Alberta Angel Dresses

One of the projects that is near to my heart is Alberta Angel Dresses.  An angel dress is made from a wedding gown, and given to tiny babies that are born to soon, or born still and gain their wings much to soon. Often parents are not prepared for this, and it is really hard to find something beautiful and tiny for their angel to wear. Alberta statistics show that we have about 500 neo natal deaths per year.

I started this project in Alberta with 2 friends, and our goal was to make sure every tiny angel in Alberta had a beautiful gown to wear if needed. We take donated wedding gowns, and turn them into something beautiful. We got our inspiration for the way our project is run from similar organizations in Australia and United States.

I knew instantly when I heard about angel dresses that this was something I really wanted to do. I used to sew with a bridal designer and I loved bridal fabrics and gowns. I have no desire to construct bridal gowns though. I also was a birth doula for over 10 years, and have seen many healthy babies born to very happy families. A baby is so special, I knew I wanted to combine my love of bridal dresses and my love of babies and create something special for families on the saddest day of their life. Creating them can be sad, but I like to think each gown has some love for a family sewn into it.

We put a call out for some volunteer seamstresses and we currently have about 13 wonderful women who donate their time to our project. We have our dresses in various hospitals around the province, so that they have them on hand when needed. Women have been so generous with their gowns that it amazes me all the time. We have had to put a hold on our gowns, just so we can get caught up with donations.

If you need a gown immediately or a special order, you can contact us and we will do our best to get something shipped to you as quickly as possible. Please follow us on Facebook and follow along with what we are creating, and which Alberta Hospitals are on board. https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaAngelDresses?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Renegade-Seamstress/245293442321677

Here are a few links to some of our media coverage that I did. A video segment on Alberta Prime  Time ,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKEp1AY6FTQ and a radio segment with CBC radio. http://www.cbc.ca/edmontonam/episodes/2014/10/16/angel-dresses/