Once, I Wore that Lampshade ....

I have been stumped as to what women do with their wedding dress, I held onto my grad dress for ten years trying it on only to see if it still fit. 

I still remember the conversation by the aunts and the grand women following the ceremony of the first wedding I attended, what to do with the wedding dress instead of sealing it up in a box; make throw cushions or lampshades!

I was stupefied at the suggestion of turning your beautiful wedding dress into a lampshade or pillow!!  Why on earth would anyone want to make a pillow or lampshade when you could just as easily go buy a throw cushion with a design or a lamp with a an already decent lampshade.  I was obviously imposing my limited ability to thread a sewing machine or cut a pattern on anyone else who would attempt such creative feats as assembling a pillow or lampshade from a wedding dress.

These two answers still ring in my head whenever I look at a wedding dress, I wonder what it would look like as a throw cushion or lampshade?  Or when I see white lampshades in a secondhand store, if they were once a wedding dress?  I have no urge to tear-up a wedding dress and start sewing cushions or gluing lampshades, but I still ponder what other possibilities a wedding dress can give us instead of being stuffed in a box to lie at the back of a closet.

Besides selling or donating your dress, a Google search came up with a lot of crafty stuff that can be done with a wedding dress most of which can be fun if you are that sort of person but not so much if you aren’t.  There are also sites promoting the idea of “trashing your wedding dress” as a form of stress release after the wedding and a creative outlet from the traditional photo shoot that usually involves the flowers, family and friends.  Trashing your wedding dress usually entails rolling around in the water, sand, mud and or grass in your wedding dress with your new husband, being as creative and destructive with your wedding dress as you please.  Interestingly enough, I did see some awesome pictures that involved tires and a gravel pit but probably not nearly as comfortable as a beach. 

I think my favorite suggestion was dyeing and redesigning your wedding dress into a simple summer dress or an amazing evening dress.   Be aware that to dye your wedding dress can be a bit of a challenge as only silk dyes properly anything synthetic won’t really work; polyester lining can shrink and the color may not be consistent, and the lace and beading will maintain its original color.  Its recommended that your wedding dress should be professionally dyed. 

Apparently there is a lot that can be done with a wedding dress after you are finished with the wedding ceremony stage: trash it for a photo shoot, salvage it if at all possible by dry-cleaning; redesign and dye it for a an evening or summer dress; and use the left over fabric for memorable creations.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding this article I would love to hear them!!

Here are some links to check out some of the above sites I found when writing this article:

Trash your wedding dress images:

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=trashing+your+wedding+dress&wrapid=tlif130065370289011&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=g2aGTb7wI4i2sAP-0NiDAg&ved=0CCEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=695

http://trashthedresseurope.wordpress.com/

The Wedding Seamstress has examples of wedding dresses that have been redesigned and updated!

http://www.theweddingseamstress.com/Dress_Redesign_Photos.html

Ehow.com has a great list for those who dare to make lampshades out of silk!! http://www.ehow.com/how_4899519_make-sewn-silk-lampshade.html

And if you are really brave, how to dye a dress (I love this blog, it makes it look right easy with a few prayers)

http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/10/i-wanted-to-dye/

Positive Vibes

Developing business requires a lot of everything including support from friends and family, money, perseverance, time, and patience. I don't know which you require most of as all of this comes handy at different times. Mistakes are often made and can be costly in the terms of time and money, that have to be chalked up as a learning experience or they will get the best of you.

Friends and family will only carry you so far and after that you are on your own.  Don't take it personal if they choose not to support you financially, it's unfair to expect them to be the ones who will be the reason for your success, if that was the case everyone would be launching a business.  Its similar to when co-workers bring their child's fundraisers to work eventually you have to know when to say "no thanks but good luck" or you will be poor house for supporting every school fundraiser.  The same with starting a business, if they get it or need it they will support it, if they don't then don't expect them to be opening their wallets for your business, it is after all a business not a charity.

Money and the decisions you make will have a serious affect on the success of your business.  Having a budget set up is key to understanding where you are now and will be 6 months down the road.  Reviewing the budget weekly instead of monthly is just as important as having a budget, it makes making decisions easier and a lot more accurate than flying by the seat of your pants and praying that the credit card companies wont be calling.  Reviewing my budget weekly has helped me from making too many costly mistakes and planning for the bigger expenditures.  If you need extra cash while your business takes the time needed to launch, get a part time job, it helps alleviate the stress of money and the start-up costs. 

Perseverance and patience can almost be tied together, each requires the other to help a business succeed.  Perseverance for me involves having a vision which includes a vision board and a list of goals for my business and for myself.  When all else fails during a bad day, I have the perseverance to keep at it and maintain positive vibes, after all its about enjoying the process of building a great business and not driving myself into the ground with negativity.  Patience is knowing that I am building a great business and that these things take time.

I think the hardest thing to keep in check is "time".  Time for business involves so many hats and learning how to juggle those hats.  I read The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber, a book which I recommend to anyone who is considering starting their own business.  Learning to create and maintain a schedule for the tasks required to build and maintain a successful business is key, one part can't be allowed to slip without consequences to rest of the business.

Its been a huge learning process these last 6 months since I developed my business plan and launched my website myvirtualcloset.ca, and something that I couldn't have done without the support of many of my friends and girlfriend.  With their support, perseverance, patience, a great budget, and time myvirtualcloset.ca will successfully take off.

I welcome feedback to this blog: what helped you to launch your business; what mistakes to avoid; and what you felt was the biggest challenge and how you dealt with it!