If the Handmade Wedding Series has taught us anything, it is that Etsy is a boundless resource for creative wedding goods to buy and even commission. But if you're the type who likes to dabble (or dive!) in the DIY, look no further. Arwen O'Reilly, of CRAFT magazine, shares two tutorials in upcycled wedding wares:

I, too, am getting married this summer, along with what seems like the rest of the world. (The two weekends before my own wedding are booked with the weddings of friends!) And, like most of us, I’ve been incredibly frustrated by the wedding industrial complex and its attendant costs and discordant aesthetic (discordant with my own, that is). But I’ve been avidly reading the Handmade Wedding series, and was delighted when the Storque decided to publish two wedding-themed DIYs from volume 06 of CRAFT magazine.

Mary Beth Klatt’s pantyhose petals are a cute recreation of a vintage look, and a great reuse for laddered nylons (not to mention the perfect way to tell your grandma you are wearing stockings for your wedding). And the thought of Lauren Kroiz getting married in a dress she and her mother made out of her husband-to-be’s T-shirts makes me melt. (If you have other plans for your wedding dress, colored T-shirt dresses could look fantastic on bridesmaids, and who wouldn’t want to re-wear those?) With brides like these, I know we can reclaim the wedding so that “handmade” is the norm, not the exception.

In the 1950s, women had to wear hosiery to the office or risk being fired. Naturally, these ladies ended up with a lot of ripped and snagged pantyhose. Although some tossed these ruined pairs, the crafty ones cooked up beautiful ways to reuse them. Many women ended up dyeing and cutting them up to create flowers for wedding veils, corsages, and hats.
Today, those same flowers will set you back a small fortune when you can find them, but you can re-create them for a fraction of the price, and get a vintage look that would be appropriate on Elizabeth Taylor in Father of the Bride.

MATERIALS:

• Pair of pantyhose or sheer tights (Any color will work. My favorites are pink, light blue, gold, pale yellow, and fuchsia.)
• Floral tape
• Jewelry wire (I like a crimped silver wire for an authentic look, but here I used plain copper.)
• Wire cutters
• Stamens (You can find these in the wedding aisle at your local craft supply store. I bought white ones and dabbed them with nail polish to antique them.)
• Faux leaves (Also in the wedding aisle.)

 
For each petal:
1. Cut approximately 9" of wire — you can always shorten it later.

2. Frame your petal with wire. Bend the middle section of the wire into a petal shape (Figure A). A 2"-wide petal is a good place to start. When you get a loop size you like, twist the wire together at the base, forming the stem (Figure B).

3. Cut the pantyhose. Discard the girdle and feet, but save the legs. Snip the legs into 4"×4" squares (Figure C). Use larger squares for larger petals.

4. Add nylon to your petal frame. While holding the petal and nylon in your hand, gently tug the hose over the wire petal, joining the corners together and bunching all the raw edges at the base (Figure D). Gently bend the loop to shape your petal. The idea is to make the fabric as taut as possible at the petal’s outer edge, and fuller toward the center.

5. Secure your petal. When you’re happy with the way your petal looks, secure the base with 2"–3" of wire. To do this, position the middle of the wire strip at the petal base and wrap a few times. Line up the 2 wire ends that will make your stem (see Figure F). Carefully trim excess nylon, making sure not to cut too close to the wire. Wrap the base with floral tape to secure.

6. Create a trio of petals. Using the above instructions, make 2 more petals (you can make more petals if you desire a more intricate blossom, but too many can be difficult to manage).

7. Let your petals bloom. Take several stamens (I used 3) and insert them in the middle of your petal trio (Figure G). Use the tape to secure the group, taking care to cover any exposed wire or raw edges (Figure H). Add some faux leaves and fasten with tape (Figures I and J).

8. Wrap your stem. Beginning at the base, wrap stem with floral tape, covering any raw edges or wire (Figure E). Continue down the stem, molding the tape to the wire.

Mary Beth Klatt is a Chicago writer who frequently writes about fashion and design. In her spare time, she loves to sew, knit, and crochet (not all at the same time).


Until the late 19th century, brides generally bought the fanciest dress they could afford and then wore it throughout their marriage as an evening gown. With the rise of mass-produced clothing, white became the popular color — maximally impractical, it signified the owner would wear the dress only once. Efficient women often married in white and then dyed their dresses to wear again.

In the 21st century, there’s no need to choose between anti-consumerist values and looking cute in white on your wedding day. Learn how to make an adorable, versatile dress using white cotton T-shirts — comfortable, repurposed, and perfect for years of reuse.

MATERIALS:

• White T-shirts (several, depending on pattern and size)
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Fabric scissors
• Pins straight and/or safety
• Dress pattern (choose any you like)
• Notions, zipper, buttons, etc. as called for by your pattern
• Sewing machine knit needle (optional)

 
1. Create or select a pattern for your dress. If using a commercial pattern, pick one appropriate for jersey fabric. If creating your own pattern, remember T-shirt fabric is soft and has some stretch, so it will look best draped and loosely fitted.

2. Collect white T-shirts. The number of T-shirts you’ll need depends on many factors, including the condition of the shirts, the size of the person who gave them to you, the pattern you select, and how big you are! Our experience indicates you should allow at least 6 men’s medium-sized shirts for each yard of fabric required by your pattern. TIP: Showing people a picture of the finished project will help you collect T-shirts from those fearful of seeing you married in a pile of rags.

Wash the shirts in hot water and tumble dry to preshrink the fabric. Use bleach or another type of fabric whitener to help ensure that each shirt is the same shade of white. Iron each shirt so that you can easily distinguish stains and holes from wrinkles.

3. Check for stains and holes. Lay out your shirts in a clean and very, very well-lit space. A table set up outside or under natural light is vital, especially if you’re having an outdoor ceremony. Mark each stain and hole you find with straight or safety pins (Figure A). Turn each shirt over and examine the back. Mark these holes and stains separately. (Be sure that your pins go through only 1 layer of the shirt.) This is a good time to find a fastidious friend for a second set of eyes.

4. Deconstruct the shirts. Remove the sleeves and the collar of each shirt. Cut around the stains and holes you marked, salvaging the biggest pieces you can from each shirt (Figure B). Save the scraps to use as rags. Identify symmetrical pieces (Figure C); our dress improved when we created a V pattern in the skirt by lining up symmetrical sections of shirt. Begin cutting T-shirt sections to fit pattern pieces.

Note: Be careful to keep the sections oriented so that the grain line of the fabric runs vertically from the collar to the bottom hem of the shirt. You may arrange the pieces with the grain on the horizontal or vertical axis. Don’t place the sections so that the grain falls on a diagonal (this will make your dress hang differently), and avoid mixing sections with vertical and horizontal grain, which may create uneven stretching and bagging.

5. Examine the pattern. Depending on your modesty, you may want to use 2 layers of T-shirt. We used 2 in the bodice of the dress, and used a slip for the skirt. Identify the pattern pieces for which you’ll need multiple layers, and duplicate them in paper. If dress pattern pieces are small enough, you may want to use 1 big T-shirt section. Not only does this reduce the sewing for you, but it’s ideal in sections such as the bodice of your dress, where you want construction details, such as gathering, to be the focus.

TIP: Consider patchwork as a kind of decoration that adds visual volume to your
dress body. You can use it strategically when designing your own dress.

Fit the remaining T-shirt sections to the remaining larger pattern pieces. To save time, arrange your pieces so that the bottom hem of the dress is constructed from the bottom hems of the shirts (Figure E). Though it may be a bit tricky, it creates a polished look that can be otherwise difficult to achieve without a serger. If you can’t arrange your sections to utilize the existing hems, try using a fusible interfacing to stabilize the fabric, and practice several times before attempting to finish the hem of your dress. You may reconsider!

6. Sew the dress. Pin the sections to the pattern. Be sure to allow for at least ½" overlap if you’re piecing the sections together. Move to the sewing machine. When sewing the T-shirt sections together, both piecing and seaming, it’s important to avoid stretching the material or you’ll end up with uneven puckering. If you get skipped stitches or see holes in your fabric, try a new needle or a stretch needle.

Stitch together the sections that make up each pattern piece using white thread. Slightly overlap the sections about ¼" and use a small zigzag stitch along the edge of that overlap (Figure D). This will both attach the section and finish the edge, because the T-shirt fabric, unlike a woven fabric, is not likely to unravel.

Practice seaming with scrap T-shirt fabric. Knits are often easily torn apart at the seam, so it’s important to choose an appropriate stitch. We used 2 parallel straight seams to prevent the 2 pieces from tearing apart. You can also use a zigzag stitch, but be careful to reduce its length so it doesn’t sew through when the seam is stretched.

Your machine may also have a setting for a stretch stitch, used specifically for sewing knits, but be aware this seam will be very difficult to remove so you should baste-stitch the seam first.

Sew the sections together following the pattern instructions. Be sure to check the fit several times throughout construction as the T-shirt sections may have more or less stretch than you imagine!

7. Have a beautiful wedding. Afterward, store the dress to show your children, or follow women of a previous era and color your dress with any cotton dye to wear again and again.

Donna Kroiz is a Virginia-based seamstress. She eloped in jeans and a polyester shirt. It was the '70s. Her daughter, Lauren Kroiz is a Los Angeles-based crafter raised to believe that everyone has the right to enter into whatever union they want, wearing whatever they like. 

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