WWII Ladies Fashion White Wedding Dresses for Each Other

During the London blitz, a bomb took out famous dress designer Cressida Westcott’s home as well as her business. The only place to go is back to the family manor house in Aldhurst village. She left many years ago because of her father and brother. Now she worries whether her nephew, Hugh, who inherited the estate, will accept her.

In Aldhurst, she meets her niece, Violet, who is thrilled to have her famous aunt in residence. She also meets Grace, daughter of the Vicar. Grace is engaged to be married to Lawrennce, also a vicar, and she very much wants a white wedding dress. He father gave her her mother’s wedding dress, but it’s in tatters.

The local sewing circle with guidance from Cressida and donated fabric sets out to give Grace her dream, In the process, they help other girls to have a white wedding and learn to be more independent. Each woman learns about herself and what she truly wants. It was a very up lifting book.

This historical novel is based on real events. The author did a superb job showing what wartime Britain was like for the women in the country villages. The characters were people you’d like to know. Violet starts as a spoiled snob, but becomes a much more understanding person through her wartime duties. Grace finds hidden talents, and Cressida finds that she can use her talents to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people. High couture is not the whole world.

If you enjoyed Bloomsbury Girls, or like historical novels featuring strong women, you’ll enjoy this book.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan is a charming historical novel set in England during World War II. Clothes are being rationed and can only be purchased with coupons. The women in town work together to mend and sort through clothing donations so that families can be provided with new options of what to wear. Meanwhile, Grace is planning her wedding and becoming reacquainted with an old friend who is back in town. This is the book to read on a nice summer day while being grateful that times are better now. Read and enjoy!

I found this book to be a pleasant read and rate it 4 bright stars. It is set in WWII Britain. There 3 narrators in the book.
Cressida Westcott is a successful dress designer to high fashion, wealthy women in London, England. Then bombs from the Germans destroy her home and her dress store/workshop. She is lucky to be alive, escaping minutes before the bomb destroys her house.She is forced to ask her nephew, Hugh, for permission to move into the family home in Aldhurst village. She left home 2o years ago after an argument with her father, now deceased. She never married, concentrating on her work.
Grace Carlisle is the daughter of the Aldhurst village vicar. She is engaged to another church minister, Lawrence.
Violet Westcott is Hugh's sister and something of an immature woman set on marrying a lord with a title.
How these 3 women find true love and break out of the roles that that others had set upon them, makes for an enchanting read of love and loneliness in a time of war. The title is about a group of women who set about mending a used wedding dress for Grace and then decide to lend it out to other brides. Clothes are rationed in WWII Britain.
Violet quote: "Completely oblivious to how offensive it might sound, Violet declared, 'Who would want to borrow a wedding gown? I shall be ordering a new one, have no doubt about that."
Spring scene: "Outside, late spring was at its very finest, the scent of freshly cut grass seeping inside, reminding her of her childhood, the freedom, the escape."
The characters are enjoyable to read about, as they deal with wartime shortages, including using brown gravy as a stocking substitute .
I have read 3 previous books by the author, all stand alones, all set in WWII Britain. Both my wife and I strongly recommend this book to historical fiction fans. My wife also says 4 stars. I read it in 3 days. The book is based upon stories of wedding dresses being lent to brides across Britain during WWII.
#TheWeddingDressSewingCircle #NetGalley
Thanks to Morgan Hoit at Ballantine Books/Random House for sending me this eARC through NetGalley

England - 1942

Grace Carlisle lived with her widowed father, a vicar. She is engaged to Lawrence Fairclough, a curate. She has found her mother’s wedding dress in the attic. It is beautiful but unfortunately has been severely eaten by moths. Grace wants to wear the dress for her wedding and needs help to fix the destruction in time. She lives in the village near Aldhurst Manor. People are only allowed very few pieces of clothing to buy each year and the fabric for a luxurious wedding dress is not allowed. WWII has placed many restrictions on people.

Cressida Westcott, age 46, is a successful couturier and owns a Chelsea design house. She lived at Aldhurst Manor until her brother took over. They did not get along so she decided to move to London. Now, a bomb has leveled her home and her design house. Her brother has since passed away and his son, Hugh who works at the War Office is head of the family. Cressida contacts Hugh and asks to stay for awhile and he is happy for her to do so.

Violet Westcott lives with her brother, Hugh, at Aldhurst Manor. Her fiancé was shot down and killed. She has always wanted to meet her aunt Cressida but her father had forbidden it. Violet loves fashion so she is thrilled when she learns that her aunt will be coming to live with them.

When Cressida meets some of the women of Aldhurst, they decide to form a sewing circle to exchange ideas of how to remake old clothes as cloth rations are so sparse. Here, they become good friends. One thing they work on is Grace’s damaged wedding dress. From there, and with the shortage of lovely materials, they form a wedding dress borrowing service so women can feel like a true bride on their special day. Along with these female friendships, we see them each find the love of their life.

I know I have given away what may seem like spoilers, but it’s just the bare plot and you must read the whole book to discover the depth of each character and their interactions with one another. A great book and a historical document as well. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a gentle and nostalgic home-front WW2 historical slice of life romance by Jennifer Ryan. Released 31st May 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 432 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out in summer 2022. It's worth noting that the e-book format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of e-books with interactive formats lately.

This is a delightful fictionalized story based loosely on actual events. It's told through three alternating third person narratives: famous haute couture London designer Cressida Westcott, her niece Violet, and a village vicar's daughter named Grace. The book revolves around the privations of war, the creativity and camaraderie of the women in wartime, and their sacrifices and resilience trying to build lives amidst chaos.

The author does a good job of recalling the stringent conditions of wartime Britain as well as the terror and uncertainty of the blitz in London, even for the wealthy and well connected. Forced together by circumstances, the three women find an important rapport and use their considerable creativity and emotional strength to grow and help one another and their families.

It's very much a nostalgic read, and will no doubt be popular with fans of the genre. Folks who enjoyed Bloomsbury Girls, Call the Midwife, and Lilac Girls will find a lot to love here. The romance subplots don't overshadow the well told story in my opinion.

Four stars. It's a very well told and engaging story.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a character driven novel about how three women are changed by World War II. Through unexpected means, each grows into a stronger, happier person. Along the way, their sewing circle starts a program to provide Wedding gowns free of charge. From a historical point of view, it was interesting to learn of clothes rationing and fabric shortages during the war.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan is a heartwarming historical novel. The story is told from the perspective of: Cressida, Violet, and Grace. I thought The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle was well-written with realistic, developed characters. I enjoyed getting to know Cressida, Violet, Grace, Hugh, Ben, Landon, and the other characters. The village women were kind and quirky. I liked getting to see the main characters learn and grow from their experiences. We get to see the ladies come into their own. The women were resilient and creative amid such hardship. I enjoyed the author’s descriptive writing which brought the story alive. I could tell that the author did her research. She included details that made the story authentic. The people in England endured so much during World War II (bombings, rationing, loss of loved ones). The rationing of clothing was a complicated system (I do not know how they figured it out). I love how the women came together in the story to help brides have a white wedding gown. They were a supportive group of women. I thought it was interesting to learn that it was unpatriotic to be idle. If you were sitting and listening to the wireless in the evening, you should be knitting, crocheting, or sewing. If you were not knitting something for a family member, then you should make socks for the troops. There are some dark moments in the story, but there are many light ones as well. It was important to enjoy the good times. To live and use what time you had because you never knew what tomorrow would bring. Despite the war, the people were optimistic and hopeful. You did not have to do something on your own as one of our characters learned. There were others there willing and able to lend a hand. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle was a little bit of a slow starter, but I soon became involved in the story. I just loved the ending. I appreciated the author’s note at the end. It provided some interesting information. I liked that we get to see that it is possible to have a career (do work they loved) and be married. It was a new concept for women at this time. Some of the themes in the story are friendship, family, rationing, life choices, danger from war, and romance. I liked that we get to see that no task is impossible if people work together. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a heartwarming, positive story that will leave you smiling. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is an uplifting tale with a waging war, make do and mend, bursting bombs, ration regulations, wedding dress worries, firm friends, and rare romances.

This is a beautifully written historical fiction story told from the viewpoint of three women. I will admit that historical fiction isn't one of genres I read regularly, so I found it hard to become invested in the story, but once I did, I enjoyed the story. Grace is the daughter of a vicar, who is planning a loveless marriage to a fellow vicar. Violet is Cressida's niece, who is kind of hard to like, because she was raised to marry for status not love and some of her beliefs are hard to accept. Cressida is successful but is forced to move back home, where she has very unhappy memories, when her business and home get bombed.
All of these women become part of the town sewing circle and learn how to help each other along the way. Each grows and changes for the better throughout the book, and they find love along the way. As I read this book I truly felt like these ladies became my friends and didn't want the book to end. I am glad I didn't give up on this book, because it was very well written and the characters were endearing by the end. I received an ARC and am leaving my honest, voluntary review.

Enjoyed this WWII story from the viewpoint of the women from the country village and manor house. Liked the multiple POV stories.

I love historical fiction, especially those that are based on true events. Although the British women, knitting socks and scarves for their fighting men has been covered extensively, the refurbished wedding gowns, donated and recreated by sewing groups in villages across England, was a new concept for me. I loved the teamwork and the patriotism that went into their effort.
Cressida, Violet and Grace are all participants in the sewing circle, when Cressida, a noted designer returns home to Canterbury when her home is bombed in London. She motivates the other women to expand their efforts and soon the entire village is working to provide dresses in a country that now needed material for the troops.
I enjoyed the book because it showed the tenacity of these people, to make the best of a horrible situation. Jennifer Ryan is a wonderful storyteller, with wonderful, likable characters. Her research was extensive in order to recreate the story of these patriotic women.
My thanks to NetGalley, tge author and Ballantine Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own. This is a five star effort, and I loved it.

I got invited to read this and was not familiar with the author. I am glad I took a chance. I love historical fiction as I like to learn new things. I was not familiar with the clothing situation during the war in Britain so I am thankful to now be better educated. As a sucker for romance that was a great addition to the story. Glad for the strong female characters willing to go against society norms. Seems so important in today's climate.

4.5 Stars

Thanks #NetGalley #BallentineBooks @RandomHouse for a complimentary eARC of #TheWeddingDressSewingCircle by Jennifer Ryan upon my request. All opinions are my own.

“Make Do and Mend”

In The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle, women come together during the WW11 years to mend, repurpose, and recycle clothing. Led by three spirited women, the sewing circle project to repair a wedding gown grows into mending wedding gowns for local brides and for brides across the country.

“The Wedding Dress Exchange is our way to show that we might be losing our homes, our families, and our normal way of life, but there are some traditions that live on in spite of the Nazis–that romance and hope and love can flourish, no matter what our ememies do. It is a reminder that the most important parts of us…our hearts–will always be free.”

Told from multiple viewpoints, The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a delightful, uplifting, and gently-told story of the power of friendship during wartime. I grew to love the characters and their unique personalities. I love reading stories about women working together and finding ways to thrive during the difficult days of WW11. A slow-burn romance (closed door) rounds out the story.

I greatly appreciated the lovely and thoughtful themes of finding your voice, finding your true self in spite of expectations from parents and/or society, true love/soul mates, tradition, women empowering/supporting women, family loyalty, problem solving, and friendship.

“In a good family, you’re loved simply by being part of it, and whatever happens to you, wherever you go, you will always know that you’re loved. It doesn’t matter how successful you are, how beautiful, or how rich. The only thing that matters is that you’re you and that you belong…”

“Friendship always sees you through. If you have friends, what more do you need?”

“Friends provide more than just company. They form an invisible net that is so strong and wide that it can catch any of us if we fall.”

Enthusiastically recommended for fans of women’s fiction with substantial themes and for those who love stories of independent, inspirational women. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle will appeal to readers who appreciate a story set in England and features women making the best of it during wartime. Fans of Chilbury Ladies’ Choir and The Kitchen Front will love Ryan’s new release!

Pub date: 5/31/22
Genre: historical fiction
In one sentence: Fashion designer Cressida is devastated when her design house is destroyed in the Blitz - but she turns her frustration into a wedding dress sewing circle, making white weddings possible for brides across the country.

I loved Ryan's previous book The Kitchen Front, and this one did not disappoint! I loved the three women's stories and how Ryan made them so human and relatable. There's Grace, on the eve of a marriage without love, Violet, an aristocrat conscripted into the army, and Cressida, who's always put her career first. The women supported each other through trials and tribulations, showing the power of female friendship even in the hardest of times. The wedding dress was a beautiful symbol of their perseverance and ingenuity. I recommend this one to historical fiction lovers, especially if you're looking for a different kind of WWII story.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a fan of Jennifer Ryan and The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle does not disappoint. Set in 1942 England, the story follows three main characters who are trying to find their way during World War II. Due to clothes rationing, the sewing circle meets to mend and share wedding dresses. The strong female characters really shine in this story loosely based on actual events. It’s a charming, heartwarming feel-good read.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

THE WEDDING DRESS SEWING CIRCLE by Jennifer Ryan is a heartwarming and intriguing novel of historical fiction set in Britain during World War II. It is the story of three women whose lives unexpectedly intersect in the small village of Aldhurst outside London. Fashion designer Cressida Westcott reluctantly ends up back at her estranged family’s manor house after her home and design house are bombed during the London Blitz. Her niece, Violet Westcott is thrilled her famous aunt has come and hopes she will liven up their dull wartime lives. Grace Carlisle, the local vicar’s daughter, is about to marry, but with clothing being rationed, her only chance for a white wedding is to repair her deceased mother’s tattered and moth-eaten wedding gown. When Cressida joins the village Sewing Circle meeting, she inspires the village women to come together not only to mend Grace’s mother’s gown, but to use their sewing skills to piece together new clothing from discarded scraps. Soon their wedding dress projects bring happiness to brides far and wide. I enjoyed seeing the relationships between the women flourish. Although this is a wartime story, it is also a heartfelt story about family, friendship and love. I also learned so much from the historical aspects of the novel. Based on true events, this story is expertly researched and written. I highly recommend this book and I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

4.25 white wedding dress stars

This one is set during the war in the countryside village of Aldhurst and features three memorable women. This one really brings home the impact of the war as clothing was rationed and everyone had to mend old clothes and trade children’s clothes to get through. Finding a wedding dress could be a challenge!

We meet Cressida Wescott, fashion designer, as her London home and fashion house are bombed one evening and she’s left with nothing. Forced to flee to her childhood home in Aldhurst, she’s anxious to return to London to start over.

Cressida’s niece, Violett Westcott, is beautiful and searching for a husband. That plan is soon put on hold when she is conscripted! She’s sent off for training and finds quite a different world!

The daughter of the village vicar, Grace Carlisle, is preparing for her upcoming wedding. Her father finds her mother’s old wedding dress, but it’s been damaged by moths and time.

The village Sewing Circle comes to the rescue with repairing the gown and Cressida is drawn into village life and finds her talents most welcome. It doesn’t take long until an organized effort springs up around providing wedding dresses for women across England, including those in the armed forces.

This sweet tale has a bit of everything – history, characters to root for, and romance. I applaud the author for taking the time to tell each character’s story and to develop them into strong characters. They really grew over the course of book and I was reluctant to finish this one and say goodbye to them.

THE WEDDING DRESS SEWING CIRCLE is another wonderful historical fiction novel from Jennifer Ryan. Her earlier works include The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, The Spies of Shilling Lane, and The Kitchen Front. Also set in a small English village during WWII, THE WEDDING DRESS SEWING CIRCLE portrays the lives of several women: Grace, the vicar's daughter; Violet, a young aristocrat conscripted for war work; and Cressida, her aunt who has become a well-known fashion designer. They struggle in different ways to balance society's expectations with their own, often unformed, dreams. Ryan once again depicts a close-knit, supportive group of women – this time focused on sewing and clothes rationing during the war. She refers to numerous government efforts like Mend and Make Do and the IncSoc Utility contest. Those activities raise interesting questions about the role of fashion, consumerism, and social class. And, of course, there is an element of thwarted romance. Grace is engaged to a local curate, but is attracted to Hugh, Violet's brother and head of the local manor. Violet seeks to marry an English aristocrat and Cressida has foresworn marriage, focusing instead on her career. They all grow and change and re-evaluate priorities as the story progresses. THE WEDDING DRESS SEWING CIRCLE is a LibraryReads selection for May with wide appeal to fans of romantic historical fiction and cozy English villages.

Cressida Westcott was expected to do her duty and marry the peer that her brother chose for her. Instead she ran away from Aldhurst Manor over twenty years ago and never looked back. She is a successful fashion designer whose world comes crashing down around her when her home and design studio are destroyed during the London Blitz. With nowhere else to turn, she returns to her childhood home, where the friendships that she makes will change her life. Her brother is gone, but he has passed on his sense of duty to her nephew Hugh and her niece Violet. Hugh is almost unbearable and Violet finds the war an inconvenience when it comes to finding a husband with a title.

Grace, the vicar’s daughter, thought she would never marry. Now she is set to marry the former curate. She dreams of wearing her late mother’s wedding dress but it needs major repairs after being stored in the attic for years. With the help of Cressida and the local sewing circle the dress is redesigned to cover the damage. When Grace’s wedding is called off, the idea of loaning her dress to other brides at a time when clothes rations are limited is born. It is the beginning of the Wedding Dress Exchange. Soon dresses are being donated to the sewing circle to be repaired and altered, enabling brides to have the traditional wedding of their dreams.

Jennifer Ryan’s heartwarming story is one of love, friendship and growth. Violet’s conscription allows her to see the shallow person she was and grow into someone who cares for those around her. Cressida’s whole world was her design studio, but rediscovering family and building friendships in Aldhurst showed her what was missing from her life. Grace had taken on her late mother’s responsibilities, caring for the members of her father’s parish. She has talents and dreams of her own that she finally has a chance to realize. Each woman blossoms with the love and support of the women in the sewing circle. It is a story that will have you smiling long after you have finished reading. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Publishing for providing this book for my review.

I received an advance reading copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley.com and the publisher in return for a fair review. This story takes place in England during the Second World War and revolves around three women. Cressida Westcott is a fashion designer who loses her business and her home during the blitz. She returns to her childhood home, Aldhurst Manor, where her spoiled niece, Violet, and duty-bound nephew still live. Violet's main interests involve finding a titled husband who is rich. The third woman is Grace Carlisle, the dutiful daughter of the local vicar. They all meet once a week at a sewing circle where many of the town's ladies come together to bring life back into old clothes. It seems that during the war, clothes were rationed in England and a person needed a number of coupons to buy anything new. Wedding dresses were no exception and this group decided to focus on remaking old wedding gowns donated to them so a new bride would have something nice to wear on her wedding day. It was all a very nice premise, but I found the characters very stiff and unlikeable. The story itself was predictable and I often questioned just how these ladies ended up the way they did. It all seemed very contrived and I just did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. I rarely read romance stories for this very reason. Perhaps someone who enjoys a good love story might feel differently.

I ended up liking this a lot more than I was expecting! I honestly was expecting yet another WWII story that would be similar to many others I've read, but this story managed to find something unique and new for me to read about. There is definitely romance for multiple couples in this, but at its heart, it's about a group of women in Britain who end up being the backbone of their community and discover that many of the ideas that were perhaps drilled into them by society and their families are at the very least outdated and do not really help the country, let alone themselves and the people in their lives who matter. The story takes place during world war II and revolves around three specific women and the chapters alternate among the three of them. Grace is a vicar's daughter who is still grieving the loss of her mom and who has had to pick up the pieces for herself and her father, who has all but stopped living ever since they lost her mother. Cressida Westcott is a well-known couturier in London who managed to make a name for herself as a woman, against the wishes of her father and her brother after she lost her fiance to the first world war. Violet Westcott is her niece and she starts out as a spoiled and snobby aristocrat girl, she was definitely pretty loathsome at the beginning, but I enjoyed watching her change and grow over time as she worked to unload herself of everything that had been drilled into her by her father ever since she was young. The three of them are thrown together after Cressida loses her home and business due to a bombing raid and that is where the book starts. I loved watching each of the women learn something about themselves and about what they were willing to accept for themselves. I loved watching these women form friendships and support each other during the war. There was definitely a huge "we're in this together" sense in this story and just turned out to be a really delightful read. I loved all the historical details the author included about fashion during the war, the sharing of wedding dresses to help with morale, the Make Do and Mend program, the Utility Clothes range, and the use of "found" parachutes to make clothing (albeit illegally), as well as the hugely popular IncSoc Utility Clothes designs, many of which still exist today in museums, and the IncSoc Utility Fashion Show. Also included in her story were women photographers, magazine editors/writers, and other ways women contributed to the war effort. The author includes a note at the end about many of these historical items and events that I found to be interesting. I am so glad this book caught my eye. I would definitely read other books by this author.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.