- Features
- By Dottie Sines
- June 3, 2023
- 945
Here comes the bride — and she just might be wearing a vintage gown, something multiple news sources report as trending. Brigit Jackson of Wooster is lending a hand toward the trend by restoring and selling vintage wedding gowns.
Since January of this year, Jackson has restored approximately 30 gowns, which she then sells from her online Etsy store. She started the store with decorative wreaths, which she makes by hand, then inadvertently caught an Instagram video of a girl who restored and sold wedding dresses.
“I was fascinated by the process and the beautiful outcome,” Jackson said. “The dress was a disaster when she started and gorgeous when complete.”
Jackson has a long sewing history, having begun in junior high. She made her first prom dress, and she has entered homemade clothing in the Wayne County Fair for the past five years, winning Best of Show and many other ribbons. She also recently sewed her daughter-in-law’s wedding dress from a vintage 1950s pattern. So after seeing an Instagram video, she decided she could do the same and set out on a gown search.
“I find them all over the place — Goodwill, eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace — and some have been given to me,” she said. “Dresses can be purchased very inexpensively, and very little is necessary in the way of products to restore them.”
A couple of the gowns Jackson purchased belonged to the seller’s mother, and some sellers include a photo of the loved one on their wedding day.
“One gown came from a socialite in Athens, Georgia who was friends with Jimmy Carter. Apparently, they attended many formal events together,” she said.
The gowns arrive in varying degrees of deterioration, so some involve much more work than others. The process of restoration begins with an examination. Jackson looks for flaws, stains, holes and rotting fabric. She then puts them through a cleaning process involving various products such as Oxiclean, laundry soap and borax, depending on what Jackson thinks the gown will withstand. She soaks them for several hours, then changes the water and repeats the process, sometimes twice. Some gowns are extraordinarily dirty and turn the water black.
“It’s always fascinating to uncover the actual color of a gown and its trim,” Jackson said.
The dresses are then thoroughly rinsed and hung to dry. Jackson then repairs any damage and replaces any unsalvageable lace, trim and buttons. She sometimes has to completely rebuild sleeves, skirts and bodices. According to Jackson, lace gowns are the most difficult to work with, as lace tends to deteriorate, resulting in multiple holes.
Restoring a gown takes about a week, depending on its condition — longer if she has to order fabric, lace or trim. The final step is ironing and photographing. Jackson also names all her gowns to help her keep them straight. She then posts the completed gowns on Etsy. Her sales fluctuate, but she’s sold as many as four gowns in a week.
“People seem fascinated right now with wearing vintage gowns,” Jackson said. “Some of my best sellers have been pink gowns, and 1970s dresses seem to have huge appeal to a lot of younger women.”
She sticks with primarily vintage gowns and said determining their age is fairly easy, due to their style or the seller listing its age or what year it was worn. The oldest gown Jackson has restored was a Priscilla of Boston gown from the 1940s. It arrived dirty and with rotting sleeves, so Jackson constructed completely new sleeves and brought it back to life.
“My favorite gowns are from the 1950s when the workmanship and fabrics were of a higher quality than in some decades,” she said.
Jackson is able to devote the time to this venture since she retired five years ago after a 35-year nursing career. She does, however, still lend her expertise as a nurse to various summer camps in Pennsylvania and New York. She also serves as a disaster health services nurse with the American Red Cross, deploying to disaster areas once or twice a year to assist with medication recovery, medication management, and counseling regarding health management and compliance. She also finds the time to substitute teach for Dalton Local Schools, where two of her grandchildren attend.
Jackson takes satisfaction from every aspect of her busy life, and restoring vintage wedding gowns is no exception.
“I enjoy seeing the transformation in the gowns and hearing from the excited brides after they receive them,” she said. “It’s fun, and I’m giving these beautiful gowns one last walk down the aisle.”
Jackson’s online shop, The Vinings at WoodsEnd, can be accessed at http://theviningsatwoodsend.etsy.com.
