By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
Ever since the angeldresses phenomenon took off a few months ago, women have opened their hearts and their closets and wedding dresses have been pouring in. Unfortunately, "angels" are still waiting for their gowns because there aren't enough seamstresses to make them.
"We have tons of dresses donated, but we don't have enough seamstresses," said Alicia Richels, one of the coordinators for the movement. "We have seamstresses all over the province, but we only have one in this area right now."
Around the time the phenomenon began, Wanda Ross from Monico Cresting Inc. had offered up her services. She has since moved, however, leaving only one seamstress in the area willing to volunteer.
"I do wish there were more helping," said Mardelle Pastl, the lone seamstress working out of Watson. "I do have a lot of dresses on hand. In a day, I spend about five or six hours working on it. Having more seamstresses would help immensely, even if they just help with taking dresses apart or cutting out the material."
While Pastl is alone as a volunteer seamstress for the angel dresses, she isn't entirely flying solo. Lorraine Brouillette and Eleanor Govan both assist with embellishments while Linda Jurgens and Janice Fischer collect dresses. Fischer also helps take apart dresses.
On average, Pastl manages to produce about four or five angel dresses a day. She can make about 20 small baby gowns from each wedding dress and uses the bridesmaid dresses for embroidery and decoration. Pastl said she does it because she felt a calling.
"For me personally, I was doing a lot of quilting and I wanted a bit of a change," she said. "This came through facebook and I felt the need was so strong that it had to be done."
According to Richels, Pastl has no life because angel dresses are her life right now. To make things even busier, Richels and her sister, Becky Panter (who started angel dresses), have expanded the project to include tulle angels for families as remembrances. They also make blankets for infants in the hospitals who "maybe need a little pick-me-up."
"There are wraps for babies that are too small and we started to make dolls out of old cabbage patch dolls, refurbishing them in remembrance of their baby," said Richels. "It's grown so much."
Richels said the shortage of seamstresses could be because people are busy in the summer. Now that they're back in the groove of school, she's hoping that more people will be able to start helping.
"Nothing has to come out of your pocket other than your time," she said. "Personally seeing the need for these dresses is tough, but it warms your heart to know that you're doing something good."
