sewing in Cambodia

Do you have pix? I'd love to see this creation! I'm sure it looked fantastic, if unconventional.

I think it depends on the quality you buy. Here in the UK I've had Chinese cottons that were as good as Delta cottons, and Indian ones likewise. I've also had American so called Pima cottons that were rubbish and shrank as soon as you looked at them. GOOD Chinese cottons are really good, but expect to pay a decent price for them.

I tend not to worry about the country of origin: quality is what counts, and I'll pay for that if necessary. If I can get the same quality at a bargain price (and over the years I've had some wonderful bargains!), then it's a bonus.

Aren't white wedding dresses something relatively new? At least, 20th century. My first wedding (yes, I've had more than one) I wore a blue dress with a lace overskirt and jacket. It was a short dress, and an afternoon wedding. My mother wore a suit when she married, as did most of her contemporaries. Then about 1950 there was quite an upsurge in white wedding dresses of full-length, that before that time were unusual, IIRC, and limited to the wealthier brides.

Pogonip wrote in news:428c4b1d$ snipped-for-privacy@news.bnb-lp.com:

white wedding dresses were Queen Victoria's fault. she chose white, the upper classes had to follow. up until that time your wedding dress was your *good* dress, one that you would be wearing to special occaisions for years after. way back when i was in my late teens (late 60s) i worked on a wedding dress fashion show for the ladies of my mum's church. one of the gowns we had donated (!) was a 1790s red & blue plaid taffeta before Victoria, blue was a fairly common color for western wedding/best gowns because blue is the color of faithfulness. lee

However, both "The Desert Look" and "The Big Silence" were copyrighted in 1989. I *think* "The Desert Look" is first in the series, right?

I can hardly wait to get started! ;-)

white wedding dresses were Queen Victoria's fault. she chose white, the upper classes had to follow. up until that time your wedding dress was your *good* dress, one that you would be wearing to special occasions for years after. way back when I was in my late teens (late 60s) I worked on a wedding dress fashion show for the ladies of my mum's church. one of the gowns we had donated (!) was a 1790s red & blue plaid taffeta before Victoria, blue was a fairly common color for western wedding/best gowns because blue is the color of faithfulness. lee

I used to be involved in a 'historical' fashion show. One of the items was a black Victorian wedding dress. The commentary went 'A wedding had been arranged. There was a death in the family. The wedding went ahead but the bride wore black.'

The Big Silence is the first. I think the copyrights were renewed when the University Press published them. The first publication was by Mysterious Press which was taken over by Time-Warner. The copyright had to be released, IIRC.

This makes a good deal of sense. It's a new development of our affluence that anyone other than the very rich can afford to spend a large amount of money on a dress to be worn only once. In fact, the richer people I know usually won't do it. ;-) A relative's dress comes out of mothballs and is adjusted, or they elope. The rich didn't become rich by throwing money away.

"Pogonip" wrote

This make me wonder how many around this group either wore someone elses wedding dress or had hers worn by a family member. Mine was new to me, but when I bought it I only paid $125.00. At the time the average dress was going for about $400.00. My oldest daughter wore it when she was married and her oldest daughter wants to wear it. My other 2 girls paid about $100.00 for theirs. The youngest found one in a discount shop. She paid another $100.00 to have it altered. That was in

1992. My second oldest grandaughter has put her name in for that one. She's the sister of the one who wants mine. My middle daughter was married 2x. The first dress was less than $100. Her second wedding, she first she paid about $125. That was 1998. The first dress went to the thrift shop. A side note to her second marriage, our son-in-law told my husband that this was the last time he's have to marry her off. Her best friend commented, that the first time was a wedding, the second is a marriage. My daughter-in law paid mega-bucks for her gown. Never knew what it cost and didn't want to. Juno

I made mine... had a budget of £500 for wedding dress and two bridesmaids, and the only dresses I saw and liked at all were £700-800 in Liberty's of London (23 years ago they were this price: for now, add another zero for the same sort of thing!). So I bought a sewing machine instead, and made all three dresses for under £100. Mine cost about £55 to make, and is silk.

Oh, excellent! I'd have loved my mum's dress, but it no longer existed by then: she'd had it altered into an evening dress (very popular in the

50's), and worn it to bits!

I did wear her veil. She had that new. It then did her cousin Frances, then me, then Little Sis, a cousin's wife in Australia, came back for my cousin Debbie, and is awaiting the next generation. It's a plain square of silk tulle, 130" per side, and if you pick it up in a pinch in the middle, it's fine enough to draw through a wedding ring - I've seen it done!

Juno wrote:> This make me wonder how many around this group either wore someone

I wore my grandmothers c.1910 gibson girl silk wedding gown.

It's a family story. Grandmother Grace was a packrat to the extreme. When she died, it was four stories of what should have become an antique shop. My mom found closet and said, "look, here's grandmother's wedding dress!". There were **10** wedding dresses in that closet. They picked the nicest one and the rest went to the dealer.

Later we found a photo and lo and behold it was **her** wedding dress. I added some tea dyed alencon lace to it.

Penny S

I love both your stories. I neglected to mention that my 4 attendants dresses were free. I had a patient, at the hospital I worked in, who had a heart attack, he was a cutter in 7th Avenue fashion house.They made bridesmaid and prom dresses. He gave me a wedding gift of any style dress I choose, in any fabric and color I wanted, for my attendants. He gave me enough fabric to have hats and short veils made for them. In the 50's everyone wore hats. I took them to a milliner I knew and she made the hats for me. It was a tremendous savings for everyone involved. When my youngest DD was married, a teacher at the school we both worked at gave her all the fabric for her attendants dresses. Her husband made ladies floral rain coats out of lovely cotton that he covered in clear vinyl. It has always amazed me how generous people are. Juno

I knitted my wedding dress. Of course I didn't know it would be my wedding dress when I made it. It had a white, slightly flared knee length skirt, a ribbed waistband, and a bodice with a knitted in burgundy design. I made it out of baby yarn on a circular needle.

Still married almost twenty-nine years later!

Iris

Ah, thanks so much! I enjoy reading series of books in sequence, I would have had it wrong.

I have put them aside just now, I'm deep into the learning curve on my new embroidery machine (Singer Quantum XL5000). DGD is coming over tomorrow to play. ;-)

Oh, fantastic! I'd love to see pix. Somewhere my mum has pix of my grandmother in her 1920's wedding dress. My granny was tiny - no way any of us would have fitted her dress!

They didn't find the other 9 husbands in there, did they?

Sally

Learn it really well, then come help me with my XL6000. Hope you do enjoy the books when you get a round tuit. ;-)

And since the dress is knit....it probably still fits! Joy