An Influencer Restored My Grandma’s 1950s Wedding Dress [WATCH]

After 45 hours of hard work, my grandma's vintage wedding dress has been brought back to life!

Back in November, I shared a story with you that had my family really excited. After decades of sitting in a box in her basement, my grandma's wedding dress was sent off for restoration! Let me give you a little back story.

Darlene and Michael, my maternal grandparents, were married back in 1959 in our home state of Michigan. My grandma's wedding dress was purchased from the iconic J. L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit in the early 1950s, but it wasn't just worn by her. Her two sisters Patricia and Beverly wore the dress for their weddings, too! My mom shared with me that the dress was likely an expensive investment, so it made financial sense for the family to get more than one wear out of it. My grandparents were married for more than 60 years when my grandma passed away in October of 2022.

For years now, my family has been wondering what to do with the wedding dress. First of all, it doesn't fit any of the granddaughters. Secondly, it was in VERY rough shape. We had brought it out before my grandma died and had her try it on. The result is one of my favorite photos of all time:

Last year, my mom discovered an Instagram account for amy_fortheloveofdresses. Amy Shane, who is referred to as the "Fairy Godmother of Vintage Dresses," has made a career out of carefully restoring vintage wedding gowns. Sometimes she finds the dresses on her own, but sometimes, like in our case, the dresses are sent to her. With my grandpa's blessing, my mom reached out to Amy to ask her if she could send my grandma's dress to her. She happily accepted it!

In the comments on the initial unboxing video, many people were asking how our family could give up such a treasured family heirloom. The answer is pretty simple: we believe my grandma would want it to be worn again. We don't have the ability to restore it ourselves, and to spend the money to have it restored just to have it sit in a box again is silly. Why not donate it to someone who can bring it back to its former glory, and then have it worn by a bride who will truly love and appreciate it? It was a no-brainer.

This week, Amy finally revealed the finished dress, and it is even more beautiful than we could have imagined. It turned out to be quite the challenge, though! The video reveals that the restoration took around 45 hours to complete! The caption reads:

"This gown was truly the most challenging and the hardest to date, and it even tried to break me, but in the end, it was all worth it!⁣"

Here is the full video so you can see the gown's transformation:

Because of the shape of the dress, Amy did have to make a few small adjustments. She wrote:

"...3' of a small portion of the train was removed in order to make side gussets to repair the silk side seams. Hand beaded glass beads and pearls were added over a few of the small spots that remained (too much aggressive stain removal would tear the silk) and a small bow was added along the front from the last bit of remaining fabric."

We were so happy to see that my grandma's beautiful gown has already been reserved by a bride to be! I hope she loves it just as much as my grandma did. A big thanks to Amy for taking on this project! My family is so grateful.
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