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This woman repurposed her wedding dress into gowns for stillborn babies

For many women, wedding dresses are treasured items, and — though they may never be worn again — these items are often kept as a wedding day memento. One British woman has decided to put her wedding dress to good use after deciding she won't wear it again.

Yvonne Trimble — who is originally from Edinburgh but now lives in Cyprus — sent her wedding dress to Cherished Gowns for Angel Babies, a Kent-based charity that turns wedding dresses into burial gowns for babies for are stillborn or who die shortly after birth.

According to the charity's website, parents affected by neonatal deaths struggle to find burial gowns that fit their babies who are often very small.

After Cherished Gowns sent Trimble photos of the repurposed gowns, Trimble took to Facebookto express how moved she was by the results.

"Yesterday they sent me pictures of what they had made with my dress and a mix of emotions swept over me when I received them," Trimble wrote on Facebook.

"Pride that I'd done something good, sadness that it's necessary for these gowns to have to be made, relief that I've never known this heartbreak, and a sense of thankfulness that volunteers around the country give up their time to produce such comforting garments," she continued.

Trimble's emotional post prompted an outpouring of support, gaining almost 100,000 shares on Facebook. Trimble received 2,500 friend requests on Facebook and countless emotional messages from parents who have lost babies.

Trimble wrote on Facebook that she had spent the day crying as she read the messages from grieving parents: "It's been very emotional as people have shared their tales of losing babies with me, but everyone has been so grateful for the attention this issue now has."

She also shared one of the messages sent to her by a parent: "So from the bottom of my heart thank you for giving us mums some relief in the knowledge that our angel babies are forever wrapped in love."

The charity who make the gowns have also seen an overwhelming response after Trimble's Facebook post went viral. Megan McKay, co-founder of Cherished Gowns, told Mashable that the reaction to the post was "hugely unexpected".

"We regularly send out photos to people to show them how we used their dress, so to see this post go viral was quite overwhelming! As a result, we have now closed our waiting list to new dress donations as 8,500 people had joined it offering to send us their dresses."

"Our gowns give parents a huge amount of comfort and it takes away the pressure of having to find something for their precious baby to wear. We cater for babies from 20 weeks gestation and you just can't walk in to a shop and buy something of this size. Parents are always hugely appreciative of our service," McKay said.