How to Recycle a Bridesmaid Dress

If you were one of 10 or so bridesmaids, you may be hesitant to wear the same dress again, especially among the same crowd. There is no reason to leave that dress in the closet. You can recycle your bridesmaid dress into something completely different than what it was.

Things You'll Need

• Old bridesmaid dress
• Scissors
• Needle and thread or sewing machine

Instructions

1. Use it for a Halloween Costume. If you don’t have any sewing skills, save it for use in your next Halloween costume. See Resources for an eHow tutorial on how to make a beauty queen costume.

2. Remove gaudy elements from the dress. If the dress has big bows or bustles or ruffles, remove those elements from the dress, leaving behind a simple dress. Most of these elements are additions and can be removed without damaging the dress.

3. Shorten the dress. If it is a dress that you really like, but don’t have need for a full length dress, you can shorten it into a tea-length dress to wear on dates, and to weddings. This is done by cutting off excess fabric and hemming the dress.

4. Remove the skirt from the dress. Even if the style of dress is not something you will wear again, it may have a skirt that you would be glad to wear again and again. Cut the skirt of the waist away from the bodice, and remove the zipper. Replace the zipper with a skirt zipper and add a waistband. Then you can wear it with any top you own.

5. Use it for scrap fabric. You can use fabric from a wedding dress to make beautiful throw pillows, lampshade covers or doll dresses.

Resources

• Beauty Queen costume