Something Old, Something New

Since having children, I have started to hang on to little items, memories and trinkets I think they might like to have later in life to remind them of their parents and their childhood. I have a box for each kid, filled with cards, photos, paintings, gifts, ticket stubs, clothing items, etc. that I hope to give them someday (maybe once they have children of their own) and walk them through the items and talk about how much fun we had and how much they were loved and wanted. Since losing all my childhood items in my mother's house fire this summer, this concept has become even more precious to me and I hope someday they'll appreciate these little memories as much as I do.

One thing I have been wanting to hand-down to the kids is something special from the day that Ryan and I got married. Our wedding day was hands-down one of the greatest days of my life and I thought a lot that day about the family that we would (hopefully) create together. I absolutely loved my wedding dress and have never felt more beautiful in my life, but after everything was said and done, I decided to sell the dress. I had a lot of people ask if I was going to save my dress for a future daughter, but I knew that the chances of having a daughter that wouldn't want to pick out her own dress and make her own decisions was slim to none, so I sold it. I don't regret it for a second, but a part of me does wish that I had a special piece of that day to pass on to her. 

Which is why I'm SO excited about this! One of the next additions to Mim's memory box is going to be this little white dress she's wearing, which is made from the button-down shirt that Ryan wore on our wedding day! There is this amazing new startup company called Petite Marin that makes the cutest little children's outfits from hand-me-down buttoned men's shirts. For girls, they offer this gorgeous little flutter sleeve tea dress, with buttons on the front and a zip back. For boys, they make the cutest little heirloom-quality Ross romper with side and shoulder buttons. 

I just can't even get over how cute this little dress is and I'm so sad that it's freezing cold outside and she can't wear it everyday. Although, it is special, so I don't want her destroying it by jumping in mud puddles or covering it with sucker slobber. I really wish I had found this company before Mim's baptism, because this would have been such a sweet baptismal dress. However, I'm just thrilled to be able to hand this down to her someday with the hopes that maybe she has a daughter (or granddaughter) that can wear this dress and hear the story about our beautiful wedding and the amazing family that began that day. 

Mimmy loved the dress and was so cute when I put it on her. She twirled around and around, laughing like crazy! I told her how pretty her dress was and she'd just smile and say, "mine mine mine" like one of those sea gulls from Nemo (her favorite show). She was also fixated this day on her Cat book, which she calls "Mao" (meow) and carries around the house with her at all times. I wanted to get her upstairs to take photos in better light, but she wouldn't leave her book and I didn't feel like dragging her and the camera and that giant book up the stairs, so this is what we got. She loved wearing the dress and I can't wait for summer when I can put her in this and some ruffle socks with Mary Janes. Cuteness overload coming soon. 

The dress is really well-made and sturdy. I love all the details, like the buttons on the front, the flutter sleeves and the label in the back of the dress. I also love the story behind the company that is making the clothing. Two best friends from Marin county in California are merging vintage fabrics with new playful patterns to create unique one-of-a-kind pieces. I love that the clothing is all locally made and it's a family-run company just getting started. 

I've been following Petite Marin on Instagram for a while and I am absolutely GAGA over the plaid flannel dresses they've done for winter and the holidays! I want to raid my husband's closet and send them everything that he no longer wears. How cool would it be to have some of those special pieces (a shirt from your first date with your husband, your father's favorite shirt or your grandfather's old flannel shirt) made into something you could pass down from one generation to the next. I've also seen that they make memory pillows from shirts and are thinking about expanding into lovies. I want them all!

 Images from Petite Marin's Instagram page

Have you ever up-cycled or re-purposed special clothing?

What would you pick: dress, romper, memory pillow or lovie?

*I received this product free of charge for my honest review and feedback. All opinions are 100% my own (and Mim's). Special thanks to Petite Marin for the dress and for being so awesome!