A Peak at the Comments

At the beginning of the bridal display, it was suggested that we make a comment box and have people choose a favourite dress or leave a comment. Here is a peak at the 41 comments left in the box.

General Comments
"All lovely."
"Another idea for an exhibition would be to have bridesmaid dresses. Perhaps even extended to 1990s."
"Like all of them! Really interesting, the different styles."
"Absolutely gorgeous exhibition."
"Great display and wonderful to read the backgrounds."
"Excellent display."
"Should have bridesmaid dresses next time."
"Fabulous display. Know all the brides except one."
"Actually, all are beautiful."

Comments About a Specific Dress
Audrey Campbell - "Beautiful," "Loved all the lace,"!!!Amazing!!!" "Beautiful dress, flattering style." "I like Miss Watt's dress best and Miss Campbell who is my nana. I love both dress best."

Jean Watt - "I loved the 1930s dresses and materials. Overall, Jean Watt is the favourite. "I'd happily wear it now." "Loved Jean Watt's dress - that could be worn in 2012!!" "Beautifully made." "Lovely, cool."

Nellie Shaw - "I like the work and the age." "So feminine. I also loved her head dress and flowers." "A beautiful gown."

Heather Guise - "Very beautiful, lovely lace."

Judith Gimblett - "Simple but with draping of fabric addes interest."

Peggy Manson - "Beautiful embroidery."

Catherine Beck - "Plain but nice, not too much going on."

Thanks everyone for leaving comments!

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Brides About to Go and What's Next

Sunday is the last day of Brides of Otautau. It's been a great privilege to have these gowns for three months, and soon we'll be packing up them up to send them back to their owners.

The next display will highlight Māori culture and history from our area and beyond. This has been one of the more challenging displays we've ever done, but we've learned lessons along the way. More on that later. : )

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Final Days of Dresses

The wedding dress display is in its final days this month and will close on Sunday, 29 April. We've rotated the dresses so each has been on a mannequin for its best presentation.

We've really enjoyed this exhibition and hope you have too. Our thanks go out to the generous women in the community who didn't hesitate to say yes when we asked them for their wedding dresses. Maybe in a few years, we'll do it all again but bigger and better.

The dress pictured is the oldest and most unique of all the dresses in our display. It is made of a very sheer fabric - unlike the others which are either satin or white crepe. It's sleeveless and has a ruffled jacket. It was bought from H & J Smith's for the wedding of Nellie Shaw, Rose Drain's mother, in 1934 which makes it 78 years old.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Audrey's Wedding Dress

We've had lots of interest in our wedding dress display. A few have asked us to put more on the web. So here is one of the fancier dresses that we have. The first picture is a front view; and the next is the back view.

This dress is owned by Audrey Campbell and was worn when she married Peter. It was made in Auckland, where Audrey is from, and was sent down here for the wedding. It's made of white satin, tulle and chantilly lace.

As happens with some weddings, it was rainy weather and there were roadworks right in front of the church where they were to be married. But time and good care have kept the dress in perfect condition despite its muddy encounters on the day.

Thank you to Audrey Campbell for letting us borrow her dress for this display.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Caring for Wedding Dresses

Te Papa has a nice article on Caring for Your Wedding Dress by textile conservator Anne Peranteau. Storing textiles in an acid-free box is preferable to storing them in bags. Creases and wrinkles can be avoided if using rolled acid-free tissue paper or even unbleached cotton fabric to pad out the garment.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Brides of Otautau

The new display - Brides of Otautau & Beyond - opened last Saturday coinciding with the inaugural Three Churches Flower & Quilt Walk.

Brides of Otautau & Beyond features 16 dresses from women with a local connection. The dresses range from 1934 to 1973 and are on loan from their owners. Fabrics include satin and crepe occasionally accompanied with Guipure or Chantilly lace.

There are three sets of mother and daughter dresses represented: Daphne Kennedy and her daughter Judy Gimblett; Mary Smith and her daughter Heather Guise; and Peggy Manson and her daughters Margaret and Sheila.

The display ends 29 April so make sure you see it.

As always, there is no entry fee. We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

'Brides of Otautau' Preparations

Mrs Muriel Brown and Mrs Pamela Booth preparing a dress on a mannequin.

We've had a busy week as nearly all of the wedding dresses have come in for the tentatively-titled 'Brides of Otautau & Beyond' display. These beautiful gowns are on loan from women in our community. The dresses date from 1934 to 1973 and show a range of styles. In addition to the wedding dress, the women loaned a wedding photo and told a little bit about their wedding day. There will be about 15 dresses on display. We'd have liked to have more dresses but space is very limited.

One thing we've had to think about is whether to iron or steam a dress that has wrinkles. We asked around museum professionals, and the consensus is to leave 'as is'. Ironing can stretch historic material, and steaming can set in stains. So if you see a dress or two with wrinkles, you'll know why we've left it that way.

This is the importance of boxing up clothing properly, because even if a dress is wrinkled, if it's boxed properly, the wrinkles can relax while in storage. We'll have more information about how to box clothing over the next three months as the display gets going.

We hope to have the display ready in time for the Three Churches Flower and Quilt Walk which is happening on Saturday the 11th in Otautau. The display will run until 29 April 2012.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Wanted - Dress Forms

We need a few more adjustable dress forms for our wedding dress display. If you have one lurking in your closet that you don't need, please get in touch!

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Low-cost Mannequin

In the museum world, mannequins can be expensive. They are made out of special acid-free materials so that they don't harm fragile garments. We don't have our own mannequins so we've had to borrow when we wanted to feature clothing in a display.

But for our upcoming wedding dress display, we anticipate needing at least ten mannequins, and so we've taken a chance at making our own.

The initial prototype was made completely out of chicken wire, however, I think this one is more suited to the task. The torso is a dress form made out of card, and the bottom is made out of chicken wire, using a Simplicity skirt pattern. The idea is to cover both top and bottom with calico cotton to protect the dress.

What do you think? Will it work for wedding dresses?

Your comments are always welcome! We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request.

Wedding Dresses

Despite the holiday season, we are working on our next display already. It will feature the dresses, stories and photos of local women on the day they got married.

I've been asking nearly every woman I come across (and some men!) whether there is a wedding dress lurking in their closet. I've had good responses but still don't know exactly how many we'll get. Our space is limited, but I'd like to get a few more 'yes, I do's' before we say we have enough.

If you have a wedding dress and/or a wedding photo that you'd like to loan for 3 months, please contact us. It could be old or new, borrowed or blue - as long as you are local to the Otautau District. If not, what is your wedding story? Did you elope? How did you get married?

Our display will open in February 2012 so put it on your calendar.

Coincidentally, Te Papa have just opened a wedding dress display too. The exhibition is called "Unveiled: 200 years of wedding fashion." These remarkable dresses and wedding suits are from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) representing rural and urban weddings for the last two centuries. Sounds like a great exhibition.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!