Something old, new, borrowed and blue 

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue

By Georgia Woodcraft

This is a wedding dress made in the style of dresses from the 1760s, inspired by the fragment of the wedding dress from 1765. My intention is to encourage people to care about their clothing, as if we consider our clothes valuable because they cost a lot, or they mean a lot to us, we look after them. That is why this dress is made from my mother’s wedding dress. 

The wedding dress from 1765 has a note attached written by a relative of the person who donated the scrap, describing how the dress was worn. I love how this bodice was so important to the owner, that it was saved. I chose to create a wedding dress that could have been worn in 1765 and represents the idea of valuing the clothes we wear.  

To create this sense of value I chose to use the fabric from my own mother’s wedding dress. I then embroidered onto the skirt of my dress the words of my own note talking about my mother’s wedding right here in Salisbury. The embroidery reads “This fabric is from the dress worn by my mother Elizabeth on her wedding day, which took place on the 20th June 1998. She was marrying my father Simeon. The duchess satin used to make the dress was bought from Fabric Land for £12.99 per metre.” I want people to understand the joy in mending and remaking clothes, how carrying the stories of garments with you stops you from throwing things away as they become more than just fabric.

The title of this dress ‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue’ refers to the old rhyme people believed would bring good luck on their wedding day. This dress is something new, inspired by the old fragment of dress, made from fabric borrowed from my mother, with the blue thread of my embroidered note.