Touche Dear Dress...Touche...

What a week from hell. "The Rapture" may not have happen to the rest of the world, but I can feel the wrath of God in my sewing room. We had a fitting today and it did NOT go well at all. The bodice fit isn't too terrible in the front, but the back has to be completely re-done. Apparently my Aunt Jackie wants to be able to lift her arms without the dress ripping apart. Stupid wedding dance traditions! Oh ANNNNND the midsection doesn't fit either. I have to figure out how to extend the ruched mid section in the back of the dress all while matching it with the skirt seams AHHHHHHHH! Did I mention the wedding is in 3 weeks?...

.....I'm losing it. The past 24 hours have been one big pin-pricking bluuur. In fact, Aunt Jackie will be walking down the isle with a few drops of blood..compliments of my thumb.

The biggest obstacle is my own laziness. In order for this dress to fit well, I'm going to have to manipulate the actually paper pattern. And that requires thinking. And measuring. And focus. And I am out of Red Bulls.

::Sigh:::

On the bright side, we did decide on a beautiful lace trim. Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough, so that is another trip to Joann's. Also the sleeves have been cut out and underlined with tulle. In this picture, the sleeves are just pinned on. When they are finished, the sleeves will have a cute little gathered "Poof" at the shoulder seam. Use your imagination. There will also be another layer on top of the white shirt. It is the same embroidered tulle as the sleeves.

Hopefully I will be able to get some good close ups once the pieces are sewn together. This bad boy is being held together with hundreds on pins. Our poor toes.

It is very late. I have some more dress nightmares to catch up on. Goodnight, I bid you Adieu.

Tie-Dye reusable bag with tyvek

Saturday I spent most of the day sewing the wedding dress, but I randomly became inspired to make myself a  purse/diaper bag. I desperately needed a new one. The one I had been using was infested with cracker crumbs. Sure I could clean out my current bag, but it is just so much easier to make a new one.

I found some awesome tie dye print fabric. The material is a kinda plastic/stretch/waterproof hybrid material. Lucky, it was a remnant (50% off), so it only cost me $4. I also had some tyvek (yes, the same stuff the put on the outside of houses) laying around from a previous project. So POOF!, 2 1/2 hours later, I have something new to lug around 5lbs of diapers and peanut butter cracker crumbs!

I made some boobies.

Finally some progress! And some mishaps...

This is the left side of the dress. These two pieces are suppose to be sewn together...ooopps. However, this miscalculation actually turned into a good thing because I will need extra room to fit 2 more skirts under this layer anyways. So, hopefully I have enough fabric left to cut out another skirt panel...*Gulp*...

On a positive note, I have something to cover up the goods...::please God, no wardrobe malfunctions::

 Shoulders could help...But I would need some help entertaining my son....
-------"The Wiggles" have officially entered my life./facepalm------
The second I turned on the kid-crack show popularly known as "The Wiggles", my 20 month old son was hooked! For about 30 minutes he sat on the floor (with a diaper on his head, long story) and watched 5 grown men sing about the rainbow. Hey, at least they have a steady job in show business, right? 

Finally! Time to finish the shoulders! Or so I thought. I don't know if I was just tired, or if the background children's music was frying my brain cells, but I must have messed up sewing the lining to the bodice and shoulders like 5 times. Now that I think about it, it just seems like a cluster mess of thread and bleeding fingers. It really should not have been that difficult.

ALAS! The bodice, back, and shoulders are sewn and lined!...and my son has ripped apart a stack of playing cards and is trying to make the carpet polka dot with a bingo marker...oh God!

Alright, I got the baby cleaned and now is a lighter shade of blue. Time for a fitting!

This poor bodice has been through some abuse. Now all I have to do is take it apart and make the adjustments for a better fit...better hide the markers...

Battle of the Royal Wedding Dress

Did we all watch the Royal Wedding? I sure did...so did my aunt. That afternoon, my dear aunt text me this:

Aunt Jackie: Question...is it too late to design my wedding dress like Princess Kate's?
Me: Do you want it exactly like Kate's?
Aunt Jackie: Yes.
    ::Cue beads of sweat running down face and nervous body twitches::
Me: Sure...but we are going to need to go shopping for a corset ASAP.
Aunt Jackie: A what? OH you mean that thing that brides wear that's poofy?
    ::/Facepalm::

TGG!!! (Thank God for Google), because if I was going to pull this off I needed to examine that dress from top to bottom. So after a slight freak out, excessive perspiration, and a "Hell No" look from my mother, I got my shit together and browsed the web for ANY dress pattern that was even remotely similar to Kate's wedding dress. Here is what I found:

I figured if I could find a white corset with a sweetheart neckline, then I could somehow attach the skirt to the corset and then sew on the same lace v-neck and sleeves that Princess Kate had. Eventually, I could figure out the back of the dress...Yes, it is so crazy it just might work! I purchased the pattern from Vogue's website and finally I could feel my heart beat slow down...I got this shit...

Feeling slightly more confident, I text my aunt back. I told her I would need some massive baby-sitting and I could set up a sewing home-base in her basement to allow for the maximum amount of sewing time. Wedding Dress Mission Impossible, My Ass!


Aunt Jackie: Ok...I hope you know I'm only joking about making the royal wedding dress.

                 :::::MUTHAFU-!!!!:::

Me: No. No, I did not know you were joking.

Duct Tape Mannequin / Dress Form

I needed a body.
However, our local Ed Gein was out. So, I bring to you the Duct Tape Mannequin! For those of us short about $300 for a custom made body form, a little creativity will take your wallet a long way.

Basically, I had Aunt Jackie put on a loose t-shirt and used duct tape to make a body mold. Now that I think back on it, I really should have taken advantage of my Aunt's vulnerable state. Damn it! Next time, next time...

And yes, that is an old  fake Christmas tree stand. Schhhwing!

Check out this link for a tutorial on making your own Duct Tape Dress Form!
http://www.threadbanger.com/episode/THR_20090403

For something entirely different...

This morning I realized I my son's summer wardrobe was looking pretty bad. So, I attempted to make him a pair of shorts without using a pattern. After all, how hard can it be? Well, hard. After stitching on the wrong side twice and unintentionally creating a very tight crotch area, I gave up. I will be purchasing a pattern on Saturday. However, here is my question: What do you think of the length? I feel that this length is kinda cute. Reminds me of something you would see while strolling on the beach. I think the color and fabric is great.

  I don't know why this photo is sideways. I'm too blog-challenged to fix it. Turn your head sideways.

The Battle of the Wedding Dress: Fabric Hunting

  It was a cool, damp morning as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. My small companion and I slowly creeped through a dense forest of polyester and 100% cotton. The smell of plastic foliage filled the air and the surrounding consumer wildlife was muted by the sound of a squeaking shopping cart wheel. Senses heightened, we relied solely on our training to overcome the mission put before us. Fabric Shopping.

  Ah, fabric shopping. My little addiction. Although, I really do not recommend bringing your offspring to Joann's if you can help it. Just today I got smacked in the head with a bolt of fabric my son yanked down...totally ruined my high.

  Now, fabric selection for the wedding dress went like this:
Me: So, what kind of fabric do you want?
Aunt Jackie: Satin.
Me: Alright, let me pull up some photos of Satin fabric and you can pick out the color you like.
-------Pulled up Mood Fabric website, Satin selection----------
Aunt Jackie: I don't like how shiny it is.
Me: You don't like that satin is shiny?
Aunt Jackie: Yeah. It might look too fancy next to a suit.
Me: /Facepalm.

   After about an hour of looking through silk, satin, and charmeuse, our eyes started to bleed and brain matter was oozing out of our ears. We decided to order some swatches and see what happen. Guess what swatch Aunt Jackie ended up choosing? Satin.

  This is the fabric:

Blue Satin- This will be the main fabric used.

Beige Taffeta- For under the ruched opening

Beige Tull-This will either go over the beige taffeta or be an underlining for the sleeves to add form.

And this is why you always bring a sample of the material you initially bought in case you have to buy extra...  I now have mismatched embroidered tulle...which cost $24.99 a yard. /facepalm
One of these will be used to go over the taffeta, to make the sleeves, and to minimized Auntie Clevage,

Up Next - Bondage Baby!