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embroidery

My Embroidered Wedding Dress


Photos by Helena Dolby

The largest stitching project I have ever embarked on was an incredibly personal one. In May 2023 I embroidered my own wedding dress. Whilst I wrote an article for World of Interiors describing the whole process and meaning behind the dress, I wanted there to be a spot in my Journal dedicated to this labour of love.

The base dress was a second hand Laura Ashley dress from 1970s which I bought from a vintage dress seller who works in the same studios building as me. Whilst I made some minor adjustments to shorten the dress and cut away some of the lace, the main work was the embroidery.

Altogether there are about 30 different flowers and motifs stitched across the dress, each with their own particular meaning. You can read all about the dress itself and the stitching process in the article linked below. Or if you like me are more into pictures, then here is a scrap book of photos of my favourite outfit and the best day of my life so far.

The World of Interiors article

Geraniums in progress
A little joke in the embroidery were nasturtiums, which symbolise conquest. It took a while to get a proposal out of Harry!
Me with my father
Here are the drawings and the test panels for the designs. Given I only had a few months to stitch the dress I only test stitched two flowers before getting stuck into the dress.
There were 22 different flowers stitched across the skirt
Lavender for loyalty and yellow hellebores for serenity
The base dress was a second hand Laura Ashley dress from 1970
My new husband Harry and I
I stitched personal touches throughout including and wedding date and initials on the cuffs
Mimosa for happiness
Geraniums for simplicity
Showing Harry the dress, which I had stitched in secret over the previous 3 months
The stitched daffodil border on either side of the zip
Partly to try keep the dress simple, and partly due to running out of time the stitching on the bodice is very simple with just a line of forget my knots down the sleeves
Cornflowers for delicacy and ranunculus for charm
Forget-me-nots for true love
The end!


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