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WOODLAND HILLS — Toilet paper is one of life’s necessities, but it serves another purpose for one Utah woman. She uses it to make beautiful wedding dresses.
Judy Henry, a 68-year-old grandmother from Woodland Hills, is a top 10 finalist out of 1,500 entrants nationwide for the annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest Presented By Cheap Chic Weddings and Charmin Toilet Paper.
Henry said she has been sewing since she was old enough to tether a sewing machine. She has also been using toilet paper, including tearing out pages of old Sears or Penneys catalogs to use as toilet paper in an outhouse in her backyard farm in southern Utah, for many years as well. So, when the link for the contest popped up on her computer last summer, she said she just couldn’t get the idea out of her head.
The contest requires entrants to create a completely wearable wedding gown and headpiece out of only Charmin brand toilet paper (that is provided free of cost), any type of glue, and/or tape; the dress may also be sewn with needle and thread.
What’s better than getting free toilet paper to make a wedding dress? Well, how about the chance to win cash prizes of up to $10,000 and the chance to travel free of cost to New York City?
So, with just days to go in last year’s contest Henry decided to enter, and to her surprise, was picked as a finalist. However, she didn’t take home a top spot.
When this year’s contest rolled around, Henry wasn’t sure if she wanted to enter again due to the dedication it took and having already reached a high level of success. But, after some nudging from family, friends, as well as the contest directors, she decided to take one more stab at it.
Making a wedding dress out of toilet paper is not as easy as one may think, especially if you are competing against the best in the country.
But for this creative genius, it took only a few sleepless nights dreaming up how to do it, and a lot of determination and gumption.
Her process included painting a glue/water solution over strips of toilet paper, gluing them together and reinforcing them to create a base to be cut out in a dress pattern. She then took toilet paper covered in the same solution and twisted them into a yarn. The yarn was then used to create a lace by placing it over a pattern she had drawn on paper, then covering it with packing tape to be placed on the dress.
The headpiece and wristbands were made much the same way, but the buttons were created using paper mache that she indented with a pencil eraser, then wound with the yarn in a spiral design. The buttons were then attached with twisted toilet paper and reinforced with thread.
The result was a dress fit for a bride.
The contest rules indicated the dress must be worn by a human model, so she placed the dress on her granddaughter, Brielle, and took some pictures. Days later, Henry found that she was chosen as one of the finalists for the contest that will take place in New York City June 16.
“It is such an amazing experience to be among these wonderful designers,” Henry said. “I could spend days just looking at all of the dresses. There are so many talented people.”
When asked about her dress-making prowess, Henry was humble in her answer as she spoke about the many talented people in our state. She encouraged others to enter the contest next year.
The grand-prize winner will be picked by a panel of judges, but if you would like to help Henry win the fan favorite prize, you may vote by going to Cheap-Chic-Weddings.com.
About the author: Arianne Brown is a mother of seven young children, and she loves hearing and sharing stories. For more of her writings, search “A Mother’s Write” on Facebook. She can be contacted at ariannebrown1@gmail.com. Twitter: A_Mothers_Write
