The story of a group of talented seamstresses who turned their skills to helping bereaved parents from Merseyside to the far reaches of America and Dubai all began with a wedding dress.
When mum-of-five Rachael Seager went through a difficult divorce in 2019, she was left with a pure white designer gown she didn't know what to do with.
She said: "It was stunning, and I didn't want to give it to charity and pass on bad karma. But the material was so gorgeous I asked what could I do with it, and someone came back to me and said there were charities that turned wedding dresses into 'angel gowns' for stillborn babies. I thought it was perfect."
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Rachael reached out to a London charity that specialised in transforming old wedding dresses into suits and gowns for babies, but discovered it had been "closed for years" - and so she decided to set up her own sewing group, Wirral Wings.
She said: "At first, we just made angel gowns for hospitals. Then we started getting people contacting us directly. We made everything bespoke in the colours they wanted, then we started putting packs together, with matching blankets, outfits, a memorial heart, a cuddly octopus, a keychain and other bits.
"The reason we do two of everything is so one goes to the baby, and one goes to the mum - so they're together forever.
As well as providing clothes and gift packs to local hospitals, including Liverpool Women's Hospital and Wythenshawe, for stillborns, the group has spread its wings to include young children and even teenagers.
In December 2022 they provided memorials for three-year-old Faye Dawson, from Wallasey, who tragically died in a car crash on the southbound carriageway of the M6 near Leyland on November 19.
Rachael, who lives in Birkenhead, said: "It doesn't matter how old the child is. We dealt with a boy of 17 and his favourite thing was riding his BMX, and we had his favourite skatepark engraved with his name in his memory.
"A couple of years ago we had to travel to Dukinfield in Manchester because a lady found out her partner of 14 years had a few weeks to live, so they wanted to get married and didn't have the funds to do it. We ended up in this Pretty Woman-type story with so many people coming forward offering their wedding dresses to her, so she could choose from 25 dresses. We made all the bridesmaids dresses and our supporters paid for the children's shoes.
"We started out small but we've grown and grown. With us bein self-regulated we can help where we want, but we do rely on our own pockets most of the time. But people are kind, they help with donations.
"We've been asked to help in Philadelphia, a woman in Dubai. We post worldwide. We provide most of the hospitals in the North West with gift boxes. We make 'cuddle cribs' so parents can hold their premature babies without hurting them, and we also make covers for cold cribs (refrigerated cots to allow parents to spend more time with their deceased baby)."
It total, the group has repurposed more than 1,000 wedding dresses and other sentimental pieces of clothing for funerals since the group's official beginning in September 2019.
Rachael added: "It can be soul destroying. There are lots of times when we all cry. There are nights where you don't sleep, you can be on calls for hours.
"Some of the cases coming to us were so bad I found it affecting me, but when you see how much it helps it makes it all worthwhile, and I know all the team feel the same way.
"We're very lucky - we're like a family. We joke, we're silly, we cry together, we laugh together. None of us knew each other before this and now we're all as close as you can get. Everybody lifts up everybody else."
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