Still At It!--Quick Update.

The skirt came back with no modifications needed! So, now I have a pattern.

And about 6 weeks to complete everything.

It's been a trying spring/summer this year. Serious health concerns. Termites. Heartbreaking developments in a family close to ours. Praying. Coping.

Beading.

I've started the front piece, the last.

 

Shown are the back, side back and side front as they will be put together. They will need some finishing  work when everything is sewn together.

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I'm a little concerned the puckering caused by stitching without a hoop will make things a titch too small. I'm spending about 4 hours a day at this right now, until I can't see straight and the needle and beads no longer want to cooperate.

I have a design for my mother of the bride dress. Fabric is next. Also, must find shoes.

Skirt Update

For all the griping we like to do about the USPS, can you beat taking a package to the post office Friday afternoon and having it get from Phoenix to it's final destination Philadelphia on Monday. For under $4.00. Try doing that yourself.

Not watch, the next time I do this, like when Sarah sends it back, it will be lost. And I'll be screwed.

Anyway, she loves it! The size and shape are perfect, the length might be, too.

I wasn't sure she'd want me posting the whole picture, so I cropped for the skirt. We're both excited and although there are still plenty of things I've never done to do for the first time on this, I feel like I have the hardest out of the way.

The Skirt.

Have to admit, this one had me baffled for a bit. I had to cogitate on it for weeks before I had the pieces together enough in my head to take a stab at it.

When Sarah was here in April, I made a skirt, but it wasn't full enough. I just added a little flare to the pattern pieces. I knew I would need more. High/low patterns weren't available in January when we chose the pattern, but the ones I've seen since then still don't have the look I want. So, it was up to me.

As usual, I took to the interweb for immediate images to think on. Most sewing advice for available high/low hemlines simply takes a ready made skirt and cuts off a shaped piece. I would do that as a lost resort. I knew there had to be a more professional way.

This actually showed up on my facebook ads. Scroll down for the cutting diagram. It what helped me decide how to layout and not have to do so much trial and error for the shape I wanted. I think it creates a more natural shape, more organic, less engineered which is what I wanted. Although it uses only measurements and not a paper pattern, it clicked with me.

Here's my cutting diagram.

I cut halfway between the pieces for seams because I figured it would be too full and need places to take it in.

Here it is, full and long.

  I tapered the flare by taking in the seams each by no more than 2 inches from the seam allowance.

Then, I had to cut the shape. It took me another few days to think. AKA procrastinate. I pinned a shape one day, looked at several times over the course of a few more, made a few adjustments, then took it off the form and spread it out. I'm aiming for the fullness of the high/low white dress and the hem shape of the black dress which is less full.

In these pics, it's laid on the table in the opposite of the cutting diagram. 

Then, I used my French curve that I rarely have used. I bought it maybe 10 years ago when I was taking some tailoring classes in Lancaster when we lived there. I used it to connect the pins I had placed to make the shape and allowed me to draw smooth lines and made me believe I know what I'm doing.

 

Here's everything all put together. I threw in a zipper even though it's not long enough. I think I'll have to hand pick a zipper when it comes to the real thing because of the beads.She wants a short train. I used her measurements I took in January as for lengths. Hoping if they're off, they're long because she and her maid of honor, who is making her own dress, can mark where they want the high and low to be.

 I packaged it up and sent to the bride, and it should get there Monday, 6/3.

For some reason, blogger won't allow me to left justify anymore.

I have pretty much completed the beading for the back bodice pieces until they are sewn together and I have to fill in the spaces. I have the dino shapes for the front side pieces set and have to select the paisley patterns to fill them in. I guess in the meantime I can transfer the shapes and bead the outlines. 

My goal is to have this have this completed by August 15 to ship it.

I think I have some beading to do!

Thanks for reading!

Save the Date!

This arrived in the mail last week.

I can't get over how adorable it is. And I don't use the term "adorable" very often. It was designed and printed by the groom, Doug LaRocca, a very talented designer of party product packaging by day and printmaker by night. Here's his website. I love his whimsical style and use of color. He sells his prints at galleries in L.A., New York and Chicago. And on his website.

Both Sarah and Doug are dinosaur nuts. Sarah's dino name is TriSarahtops. Doug came up with DiploDouglas at her insistence if he wanted to keep on seeing her. I think that's how the story went.

And I'm beading along. Finished the first of the side backs and ready to start the second.

 

The cuteness is almost unbearable! But, I'm a mom, so I can handle it!

4 Months and Counting

 I am making progress! I recently finished beading the two back backs. Here they are in their sparkling glory.                                                                                                                                              

The bodice has seven pieces,
1 front
2 side fronts
2 side backs
2 backs.
So, these are 2 of seven. And the smallest, I might note.

Here's one where you can see the detail. It's the second, and I feel the quality is much better than the first.

The blank space will be completed when I connect this with the side back. It's a dino's long neck.

This next photo is the first side back.

I used a product called Mark-B-Gone to trace the basic shape. It's works like sewing tracing paper. I put it between the pattern and the fabric and trace the pattern using pressure so the marks transfer. Then the marks disappear over time. It says within 72 hours, but sometimes it takes longer. No problem. As long as they go away. I also have a marker I use for detail shapes.

I've been using nylon thread to sew the beads on. It's like very fine fishing line and took many frustrating days learning to use it. I like that it's invisible on the front (also a point of difficulty in use) and that it's strong and doesn't fray in the needle. It does tend to slip out of the needle...but I manage.

So, just four months. I better get beading!

Back to Business

We suffered a death in the family recently--my mom. She taught me to sew and taught me to cuss while sewing. The second was not intentional. She made me stay with it when I got so frustrated I wanted to give up. Over time, my interest and skills surpassed hers. She started back when it was more economical to sew for kids than to buy ready made. Her machine was a Kenmore and they never quite got along. For my 16th birthday, I received a portable Singer. Portable if you can lift 50 pounds. It had a metal body. I took it to college and made costumes for plays with it. My daughter used my Singer until a few years ago. She sews, too.

Before everything, I decided to sew the silk to muslin, serge the edges and machine baste the two layers.

 This is progress one back panel, the smallest. It's about 80% complete, needing a border at the top and fill-in around the design. It's based on a design I can't post because I borrowed it from somewhere on the interweb.

The bride is impressed! 






Sarah was here for a few days. She'd booked a flight hoping to see Mom one last time. But it was not to be so she visited with us and some of her aunts and uncles and cousins. She slept late and read and watched movies and cooked Paleo food for us which helped me clean up my eating. Our big event was going to In N Out Burger then to the movies to see Admission.

I whipped up a skirt and need to do another. Need to make it more flared and redo the cut of the hem. This is Monique Lhullier, as is the white up and down hem dress I posted earlier.

Today she told me the shop on Fabric Row in South Philly where she bought the silk burned down. Hope we don't need more, but we will need to make the flowers and petals and will also need silk organza for that. Hope some one else on the row sells it. The really sad thing is a fire fighter died in the fire. I imagine a fabric store would go up fast with all the chemicals the material is treated with.

Sad News, Good News and My Movie List

I've made some progress on the dress, just no pics yet. My mother's health declined the past few weeks, making me more scatterbrained that usual. We lost her yesterday, Good Friday. She went peacefully for which we are grateful. I suppose the next few weeks will hard, but we've seen this coming for months so we're glad she's with the Lord now and out of her troubled physical body.

Anyway, I watch movies on my laptop while I sew. I've included a list on the side of what I've watched so far in this process, including my rating. * = a star. I watched one (Descent) that was pretty awful--over done sexually violent scenes, and I decided after that I need to keep the content mostly upbeat and good quality to keep good energy going into The Dress.

Trouble is I can't watch foreign movies while working-can't sew AND look at subtitles!

I'll try to get my most recent progress posted soon.

But great news! The bride herself will be here for 4 days starting on Friday. I wanted to have the mock up fo the skirt ready, but that won't be happening, unless I pull an all-nighter, which is unlikely...

Feel free to recommend movies of great content and quality in the comments.