk ribbon as hem and bodice detail.

This was the first headpiece I made, in the Bridal class. Juliet style.
The dress and the sleeves each had a train.

Actual wedding day - I had lost the Juliet headpiece (found it years later btw) and had someone make me a daisy chain head wreath which I loved much more for my wedding day.) The trains are edged in french alencon lace.

Closeup dress detail. The sleeve trains are tied at the elbow with silk ribbon.

Closeup bodice and sleeve detail. Silk ribbon embroidered flowers down center front bodice.



My Daughter's BLESSING DRESS

On her Blessing Day. (Laying on the quilt my grandmother had made for my wedding.)

The beautiful and sentimental thing about this Blessing Dress and underslip was that I made them from the scraps left over from my wedding dress. I learned the heirloom techniques in my Children's Clothing class at BYU-Idaho.

I added pink ribbons to the entredeux lace.

Bodice detail.

Sleeve detail.

Hem detail.

Skirt detail.



My Daughter's BAPTISM DRESS

On her Baptism Day.

Baptism Dress: white sparkle organdy, rayon lace trim, double skirt

Lined, with invisible zipper.

Sleeve detail.

Skirt detail.

Pleated skirt attached to waist for fullness.

Lace at waist seam.

Double skirts trimmed in lace.

Back: invisible zipper through waist seam.

Back: lace wraps around waist.

(I couldn't help myself - she also needed a Scripture Tote to match her Baptism Dress!)



I hope to end up making more versions of these white dresses - for my daughter's wedding someday, and my children's babies.

Do you have Three White Dresses?

Three White Dresses




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