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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Bride on a Budget?

Bride on a Budget?

Check out this amazing bridal dress created by Honolulu’s own Ann Kagawa Lee. She made it for $24, plus a lot of time, and, well, 15 rolls of toilet paper. Lee was the winner of a national contest sponsored by www.cheapchicweddings.com. The Fifth Annual Toliet Paper Wedding Dress Contest drew 700 contestants, but frankly, our Lee blew them all away.

“I’ve been sewing since I was 13, and I like to create,” she says, noting she has whipped up many a prom dress and bridesmaid’s gown over the years. Her winning toilet paper dress was inspired by both origami and Gone with the Wind (the dress has a matching Southern antebellum-style hat). It took her about 100 hours to create the dress, using only toilet paper and tape. Lee bagged not only a check for $1,000 but bragging rights: her dress is now on display at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum in Orlando.

The retired attorney says she prefers to work with “nice materials, satins and silks” and that toilet paper is hard to work with because it’s so prone to tearing. She folded 760 pieces of paper to create the bodice, and sized the dress based on the measurements of her niece, Erica Lee, who is shown here wearing it.

Budding designers can see the step-by-step creation of the dress at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cbts3vJWlQ.
 

Posted on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 in General | Permalink

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About This Blog


Kathryn Drury Wagner is the executive editor of HONOLULU Magazine and the author of The Ultimate Guide to Shopping on Oahu.

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Kathryn on Dress to the 9's:

CURRENT VIDEO: Kathryn and Hawaii News Now visits Tin Can Mailman.

Past videos:
Roberta Oaks interview
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