Something borrowed, something brave: Dressmaker changes her chemo to complete gowns for brides

DESIGNER Mette Baillie has built a successful career delivering wedding dresses that are a little bit special.

But some recent bridal gowns have been even more special than usual, stitched with astonishing dedication and courage.

When the bespoke dressmaker started losing the feeling in her fingers during chemotherapy, she took drastic action to ensure none of her brides were let down.

Mette, an Edinburgh-based designer, had been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and the chemo threatened to cause nerve damage to her fingers.

Mette, 46, who owns Freja Designer Dressmaker in the city’s New Town, said: “I had been diagnosed with the cancer after finding a lump.

“Treatment involved chemo, surgery and radiotherapy.

“However, a biopsy revealed that the tumour was not responding to initial drug treatment and doctors told me I needed more.

“I was to be given three further large infusions.

“The first chemo drugs had begun to affect my feet and I knew there was a risk of more as the chemo was increased.

“Nerve damage is a recognised side-effect of chemo.

“Without my fingers and hands my job as a dressmaker was in jeopardy.

“I dreaded losing sensation through nerve damage – but I knew I needed the chemo to survive.

“So I asked my doctors to seek a kinder way of administering the cancer-killing drugs. They promised to come up with something,

“I had a lot of brides waiting for wedding dresses and did not want to let them down. Up till then, I had managed to keep working every day through the first lot of chemo.”

Mette’s doctors came up with a gentler drug protocol and spread the chemo over nine weeks’ treatment instead of three major blasts.

It allowed the Danish-born seamstress to keep the use of her fingers and help brides get their designer wedding gowns in time. She believes keeping working benefited both her and the women.

“I was stunned to be diagnosed with cancer as I run and swim regularly, doing all the right things to stay healthy,” she revealed.

“It was after a routine run that I discovered the lump. I assumed it was harmless but then tests revealed cancer.

“It was then I decided to face it full-on and not let it change my life. It certainly wasn’t going to stop me completing any wedding gowns.

“A wedding day is one of the most important in any woman’s life.”

Mette made her showroom and workshop a cancer-free zone by switching off completely. She and her team of dressmakers spent busy days designing and sewing gowns.

“I would go to hospital for chemo and come straight back to my customers,” she said.

“We needed to keep the dresses flowing,needed to keep designing and stitching. No one spoke of cancer at work but instead, I tried to keep life as normal as possible.

“Even when I lost my hair at one point, I was determined not to dwell on how I looked. I worked hard to always look my best for my customers even when I didn’t feel I was looking my best.

“With the chemo came infections, caused by drugs lowering my immune system.

“I knew I was fighting an aggressive cancer but didn’t want to look it up online because I wanted to focus on recovering.”

Mette’s husband Duncan, who works in oil chemistry, was devastated but supported her all the way.

Mindful of the research that shows exercise helps beat cancer, Mette continued her love of running and swimming.

Mette came to Scotland after studying Scottish Estate tweeds in her native country.

She followed in the footsteps of Danish-German Nordic invaders who came to Britain and settled around the River Tweed, after which the iconic material is named.

It flows from Edinburgh, east across the Borders region in Scotland and northern England.

“I have always love Scottish tweeds and imagined I would work with them,” she smiled.

“However, I was asked by so many people to make their wedding dresses that the business grew from there.”

Research shows that chemo-induced nerve damage causes weakness, numbness tingling and pain.

It is a common side-effect of the cancer-combating drugs.

Mette’s follow-up scans show she is cancer-free.

“I couldn’t ask for a better result,” she said.

For more information visit https://www.freja-fashion.co.uk/