My Mother's Wedding Dress

In the process of clearing out my closet yesterday, I came across my mother's wedding dress. It is a simple lace dress worn over a full length satin slip. I am 5 feet tall and have a slim build. Looking at the dress, I can see she was the same size. I mention that, because all my life, she was a little on the heavy side.


My mom was 16 when she married my father in an arranged marriage. She had to leave her family in Mozambique and go and live with my dad in South Africa. They also lived in China for a few years. All this at 16. She mentioned once that initially she and my grandmother weren't very happy about it, but my grandfather insisted. By the time she was 25, she had 6 children.
I don't know if I could have pulled that off. My parents had their ups and downs but they remained together till the end. My mom's birthday is July 1st 1930 and she passed away July 2nd 1993. After my mom passed away, I asked my dad if I could have her dress. He threw it into the washing machine to give it a good cleaning before he sent it to me. Needless to say, that didn't do the dress any good!

So, what to do with the slightly tattered wedding dress. I'm getting older now. Eventually someone is going to have to pick through my things and decide what to do with them. I don't want the dress to end up at Goodwill or in the landfill. I have this terrible habit of trying to re-incarnate things. So I decided that I will make small heart shaped pot pouri sachets out of it for all her granddaughters. She was a very loving grandmother. They can hang it in their closets, out of the way, but always there. I don't want to make clutter for everyone else.

For now, the dress is back in my closet!