7 Creative Ways to Recycle Your Wedding Dress

Photo by Lori Lynn Photography

Taking a pair of scissors to your wedding gown could feel a bit, well, scary. But if you can’t imagine your wedding gown tucked in a box for decades to come (yet the thought of selling it seems wrong), consider recycling it into a keepsake or other cherished item. While we can imagine so many creative uses for the beautiful material and details from your wedding gown, we’ve picked a few of our favorites, below.

1. A Clutch

Though you won’t be attending your own wedding again, you’ll be attending plenty more. Consider recycling your wedding dress and using some of the material to make an awesome evening clutch for future events. It doesn’t even have to be white, consider altering it to a blue or gray hue that can be easily worn.

recycled wedding dress

Via Babble

2. Table Runner

For special occasions and holiday dinners, what better to decorate your table with a piece of fabric from one of the most memorable nights of your life? You can create a table runner out of your wedding gown, choosing to keep it white or to dye it a favorite color. Consider adding textures and patterns for something a bit more elaborate.

Want to find out more on how to sell your wedding dress (or buy a used one?) Read these 6 tips for buying pre-owned wedding dresses!

3. Baby Blanket

How adorable is the idea of recycling your wedding dress to create the trim of a baby blanket for your children? This likely works best with stronger fabrics like satin or even silk, but lace will work as well. You can also make a quilt for yourself.

recycled wedding dress
Via Mary Manson Quilts

4. Christmas Ornament

We love the idea of taking a few pieces of lace from your wedding gown and adorning it to a simple Christmas ornament to hang on your Christmas tree. It’s a cherished object you can look forward to using each year. Plus, it doesn’t take too much material, so you can either make some more ornaments, or use the rest of the fabric for another project.

recycled wedding dress
Via Paper Blog

5. Ottoman

Think of your wedding gown as a ton of really great, luxe fabric. You can basically do anything you want with it. We think a clever idea is going to the local flea market and reupholstering an ottoman with your dyed wedding gown. It’s the perfect accompaniment to your bedroom furniture or a vanity table chair.

6. Christmas Stockings

Creating Christmas stockings out of your wedding gown is a relatively easy DIY project. Purchase some red fabric to bring in the signature colors, and add some silver accents. Each year when you get to hang them from the mantle or on the stairs (and your children get to grab gifts out of them), you’ll get added happiness from the same fabric you wore on your wedding day.

recycled wedding dress
Via Style & Elegance

7. Wedding Bouquet Wrap

Creating keepsakes for your children’s weddings, like a bouquet wrap, is a sweet idea for recycling your wedding gown. This wrap is so unique, and we adore the love it brings to your bouquet. You can create one for each of your children’s weddings, and they can freeze dry their bouquet to hang in a shadow box with the bouquet wrap, or save it as a keepsake for their children’s weddings.

recycled wedding dress
Photo by Nadia D. Photography via Bridal Guide

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