Daughters' Wedding Album added to Facebook

I just added a nice collection of photos to both my personal and my business pages at Facebook - enjoy them there. I share about it here because I also blogged alot about the creation of her dress during the process.

Glorious Wedding Report

Time to report and reflect on the Wedding of our dear daughter last Saturday, June 6.
Prayers for no rain were gloriously answered with the most beautiful, sunny, no humidity and warm evening day that I could possibly have imagined! Thank you to the Lord above for this answered prayer!
The only thing prettier than the weather was my daughter -


Couldn't have done it without the help of our friends from our Sunday night Small Bible Study Group each of whom we are SEW thankful for! Kevin, Joanne, Eddie, Cindy, and Mike - love you to pieces! Little Eric helped keep Cole busy...and our son, Jeff came to the rescue when Cole (ringbearer) had to go potty during the ceremony...and what a smart pastor to extend his words of wisdom until Cole returned so that they could go on with the Sand Ceremony which symbolized Carmen, Cole, and Chris - each a different color sand - becoming one family.

My talented son, Jeff, also did the graphics for wonderful programs quickly a few days before...what talent he has!

Ahhh - and Eddie and Mike crawling hurriedly into the woods where Cole had tossed the 'large metal 'ring' that he was to carry. Surely glad that wise pastor had said to put FAKE rings on it! I must say - I always thought it looked much like a Frisbee - though certainly refrained from calling it that...


No zipper on any dress I made broke! However, the snapshot above my brother caught shows me hand stitching up the zipper that had pulled away from the fabric on Chris' sister's dress. Ready-to-wear quality!!!

My 86 year old parents got there successfully with help of my brother and sister-in-law. I worked the lace from Mom's baby carriage as the cloth for the Sand Ceremony Table, the hanky that was my Grandma's that I'd carried at my wedding into the handle of Carmen's Bouquet, and Carmen also wore a blue heirloom ring that my Mom had given her...

Many little panics/emergencies that God aptly solved along the way of the preceeding week - but the most scarey one (next to having to replace the zipper in the wedding gown) was that when Carmen started off in Barney(my big purple Club ford Van) with all the food we'd prepared on Thursday for the 2 hour trip to Indi - the speedometer wasn't working - then it started lurching. I convinnced her she had to bring it to our trusty mechanic DJ's - and he figured out she had just turned the starter too far. Shewswwwwwww....... Another God siting in my book.

Friends from far away joined for the day, along with family that we were so honored to have with us...thanks for your efforts!

It occurs to me in reflection that as one prepares, "wedding' is more a noun. As it happens - and afterwards, "wedding" is more the verb it is meant to be. Wow - I ask forgiveness for all the trivia that so many weddings - including this one - can easily become. Though we had our share of all that 'stuff' - I honor my daughter that among all of it - she often said that the main thing was that she was marrying her best friend - and that, at the end of the day, that is all that counted.

God has blessed us with a wise one, indeed. And, now - a wonderful new son in the family. Thank you, Lord for your many, many blessings...

Wedding Gown Zipper Trauma

This is almost embarrassing - though I'm SEW THANKFUL that during the final fitting of daughters' wedding gown - just to make sure everything was OK...I had trouble getting that invisible zipper to go up. Now...all along it had been 'testy' - but this time, the zipper slide tore away from the zipper coil!

Thank the Lord, it didn't rip the fabric OR the lace...
Sew...guess what I did last night???

Very, very gratefully re-inserted - BY HAND, that invisible zipper! No way was I going to get back into it on the machine. However, true to the previous insertion experience - and, I ask myself, HOW MANY Invisible Zippers have I put in over the years...let along taught others how - I really fought this one. I DID do the first step of pressing the coil roll out flat. But, I just couldn't get it to not show -

Now realize, I have the 18 or so covered buttons still stitched onto the left side of the 'ivisible' seam...darned if I want to take all those off and sew them back on!

Anyway - I finally decided to stitch it in - NOT trying to go all that close to the coil with a very small back stitch - and THEN, I pretended it was a hand-picked zipper, and once the 'roll' of it all perfectly covered the zip - and those buttons actually rested right on the seam nicer - THEN, I pinned and stitched with a prick stitch through ALL the layers!

Worked like a charm. I know I took up a bit - teensy bit more width in doing it this way - and she'll (obviously) try it on again today... but it looks fine, and it goes up and down without any problem.

Thinking back on the challenges of getting that zip up and down in previous fittings, I think this challenge was 'brewing' for awhile.

Lesson: ALWAYS do a final 'for sure' fitting on important garments!

Again - thank the Lord for it breaking NOW and giving me a non-stressed evening to fix it!

Finishing up Wedding Attire & Spray Can Hint

YeA!!!! Every stitch is done on my dress! I must say - it looks better on the body than on this hanger - butat least it is done. Friend/expert Tina convinced me NOT to change the top - so I didn't. She said a friend in movie sewing uses panty liners as dress shields! So - think I'll try that to asuage my worries about perspiration. Did a regular double fold as you go fine hem on the chiffon layer AFTER I had shaped and pinned the under layer of satin back crepe. To hem that, Tina suggested the rolled hem foot - so that's what I used. Worked beautifully - but just didn't work on the chiffon. What she did was pin a row of pins 10" from the floor with the dress on and my heels on - that gave me a design referenc point. I kept it longer in back, and then it cuves up tothe dress' left side front interest. Especially for having lost an entire back chiffon skirt piece, I think it turned out pretty well. Cross that one off my list!

I've also finished the white polka dot dress (see last post for pics) for her Rehearsal Dinner dress. We both like it. Now to just take a slightly wet sponge to make SURE all the cat hair is off it so she doesn't sneeze all night! What a terrible mother I am to have 2 cats I love to keep me company during the day!!! The inside of this one is lined in silk. I'm putting up the remaining 5 yards of silk lining on my website soon...don't need that around.

Just a bustle loop to put on the back of that Bridal Gown....and I even stitched the 3-D flowers on the veil the other night. Yes, I said STITCHed. Every one of them...

Now have some baby bibs to make - for my sisters' daughters' first baby due in July. That will be fun and a change of pace!

AND - to clean up the dining room. I'm a bit tired of seeing it as a workroom - all messy as I seem to have to be to get anything done!

Also sprayed some white hydrangeas with a bit of pink spray paint this morning...and reminds me of something to share about keeping spray cans from clogging up. Years ago, I managed a craft store - and the owner was vehement about every time we used a spray of any type, that we tip it upside down, and spray til nothing came out - thus clearing that little tube. I've done that ever since,and it really does help cans not get 'clogged'. Try it...

Wedding Excitement & Sewing Boo-Boos

Here's my smilin', gorgeous bride-daughter at her wedding shower last Sunday. Many told her she looked like 'Barbie'! Such fun...
The 2nd picture is an extra special gift - a Bridal Basket glassware antique from my parents. At 86 this year, it is very special that they are both still alive and hopefully will get to the wedding with my brother's help.
Here is my project of yesterday - and I was reminded what therapy sewing is. ALAS - good thing those 4 pie-shaped skirt pieces were symmetrical, as when I went to sew them together, I realized I hadn't flipped the pattern pieces when cutting them out! I was obsessed with matching the border-effect of the polka dots, and plum forgot.
I must say, too, that this dress 'put me in my place' - oft times sewing just isn't that easy, and directions do NOT make sense. I had even fitted a muslin top before I cut out the dress itself - then used that 'muslin' - actually silk tafetta left over from the wedding gown - as the underlining for this fabric. Sew...should have fit perfectly - eh? I thought the stable tafetta would have more than acted as 'stay' along the diagonal front neckline lines. NOT! I had to take it up - 2 times at the shoulders to get rid of the majority of the neckline gap AND slide the overlapping tops down into the midriff piece about 1.5" TOO.
The invisible zipper on the left side seam goes from arm pit through midriff, into the skirt, and I lined the bodice and midriff with silk batiste - and it was amazing to me the sewing that doing that entailed. I've left the skirt unlined, as she's 'borrowing' one of the bridesmaids' full crinoline type slips to wear underneath. Besides - I wonder if this dress will ever be worn more than at the Rehearsal Dinner. She absolutely loves polka dots - so we were thrilled to find this at Hancock's. It is actually a satin, but I convinced her that sheen = larger, so we've used the backside tafetta side as the 'outside' for the dress.

Just have the hem left - and also hems and a few nips and tucks on the bridesmaids' dresses. The finish I did on the tie back sash will work great on these dresses' hems as well as this full hem...Here are the steps:

1. Stitch 5/8" or so from the hem - single layer, regular length.

2. Roll the stitching just a hair to the wrong side. Stitch again, right on top of that stitching.

3. Trim CAREFULLY the excess hem allowance right up close to this stitching. I use an Applique Scissors for this task!

4. Roll one more time to the wrong side - stitching on top of the stitching once again.

So - you have actually 3 rows of stitching to accomplish this hem, but it works like a dream. Not a new technique - just one in my arsenal of tricks - and it should be in yours too.

Though I made some boo-boos, I got a new supply of 'Conquer Mentality' - an 'upper' I definitely needed. On top of that, watched some uplifting DVD's as I sewed. Beautiful day outside - so I'd gone on a walk to clear my head to start the day - and snatched some lilacs that I had at my sewing table enfusing the air with God's magic. If I could carbon copy a day like that and give it to every woman, that would be a wonderful thing...

Wedding duds MOST done...

YES - almost there! You can see my gown finally basted together, top to bottom. I had a fitting on it with my bride,and I WAS able to get it on and off - without extending the zip into the skirt. YEA!! I think I feel svelte in it - but I'm afraid of perspiration under the arms...may change that yet...and need my hem pinned. Tina - here I come!

Here's my bride - after a trying day as a preschool teacher,and then going through all the plans for the wedding once again. She was so cute - 'enjoying 'being a bride' - taking it all in. The veil made me cry. She's going to wear the blusher down - and so that means the little flowers will have to be sewn on both sides on that portion of the veil - and we'll need to take care where they go around her face. REally only have left then the veil, the buttons up the back, the bustling loop, and some beads replaced on the bodice and straps. Fell asleep re-doing some of the lace border work last night in front of the TV...then was time to quit! I do feel I have it all under control now though...

Such fun!!!

Wedding Gown progress

Don't let a bride tell you she is going to exercise and lose weight! Weight - maybe - but if she's doing 'planks' and 'core' exercises, she may well GAIN girth in her back - with MUSCLE! Ask me how I know......

Well - 2 NEW center back pieces created, and integrated into the top bodice of the gown - I think I'm ready to continue... and now, having convinced the darlin' that she won't be losing anywhere it will matter in the fit of this gown - I can go ahead and FINISH and get on to MY dress! Then...of course, we went shopping yesterday for something for the rehearsal dinner - and the entire town scoured, found NOTHING. Sew...guess who is making yet another dress? Love it - love it. More on that another day.

I'm now an expert lace clipper...last week being spent clipping and shaping the lace at the hem. See below on the left what a straight lace edge 'does' on a curved skirt piece. Sew...the border of the lace was clipped apart from the lace skirt, and hand stitched up into place - just so, so that it just peeks over the edge of the gown skirt. I had to work this - first pinning into place with it hanging from the doorframe, THEN on her body - where, of course, it changed some - over top of the crinoline. Tonight will be the final fitting on that - on her body, and so today I need to pin it again exactly at the hem, and then work it up on the skirt, so I know exactly where to hook the lace skirt to the skirt at the bodice line. THEN, I can clip away the excess netting to the lace below the border. I've been tempted to do that already - but kept resisting the temptation, just in CASE I had it to short somewhere - heaven forbid it would be too short! We do want it to drag in the grass of course...just kidding!











































The Bodice is gorgeous too, if I do say so myself... see the picture below that shows the lace edging attached the same around the top of the bodice...
It yet gets straps - which I have done now and attached. I created them out of some of the sides of the lace - without embroidery. Stuck sheer stay tape inside, and then hand stitched on one of the scallop borders. I'm glad she wants straps on this 'old-fashioned' looking dress.



What you sticking out below is the inner corset part - which will actually ride between the outer dress and the lining - which I also have in the bodice already too. At the side back seams, the waistline grossgrain ribbon stay exits to fasten tightly around her waist. All this technique is in Susan Khalje's book - Bridal Couture. I understand it is not out of print - but you can probably find it on Amazon.


Neighbor bridal seamstress extraordinaire Tina loaned me her covered button making machine - the "Happy Button Machine" to create the covered buttons for up the back of the invisible zipper. Experimentation proved that the tafetta needed to be underlined with the pink for the buttons as well - so I fused the layers together with Misty Fuse. Worked great. You can see grandson Cole 'helping' with this chore here...

He claims is is one of the mice helping with his Mom's 'Cinderella Princess Dress' ! I'm obviously limiting that 'help', but this was one chore that he could assist. He is excited about it - and since I read him Cinderella - he 'gets' the picture...I think. He, of course, will be the Ring Bearer.

These buttons are the really nice ones with the cloth backing for stitching on - so they lay closer to the fabric. Source for them is: Burgess Manufacturing Corporation. 3600 Windsor Park Drive, Suwanee, GA 30174 770-932-1111.

Though there was a chance my special pearls could be the something old and borrowed, we couldn't find any earrings to match in hue, so yesterday we selected pink-y pearls for a siple one-strand necklace and drop earrings. My girl has definite, specific taste, that's for sure! Hmmmm wonder where she picked that up???????

Though I'm sewing love into every stitch, I'm afraid the tears will start soon - as my girl and my little guy will be moving 3 hours away. I cry just writing that! While I know it is right, ordained, and just life - AND that many grannies would give their right arm to have the little ones that close, it will be far away for me! Also - a number of my close family will not be attending - and that is a very sad thing for Carmen and me that we're trying to deal with. Feelings! Yea - I make own my feelings, but darned, they hurt sometimes! I'm sure this is a common thing of weddings - and perhaps particularly 2nd weddings, but nonetheless - part of our experience.

Heard an appropriate sermon last week on anger management at an appropriate time... 1. Admit your anger. 2. Restrain your response 3. Locate focus of anger 4. Analyze options - releasing distgorted anger to God. 5. Take constructive action. confronting or forgetting. Trying to figure out where in this process I'm even at!

Actually, I'm determining to just pray, pray, pray - and to ask for continued restraint...I think! This week should find the dress pretty well done...I think I hope so anyway...

Wedding Gown progress!!!!! Granny fun.

I've been making HUGE progress on the gown. Most nights I dream about the next steps. It is turning into a more complicated project than I first thought it would be - but isn't that always the case! Last night - I even plunged in and cut out the lace pieces!

Pardon the layout of this picture - but I was trying to get her in the sunlight from the patio doors to reveal the ever so slight pink tinge to the gown - which we are both delighted with! If you've been following along, you'll know that is from layering the silk taffeta outer fabric over a pale pink batiste. I found when going to baste all the princess skirt sections together, that I couldstillsee the seam allowances, so I also added a layer of china silk under the pink batiste - so the skirt is 3 layers thick, then to be independently topped with our wonderful lace - as shown here. This photo will show the sloped empire line I worked and worked on - and which makes my darling daughter look VERY slim indeed! Please don't dwell on the drag lines - as this bodice is ALL basted together, and I don't have the boning in the side seams of the corset that is underneath all this yet - as OF COURSE, she is working on losing weight! I actually don't plan on stitching the side seams of the bodice at all, much less attach the bodice to the skirt finally until after May 9. The wedding is June 6 - so she's just gonna have to settle for that!

She is thrilled with the silhouette of the back skirt - with the additional pouf we added from the donated crinoline as previously described. See it - well kind of - in the picture on the right below. Sew... this fitting was actually to determine - for positive sure - the exact hemline. I then transfered that info to the muslin skirt pieces - for which I had made one muslin piece for EVERY skirt piece - clearly labelled as to which was the OUTSIDE - and cut the muslin hem OFF at the finished hemline. That enabled me to then utilize those pieces as the pattern pieces when cutting out the lace. I could lay each piece with the exact hemline on the scallopped border of the lace. OF COURSE, though - realize that the lace is straight - and the hemline is curved. But that will be all 'fixed' with cutting and handstitching those lace borders up into place. AND, sure enough - the lace was not symmetrical - not horizontally - NOR vertically. One scalloped edge had a row of lace/flowers above it with 3 flowers, and the opposite scalloped edge had less flowers in the grouping above. SEW... we decided to do the front pieces along one edge and the back pieces along the other - and I will add flowers to theback to 'balance' it - as if anyone other than myself - (and all of you) would EVER know such was the case anyway..........! I couldn't decide on placement of the bodice pieces - which direction, or motifs to center - but I had plenty of lace left for that - so at 11 pm - I decided to wait on those decisions. I'm so glad though that narrowing the circumference of the skirt yeilded ample extra lace and border. We plan to create some delicate straps of the scallop as well.

The fun part then was cutting off the beading and 3 D flowers from the seam allowances of the lace. We plan to scatter the flowers on the veil a bit too (a bargain at $6 from Hobby Lobby on 50% off!).

Jewelry: she seems to see that a simple strand of pearls is all this dress needs - nothing more 'showey'. I have a very sentimental strand that turn out to be the perfect color. She took them along to see if she could match some drop earrings.

OH - and all this on a day when my precious grandson Cole was with me. We had a blast going out to 'puddle stomp' after the rain died down. We also went on a worm hunt - but to our surprise, there weren't worms all over the sidewalks. Sew...we had to dig in the garden. Found 3 - one for him (a white centipede), and then a medium worm he named "Mommy" and a big one he named "Dabee" - her fiance who he dearly, dearly loves. This granny must show a picture...

Oh - and in filling out an application - actually decided I needed to mark the 'grey' box under hair color instead of brown... WHAT A DAY!

Really must get to WORK! The 'Barney' van awaits - packing for the International Quilt Festival show in Chicago I leave for tomorrow...

Wedding Sewing Progress-Mother of Bride (me) and Bride

Well - I'm hard at it - sewing sillk chiffon and lace and beading. I moved it all up into my dining room - as I decided the basement was too messy with all my sweatshirt sewing/order filling projects to handle all this sewing as well...

I've decided God must have been watching out for me that I didn't go ahead and finish my dress earlier last fall when I got going on it after getting the (to me) lovely beaded silk chiffon floral print while I was in Houston. If I had - I'd realized way back then - and been worried all this time about the 'CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY" before me! Can't decide wich it is - either I didn't cut the 2nd back skirt piece, OR I cut it and have lost it (NOT to be found - I assure you!), but I have only one of the skirt back pieces of the floral chiffon for my dress. It is Vogue 8150. I'm doing the center view as seen below. Well.....a version of it I suppose. The skirt is the shiny side of the crepe back satin that you see draped in the photo to the left - topped with a loose layer of the silk floral beaded chiffon. The neckline as it curves around my neck was a buggaboo...I realized quickly it would need to be stayed - and SURE GLAD I DID - as it still seems to buckle a bit on me - but I'm convincing myself that I'm being too picky. One has to move in a dress and it isn't always picture perfect. I see things like that all the time in the fancy gowns on Hollywood award shows.....

Back to the skirt - Thankfully, I have enough of the chiffon to go around me - but the angles to the skirting that I do have - are kind of odd. See in this picture of the skirt kinda pinned on my Duct Tape Double - (which is on TOP of my dining room table) what I have to work with...

The photo on the right shows the center back seam - kinda crazy...

I did have a long piece left that I will add to the left front as an extra floaty piece - we'll see what happens. I finished the handwork on the top tonight - and tested it - I CAN get it on - and off with help. :) Dear Daughter had a cow when I put it on for her - exclaimed too much cleavage...

My hubby says it is fine. Not that low at all. I'd worked most of yesterday adding a 2" piece to the top of the original center front - as you can see on the inside lining in this photo. She should have seen it before I did that! Twas that issue that put the break on progress last fall.

Next problem is since I have a seam in the chiffon skirt on the RIGHT side, but NOT the left - do I take OUT the invisible zip from the left side and put it in the right side - OR go ahead and put an opening in the fabric without a seam on the left skirt - which would look yucky - OR just NOT take the zip down into the skirt - and I think perhaps I can get away with that solution since when I just put it on - and had help taking it off - that it could be done without the opening extending into the skirt. Will sleep on it.....

On the other front... the wedding gown is coming along. Have the bodice all fitted - and torn apart and labelled clearly so that this 'muslin' is now the pattern pieces themselves for careful cutting. Today, I went ahead and made the corset part that has the boning in it - and the petersham waistline stay - the mechanism that actually holds the dress up and on her. Got the neatest soft boning channel stuff from my bridal friend/expert Tina down the street, and the spiral steel boning - so all ready for a final fit on that tomorrow morning to determine the length of the stays, and to assure the placement is good. During the fitting yesterday, we decided how the lace edging would be stitched pattern-wise at the bodice neckline edge...see photo:

There WILL be straps on this one - though exactly how - and what they look like remains to be determined. I took quite a bit of circumference out of the princess lined skirt - so that will ease up things on the minimal amount of lace I have to work with...annother challenge - but what fun!

The other thing I have conquered is to 'give her a butt'. She wanted the back of the dress to stick out more - so armed with net flounce donated by Tina (cut off of a mermaid slip) I engineered the pieces to add to the back. See here - the bottom most one supports the train and I had the brilliant idea (at least I think so) to velcro it on - so we can remove the bottom one when it comes time to bustle the gown for dancing.

This photo of her in the muslin gown - checking out the back in our makeshift mirror system - shows how the slip supports the muslin skirt...

Have her coming again in the morning to double check the corset - then I get to cut the silk taffeta, the pink underlining, and the china silk lining! Can't wait.....

New Products for Embellishing

Whewww!!!! I'm hard at work - madly at work putting together my NEW presentation for at shows - and then later this year (remember,I have a wedding to prepare for which has me diverted in a fun way!) a new DVD as well - on Creative Embellishments. It has been fun digging through all these wonderful clothes I have (and no place to wear them as I work from home!) though. What I've realized is that the ones I've done more recently are more under-stated in embelllishment - and that is also the direction my Creative Sweatshirt Jackets have gone - understated. Perhaps it is my age - but I think rather it is a growing sense of style and what is good and not any longer that mentality of 'machine dealer wanting to sell feet and stuff'' that I had when I had my retail storefront.

ANYWAY - in preparation, and conversation with new sewing friends (thank you Kathy S.!), I learned about a new product - Texture Magic and had my mind refreshed on an old favorite - Seams Great for use with the newly re-tooled Spinster.

Texture Magic is by Superior Threads and is a package of 18" x 47" 'fabric' that you stitch (stitching pattern will create design) onto fabric, and then steam over top of the Texture Magic and it then shrinks up - causing the real fabric to pucker in a wonderful way! Scroll down to March 6 post to read and see more about this amazing product. Here is a picture from the Blog by Superior Threads..... Way too cool, eh?

OF COURSE, I immediately searched my sources, and found this to be so new that I ordered - oodles of packages - direct from Superior. It should be here on Friday!

Can't wait to play.

The other tool I'm anxious to re-acquaint myself with is the Spinster. The developer shared that they have had manufacturing problems, but worked through it all and with a new mold, it is even a more superior tool. This is a 'drill' type gadget that lets you twist cords, threads, yarns, etc. together and then back on themselves to create a wondeful cord. You can make it into a piped cording by invisibly tacking it to a folded edge of the product I used miles of to finish seams before I invested in a serger WAY back in the early 80's. That product is SEAMS GREAT. I found it hiding at my supplier, so added it to my website as well. Comes in white and black only now - but at least it is still available. I also used it to create serger piping by folding this lightweight knit binding over a tiny cord . then doing a rolled hem edge over it with my serger. Here is a photo of that embellishment on an old class sample - a lovely UltraSuede stencilled vest.

Wedding Gown Update

I'm on schedule - having completed the muslin for a fitting. In doing so, I've established a flattering angled/curved empire line that goes under her bust and then slopes down to the center back. (Want to have lots of typical bridal covered buttons at the back). I added 1 1/4" to the top pieces and 1 1/4" to the skirt pieces at this line for plenty of fine refining room. I also laid out all the pieces on the lace to see if I have enough if the skirt is this big - and yes, but BARELY so. There wouldn't be any extra lace at all for 'matching' motifs on this all-over lace gown, so I still think I'll end up reducing the fullness of each skirt piece to give me more lace yardage for the top. I DO have enough of the border to work with though for straps and the bodice top edge, in addition to clipping it and making it go along the entire hem edge. Yea!

The pink batiste has arrived as well. Thanks, Farmhouse Fabrics www.farmhousefabrics.com. The pink is the palest ever, and will underline the silk taffeta to create ever so slight of a shimmer of pink/coral to the overall effect.

Stay Tuned...

Wedding Gown Creation...a NEW Beginning

Scratch that design from January...when we went to the local independent Bridal shop a few weeks ago, my daughter fell in love with an ALL LACE gown! It was a gown made of what appeared to be almost a Cluny type of horizontal effect lace rows. Of course, I cautioned her that we probably could NOT find that exact lace! Also, on that excursion - she saw the slenderizing effect of a princess style and a fuller skirt that could create the look of a VERY cinched in waistline.


Then - we planned a Saturday to scour the fabric sources in Chicago (Vogue Fabrics, Fishman's and Supreme) and came up with just one lace - at Vogue in Evanston (where Dale was exceedingly nice and helpful by the way...). It is pictured below...

The embroidery on the off-white background net is a soft taupe color. You can see here where I laid my pink journal below the off-white silk doupionni and the faint pink cast it yields. That is what we're going for - we THINK. The wedding colors are pink-coral and green. (Never mind that the darlin' just HAD to move from the bedroom with PINK blinds to another because she hated the pink so much...just had to add that tidbit! ) Oh, how we gain in wisdom as we age...

Anyway - we both just love this different lace, and it was a VERY GOOD THING that i had taken the time to make a quick mock-up of the gown in red dot tracer (nicely shows the body,fullness, drape (lack of) of the skirt on this pattern, and took it along shopping with us. There was just a bit over 4 yards of this double edged lace. That's ALL. But, it seems - since the direction of the motif is vague - and would never be seen if I flip the pattern pieces to get the border all around the bottom - that I can get it to work. I'll just have to add a flattering empire line so the laces' width will be enough for the skirt - and I also have to take about 2" width from each of the skirt pieces. We bought the bouffant bridal slip, and she has her long line bra and SPANX. Now - just to find the shoes (without spending an obscene amount of money - which my wonderful shopper daughter will NOT do) - and we're set to get going.

With the help of my friend and neighbor and bridal etalier' Tina Colombo http://www.treasures-by-tina.com/ , we decided on a silk taffeta in ivory for the base fabric. I found several potential pink cotton batistes at http://www.farmhousefabrics.com%20c/which I ordered half yards of for 'auditioning' our idea. Tina also helped me realize that the skirt will have better 'movement' if I do the lace separate from the dress for the seams and the hem.

By the way - our pattern is Vogue 1095 - without all those ruffles, higher at the neckline so not to be so revealing, AND even I've talked her into straps of some type with the lace edging - IF we have enough edging to spare.

Though I love designing my Creative Sweatshirt Jackets, silk and lace will be welcome change.

Can't wait to get started - follow along, and comment, please.

I support Mike Huckabee - the man, his policies, common sense...

As I write, I've just finished watching Huckabee - Mike Huckabee's program on Fox News that airs for us here in central Illinois at 10 pm on Sunday nights. My husband and I love this program. It is sensitive, full of common sense, AND inspirational. Regardless of your political persuasion, I encourage you to tune in - then come comment here to let me know what you think.

If you're curious as to what this outstanding, moral, sensitive man stands for - read his book, Do The Right Thing. Just think about it - if everyone just "did the right thing" how much public funds would be released to do good work. In his book, Governor Huckabee describes what he accomplished in his state of Arkansas. Read the facts for yourself instead of believing the media's version. He also warns us of the oft-used phrase: 'over time'. Heard of the Fair Tax? I had no idea what this concept really was until I read his book. Wonder what a political race is really like? For someone without endless streams of $$, Huckabee describes traveling from event to event - flying on regular airplanes and waiting in line - just like you and me. That's the kind of representative in Washington - the kind of PRESIDENT that I'm looking for. .. someone who is REALLY like you and me - and who thinks no higher of himself than he ought to - than ANY person should. I see so much of the problem of those 'representing' us in Washington as simply that power has gone to their heads. They forget who they are working for. They forget the 'little guy' - regardless of what they might say. For me it all boils down to the precious truth I learned in my study of the book of Daniel by Beth Moore....that everything in life is determined by who your God is. If it is yourself, your 'stuff', what others think of you...you are worshiping graven images. Only God - who created heaven and earth, as made real to me in the personhood and life of Jesus Christ is worthy of my worship. Period. THAT is the truth I claim and stake all that I am upon.

I feel and believe and pray that Mike Huckabee runs again to lead our country. If that is the case, I'll be supporting him as actively as my life possibly allows. Meanwhile - I intend to read his book AGAIN, to study his common sense approach, and to pray for God's will for him, and for our country in these troubled times - learning whatever God has for me to learn along the way. In my support of Mike (yes, I feel that he is that approachable - that he would WANT me to call him by his first name - Mike) , I will forever be vigilant that in my support - I do not make him into a God. I know he wouldn't want that - as he, too, is a fellow TRUE believer in the one, true God. That makes all the difference.