Relovable
RELOVABLE, the new book by Caroline Arthur is more than a book about what to do with your old wedding dress.
The perfect wedding anniversary gift, it will allow you to rediscover part of your personal history and come on a glamorous upcycling adventure. Pre-order the book HERE using discount code RELOVE10. Get ready to revive the memories of your wedding day, exploring a way of bringing them out of the loft and back into your life again.
This luxurious coffee table book is the perfect wedding gift for the bride-to-be, or anyone who loves wedding dresses and upcycling, and is curious to find out the potential of their old bridal gown. On this page, you’ll find out more about the book, along with resources to help you upcycle your old bridal gown, with links to the designers and brands featured in it.
Heard about the Relovable Christmas baubles in the book? Email info@carolinearthur.com with subject RELOVABLE CHRISTMAS BAUBLES and you’ll be sent your very own FREE pattern to make your own Christmas baubles from your own wedding dress.
Relovable is about discovering the potential of your old wedding dress. You’ll find out where your dress came from, how it was made, what to do with it and why it deserves to come back into your life. If you’d like to find out more about dyeing your old gown or restyling it, framing it to hang on the wall, re-wearing, repurposing or letting it go, then this book is for you.
Maybe you have inherited an heirloom and are thinking about having it remodelled for your wedding day? In that case you’ll be inspired by stories captured in the book from some of my real brides, and you can contact me to chat about your ideas for your dress.
Relovable is the perfect wedding gift for every bride-to-be and for anyone who loves wedding dresses and has one lurking in the loft. The book invites you to become part of a creative community and will tempt you to embrace a more circular way of viewing your wardrobe, inspired by the potential of your old bridal gown.
There are videos coming soon of me transforming the old wedding dress samples featured in the book which you’ll be able to view here.
The creation of the book was a collaboration. It features contributions from talented designers boutiques and experts across the industry. They gave their time and products for nothing, which enabled this sustainably produced book to be the charity fundraiser that it is for the Fashion and Textile Children’s Trust
The Author
From designer to writer
I’ve been known for creating luxurious, sustainable bespoke wedding dresses for over 20 years, so writing is an exciting new chapter for me, although I’ll never give up making bridal gowns! Inspired by my real brides, Relovable grew out of my desire to answer the questions most of my brides ask, which is: “What does everyone do with their old wedding dress?” and I hope you find it to be a useful guide and resource.
Speaking
Upcycling wedding dresses has now become one of my specialist topics and you can find out more HERE about booking me as an inspiring speaker for your event, or a guest on your podcast.
How I can help you
I still specialise purely in making and restyling wedding dresses, but if you’d like to have your old wedding dress repurposed into something that isn’t a wedding dress – maybe to have it dyed or restyled, you’ll find some brilliant resources HERE for designers and makers who you can work with to help bring your ideas to life. You’re still welcome to CONTACT ME if you’d like to book a upcyling design consultation and we can assess your dress so I can steer you towards the resources you need to transform your dress.
When you buy a copy of RELOVABLE, 10% of the cover price is donated to the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust (FTCT) Registered charity number 257136.
RELOVABLE touches on how disconnected the wearer of a wedding dress can be from its maker. The FTCT is the only organisation dedicated to supporting the children of people who work in the British fashion and textiles. including makers across the bridal industry.
By providing grants to meet their children’s basic needs, the FTCT helps bridalwear families when they find themselves facing financial hardship. The support the FTCT gives is woven into the very fabric of the industry. Founded in 1853 by a group of textile workers, one of the charity’s earliest supporters was novelist Charles Dickens.
Today, the relevance of FTCT could not be greater. Following the turmoil of the pandemic and increased pressure on households through the cost of living, financial hardship still affects so many families across the UK, including those that work in the bridal sector. By giving parents grants to buy children’s items like clothes, school uniforms, bedroom furniture or study equipment, the FTCT gives families in the British fashion and textile industry a place to turn during challenging times, while making sure children have everything they need to thrive.
Publishing
Relovable attracted several publishing offers, but none really hit the sustainability spot, so after immersing myself in the world of book publication and distribution, I published it via my own imprint, Wildacre Press. Through partnerships with The Writing House and Hobbs the printer, the book embodies sustainability from cover to cover. Utilising FSC-accredited paper from responsibly managed forests, it was produced in a facility powered by 100% renewable electricity.
Unnecessary transport emissions have been avoided by distributing directly from the manufacturing site. In addition to minimising carbon emissions, unavoidable emissions have been offset via the World Land Trust. Available by pre-order only and produced in small print runs, over-production of this book is avoided.
Independent Bookshop
In characteristic entrepreneurial spirit, the Caroline Arthur Creative Bookshop was set up to sell Relovable, among many other creative books, so come on over to this cosy digital nook and find some other beautiful creative books, many of which support the topics discussed in Relovable, like weaving, jewellery making and sewing.
(Don’t forget to use discount code RELOVE10 at checkout)
Contact Caroline
I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line with your thoughts and questions – I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
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© Copyright Caroline Arthur 2020