4.04.2012

Two Weddings and...an Update


No, you're not seeing things...We are back!

It’s been a crazy nine months, and I’m afraid that my mother and I have been very bad bloggers having not updated you in quite a while. Being in school (just a few weeks until Graduation! Yay!), things are still crazy, but I have many new sewing projects in various stages of “gestation,” if you will, and a great many things to share with you! 

Christmas in July: I hate having to come up with ideas for Christmas presents, so for a dear friend of mine and another dear friend/former boss, I decided to make coupons entitling them each to one garment sewn by me! Melissa, my former boss has been in the market for a new dress (I think she wants something in black. When she reads this, she can correct me if I’m wrong). She admires both versions of Vogue 8413 that my mother and I have made up for ourselves (pictures to come!) as well as my mother’s version of Vogue 8305 (one of my favorites!), so perhaps one of those will be in my boss’s future! My other friend, Emma, was making noises early this winter about needing a new coat for the cold weather. She ended up getting one over the Christmas break, but I’m going to make one for her for next winter.

Emma and I at school. Photo credit to Natalie Brown.
A new dress for every occasion: This semester, I was able to squeeze two dresses out for two very special occasions. For the American Heart Association’s Heart Ball, I made up view D of Simplicity 3774 (which I had made before and will never make again!) in silk dupioni I ordered from Vogue Fabrics. Besides some fitting problems in the bodice, it went together well.

I also made a red peachskin dress for the Go Red for Women luncheon this February from McCall’s 6433. As you can see from the link, it has dozens of pleats, which were a headache to mark on the fabric, but I was able to get it done. The only problem I had with it involved a zipper. It’s a long story that I will share with you all later, but the main lesson from this experience was never use a zipper  with plastic teeth that’s older than you are.


My boss and I at the Go Red for Women luncheon. You can't tell, but I'm wearing my red under the coat! Photo Credit: Melissa Thrasher
 Super-secret projects: Last year, I believe I made reference to a secret project that had been under my presser foot, which was a baby quilt for a co-worker who had been expecting a little boy in February. Well, with February having come and gone, Shelley has welcomed her little bundle of joy and hopefully has wrapped him up in my quilt! Hopefully, I’ll have a picture for you all soon.

I now have a new top-secret project for yet another former co-worker. I can’t say much except that I started it last semester and I’m about one-third of the way done with it now.

It’s wedding season!: According to a friend of mine, we (meaning we college students) are reaching an age when we’ll be having a lot of weddings to go to. As much as I don’t want to think about it, she’s got a point.

This summer, I have two weddings to go to, one in August and one in September and, therefore, at least two dresses to make. Seeing that I don’t yet have a job to occupy my time for the rest of my life after I graduate from college on the 27th, my very first job out of college may very well be making a wedding dress for the August bride rather than working in public relations.

I just found out about this yesterday (apparently, the bride, my godmother, had a terrible run-in with bridal consultants at a few dress shops) and am extremely excited! She wants something very simple and I have already found a pattern or two that may interest her!

My dress for September. Read on below!
As for the September wedding, I’ve spent the better part of the start of this semester finding an appropriate dress pattern for yet another former co-worker’s peacock-themed wedding. At the suggestion of my friend Emma, I looked for a pattern with a full skirt (saves me the trouble of having to make my usual ridiculously large hip adjustment!) and finally found a Vogue pattern circa 1955, which I plan on making up in a bright blue silk dupioni (also from Vogue Fabrics). 

However, I’ve found a new pattern that I may or may not use instead. What do you all think?
-Christina
            

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