THE dress

Last year, about this time, I received a phone call from my niece, Christie, who lives in Southern California near Los Angeles. Her daughter, Jamie, had recently become engaged and she asked if I would be interested in making a wedding dress. From her wedding dress. My answer was, "Of course!!"
  Jamie and I exchanged contact info and she sent photos of dresses with details she really liked and wanted to incorporate into her gown. I made a sketch of something she might like and, yes, she did!! She also sent a list of detailed measurements, so I could get started in the right direction fitwise.
  Several weeks later, a huge box came with Christie's dress. These photos are different views of the dress before I started taking it apart. Notice the VERY long train, high neck and mutton chop sleeves, all very popular
 the 80's. Also notice there's a zipper in the back.

     One of my dress forms is fully adjustable and I was able to replicate (to a certain extent) Jamie's shape. Then I set to task taking apart her mom's dress, which took several days and the use of a scalpel, as it is much sharper than a regular seam ripper. I stored all the pieces and yardages of the lace in separate plastic bags, with approximate measurements. Thank the lord for Ziploc and Glad bags!!!
   After removing bits and pieces from the dress, the original fabric wasn't in the best shape, and I ordered some really nice silk dupioni from Butterfly Silk Fabric Company. To make it crisper, I underlined it with

a satin faced taffeta that I found at Joanne's Fabric store. A Butterick pattern for a semiformal dress worked very well as a base for the design of the new dress. Mainly, I added width to the skirt and a godet from the center back to make a small train that would stand away as the bride walked.
   The next installment of this dressmaker's tale will come very soon, as I have to locate the folder with photos of construction. That will require much effort on my part as my computing skills are not quite as honed as my sewing talents.

zipper!

side view of sleeves

the inside of front

 inside original dress

Senior Citizenhood

My birthday came and went. Now I'm 65. On Medicare. hmmm
I unplugged for a few days around my birthday and really enjoyed the quiet time. The weather was nice too. Then the remnants of the hurricanes swept through, one right after another. So much rain!!

The wedding dress I'm making for my great niece is ready to be shipped to her. And I have my plane ticket for the trip to California to finish the dress and attend the wedding. My sister and I decide I should fly to Las Vegas, then drive to LA. For some reason, I'm less nervous that if I was flying straight to LA, who knows why. I'm a terrible traveler.
  I hope to get some photos of the completion of the dress to post here when I get back in November.

At the end of August, I was in a show and sale with TNCraft-Southwest, then two weeks later, I participated in an art fair that was in conjuction with Central Gardens Home and Garden tour. I really enjoyed both outings and saw lots of people I hadn't seen in a while.  Plus, my work was very well received and that gave me a great feeling of accomplishment and validation.

My life has settled into the boring, drama free routine I wished for and I couldn't be happier.

The depths of summer

As usual, it's been hot and humid, like every other Memphis summer since the dawn of time. We got a tiny break this weekend and I took advantage of it and got a lot of work done in the yard. It really needed it too, as I had neglected my yard for two years!!!! I know where all that time went and am too embarrassed to tell anyone.......
  So, it's back on track now. My sewing adventures have been good, maybe not as prolific as years past, but satisfying enough. I hope to spend more time on creative endeavors going forth. I've done a little painting, but realized my true talent doesn't lie with paint and canvas and am happy to leave that to my brother, sister and sister in law! A lot of my sewing has been dedicated to reworking my niece's 1980's wedding dress into a new creation for her daughter. I'm very happy with how it's coming along and she seems pleased when I send her photos. I love texting.....
   The realization that I haven't fully explored living for myself and gaining inner strength is another reason for a change in my creative attitude and giving more time to house and yard obligations. The troubles are in the past and must stay there. The grand adventure is over and done. It's enough to reflect on the positive emotions of both those relationships, but not let myself go down either of those paths again.

    On a more uplifting note, the group show at Crosstown is coming up. I screwed around at the deadline and just couldn't get my shit together to make a proper application. I felt bad about that but sucked it up without too much self abuse. Then, one of the other artists had to drop out and I was offered their space!! So, I got a reprieve. Now I'm making a few new things to present for sale and rerun some older bits. Last August, I took everything I had and now realize what a messy space I had. Maybe a slimmed down presentation will prove more attractive. 

Wedding dress

side view of bodice

waist to bust dart trimmed

Returning to the wedding dress construction. It might be a little hard to see the actual progression here but I will try to explain it. In the first photo I have draped the lace onto the dress form over the foundation of the bodice which has been sewn from three layers of fabric--the silk cotton lawn over a sturdy base of cotton acetate, which gives the same appearance as the lawn over the bemberg skirt. The bodice is lined with bemberg with a seam along the neck edge. Shaping of the bodice foundation is from side bust and waist to bust darts. You can see where the shaping of the lace comes into play at the side bust dart and waist to bust darts. Following the design of the lace, I trimmed around the motifs and overlapped them, lots of pinning, then free motion stitching along the edges of the lace motifs  to hold it all into place. This way there are no obvious straight line darts on the lace layer. This a technique I saw in a Threads magazine (my favorite sewing mag) article written by Susan Khalje several years ago. Hope I have spelled her name correctly.  
 If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

The Interwebs

This evening I looked at the stats for this measly blog, and am so surprised at what I found. The Russians are looking at my blog!! How strange!?! Why would a Russian person want to look at this crap?

  But I did discover the most looked at posts were those of the dress constructions. So I need to get bizzy and finish up the postings of the graduation dresses and the wedding dress, huh? I took plenty of pictures and have no other excuse but that I am a lazy slug. And I really have other things to do besides sit at this laptop everyday.
So here are some photos of the lace draped on Mabel (my skinny dress form) to determine placement of the lace on the bodice of the recently completed wedding dress--the one I miss so much!! It was such a pretty thing and I loved every minute of making it.
  Gee, my sewing room is a wreck.

Verklempt

The bride and her mother picked up the wedding dress today and I teared up a tiny bit. That beautiful garment has been a constant companion all summer and now she's gone and I miss her.
  In the meantime I finished one of the art quilts that was banging around in my head and need to hang it in a place where I can see it daily. I am trying to use this series of wall hangings as visual reminders in an effort to balance myself. (ooo that sounds a little too self aware.) 
 Of course I have taken plenty of photos of the things I've been doing lately and when I get them ALL downloaded and organized, I'll post them. I still haven't completed the series on the graduation dresses, so please do not hold your breath.

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.