Two posts in one day?

I forgot to mention in my last post another quick sewing project I did a couple weeks ago, which was to make a memory game for my nephew Christian out of old fabric scraps.

This will probably be more fun when he's older (he's only 2), but there are so many ways to play as he grows up.  Right now Kelly can use a few pairs face up to teach him to match.  Later she can add more and more (there are 20 pairs total, so PLENTY of room to play around with how many to use!).  Eventually she can turn them face down with just a few pairs and again adding more and more.

So anyway, I saw this online and thought it was a cute idea, so here it is.  It was really easy.  Some of the squares are kind of messy, but really there was no need to be all careful with straight edges or anything.  The hardest part was settling on only 20 different fabrics!  I could have done more, but I also wanted to make sure that I picked ones that were easy for a kid to tell that they matched.  Some scraps I had have such large repeats that getting actual matching squares was too difficult, and even though an adult would probably be able to tell they went together, I tried to keep it restricted to fabrics that had very closely matching patterns in just a 2 x 2 inch square to make it easier for a young child.  Even now, some of them aren't perfect matches (the black flowered one at the bottom of the third column) but are hopefully close enough not to throw a toddler off too much.

Long overdue post

So I haven't posted in ages.  I haven't been all that crafty lately.  I picked up some knitting last night for the first time since I ripped out Durrow months ago.  As of last night I was almost finished with my colorful scrap socks that I started over a year ago (!) and have been languishing unfinished and unworked-on for quite some time.  I may finish that up tonight.  I don't know.  I don't have the the same excitement for knitting as I used to have.  I am in need of something to relax and de-stress me, so we'll see if this helps.

In the past month or so, I have had a sort of ongoing project sewing wise.  I have been cutting up old shirts that I never wear and sewing them into underwear.  Basically I cut up a couple pairs of old underwear and made a pattern using the pieces.  Then I cut up old shirts and sewed them up.

Most of them are the same style except the ferret ones.  The main style has a seam down the back, so to get the whole picture on the ferret ones without the seam, I had to make another style.  

There's also another plain black pair that I haven't gotten a picture of, and a red and black striped pair that I haven't finished the leg edges on yet.

Finally, I took this shirt, which had a stain on it...

...and did this with it.  (You can't see in the picture, but OF COURSE the stain ended up right in the crotch area of the underwear, so that's super sexy, ha.) 

The leg holes aren't finished on that either, but I happen to have the picture, so here you go.

Anyway, my underwear supply is thoroughly replenished now, haha.

Wedding dress and veil

So I finally got married this past weekend and am at liberty to show off my dress and veil, both of which I made. 

The dress looks very shiny in these pictures!  I'm sure I have mentioned it, but again it's satin with a chiffon overlay.  I hated working with the chiffon and will probably not use it again unless I absolutely have to.

 

Here's the veil.  Funny story about that.  I found a tutorial online and determined that I needed 3 feet of tulle.  When I ordered the fabric, I typed in 3.  I was later shocked at the sheer amount of fabric that I received in the mail until a day or so later I finally realized that you don't order fabric by the foot but by the yard.  So I had ordered 3 yards when I needed 3 feet and ended up with 3 times as much as I needed.  So there's quite a bit of gray tulle left over.

Anyway, after all the stress of the dress-making and the not knowing when we might be able to get married, everything finally came together.  My dress was amazing, and I got a ton of compliments on it.  Even the judge said he liked it, haha.  I loved the veil, which was a last minute addition but totally worth it.  The wedding was great.  We had a small ceremony with just 2 witnesses (Kelly and Eric) and Beth as photographer, and then we went back to Aaron's parents' house for a small party, about 20-25 close friends and family.  It was low-key, casual, small, and just perfect for us.  I could not have been happier with everything, the dress, the veil, the wedding itself, and the party, which his mom did an amazing job with.  Everything was awesome, and we are married finally!

 

And a picture with the three nephews just because they're all awesome.  (That's Michael, Christian, and Holden, left to right.)

Dress finished

I finished my dress last night! I ended up doing a small bust adjustment, making a muslin to try it out (which came out great on the first try), and then adjusting the bodice. (Would have finished the dress Friday for sure, but I got sick, bleh.)





There are still a few places it doesn't fit 100% perfect, and I don't know that I would make this again for several reasons. Mainly I don't really like strapless dresses - why did I make this? I don't know, I thought it would be cute. It is, but I'm going to worry that it's going to slip down all the time! Also the boning is fairly uncomfortable. I might be able to flatten it out a bit more, but I kind of wanted this as a semi-casual dress, and boning doesn't exactly scream comfort. Lastly the lining seems to slip up and poke out the top at times which is annoying. Overall I like it. It's not for a specific occasion, so I don't care that it's not perfect. Hopefully I will actually wear it.

Problem solved for once!

No pictures today. Not much to show, but plenty to write!

As I mentioned the other day, I had some trouble with the bodice of my newest dress being too baggy. I posted on the Sew_Hip community on LiveJournal and got a bunch of great advice on how to proceed. I ended up going with a variation of this. (I told Aaron I had to make a small bust adjustment, and he said, "Like a small adjustment in the bust or..." "Nope, small bust." Haha.)

The bodice on my dress is shaped differently than the one in the above example, but I used basically the same technique to change the size. I put on a tight tank top and pinned the actual pattern pieces on my shirt as drafted, taking seam allowances into account. Then I just kind of pinched the tissue paper together close to my skin, to demonstrate how the fabric SHOULD lie. I repinned along this new line while I still had the pieces attached to my top. Then I unpinned it from my top and drew a line along the new pin line. I took seam allowances into account and folded the pieces over at the new cut line. Then I traced the pattern on fresh paper (I didn't want to cut the pattern itself in case it still didn't fit and need more adjustment) and cut out my new pieces. I then made a muslin in a junky fabric to try out the fit. It fit perfectly. First try, like a glove. So awesome.

So then I cut the real fabric down to match the new pattern piece and resewed the top. I also took in the seams a little bit on the back pieces to allow for extra tightening. It is now absolutely perfect! I need to redo the lining, including the casings for the boning and attaching the lining, and also attach the skirt and zipper, but I could get a good part of that done tonight. Tomorrow I should be at the very least to the same point I was before having to back track, but I may even finish it tomorrow. So this is great news. Small bust adjustments from here on out!

Aaaaand, it looks like the wedding is on (!!) for some time in May, although we haven't set the exact date yet because we have a couple people's schedules to verify first. But hopefully my chiffon arrives this week or early next week, and I can bang out a wedding dress in less than a month. I foresee no real problems here. I think we may actually get married!

Problems

So of course I ran into some problems with my newest dress. I made that purple one without a single issue, so I guess I was due, ha. Basically the bodice is way too big. I made the pattern one size smaller than my measurements, and still it ended up enormous on top. The waist/skirt fits, but the bust and very top are too big. I don't think it's just due to the fact that I'm an A cup because usually Simplicity patterns fit pretty well for me. I think it's maybe the pattern itself along with the fact that it allows 1 inch of ease. Even with ease, though, it still should have come out 1 inch smaller than my actual body. I would really hope that this bodice would not only lie flat across the very top but also be nice and snug! I want it to stay in place. There are no straps holding this thing up; I want that fabric tight against my skin! So that confuses me in itself. But regardless, I still made a size smaller than my measurements which means it should be tight against me, but it is not.

It's really hard to tell in pictures what the problem is and how big it is, but here you go. Basically it would fit nicely if I went up 2-3 cup sizes, which I don't foresee happening unless I gain another 20 pains, in which case the waist won't fit.


I posted for advice on the LJ Sew_Hip community, so I'm hoping someone there has some ideas on how to fix it. I'm thinking I'll make a muslin in the next smaller size for the bodice and see how that fits. But then if that works, I have to try to adjust for the fact that the skirt is one size and the bodice is another. No matter what I end up doing, it still means I have to redo the entire bodice and lining, the casing for the boning, and the zipper. Which is a huge pain. But whatever, this is just a summery for-fun dress; I don't need it for anything specific. So there's no hurry.

Still waiting on the chiffon to arrive, but I don't expect it for another week or so.

Progress on a dress

I made some pretty good progress on my black and white dress.

Here is how the skirt looks with the black godets.


And here it is with the top and bottom attached and me trying to hold it in place, ha. (The left side is not sewn shut at all.)


I have made some more progress since these photos, including finishing the lining, making casings in the lining for the boning, sewing in the lining, adding the boning, and sewing shut the bottom of the lining. I basically need to add the zipper and sew up the side seam and add the last godet. I am not sure in which order this happens. I think the zipper is next.

I'm a little unsure of the fit right now. The top seems not too secure, but we'll see once the zipper is in what happens. It's hard to tell with the side gaping open.

Minor standstill

I'm still waiting on the chiffon to arrive for my wedding dress. It was taking forever (much longer than last time I ordered it), so I called the company today to check on it. Apparently is backordered and should be shipped the middle of next week. I'll probably have it 5 days or so later, so maybe the first week of April. I have all the satin and the lining cut and ready to go.

I started another dress in the meantime too. I'm using the fabric I just bought recently at Joann and also one of my new patterns. I don't know what this is for, just a summer dress I guess. It's from this batch of patterns. This is the first Project Runway pattern I've tried, and I like it so far. You can mix and match all the parts. So I chose which bodice I wanted (the strapless) and what length dress (short*) and other design elements (godets, which I will do in plain black). I like the mix and match option rather than, Dress A is strapless and long with godets, dress B is strapless and short but without godets, dress C has a halter top and is long, etc. It's more like, I want this bodice, this skirt, no ruffle, etc. I don't know, maybe that's not THAT different than a regular pattern, but whatever, I like it! Anyway, I do need some lining fabric for this one, so I haven't officially started this dress either other than to cut the fabric.

What I'm saying is I have absolutely nothing to show for the past week, craft-wise, hahaha. Soon.

*I don't wear long dresses because I am too short. This one is still going to be a bit longer than normal. I usually chop about 3 inches off the bottom because I'm short, but I forgot to do it this time.

Something blue

I made a garter for the wedding, using some fabric left over from the dress debacle, so it matches my soon-to-be-dress. I added a blue ribbon for "something blue." It came out cute. I wasn't sure about it because it seems a bit bulky to me, not that I am a garter expert. But I tried it on for Aaron to show him, and he said, "YES!!" Hahaha, he likes it. So I'm happy with it.




My pattern for my dress redo arrived yesterday. I have school tonight, but hopefully I can get started on cutting out the pattern soon. And hopefully the fabric arrives soon.

Matching

I forgot I have a matching purse to go with the dress. I made this ages ago and use it as my everyday purse.


Today I started cutting fabric for a garter for the wedding. That will be a quick project. If only I didn't have to work and go to school...

Finished the dress!

I managed to sew a dress in three days:

Without sash:


With sash:


Back:


I love it.

Quickest dress ever.

I took a trip to Joann Fabrics today and stocked up on all the notions I need for this dress and my wedding dress (managed to run out of gray thread for that one. Can't imagine how...). I also wanted to look for some fabric for a potential dress for Eric and Beth's wedding. I did get some fabric, but whether or not I'll use it specifically for the wedding, I don't know. It will eventually be a dress though, just not sure for what.

Fabric:


I also got 3 patterns, 2 of which were normally $18 but were on sale for $2 each! Sweet. I didn't even need them, but why not for that price. (Annoyingly, I probably could have gotten my wedding dress pattern too, but I already re-ordered it online and paid probably $10 for it. Oh well.)

I came home and got back to work. I'm not 100% happy with the ribbon I got because it didn't specifically match either of the greens in my sash, but it was more in between the two colors. So really it is still fine, but I wanted a perfect match. Oh well again. Anyway, I got the ribbon along the bottom of the dress done and then sewed the top and bottom together and added the bodice ribbon.

Here is a semi-closeup of the ribbon on the bottom (the stitching is absolutely terrible! Haha. You can't see it at all in the pictures, and it's probably not noticeable in real life unless you're right up on it, but I have no clue how to sew that ribbon on with a straight even stitch. It came out so wavy and wobbly looking, but I don't really care. I did the ribbon in purple thread which makes it all the more obvious, but oh well a third time.)


Here is the dress (obviously still unfinished) with the sash:


And here it is without the sash, with the bodice ribbon:


I may possibly finish this tomorrow. Zipper, straps (I already added the green ribbon to the straps), facing, hem. Is that all? I can totally pull that off. Three-day dress. Total piece of cake after that wedding dress. There are so many different steps to that one that I forgot how easy sewing a dress CAN be, ha. Up next, third attempt on wedding dress.

Fabric!

A more cheerful post, yay! I've been making sewing plans (with help from Amanda) for the dress for the christening. I'm going with the purple fabric I had originally picked out, along with green fabric for a sash. (Aaron didn't like the 2 fabrics together, but Gina and Amanda both liked them, and I think once he sees the finished product, he will like it better. If not, oh well, haha.) I'm going to add green ribbon on the straps, around the waist, and around the bottom in two rows. It's basically the same dress I made for Kelly's wedding, only I'm going to do it shorter, just above the knee instead of just below, and I'm going to have the sash. Since I'm going to do the ribbon around the waist also, I'd be able to wear it without the sash and still have it look interesting. Rather than just green on the straps and the bottom, there will be some in the middle to pull it all together, even without the sash. Also, one of the purses I made awhile ago, the one I have been using on a day-to-day basis, matches the green fabric for the sash, so that's going to pull everything together even better.

I think I can whip that up in a week, maybe two. I need a few things (for this project and a couple others) like thread and elastic and a zipper and so on, and I'm thinking a trip to Joann Fabric might be in order this weekend. I kind of don't want to drive there just for those few thins, so maybe I'll look for more fabric while I'm there. Eric and Beth are getting married in September, so I know I'll be making another dress in a few months. I can always pick out some fabric now. But really that's just an excuse to go to Joann, haha. I'm feeling excited about sewing again, and I feel like I need to keep the momentum going for when the wedding dress fabric arrives. (I re-ordered it yesterday.) I do NOT look forward to cutting that chiffon again. Not fun.

I cut out the fabric for the purple dress last night, and it's pretty exciting already. I love taking pictures of the fabric after it's cut but before any sewing. Then I can look back when it's done and think, "This dress used to be just all that cut fabric!" Or now, thinking, "That fabric will soon be a dress." Haha. I do need to cut a bit of interfacing, but that's no big deal.

I think this dress will look really great when it's done. I'm feeling in a positive mood today. Sorry about my recent rants and meltdowns, ha. Usually I keep that private, but I wanted to at least give some explanation for my lack of crafting lately (not in the mood due to general blah-ness at life issues) and also why I'm going to be resewing the wedding dress a third time, yay. Most of the time I am not so upset to the point of raving in public, even if only online, but it's a really frustrating situation. The funny thing is I never even cared about getting married until now, and suddenly I can't. Someday. It's okay.

More wedding dress woes

I can't promise that this is going to be the last whiny, depressing post for a while, but I'm hoping it is, ha.

So. This dress. I mostly finished making the dress for the wedding for the second time. Originally, I had gained weight. I made the size corresponding to my bust size at that point. I then lost weight. I remade the dress in the size corresponding to my bust size at that point. I put the dress on hold for months. I pulled it back out the other day to work on it. It was still a bit loose in the top, but I thought it looked good enough. Yesterday I pulled out some other dresses I had made in the past (the one for Kelly's wedding and the one for Aaron's dad's surprise party) to check the lengths and see how I wanted to do the length on my wedding dress. Well, those dresses fit much, much better. The one for Kelly's wedding looks absolutely spectacular. I told Aaron, "I look a lot skinnier in this dress..." He said something like, "Is that a concern, looking skinny?" I said, "No. I want to look fat in my wedding dress." It's always a concern. I know I am not fat and I didn't even feel that fat when I was fitting into larger sizes, but I still would obviously rather look thinner. The point is I want my dress to look flattering. I don't want it to look "good enough." I want it to look awesome.

So I had like a complete and total meltdown yesterday. I felt like my dress fit before I tried on a few dresses that really do fit, and then I just didn't know what to do. I basically felt like I'd not only lost all hope for the dress every fitting and looking awesome (and just being DONE already), but also for ever even getting married. I felt so disappointed, like this was supposed to be over and done with in October. We should be married and this dress should be hanging finished in the closet reminding me how awesome everything is, not sitting here unfinished and reminding me what a mess everything is. I was just sitting there, sobbing uncontrollably about not only the dress not fitting but also about the whole getting married thing "not fitting" into our situation currently. And Aaron was sitting there, not knowing what to do, saying, "It's okay, it's only a dress," which just made me cry more because it's NOT only a dress. It's my wedding dress and I want it to look perfect and I want to look skinny and I want to actually feel like I'm going to get to wear it someday and no matter what I do or what happens in the meantime I still have to be reminded of the fact that we are not married and have no idea of when we will be EVERY TIME I think about/see/work on this dress. I've already sewn it twice, and I felt like another failure would just be too much. Aaron also suggested that I could start with a new pattern, if I felt this one wasn't flattering or whatever, just start over. But this was supposed to be my dress, the perfect dress for me. This is the one I wanted, and trying to imagine anything else is just upsetting too. I had such excitement for the dress, for our wedding when I started it, and everything has just gone downhill since then. I'm sick of sewing a dress that doesn't fit over and over. I'm sick of never knowing what's going to happen with our wedding. All I feel now is just disappointment and loss. It's not "just a dress" that doesn't fit; I felt like I was just mourning the loss of all that excitement and potential that I had in September and October. I feel like I'm never going to be that excited again, about the dress (because it's just been so much of a pain) or about the wedding (because I feel like it's never going to happen), and I feel like I've invested so much energy and excitement into both with just no return and I don't know if I can get it back.

Anyway, I later calmed down and went and looked at the patterns I had used to make 3 previous dresses (the two that I mentioned and the one for Christian's baptism), and I had made one size smaller in all 3 than the wedding dress is currently. (Dress pattern sizes are weird, not the same as commercial pants or dress sizes or whatever, so it's not like I knew right away, "Oh, that's a size too big." You go by the measurements, and the measurements for the size that evidently fits are smaller than my actual measurements, which is why I went with the size I did.) So thinking about it in a more calm state of mind, I decided I can give it one more shot. I will start completely over with new fabric (last time I just took apart the dress and recut everything, but the fabric is getting messed up from all that ripping and resewing) in my apparent regular size and give it one last shot. If it doesn't fit, then I don't know. I will cry and have hysterics again, I imagine. But I will be optimistic. I will try to think of this as the beginning of things turning around. I will start fresh with the dress, and hopefully other things will start to look up as well. I really hope so. And either way, hey, at least I lost weight, ha.

I've also been considering sewing a dress for my niece-or-nephew-on-the-way's baptism, so that kind of has me feeling overwhelmed too. Like now I have to sew 2 dresses in the next couple months. And if my wedding dress again doesn't work out, then what? Sew a new pattern? (Aaron suggested that I could always just buy a dress, and I got fairly offended. I don't want some stupid store-bought dress. I want to make my wedding dress.) Well, I don't know, I guess if I am trying to be positive, I should assume for now that it's going to work out awesome, but I just don't know what I'll do if I still hate it when it fits. And another thing that depresses me is the thought that I am probably going to end up rushing to get this done and we still may not even get married in May as planned. In reality, I'll probably have plenty of time to make a completely dress if this one doesn't work out. Oh well, let's not worry about it now. I ordered new fabric online this morning and will wait for that to arrive. In the meantime, I may start working on the baptism dress. I realize I don't have to make one for that, but I made one for Christian's, and I just would like to do it again. That will also be in May, so I have about 2 months to sew 2 dresses. It's totally doable.

Here is the fabric I have picked out for the dress for Holden-or-Jillian's baptism:


I'm considering a contrast fabric too, but I'm not sure how I feel about these 2 together. I like them, Aaron doesn't. Opinions?

Dress progress and more

No pictures again, sorry. Craft update interspersed with life updates and an unintended rant.

I started working on my dress again yesterday. Finally. I don't know if I ever mentioned that it's my wedding dress. I started working on it before we had announced our engagement. In fact, the original plan was to get married and not tell anyone until afterward. But real life kind of got in the way, and we had to postpone due to some health issues and health insurance issues and financial problems due to said health and health insurance issues, so we finally decided just to announce to everyone that we were going to get married. We're still not sure when it's going to happen. Our original date was October 21. That came and went, and we later announced our engagement in November (and most people thought it had just happened then). At that point, we planned for May of this year, assuming that things would be worked out by then, but so far there is no end in sight.

I don't really feel like getting into it in much detail in a public post, but basically with all of Aaron's health problems we can't afford to get him private health insurance (preexisting conditions and all that nonsense), and if we get married now, my income is too high for him to continue to qualify for Access. We are working now on trying to get him a permanent disability so that he will have insurance that doesn't cost me $450 a month for just him, which is ridiculous. So we're hoping the disability thing works out, although I don't see it being a speedy process, and we're hoping he'll eventually be able to go back to work and money won't be as much of an issue (although no matter how much money you make, $450 a month for a single person to have insurance is outrageous). But in the meantime, we have to wait to see if the disability thing pans out before we can make any plans to get married. Because if it doesn't, then he's going to have to find a job, which he has been trying to do unsuccessfully for months. (He has kind of a limited range of things he can do at this point.) So either way, I don't see us getting married in May, since it is already March and we have to apply for disability, probably get denied, get a lawyer, and apply again (apparently that is how it works?), etc. And if he doesn't get the disability, then he's going to have to find a job, which I'm not optimistic about time-wise either. I'm thinking it's still going to be a few months. That is depressing.

[On a side note: I don't wish anyone to be sick or hurt or anything, but to anyone who thinks it's unreasonable or "socialist" (or whatever it is that offends you about the idea) for everyone to have affordable healthcare, I think you would feel differently if you or someone in your life was in the position where they needed it. I think you would feel differently if it was making you put your marriage or your plans for your future on hold. We're certainly not looking for handouts. I have a decent job. He had a decent job before he got sick. We're not just lazy or irresponsible. I am very financially responsible. I pay all my bills on time. I own my own home. I do not use credit cards. I am not looking for money. I am not looking for other people to erase my mistakes. Unfortunately, as responsible as I am with money, I still only have so much to work with, which means that he has to be on Access. So you're paying for that anyway, so thanks I guess. I would like nothing more than to qualify for affordable insurance, pay for it ourselves, and actually get married, but I guess this works better for everyone else. I hope that makes you happy at least because I know I'm super thrilled about it.]

Anyway, back to the dress. We still intend to have a very small wedding, witnesses only, at the magistrate and then probably dinner with family afterwards and eventually a get-together for friends and family at some point. But I still wanted a nice dress, and I decided to make my own because that's what I do. Anyone who has been reading this for a while has read all the difficulties I have had with it, mainly that it was too big and I had to basically resew the entire dress smaller. Then I got discouraged and depressed about having to postponethe wedding and pretty much just put the dress away and didn't want to deal with it for a long time. I'm still depressed about it, knowing that we are probably going to postpone AGAIN, and honestly at this point I wonder if we will ever be able to get married. (I don't mean to make it sound like I sit around constantly feeling sorry for myself about this. I do sometimes, but really we're still together and we're still happy, and it doesn't really matter that we aren't married because our relationship and everything is exactly the same as it would be if we were married. But it would still be nice to make it official, and it's still just annoying and offensive that it's such a dumb thing preventing us.)

So the dress has been sitting and waiting to be finished, but I had a lot of trouble mustering any enthusiasm for working on it, knowing that there is still no plans for me to be wearing it any time soon. Finally, though, yesterday I started thinking about it and figured why not. I pulled it out and got to work. I sewed down a part of the bodice facing and then added the zipper. That's mostly all I had to do except the hem, which I will get to in the next few days. (I have school the next 2 nights, so it won't be until at least Wednesday.) It took maybe an hour and a half yesterday, and now it's pretty much done. So all that putting it off and putting it off for a couple hours' work. Silliness.

It fits very nicely, and I think it looks great. I decided against wearing the petticoat with it (I don't even remember what I did and didn't mention about the dress because it's been months since I even looked at it, but I bought a fluffy pink petticoat to potentially wear under it). The dress is not full enough at the bottom so instead of puffing out really cutely with a petticoat, it just looks like a big bell shape at the bottom and is not that cute at all. But at least I have a petticoat for future dresses, which I will make with big full skirts! I did a crappy job in the zipper, but who's going to look at the zipper? Otherwise it looks really good though, and I'm so happy with it. I can't wait to wear it. I don't think I'll be showing off finished pictures until I eventually (hopefully, someday) get married. Rest assured that it is lovely, and I hope you get to see it someday.

Sorry for the ranting, but this is something that is hugely important to me, and to think that people don't care or understand that there are other people going through things like this, not just looking for free insurance and handouts, really upsets me.

Blah.

So the event I was making the dress for is postponed indefinitely, so I have no real need to fly through finishing it after all. I actually am to the same point where I was when I started over, which is to say almost finished, although now I have lost all motivation to actually finish. As long as I get it done by May, I should be good to go. Really, all I have to do is sew down the facing of the top band, put in the zipper, and do the hem, but I am just in a funk about not even needing it anymore, so I don't know when I'll drag myself back to it.

I have a list of knitting things I need to make also, but I've been putting them off and putting them off. Aaron's second sock, a vest for Christian, some lobster claw mittens and duck booties for one of Amanda's friends (who is going to pay me for them), a crazy gargoyle mask thing for Aaron. No desire to knit these days. I did manage to finish Michael's sweater in time for the shower (everyone loved it), so it is possible for me to do these things. Just a matter of getting started, I guess.

I should also dye up some new yarn sometime soon. I bought a few skeins of a new yarn (Cascade Greenland, a washable aran weight) and also still have some 220 to dye, I think. My craftiness is at a total standstill these days. Life has been weird lately.

This dress will be the death of me.

Okay, so I basically made almost the whole dress the first week I started working on it. Then I realized it was way too big up top. I decided that I was going to make the dress form to make it easier to adjust the size and take in seams and just make it fit. After a week of trying to get the foam inside the dress form to dry, it turned out that the foam had expanded too much and now the dress form was going to be of no help whatsoever. I have already mentioned all of this.

My next step was to start taking the dress apart and attempting to take in the seams. This sounded easy at first but turned into a nightmare. It ended with me sewing two pieces together that didn't belong together and ending up in tears of frustration and hatred for this dress. At that point I felt like if I kept going with what I was doing, I would hate the dress forever because it just wasn't ever going to be as good as it was originally (aside from the fact that it would fit better). My other option was to start fresh, buy new fabric, recut it, resew everything in a smaller size. I hated the thought of buying $50 worth of supplies all over again. I might have hated the thought of recutting all that fabric even more. Finally I decided on a compromise, starting fresh with the same fabric. I took apart the entire dress and cut all my pieces to match the next smallest size. So far so good. I got the front of the bodice done last night and will get this thing finished and fitting by October 21.

It's just been a frustrating experience. I originally measured in between two sizes, so I went with the bigger one, thinking it would be better to be a little big than a little small because I could always take it in. Well in the meantime, I think I lost some weight, and I ended up matching the smaller size measurements, so the dress was more than a little big. At this point, I don't care if it ends up so small that I have to hold my breath all day. But I think it will fit nicely this time around.

I am, however, finished with Michael's sweater, other than putting buttons on. That is good news because the baby shower is in 2 days.

RIP Nora

Well, my dummy finally dried and was ready to go. I named her Nora*, and she was lovely. We then discovered that the foam had expanded too much inside of her, so she was no longer proportionate to my measurements. There was at least an inch difference in the bust and waist. Not helpful to have a dummy that doesn't match my measurements. My dress-in-the-making which is waaay too big on me, I could barely close in the back on her. So she is being retired. This is a much longer story than I am giving details about (including ways we tried to fix her, how she leaked foam everywhere and almost poisoned the cat, etc.), but the end result is that Nora is not of any use to me. We may try again someday to make another Nora, but I don't have it in me right now, and I need this dress done soon. So I don't feel like wasting time or money on this anymore right now. So I'm kind of winging my dress alterations. I started dismantling it and have calculated how much I need to take the seams in. Hopefully it all goes quickly, but I'll be happy just to get it done and fitting by October 21 which is when I need it.

Nora in her prime:




*I named her after a character in Death to Smoochy. We used all this foam sealant stuff and it ended up everywhere, and I kept thinking of a line from the movie where Nora said, "He's a foamie! A fabric stuffer!" And so I named her Nora.

Standstill

So I should be done with my dress by now and I would be...if it fit properly. I realized the other day that it's not me that is fat, it's the dress, haha. It's too big at certain parts of the bodice which makes it puff out where it shouldn't and therefore makes me look lumpy. I'm basically going to have to take like the entire dress apart to take in the seams. I guess it's better that it's big than small because there would be nothing to do about that. It's just going to be a pain. To help with the ordeal, I've decided to make a dress form which Aaron will be helping me with later today. So that is the current project. When I get that done (surely I will have a picture-filled post for you about that, haha), I'll start trying to figure out how to make the dress fit me by making it fit the dress form. Luckily I have a month to finish the dress and it only took about a week to do most of the first attempt. All should be well.

More dress progress

I think it's coming out very nice so far, although I'm convinced it makes me look fat. Aaron swears it doesn't. I should be done with it this weekend. I have to hand stitch some of the inside parts, which I am dreading but will probably not take as long as I think it will, and which I think I will do today on the ride to pick up his brother in State College, and then I just need to do the zipper and the hem, both of which I do not look forward to.