Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
So goes the refrain of single ladies whose fingers continue to be devoid of an engagement ring, much less a wedding ring, and who have collected a closet full of bridesmaid dresses.
Don't pity yourself, ladies! There is hope for you yet.
Well, at least, where stopping your bridesmaid dresses from completely invading your closet is concerned! Accessorize, Abridge and Add Often, dresses of any kind only need a few well-placed accessories to make them look new.
This is also true with bridesmaid dresses, which can be transformed into a cocktail dress with elegant jewelry like pearl necklaces.
Or you can wear a blazer or bolero over them to transform them from day wear to night wear! It's just a matter of creating new styles out of old clothes, really.
Also, you can always shorten the hem, trim down the shape and cut off some parts to transform these old dresses into something new.
For example, a few inches off the hem will turn an ankle-length dress to a cocktail dress.
Or a puffy skirt can be trimmed down so as to make a new skirt suitable for the office.
If you want to keep the overall look, you can always add little touches here and there to the dresses.
You can make them trendier by adding the colors of the season, adding well-placed funky touches, and adding your personal mark.
Again, it's all a matter of styling yourself.
Slit, Shorten and Sew On the other hand, if you are into arts and crafts, you can always slit the bridesmaid dresses into workable materials, shorten the fabric according to your design and sew them into various household items.
Of course, this presupposes that you have more than 27 ways to recycle them! Just to give you ideas on how to recycle your dresses through using the sewing machine, you can make table runners, tablecloths, place mats, curtains, quilts, handkerchiefs, shower curtains, Ottoman slip cover, bed canopy, wall art, room divider, kitchen apron, lamp shade accents, coasters, chair slipcovers, and even as upholstery for your blah headboard.
Just think of the fabric from your dresses as any other store-bought fabric and you should be able to come up with more ideas.
Re-Sell, Recycle and Return If you don't have the time to sew or you can't think of more ways to add pizazz to your bridesmaid dresses, reselling, recycling and returning them are good ideas.
Besides, who wants to keep memories of one's eternal bridesmaid role? You can sell them on online auction sites, thrift stores and consignment shops that will allow for a small fraction of your expenses to be recouped.
Now, if you don't want to make a handsome profit out of a used dress, there are charitable organizations that will happily oblige disposing your dresses to less fortunate girls.
Or if the store where you bought your bridesmaid dress accepts returns of dresses in good condition, run to the store now! When you have employed all these tactics to fend off an attack of the bridesmaid dresses, you will discover that always being the bridesmaid but never the bride isn't so bad after all.
At least, you don't have to worry about the cost of divorce!