Christening Outfits & Products
We turn your garments and heirloom fabrics into custom, quality gifts that tie generations together. We offer a few services so read through to know more.
We can turn your wedding dress into a custom Christening gown or Baptism outfit. Our custom christening gowns are made using as much usable fabric from the wedding dress as possible. A full Christening gown takes quite a bit of fabric so, if you want the entire gown made of only your garment, it needs to be a full-length wedding dress. If you do not mind us augmenting your fabric with some of our own supplies of quality satin, linens and appropriate fabrics and trims, then we can work with shorter dresses.
Please note the prices mentioned below are to be used as a guide and are starting prices only. Prices can vary depending on the work involved.
Girls Christening Gown from Wedding Dress $275
For girl’s Christening gowns we use whatever lace and trim we can extract from the original wedding dress. We try to make every dress unique with our work of passion. We start with one of three basic styles that you can choose from.
Princess style
Angel style
Bishop style.
Although we start with a basic style, each gown can be customized giving you the benefit to take advantage of the materials your wedding dress provides.
Custom Rompers from Wedding Dress $250
We offer both boy’s rompers and a girl’s rompers. The boy’s rompers is based on either a pleated or plain bodice or we can make it with a faux vest. The faux vest gives us a way to add lace and ornamental elements without giving it a feminine look. The girl’s bubble romper is great for wearing at the after party as well.
Although we start with a basic style, each romper can be customized giving you the benefit to take advantage of the materials your wedding dress provides.
Basic Unisex Gown $250 / Ornate Unisex Gown $275
Our Basic Unisex Gown is intended to be a plain christening gown that can be worn by either a boy or a girl. It is available in two styles.
Our traditional Bishop style that hangs from the shoulder and has a large collar. We can use lace and embellishments on the collar, but the skirt is plain.
Our Angel style has a waistline and usually a pleated bodice and small collar. The skirt is left plain.
For an additional fee, we can add an embroidered cross. If you want to us to add further embellishments to either of our unisex styles, whereas in our Ornate Unisex Gown we use ribbon, lace or pleats down the front, buttons, unusual bindings and play with trims on hem lines.
Boy & Girl Combo Packages $495
We offer a couple of combination packages in which we use the ornate elements of your wedding dress while also being appropriate for a boy to wear.
Our Custom Gown & Romper Combo ($495) is our most popular option. It includes a girl’s gown, a boy’s romper and your choice of one head piece (Unisex bonnet, girl’s bonnet, boy’s cap or girl’s headband) Most standard long wedding dresses have enough fabric to get a gown and a romper so this gives a complete heirloom ensemble for generations.
Our Gown with Overlay ($495) or Gown with Robe ($495) combos include a unisex gown with a removable ornate robe or translucent / lace overlay and your choice of head piece. This option allows us to use any lace or bead work in the overlay / robe and gives you the option of using the gown with the over piece or without it. We try to work the best of the wedding dress into each piece.
Ceremonial Robe $250
If you only want one garment made and want to be able to use it for either a boy or a girl but also want to be able to use the ornamentation from your wedding dress, then a ceremonial robe is the way to go. Our robe is usually lined and has a ribbon tie. It can go over any gown or romper you may already have as well.
Accessories & Add Ons
Custom Bonnet $45
A matching bonnet is a traditional accessory to your gown. We can make an ornate, girly bonnet or a unisex bonnet to be used by generations to come.
Booties $45
A pair of custom, matching booties is a must for a complete heirloom outfit.
Boy’s Hat $45
Complete his look with a custom hat. We currently offer two styles, our standard cap and our “fisherman’s” cap.
Headband $30
Add a sweet little matching headband. We make them from the materials of your dress for your little princess.
Custom Bib $25
Help protect your heirloom outfit with a matching bib made from your wedding dress fabrics.
Bow Tie Pin $15
Finish off his little man look with a simple bow tie pin. The pin back slips on under the collar.
Diaper Cover $30-$35
We can make a pretty diaper cover to go with the outfit.
Infant Tuxedo Jacket $170
Our infant tuxedo jacket is the ultimate formal jacket for your little guy. It can come with or without tails and allows us to take advantage of the different fabrics your dress has to offer. We currently only offer this in infant sizes (3-18 months).
Vest $65
We can make a cute little vest for boy or girl wear. This is a way to pick up a little of the ornate element from your wedding dress.
Jacket $120
Our little lined jacket is a way to add some warmth, or just become an addition to an existing heirloom outfit. Some like to get a jacket in addition to a plain unisex gown as a way to dress it up a bit more. We can make a girl’s jacket or boy’s jacket.
FAQs
Wedding Dress Converted into Christening Gown
Do I need to get my Wedding Dress cleaned before sending / dropping off?
If your wedding dress has a lot of dirt and staining–especially along the hem. Then we recommend getting it cleaned before sending it. We do not offer any cleaning services and simply do not have the facilities to clean a whole dress or get it done anywhere. If you send the dress without cleaning, we try to work around any stains or heavy dirt, but it limits what we can use of the dress materials.
If there is a section of a dress that has some staining / discoloration and we do not use that section, we will cut the section return it to you. Most of the time, my customers have managed to can get age stains, some wine and loose dirt out their dresses by hand washing. However, deep stains–like mud / dirt on the hem and train need professional treatment. If we have to wash sections of a dress (which we choose not to), there will be a cleaning fee of $80-$120 depending on how much washing is needed.
Christening Gown Process
When you drop by with your dress, we take a quick look at the dress to make sure there isn’t anything that would keep us from getting you what you want. If you have posted / shipped your dress out to us, we will send you a quick email or phone call to let you know the dress made it safely.
Usually, there are several projects being worked on so it can be a week or two before you hear from us again.
When we are ready to start your project, we will assess the materials and will sketch out an overall design.
Using the thumbnail and / or photos of projects that have similar design elements, we will contact you with an outline of our plan so that you can have an idea and give us your input.
From there, we disassemble the original dress, trying to conserve as much of the materials we plan to use as possible.
Dis-assembling a wedding dress can take numerous hours–especially if we are trying to rescue beaded lace without losing too many beads. If you have asked for the left-over materials, we set aside any parts we do not plan to use. If there are stains, we need to avoid, we will also cut around those so that they do not accidentally get included.
Once the available materials are in working condition, we start cutting and sewing until the outfit is done. At that point, we take photos and email them to you along with an e-invoice for any outstanding balance.
What Sizes do you offer?
Newborn (weight 8-12 lbs, height 18-24″, intended for 0-3 months)
Small (weight 13-15 lbs, height 25-27″ intended for 3-6 months)
Medium (weight 16-18 lbs, height 27-29″ intended for 6-12 months)
Large (weight 19-21 lbs, height 29-32″ intended for 12-18 months)
If you need a larger size, we can do that, just ask about our customized services.
I would like to get both a girl’s outfit and a boy’s outfit, what are my options?
There are several possible options:
We can make a unisex gown with both a boy bonnet and a girl bonnet. This allows us to use the more feminine elements of the original dress in the girl’s bonnet.
If there is enough fabric, we can make both a dress and a romper, however, that takes a full dress and enough opaque fabric. If there is insufficient fabric for both, we can use some matching fabrics to augment the fabric from the original dress. We try to use the dress fabrics for the primary garments and the secondary fabrics as base slips and accents. This approach may require an additional materials fee.
For dresses that have a lot of lace and ornamentation, we can create a unisex gown with a detach-able overlay or a ceremonial robe. This has become an immensely popular option for people with ornate dresses.
Another option is to get a custom christening robe made from your wedding dress instead of a gown or jumper. Ceremonial robes are traditionally more ornate so we can use the embellishments from the original dress and yet it can be used for either a girl or a boy. The robe can go over any standard christening gown or jumper– ask about having a standard jumper or gown made to go with the robe.
How do I know what the final outfit will look like?
You do not. You can get an idea of our work from the examples here on this web site. We can assure you that the final outfit will be made with high quality and attention to detail. However, each wedding dress that comes to us is individual. When we sit down to work on your outfit, we will sketch out plans to show you before we start cutting anything. We want your input while also taking into context the amount and types of useable materials–along with whether you want a girl’s outfit, a boy’s outfit, or both.
We use the same overall patterns for every project so you can see some similarities. However, we adapt the patterns to use the materials from the original dress. If there is lace and beadwork, we try to use it in a way that makes sense. If the fabric is heavy, we will use an A-line skirt or the Bishop style, if the fabric is soft enough to hang well, we will use a full, gathered skirt unless you request something different. Every finished outfit is unique and made to be a family heirloom.
How much time do you spend on a gown?
An average basic girl’s gown takes about 18-20 hours to make (we mean only the making of the gown excluding the dis-assembling of the wedding dress process). It is not just the actual making of the gown, it is also the task of using materials that have already been formed into a dress to begin with. It can take hours to detach lace, bead work and appliques enough to be able to re-task them. These elements tend to be fragile so we cannot just rip them off, we usually must detach them one sewn thread at a time. In addition, we are not working with flat, straight fabric from the bolt. We are working with fabric that has seams and is usually on angles so it can take hours of pattern manipulation to get large enough areas of fabric without seams or buttons that would show up in the final gown.
What do you do with the leftover materials?
If there are left-over materials from the original dress, we do not normally keep them. Most of the time, any real usable materials are used up and all that is left is netting or tulle and we simply have no use for it. If you want them, there is a place on the order form to let us know and we will return or post / ship them back with the final outfit. There is an extra fee to cover the extra shipping costs and larger box. If you choose not to have them returned, we will toss them because they simply are not usable for any other projects that we may work on. If you do choose to have the remnants returned / shipped back, there is a good chance the most of what comes back is the under-skirt netting.
How long are the gowns?
We offer three length options:
Short (above baby’s feet)
Traditional length (usually a couple of inches longer than baby)
Long about 34″- 36″
Modern length about 36″- 39″ if the fabric is available to do so.
The length sometimes varies depending on the amount of usable fabric we can get from the dress. If we are trying to conserve fabric, the length is the primary place we can do so. Unless you specify a length, we try to get a longer.
Do you make gowns for boys?
We have a couple of options for boys. Instead of a lacy collar, we can use more of a “little man suit-look with an over vest or, the Bishop style has a more masculine look to it while still allowing us to add some of the original wedding dress embellishments. We can also make a boy’s romper instead of a gown and we also offer an infant Tuxedo Jacket.
How long can I expect to wait before my gown arrives?
Most orders normally take about six to eight weeks from the day we receive the materials to the day the finished outfit is shipped out. It really depends on the work load we have. If there is a short deadline and you need it in four weeks or less, priority services can be available at an additional charge. If you have a specific date you need the garment by, we will not accept the order unless we believe we can get it to you in time.