Up-cycled sewing

About a year ago my mother-in-law gave me her wedding dress from the 80's and told me, I could do whatever I wanted with it.  Loving fabrics and the thought of a new project, I gladly took the dress, wrapped it up and put it in my studio, where it sat - for a YEAR!  Unfortunately that's not the first time I've done that with fabric.  :)  When she gave me the dress, I thought I would just try to salvage the lace and silk for some unknown future project.  That's about as far as my plan went, until last month.  

September rolled around and I knew Carrie's birthday was quickly approaching.  I went to my studio and spotted the bag that held the dress, and I began dreaming of ideas.  I decided it would be nice to make two matching throw pillows for her bedroom using lace from several areas of the dress.  

To begin I measured the lace areas that were salvageable and then checked to see what size pillow forms would work with the materials available.  I decided the finished size would be 12"x12".  The interior of the dress was used to create the basic shell of the pillow cases.  I then layered and stitched the lace in an organic flowing pattern.  The lace detail came from the original veil, sleeves and front of the dress.   The whole project was completed using materials from the wedding dress and veil- no additional fabrics were needed!  I really enjoyed this project, and it was special, because of the family heritage associated with it.  Not only is it fun to up-cycle old things, but even more so, when they hold sentimental value.  

Up-Cycled Wedding Dress Throw Pillows

I received a call a few days after I mailed the package and she loved the pillow cases!  That phone call made my day.  :)

Have you ever up-cycled or sewn anything that was sentimental?