Bridal gown quilts fund cancer patients’ last wishes
McKinney, TX – Cutting up a bridal gown? Then quilting it? The idea may sound far-fetched, but to Laura Kay Houser, co-owner of Happiness Is ... Quilting on the historic downtown Square, it makes perfect sense. Houser discovered this unique project at an April meeting of the McKinney Quilt Guild, when the group learned about Making Memories Quilts from Marla Wyant, founder of the non-profit Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation.
Making Memories Quilts are constructed from bridal gowns that are donated and cannot be used for a variety of reasons, from torn hems to wine stains or color imperfections resulting from improper storage. Quilters cut apart the gown’s accessories, remove some embellishments, and transform the fabric into a queen size quilt top, transforming unpolished gems of damaged wedding dresses into quilted jewels. Stitchers provide batting and backing fabric, then quilt by hand or machine. After binding, the quilt is returned to Making Memories where it is sold or raffled to raise funds to grant a terminal breast cancer patient’s final wish.
Stitching friends Kristal Yellin, Andree Baca, Wendy Madeiros, Margaret Reed, Sandy Underwood, Kathy McKinney and Houser decided to participate because so many of them have had friends and family with breast cancer. As Wyant spoke to them, “We were very touched by some of her stories about the final wishes that their group grants to women in the final stages of breast cancer,” Houser recalled.
The friends immediately went to work, requesting gowns from the foundation and stitching when they could at the quilt shop, located at 211 N. Kentucky Street. The McKinney Quilt Guild sponsored the group by hiring quilter Allison Bayer, who machine-quilted the queen-size pieced creation on her long-arm machine. “We met every week or so, sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. It took about five months, and we finished the quilt a week before the show,” said Houser.
The show was a special exhibit at the Fort Worth Convention Center in September, featuring the first set of quilts sewn and donated to Making Memories by Trinity Valley Quilt Guild members.
The quilt, created from six gowns, is the group’s first using bridal gowns. Removing stained sections and working around large tears, the women embroidered the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13 as a finishing touch.
“It just seemed like the most appropriate verse since it's said in some form at most every wedding,” said Houser.
To learn more, visit www.makingmemories.org/quilt and http://www.happinessisquilting.com/.
Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation
Our mission is to grant wishes, including memory-making events, for metastatic breast cancer patients, while continuing to support, educate and increase resource awareness.We at Making Memories are dedicated to providing a spark of joy into the lives of women and men who are losing their battle against breast cancer.
The tragedy of this illness is not merely the physical and emotional burden, but also the enormous financial strain it places on a family. When insurance benefits are exhausted and mounting medical expenses deplete bank accounts, there is often little or no money left for special memory-making moments, set apart from the everyday sadness and turmoil of “saying goodbye.”
It is the driving force of our Foundation to make a wish come true for these brave fighters. The wishes and memory-making events we bestow, allows the individual and their family the opportunity to put aside the realities of this illness, if only for a time, while basking in the joy of one another's presence.
Our sincere desire is for every terminally ill breast cancer patient to pass from this world, comforted in the knowledge of having left one final beautiful memory for his or her family. www.makingmemories.org/quilt
Happiness Is ... Quilting
downtown McKinney Square is bursting at the seams with
colorful and unique fabrics, books, patterns, notions, project
ideas, cards, gifts and an ever-changing display of hand crafted
quilts for inspiration.
The shop offers a variety of classes, workshops and retreats.
www.happinessisquilting.com.