1st Communion Dress (Finale)

Cut from the detachable train of my wedding dress, this is my daughter's 1st Holy Communion dress.

Pattern: Vogue 7845

I removed the embellished lace trim from the hem of the train, and replaced it along the the hemline.

Along the neckline, I stitched small and medium pearl beads, using the bead placement from the hem as a guide.  You can see the neckline below. The veil was borrowed from her cousin.

Here is a view of the back.  The floor vent is giving the tulle netting underneath some "help", and the "poof" of the princess seamed dress is emphasized!

I absolutely love the way it turned out, and have to say that to anyone who can sew, you should give serious consideration to re-using your gown or parts of it for special occasion, heirloom pieces like this.  Having my daughter re-use my wedding dress in this form, made the day all the more important to her.  It wasn't particularly difficult, and extremely rewarding.  I can't think of another sewing project that will bring be so much joy... that is, until her wedding day!

Day Off = Fabric Shopping at Haberman's!

I needed to go. Cross my heart, it's true.  I had to go there.  It's prom season, and another senior girl needs a pretty, pretty dress made by the magical (sewing) math teacher. She loved the dress Mila Kunis wore to the oscars...

Mila Kunis, 2011 Oscars, in Elie Saab

 so she picked a pattern...

Vogue 8360

and we've been on the search for an embellished lavendar lace and satin.  Did you know that embellished lavender lace is hard to find? I figured that out the hard way, after searching online, making phone calls and ordering swatches.  Even Haberman's only had 1, and thank goodness the half-yard they had left was exactly the right color and style!

The lace is only for the bust, the stretch satin will be everywhere else.  I'm excited (as usual) to make this up, so stay tuned... Prom is May 26!

I also had a gift certificate to spend (darn it!), so I picked these lovelies up and took them home...

Rayon Blend, perfect for a dress or skirt

Cotton blend, perfect for a dress or skirt

Poly chiffon, for a summer tunic

In exchange for being so good and patient, and playing so well in the "play area" at the fabric store, we stopped on the way home and had lunch at McDonald's Playland.  A great day was had by all!!!

p.s.  When you hear "formal attire" on a wedding invitation, what comes to mind? Friday night, ceremony at the reception hall... floor length or knee length? Solid or print? I've pulled a bunch of patterns and fabrics from the stash... TO BE CONTINUED!

Catastrophe... Averted!

I am slowly (but, surely) making progress on the Communion Dress.  Had a near catastrophe the other night involving a leaky black pen... but thankfully, Facebook came to the rescue!!! I didn't realize that I had the ink all over my hands when I turned the dress inside out, and just about fainted when it occured to me.  There were black smudges across both shoulder backs, leaving me with no clue how to proceed.  Somewhere between depression, rage, and confusion, I posted my problem on Facebook, and was ready to rip the back pieces out and re-cut them... and re-sew them.... when faithful reader (and lovely lady) Leslie commented that RUBBING ALCOHOL WORKS MAGIC ON INK.  With nothing to lose, I grabbed some cotton balls and started dabbing and blotting, keeping a clean layer underneath, and I'll be darned... it came clean!!! Major crisis averted, and lesson learned! Leslie: I can't thank you enough!!!  And look, you'd never know (if I didn't tell you myself):

Last night the zipper went in, and I attached the lining to the dress at the neckline.  With the netting/tulle ruffle gathered and attached to the lining, the dress has this very lovely poofiness to it, that is so absolutely sweet that I now want ruffles inside all of my dresses!

Here's the back view:

Next step is attaching the sleeves, and then attaching the beaded lace trim at the hemline.  Oh, and that veil thingy... no problem! ;)

Aloha!

A week in paradise is good for the soul.  I highly recommend the "Big Island" of Hawai'i to all, it is breathtakingly beautiful and relaxing in every aspect.  Just a few shots to prove my point...

We stayed in Kona for 1 week, and saw so much.  Drove to the Volcano National Park, snorkeled LOTS at the beach, Place of Refuge, and Captain Cook's cove. Took a helicopter ride along the Kohala Coast to see the valleys and waterfalls.  Most of all, we RELAXED, and came home "reset" and ready to rejoin the world.  No, it wasn't all "crazy expensive" and the customer service can't be beat, as everyone we talked to was so nice and welcoming.  My brother was generous and shared his time-share condo with us, and Grandma babysat for the week... otherwise, this trip would not have been possible!  If you haven't been to Hawaii, you need to start a "vacation jar" for it, as you'll never see anything like it.

Apparently, my sewing "mojo" came home with me, as I am ready to wrap up the Communion dress, and have lots of other lovelies coming soon, too.  A prom dress for a student, inspired by Mila Kunis's Oscars dress...

Along with more "evening wear" for my nieces's upcoming May wedding!

Eager to get started, so I'll catch up with you all soon.  Thanks so much for sticking around during the "doldrums" of Febuary and March, I was a real bummer there for awhile, but that's over with now!

Look Alikes!

Little Miss Princess had a special day at school today.  In honor of March being "Reading Month", her school declared it "Dress like your favorite book character" day, so she didn't have too much trouble picking her favorite character! I dug into the stash, and found some white bleached muslin, and used Simplicity 3668.

It was already cut to a size 4 (earlier version, made a dress), which was a smidge too tight, but once I picked out the the front pleats, she had enough room to move.  I used some fabric paints to put the blue design around the neck opening, and a few strips of tan cotton were braided together to make the belt.  Add a flat iron to the hair with a side-braid, and voila... Julie in the flesh!

Her friends all asked where her mom bought Julie's shirt, and LMP proudly told them, "My mom made it!"  So, if you have a little "American Girl" in your life with a Julie doll, this is the perfect pattern to recreate her look.  Too bad it's out of print, but I did see it available on ebay.

Here's the earlier version of Simplicity 3668, a Christmas dress from 2008.

February Productivity - Way Down!!!

Maybe it was the weather.
Maybe it was a result of too busy of a January.
Maybe it was something else.

But I did next to NO SEWING in February.  Today, I finally hemmed the dress I've been working on since January for the Vintage Sew Along (pics are there), and that is it.

Mojo is gone. Absent.  Nada.
I have plenty to work on (Communion Dress, hello?!?!), just find myself in no hurry to run downstairs and get moving on any project at all.  So weird.  I don't like it at all, and Bo keeps making me feel even worse about it.  It's happened before, I'm sure it'll happen again, but I've got to get over this funk.  That's it, I'm heading down there right now.  Later!

Wardrobe Staples

Shirt - McCall's 5630 (Palmer/Pletsch Perfect Fit Blouse)

I've had McCall's 5630 in my pattern stash for a long time (it's OOP now), along with some fabulous white cotton Ralph Lauren shirting (from Ressy's co-op).  My favorite button-down blouse in my closet is from Victoria's Secret, with front vertical darts and side seam darts, back vertical darts and shoulder darts, with french cuffs.  I was happy to change the french cuffs out, but really wanted a great fit through the bodice.  This is the only pattern I own (including 3 years of Burda subscriptions) with 3 of the 4 darts included.

I took my time with the collar and stand, using my wooden tailor's clapper to press the seams open carefully and trim closely.  My hand-stitching was impeccable along the collar stand, front button placket, and cuffs (Susan Khalje would be proud)... and I was thinking, "Damn, I'm good!".  Then it happened.  The bump in the road.  Can you tell what it is before I say it out loud?

Too much ease in the sleeve cap. No matter how I tried to gather it, ease it, pin it... I got puckers.  I ripped, I re-stitched.  Still puckers.  Yuck! I navigated through the worst part of a tailored, fitted shirt... and got stuck with stupid sleeve seam puckers??? Seriously?  In all honesty, the only person who will notice will be my husband, because I pointed them out to him.  So, whenever I wear this shirt I know that he will say, "Wow, you look great! Too bad you messed up the sleeves..." And I will laugh, because it's a reminder that I am my own worst critic, and the blouse is 98% "Amazing" and 2% "Oops".  I should've known better, as the last 2 reviews on PR warned of that problem, but I didn't take the time to measure and check.  Oh well, live and learn!  I will fine-tune the pattern and remove some ease, so the next version will be perfect.  Actually, I haven't serged those seams yet, so I may still remove those sleeves, and fix this version!

What I did take the time to do, was to tissue fit the pattern on Bo.  Something I've never been able to do before, but now I can! It was so awesome being able to pin it together, slip it on her, and check the fit without doing a muslin.  I have to re-train my brain that this is now an option with all my patterns...

Pants - Simplicity 4135

This is my 3rd version of the Simplicity Threads pattern 4135.  I consider this my TNT pants pattern, and this tiime I used some really nice "Easy Care Wool Blend" in charcoal from Gorgeous Fabrics.  Such a great fabric... it's pressed beautifully and is a really lovely suiting weight.  Great for winter, but will transition into spring, too.  I used a black cotton broadcloth from the scrap box for the pockets and waistband facing.  The only change this time around was the narrowing of the pantleg.  When I wear these for real, I'll take a pic so you can see that it was definitely a change for the better! Sadly, Little Man accidentally head-butted me today during a wrestling session, and my right eye is all swollen, so you'll just have to deal with pics of Bo modeling for now! If you've never made pants with a pocket bag that extends to the center front, then you're really missing out on a no-gaping pocket situation!

This won't be last you hear from me on either of these patterns! They are true "wardrobe staples" and with many beautiful cotton shirtings in the stash and another length of "Easy Care Wool Blend" on it's way to me from Boston (yes, I caved during the 1 day sale), I will hopefully continue to improve my skills on them, too!