Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the solstice and I had a tiny celebration with a small stick fire and a glass of wine. (I highly recommend Relax Cool Red!) Of course I missed the actual time of the event, but at least there was a recognition of the day before it ended.
   The weather was decent considering the very high temps we have had this month, so I rode my bike for a bit in the evening and enjoyed the cooler air whizzing across my face and arms.
Earlier in the day, I did some deconstructed screen printing and I need to get busy washing that stuff today.
Happy summer to all!

Avert your eyes at the proper moment

Last Thursday, a group of us from the sewing Guild got together and made body double dress forms. It was quite an undertaking, I must say. I had never done this before and thankfully, a couple of the people there had done this several years ago. I do not know what would have happened without their astute guidance. Plus some stalwart members came to help wrap and not be wrapped in return. Thank you and you know who you are.
  We wrapped three in the morning and then broke for lunch. Yummy food shared by all. Three more in the afternoon. My turn. While being taped up I experienced a rise in my anxiety levels but it soon passed and all went well for the majority of those being wrapped. Our hostess with the mostest and one of the morning wrappees did not fare too well. But at the end of the day (and especially the next morning) all was forgotten and the experience will go down in history as a good one. More photos of the process will be posted on the guild website and anyone interested in that should contact me for the link.

front (duh)

back--needs a bit of repair in that one place

  Until you have done this you cannot understand what it entails. The end result is so worth it in my mind, even though it has completely destroyed my personal mental body image. When I finish all the trimming and details and make my form pretty, I should feel differently towards it. Embrace it, love it, call it my own. 
  P.S. I need to either clean up my sewing room or drag out the backdrop more often. What a dump!!!

Wedding dress

front

back

The bride and her entourage came for a fitting today and things are going very well. Hurray! Not only am I happy, the MOB seems to be okay with it too. At least she is not wailing with disgust. hahahaha...... These photos are just a sneak peek--they are of the beginning muslin from the first fitting. Today the dress had the lace on it and needed a bit of tweaking. More later.

Where we left off....

positioning template for curved band

pin marking center of horizontal band; blue marker

blue dots for guide

longer edge stitched

miter corners before stitching

This is where we left off at the second graduation dress's construction. I'm not including the construction of the skirt panels because they were done similarly to the first dress and who wants to be redundant today? Not I!!
    Of course the photos came up first and I don't know how to change them.
  The skirt has a lace band about 2/3 of the way down. I made a paper template of the curve for the piece of lace to be formed to. I traced it with a blue wash out marker--just made little dots--and placed pins on the vertical lace bands to mark their centers. I pinned the lace along the longer edge first and sewed with a straight stitch, then pulled up a thread along the edge of the lace to make it fit into the smaller edge of the curve. Straight stitching again.
 After all this sewing, I trimmed the batiste away from the back of the lace and pressed and zigzagged, like I did on the other dress.
  At the intersection of each vertical band I had to miter the lace and stitch that, then trim it away on the back.  Those seams were covered with small medallions cut out of the lace that's leftover from the bodice. I don't think I got photos of that but I'll check my files. If not, maybe the dress's people will send me the photos they promised from the graduation ceremony.
  Next will be photos of the bodice getting connected to the skirt. Enjoy!

Recent acquisitions

The other day I was at my son's friend's house and he showed me some stuff he was planning on taking to sell for scrap. I bought some of it because I thought it was quite groovy and that made both of us pretty happy. (According to a recent comment on this blog, that is important, thank you!)

love this color!

needs some TLC

plant stand in center is new--to me

three tuteurs--love them

cloud like shoes..mmmmmm

    My walking shoes were getting very shabby too, the tread was wearing down, so I bought new ones. They are ASICs and when I tried them on I remarked to the sales person, "ooohh it's like walking on clouds!" Turns out the style of the shoe is called "cumulus 13"!???!!!! Who'd a thought......

Nightie night

Yesterday was Memphis Sewing Guild day. This is always a good day because I get to meet up with friends who are as excited about sewing as I am and we go to lunch afterwards. What is not to like about lunch with friends!!
  The program was "Jammies in June".  several months ago I bought some very nice knit fabric and a little while later acquired a lovely soft dotted Swiss with the intention of making a couple of night gowns to MY preference. I do not like a gown that is too short or too long. If it's too short then it creeps up around the waist and if it's too long it tangles up on your legs. Both scenarios make for an uncomfortable night's sleep.
  In the next to last issue of  Threads magazine special publication "Simple Stuff to Sew" (or something to that effect--more info send me a message) there was an article on making a gown and accompanying robe. The gown was simple (duh) so I drew off the pattern according to the instructions, which had an error on one of the measurements--but I solved that problem and continued with the gown construction.
I spent three or four hours ( the day before the guild meeting, mind you) and completed two totally perfect night gowns--one of which I am wearing as I blog--that were a big hit at the meeting too.
  Of course, Patricia had to show me up with a super sexy style she co-opted from a swim suit top she found on sale. OHHH, that girl!!!!
I'm wearing the knit version(no phone calls please) and the gown made of dotted Swiss looks like something a bride would wear on her wedding night (gag). Both versions are light as a feather-perfect for hot Memphis summer nights and make me VERY happy. The most important part!!!!
  Maybe I will take photos once I finish the wedding dress currently under construction. Photos coming soon, I promise.

Yikes

After rereading my last two posts, I realized I need to get out more or get a new life. The latest post was just a rehash of the one before.
   My grand daughter left yesterday and I will miss her very much. We had fun while she was here. She needs to get her college plans together ASAP. I have promised her a laptop, but will not deliver on that promise till she is enrolled in some institution of higher learning.
  And now that she is gone I must get busy finding gainful employment of some sort. (Oops, I'm rehashing again.) I will be starting on a new dress next week and will try to document the progress of that project for everyone's entertainment.
  A friend suggested I read "The Creative Entrepreneur" and do the exercises in it. I have gone so far as to buy the book, but haven't delved into it yet. Last year I bought a copy of Julia Cameron's book on overcoming artist's block "The Artist"s Way" and did some of that. Mostly, I liked the journaling aspect of it and although I haven't continued with the daily morning pages, I still do quite a bit of what I like to call page dumping. When I reread some of the writing, which is done in stream of consciousness style, it seems a little disjointed (maybe my husband IS right and I should be heavily medicated and/or institutionalized!) but at least I can get what I am feeling about my current situation out of my head and documented to a certain extent. And the psychologist I'm seeing says writing all this stuff down is good.
  I also keep a little journal about walking and that makes me very happy. It has drawings and little paintings in it, in addition to the writing. It's pages are decorated with images from the hand carved stamps I made. Little feet walking on the pages. Mileages. I walk a LOT and should probably start looking for new shoes soon. The ones I am wearing now are a year old and the tread is looking pretty shabby.
  Yesterday, I presented a program on mixing pattern pieces in a garment for the sewing guild in Collierville. Everyone was very nice and I hate that I had to skip the lunch afterwards.  Lunching with the ladies is always a good thing and I try to never pass up an opportunity to do so.

Holiday Inn Express--queen bed all to myself,aaahhh.....

   Okay, enough of this shit. I'm going to work on some art today.