Joy writes for our publication, and she always has creative ideas up her sleeve. I’m excited to share her DIY project with you today! 

This past fall my mother gave me an incredible gift, her wedding dress. She wanted Christmas ornaments made out of it for my siblings. I had a lot of fun working on them, but I also wanted to make something for each of the women in my family that was a little more for day to day use. I came up with a whole list of cool ideas for wedding dress re-purposing, but the one I finally settled on was a simple necklace.

The beauty of this projects is that it is…

• so simple any one can do this. It takes no sewing/crafting skills whatsoever.
• very inexpensive. I bought the needed supplies for these pendants for under $10.00 and had enough supplies to make seven necklaces.
• only takes a really small portion of the dress, so if you are doing trash the dress photos or using your dress for another repurposing project you can still do this without really affecting the overall structure of the dress.

Supplies:

• Pendant tray – A simple search on Etsy will give you a number of color/size/shape options. I used Shop Dog Craft Supplies for mine because she seemed to have the best prices, and I received amazing customer service.
• Glass dome – Make sure whatever pendant tray size/shape you purchase has a coordinating glass dome size/shape.
• Glue – Really any strong, clear craft glue will work. You don’t want Elmer’s or hot glue, but other than that whatever you have on hand should work.
• Small piece of wedding dress – The lace and embroidery were great for this. Because it needs to be flat you should avoid bead work… etc.
• Pen
• Sharp scissors

Directions:

• Take your glass dome, and place it on your piece of dress. Move it around till you like what is centered underneath. Trace around the dome with pen.
• Cut the fabric out making sure you cut on or just inside the pen line.
• Glue dress cutout piece to tray.
• Add another thin layer of glue, and top it with the glass dome (If you are working with lace, the glue should seep through, and you can skip the second layer of glue).
• Let dry, and hang it on ribbon or chain. This can also be made into a key chain or small Christmas ornament.

Well, there you are! I hope that you enjoy this way to turn a dress into a wearable keepsake for several members of your family. If you are interested in more DIY projects, just click here.