diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index 973a656..6bb9344 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -240,6 +240,41 @@ Starting in version 1.7.1, you can wrap values in CDATA by setting the optional
 
 If you do not set `cdata` to `True`, the default value is `False` and values are not wrapped.
 
+Adding Custom Attributes
+========================
+
+You can add custom attributes to nodes by adding a child `dict` named `@attrs` to a parent `dict` like so:
+
+```python3
+my_dict = {
+    "Family": {
+        "@attrs": {
+            "Tree": "Menelaws"
+        },
+        "Name": "Lewis Menelaws",
+        "Occupation": "Programmer",
+        "Programming Language": "Python"
+    }
+}
+```
+The key will be the name of the custom attribute while the value will be the value of that custom attribute.
+
+Running a standard `dicttoxml` you will get a result like this:
+
+```xml
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<FamilyTree>
+    <Family Tree="Menelaws">
+        <Name>Lewis Menelaws</Name>
+        <Occupation>Programmer</Occupation>
+        <Programming_Language>Python</Programming_Language>
+    </Family>
+</FamilyTree>
+```
+
+
+
+
 Debugging
 =========
 
diff --git a/dicttoxml.py b/dicttoxml.py
index ae1384a..29b185b 100755
--- a/dicttoxml.py
+++ b/dicttoxml.py
@@ -208,9 +208,7 @@ def convert_dict(obj, ids, parent, attr_type, item_func, cdata):
         LOG.info('Looping inside convert_dict(): key="%s", val="%s", type(val)="%s"' % (
             unicode_me(key), unicode_me(val), type(val).__name__)
         )
-
         attr = {} if not ids else {'id': '%s' % (get_unique_id(parent)) }
-
         key, attr = make_valid_xml_name(key, attr)
 
         if isinstance(val, numbers.Number) or type(val) in (str, unicode):
@@ -225,12 +223,25 @@ def convert_dict(obj, ids, parent, attr_type, item_func, cdata):
         elif isinstance(val, dict):
             if attr_type:
                 attr['type'] = get_xml_type(val)
-            addline('<%s%s>%s</%s>' % (
-                key, make_attrstring(attr), 
-                convert_dict(val, ids, key, attr_type, item_func, cdata), 
-                key
+    
+            if list(val.keys())[0] == '@attrs':
+                # If first item is @attrs
+                
+                custom_attrs = val['@attrs']
+                val.pop('@attrs', None)
+                addline('<%s%s>%s</%s>' % (
+                    key, make_attrstring(custom_attrs),
+                    convert_dict(val, ids, key, attr_type, item_func, cdata),
+                    key
+                    )
+                )
+            else:        
+                addline('<%s%s>%s</%s>' % (
+                    key, make_attrstring(attr), 
+                    convert_dict(val, ids, key, attr_type, item_func, cdata), 
+                    key
+                    )
                 )
-            )
 
         elif isinstance(val, collections.Iterable):
             if attr_type: