Oak Ridge mom turns wedding dresses into 'angel gowns'

A tragic loss became Stefanie Bohuslav's motivation to start working for a worthwhile cause.

In 2012, Bohuslav's daughter Kylie Danielle died at only 26 weeks old.

"We had nothing to bury her in," Bohuslav said. "Most gowns were too big. Babies that small have nothing to wear."

She explained that some grieving parents resort to buying doll clothes.

Then, Bohuslav discovered a group in Dallas that converted old wedding gowns into burial dresses for small babies.

"When I heard about that, it just touched me," she said. "I wanted to do something in my daughter's memory that would help others in the same situation."

Bohuslav, who lives in Oak Ridge North, decided to start her own group in August and named it "Dressing an Angel."

Then a few events pushed her efforts to the back burner.

First, she found out she was pregnant and the birth of her son was followed with 40 days in the neonatal intensive care unit.

But even after mother and baby returned home in October and they settled into their routine, Bohuslav faced a major challenge.

"I'm not really that great at sewing," she said. "And working with that fabric is very difficult. It's not the same as regular sewing."

She needed a seamstress to help her out - and finally found one, Cathy Lacy-Price, in February.

Bohuslav has already started working with Memorial Hermann in The Woodlands, delivering gowns to the labor and delivery nurses.

She explained that often in the hospital when a baby dies, a nurse will take a photo for the family.

A couple of support groups, such as Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death and Helping After Neonatal Birth, donate gifts to give to the parents, which are kept on-site at the hospital.

"For my daughter, I got a bracelet with a K on it," Bohuslav said.

Following the support group's model, she offered to leave gowns at the hospital for nurses to give out as needed.

"They thought it was a wonderful idea," Bohuslav said. "They said they would love to have them."

In the meantime, she has been asking friends and family to donate their old wedding dresses.

"Mine was just sitting in my closet," she said. "Most likely, they're sitting in a closet or in storage somewhere. You're taking something that made you feel beautiful and helping out a parent on one of the worst days of their lives."

The gowns do not have to be dry-cleaned. White or off-white dresses are preferred, but any color will be accepted.

Bohuslav said the first step is taking apart the gowns and turning them into workable fabric pieces.

"It's an intricate process," she said. "Then you sew the fabric and reapply the lace. We use the buttons as details for the boys."

Bohuslav recently set up a mailbox for individuals who would like to send a dress: Dressing an Angel, 2211 Rayford Road, Suite 111-413, Spring, Texas 77386.

Eventually, Bohuslav hopes to offer donors a site where they can drop-off dresses, but she is still on the hunt for a business willing to help.

She is also still working on obtaining her nonprofit status and needs a few more volunteers to join her board of directors, as well as helping hands to take apart and sew the dresses.

"We would love more volunteers; that's the main thing we are looking for," Bohuslav said. "It does take a special person to work with this type of material. But even if you can't sew, you can help deconstruct the dresses."

Bohuslav's friend Jordan Coale has been helping her since the beginning. "I could see these people were hurting," she said. "I knew this could really help families. To not even have something for a baby to wear, it just seems inhumane."

Coale said one dress can be turned into a number of baby gowns. "People put their dresses in a box in the back of a closet, and it collects dust," she said. "Rather than collecting dust, you can help so many families and give them the happiness to see their baby in a dress."

Coale hopes area residents will volunteer to help sew the gowns.

"There are people out there with the talent and time to do this," she said. "It can be hard to donate here and donate there when you're on a low budget. This is something you can do without giving any money. You can be on a low budget. Your talent is needed."

Bohuslav said that the demand for gowns is higher than people may know.

"A lot of babies don't make it out of NICU," she said. "You don't realize until it happens to you that it's actually very common. No one wants to talk about it. When you do talk about it, then you realize how much it happens to women."

Bohuslav asks women to consider donating their dresses to turn into burial gowns. "It's one of those things you hope no one needs," she said. "But you know they do."

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