Experts Restore & Redesign Vintage Wedding Gown from 1854

Located in the trendy art district of the Loring Park Neighborhood of Minneapolis is a new, vintage-inspired bridal salon that has been growing rapidly through word-of-mouth.  Their latest project? A vintage wedding gown from Scotland in 1854 that has been worn in 3 weddings, and was re-designed to fit a different body type each time!  They were given the task of re-creating the original dress’ form – from a single image!

The gown was originally created around Glasgow, Scotland and first worn in 1854 by Janet Turnbull when she married Matthew Bogle near Shettleson, a suburb of Glasgow.  It is a cream-colored silk gown with a deep royal blue floral pattern (the tradition of solid white wedding gowns wouldn’t catch on until much later).  It was then worn again in 1937 by Christina Bogle on her wedding day. At that time the dress was already at least 83 years old!  There were a few small additions to the gown and a few pieces of fabric were added to the dress and hand-sewn lace was attached to the cuffs and collar.  It was then worn again in the 1970’s, and was cut apart and altered to fit the style of the time.  Our TGR Specialists were able to look at the first image of the dress (in black and white) and re-create the original sizing, pattern, and embellishments!  The dress was first cleaned and restored by  Duane in Stillwater, MN.

The gown has recently been prepared for inspection by the family, and they are looking forward to seeing the gown and witnessing a small bit of their own history.  The family will be inspecting the gown at Treasured Garment Restoration’s location in Stillwater on July 15^th at 10am before it is wrapped and preserved for generations to come!

Photos below are of the gown as worn by Christina J Bogle in the early 1900’s, and of the gown cleaned, restored, and finally altered.