Where I Disappeared To

 You might have noticed, or maybe you didn't, how long it has been since I last posted. Not to worry, I was just so busy sewing and at a wedding that I didn't have time to post! I finished up the alterations to my dress, although they were far from perfect.

  I then sewed up two skirts and two shirts, all of which I have yet to photograph, before packing a ridiculous amount of things (I somehow managed to wear every single thing I packed) and heading to Oregon for my brother's wedding and a week-long vacation.

The deck where we stayed... and both daughters' favorite location when not out and about.

We relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful fog and rain for a few days before I got back to work... I don't think I mentioned before that the final thing I had to create for this wedding was the cake! Luckily, the bride chose an uncomplicated design, though it still greatly taxed my limited skills.
  Since my brother and his new wife are coffee aficionados to the point of running a small coffee shop, a mocha cake was requested... which recipe took a few iterations to get tasting right. In the end it was quite a bit more chocolate than coffee, but everyone loved it anyway. =)

 
  The flowers are silk, since I knew I'd be taking enough time just getting the frosting smooth without trying to make flowers too. And let me tell you, it took me most of a day just to do the base layer of frosting on these, and I couldn't get it smooth for anything. I finally melted some frosting and poured it over the tops of the cakes, and let the decorations cover the sides. The lowest tier of cake developed some cracks as soon as I moved it, but it worked well for the top two tiers.

Here is the tally for making a cake this size:
2.5 days
4.5 lb flour
4 lb sugar
1.5 lb cocoa powder
About 1/2 cup instant coffee
12 eggs
9 lb powdered sugar
3.5 lbs butter
3 oz almond extract
2 oz vanilla extract
... along with small amounts of water, milk, baking powder and soda, and salt.

  This was my first time making a pillared cake, but it was surprisingly simple with this pillar/stand set (affiliate link). I only used the 12, 10, and 8 inch plates, and should have paid more attention to lining the pillars up with each other, but it wasn't hard to use at all.

  And those are all the photos I have of the wedding, since I was too busy being a part of it to take more! It was beautiful though, and I'm so grateful that I was able to participate. I may share a few photos of the bride and groom later. =)

  And now for a few vacation photos. =) We stayed in a beautiful condo with views of the ocean and river, and far more room than I was expecting. It was perfect.

View of the harbor from the deck where we stayed

View of the bridge across the river... isn't the fog beautiful?

Looking down from the deck

   We visited the beach a couple times, but I only took photos on one trip... most of which turned out with little blurs through them from the daughters running around so much. =)

On the way down to the beach... wouldn't you just love to sit here for a few hours?

  Gaiw was impressed with the rocks and sand:

  And Booper loved the waves, and kept climbing on rocks with her Papa to watch them.

  Can you believe I was blessed enough to live here for a few years? I miss it.

  We also visited some redwoods in California...

Beautiful tall trees

A hidey-hole

  And spent several fun evenings with my parents in their beautiful home.

  This is my father with Gaiw and Booper...no photos of my mother, because she greatly dislikes having her picture taken. =) Also! See the charcoal drawing in the top right of this photo? I drew that about 6 years ago.... another thing that is less than perfect but fun to have created. =)

  And finally, here is Booper with a gift from her grandpa and uncle A... a child's guitar that she adores.

  I'm so sad that I had to leave such a lovely place and my family behind yet again, but so happy that I did get to spend some time with them. =)

  I'll try to get some photos of the skirts and shirts I made soon, simple though they be, and share them. I also have pieces cut out for one more maternity shirt before little Beckers arrives (only a month and a week until she is due!)

 Thanks for stopping by,

Wedding Sewing: Flower Girl Dress

I did it! I sewed a completely lined, fully finished dress with tulip sleeves, a lace overlay, and an invisible zipper, and without too much trouble, in spite of my worries.

  It still was quite a lot of work, but the hardest part was just working out in my head how to do each part and in what order so I wouldn't be left with a lot of hand stitching. Besides the places where the lace is hand-tacked for a ruched effect, I only hand-sewed about 8 inches of fabric!

  I mentioned that I made a sloper for this dress so I'd know the fit was right... I used this series from Ikat bag, and while most of my measurements below the waist were completely off due to a wiggly child, it didn't matter because I only needed the bodice portion for this dress.

  I am SO happy with how this dress fits! It's very difficult to zip up in one spot because of the thickness of the fabric, but there is a perfect amount of ease for the dress to look formal without being uncomfortable.

  The only change I would make, if I were working through this again, would be to lengthen the bodice by 2 or 3 inches... I just think it would look better with the wide sash.

  Initially I made the skirt and the lace overlay 6 inches longer than I needed, and was planning to do pickups in both layers, but I didn't like the way they hung, so I cut 6 inches off of the lining/underlining layer and just left the overlay longer.

  The pickups were carefully measured out onto the lace and hand-tacked to the underlining in 16 spots... they echo the pickups in the bridesmaids' dresses.

  I love the tulip sleeves too... they also echo the bridesmaids' dresses, although on those dresses the overlap is in the back instead of the front.

It was pretty fiddly trying to sew the seams on the sleeves, so I hand-stitched the lining seam together as well as a couple inches attaching the lining to the underlining and overlay. The zipper was the other truly fiddly spot, but I managed to sew it with only one spot that isn't right... and the sash covers that spot.

  Not only did I manage to sew the whole hem together, but I figured out two different ways to do it with minimal hand-stitching. My first method was to leave one entire side seam open until after the hem was done, sew up as much of the side seams as I could by machine, and hand sew the few inches that were left. It worked, but then I cut off quite a bit of the under layer, and with it my finished hem, and by that time the entire dress was sewn. If I ever make a fully lined dress again, I'll show you how I did the hem the second time, which was even simpler.

  I learned a lot about working with underlined lace from making the boleros for the bridesmaids, and the most important thing I learned was to NOT baste the lace layer to the underlining by hand or machine... instead, I used quilt basting spray (affiliate link). It was about 4 times as tacky as I had expected, so it worked really well... the hard part was getting it to stick just where I wanted and not everywhere else!
 
  I sprayed the back of the lace and smoothed it onto the underlining before cutting the bodice and sleeve pieces out, which really helped prevent the lace from distorting and stretching while I was cutting. The tackiness did wear off slightly after a couple days, so I would spray and sew in the same day when possible. It really saved me a lot of time though, and in general just worked better than thread basting.

  This dress really was a lot of work, but I couldn't stop at fully lined and complicated. I wanted the skirt to stand out from the body more than it was, so I made a pettiskirt too!

  The pettiskirt is very different from the dress... I used nylon tricot chiffon, which doesn't fray (but which was much more delicate and slightly more stretchy than I had imagined it would be) so nothing but the waist band is finished. I tried making a pettiskirt once with chiffon that did fray, but with all of those gathers and layers, even serging all the edges was next to impossible... I never finished that version.

  I followed this tutorial from Girl. Inspired. but changed the height of my tiers to 5 inches each. I made a mistake, and the top tier isn't gathered into the waistband as much as it should have been, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I also left out the lining, since this is only going to be worn as an underskirt.

  Cutting the fabric out for this was a terrible pain, especially since I had pre-washed it and the edges rolled. Once cut, it wasn't too hard to sew together, I just had to get the hang of it all. You can tell from the photos that some of the layers are slightly longer in spots... those are pieces I sewed near the beginning.

  And what does my little daughter think of all this? Well, she cried every time I took the dress off after a fitting or taking photos. She loves it, wants to wear it all the time, and keeps asking when the wedding is. =) And I only have one thing left to sew for this wedding: the alterations on my bridesmaid dress.

Thanks for stopping by,

Linking up here:
 

What Am I Thinking?!

  I've just begun to realize just how difficult I'm making things for myself with this flower girl dress. As usual, I'm hoping to make a fully finished dress, no raw edges to be seen, with as little hand-stitching as possible. I was heading for a fairly simple fully lined dress... but now I've complicated it all up!

  There is an over-layer of lace... and I want to keep the scalloped edge of the lace on the skirt, which means the lace over-skirt has to be sewn separately from the lining and underlining.

  I can't do plain and simple lined sleeves, because they are tulip-style sleeves... and I want to avoid French seams or scratchy serging on such tiny shoulder seams.

  There's an invisible zipper that has to extend into the skirt area, meaning I can't just sew the back seam of the skirt up if I want the zipper enclosed in the lining... and again the free layer of the lace makes that even more difficult.

  I want the lining and underlining sewn together at the hem, instead of individually hemming them, so the skirt seams will be enclosed, instead of having to serge or French seam them... although I'll still have to French seam the lace layer.

  And that's not to mention the fact that I drafted a whole sloper just to make sure it would fit right!

  Is it even possible to machine sew something that complicated, or am I crazy for even thinking of it? Should I just whip everything together and serge it all off, or is it worth all the effort (and the brain-stretching!) for something perfect on the inside and out?

  Thanks for stopping by and letting me unload my worries,

PS: Did I mention that I finished cutting all the pieces out... all 33 of them? Really, 33 pieces for one little girl's dress.

Pattern Testing: The Junebug Dress!

  Last week, while I was taking a break from sewing for my brother's wedding, I had the exciting chance to be a pattern tester for Jessica of Craftiness is Not Optional. If you have never had a chance to visit the tutorial section of Jessica's site, you really should! She sews darling outfits for her adorable, chubby-cheeked daughters, and is the blogger who most inspired me to create clothing for my little girls.

  Jessica just released her first pattern last week, the Junebug Dress and Tunic, with sleeved or sleeveless options. And I got to test it out! I started with intentions to make a tunic for both daughters, in coordinating fabrics, but my buttonhole sensor broke again on the first buttonhole of Gaiw's. Luckily, I had already finished the tunic for Booper! Want a peek?

  Isn't it adorable? I loved the pattern instructions, with plenty of helpful tips, and learned a fun new way to sew a bodice together. I sewed this up in a 3T, and it fits just like I expected! It's teensy bit wide in the neckline for my slim little girl, but is otherwise perfect.

  The fabric is a light seersucker that my grandma sent me, and is perfect for the hot weather here. Gaiw's version is all cut out of the same type of fabric in a pink colorway, but her's will have to wait to be worn until I can get my buttonhole sensor fixed. I didn't have nearly enough matching buttons on hand to finish even one tunic, but luckily I had a whole set of cover buttons. I used pretty ribbon and plain white fabric to cover 12 buttons... just enough for two little girls. =)

  Booper loves this tunic too. She has picked it over every other shirt she owns every time it's clean.... just in the short time since I sewed it, she has worn it at least 6 times! So if you use patterns regularly, check this one out! It comes in sizes 18 months all the way up to 8 years, and it could be your newest favorite. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

A Lacy Shirt And An Almost-Failed Skirt

  It's been a terribly long time since I've said anything here... I just haven't felt like talking anymore about those time-consuming boleros I've had to sew! And since I hadn't sewn anything but those until this week, I had nothing else to talk about. I finally finished the boleros, so I've allowed myself a small sewing break and whipped out a few things that aren't wedding-related.

  First, I had the exciting opportunity to be a pattern tester for Jessica at Craftiness is Not Optional. I'll share more about that in another post, but here's a teaser photo:

  Today what I want to show you are two (Two! Really!) things that I've sewn for myself... both of which were surprisingly quick sews.

  Remember this pretty grey suiting that I've been using as a tablecloth?

   I mentioned that it's only temporarily there since I wanted to use it for a skirt. Well, our 4th anniversary was this week, and I just couldn't bring myself to wear one of the two worn denim skirts that still fits me out on a date with my husband. I almost had to anyway though!

  I started out with a half-circle skirt, and added a dip in the front to make room for Beckers, then added a knit waistband with extra in the front to fit the dip. Unfortunately, it was way too big! I guess the dip added more width to the waist than I was expecting. I ended up taking out a total of 8 inches from the back center seam, tapering into the original seam. I didn't worry about a fancy interior on this skirt, just serged off all the seams (I love having a serger!) and did a narrow rolled hem on my sewing machine to finish.

  So it doesn't look like much, but it is a tremendously versatile addition to my wardrobe... so far it works with every top I've tried it with. =)

  It was simple enough that I want to try it again and see if I can't figure out how to get the measurements right on the first try. If I do, I'll be sharing that here. =)

  The other thing I made was the shirt I'm wearing with it. I found a pretty lace curtain at a yard sale a while back, and decided to make something with it this week. It had a little bit of horizontal stretch, so I treated it as a knit and underlined it with basic white knit. I wish I'd had another color to put underneath, because you can't really see just how delicate and beautiful the lace is when it is paired with white.

  I mimicked the first thing I posted on this blog, a high-waisted shirt with a slightly a-line skirt to it, and lettuce edging on the hem and sleeves. I changed things by making a simple round neckline, then adding a touch of elastic at the center front for a little detail. It was feeling a little loose, so I added ribbon ties to cinch it in a little under the bust, and a bit of elastic in the back.

  And then I tried many times and failed many times at taking decent photos. All grainy and dark, no matter which settings I put my camera on, and all of the time having to use the self timer since my remote is out of (the very oddly sized) batteries.

  But I'll share them anyway, since I feel like grainy photos are better than no photos! =)

  I used a pretty scalloped-edge, plush-backed elastic instead of a binding or facing at the neckline, and top-stitched it with a twin needle. It's a nice little detail that most people will probably never notice, but will still be there for me to enjoy.

  Did I mention that I have quite a lot of the grey suiting fabric leftover? I have a different skirt in mind to make with it, but I may wait until Beckers has arrived, because I feel the design is more suited to a fitted waistband than a maternity one. Hopefully I won't get distracted and you'll get to see that design in a few months. =)

  Anyway, I'll show you more of the tester photos and tell you more about the pattern I tested soon, and then it will be back to wedding sewing... only two more things to finish: the alterations on my dress, and the flower girl dress. And only 3 weeks until they have to be done! Eep!

Thanks for stopping by,

Linking up at The Train To Crazy

Wedding Sewing: Finished Bolero

  Well, I promised you a couple modeled shots of my bolero once it was finished, and it finally is. That was WAY too much hand-stitching for a slowpoke like me! First, I succeeded in neatly (though imperfectly) finishing the edges of the bolero:

 
  I started off with a whip-stitch for the first 4 inches, realized I hated the way it looked, and sewed about half with a ladder-stitch before finishing with a slip-stitch. I liked the way the slip-stitch looked on the inside best of the three, but it does show a bit under the lace... whip-stitch is on the bottom right and the show-through from the slip-stitch is on the left.

  I finally looked up how to do an invisible hand blind hem stitch (Fourth diagram on this site.) and used that on the sleeve hems. That came out beautifully, though I'm not sure how well it would work if I were to try it on the curved areas.

  And now, how it looks on me. I'm not wearing it with the bridesmaid's dress, since I haven't finished the alterations on mine and it isn't anywhere close to fitting me right now. I may have to change the sleeves on mine, since they are already a little tight and I have over a month to gain 'pregnancy' weight. ;-)

  I feel a little awkward with the way the bolero is open in the front, but I think it will look a lot better over the dress than it does over this tank. =)

  I might go back and add a hook and eye at the center front, since the bolero actually does easily meet there if I hold it.

  Left on the list of wedding sewing: Boleros for the sisters, alterations on my dress, and a flower-girl dress for the daughter.

  I managed to get all the pieces for the boleros cut out today! My bolero took a ridiculously long time, but I ended up with enough lining fabric to actually line the bodices of the other two. That makes me very happy, since I will only have to hand-hem the sleeves. Honestly, I have enough lining to line their sleeves too, but I don't want to make them too warm or bulky, since this will be a mid-summer wedding. Also, I think another layer in the sleeves might make them tight even on my sisters' slender arms.

  I find it odd that I ended up with so much extra lining... and so much extra lace too. I suppose when cutting three boleros instead of one, I can be more efficient in my layout. I DID buy an extra yard of each in case of accidents... but I have a whole lot more than a yard leftover. I think the extra must have come from miscalculating how much I would need for the length additions.
 
  I'm really hoping to get all this done soon, since I feel like I'm missing out on so much other sewing I want to do. I have a unique and fun maternity top planned out in my head, and it would fit perfectly in Made by Rae's Spring Top Sew-Along, and a skirt planned out that I would love to enter in Crafterhours' Skirt week... I just need to get the wedding stuff done first so it is out of the way.

  And that's all the talking I have to do today! Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers and mother-figures out there. =)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wedding Sewing: The Dress Additions

 I have now successfully completed additions to two out of three bridesmaids dresses! As you probably know if you've read my blog for a while, I'm pretty modest in the way that I dress... I prefer high necklines, long skirts, and long sleeves. My sisters dress the same way, and will also be bridesmaids in my brothers upcoming wedding. So obviously we couldn't keep the dresses like this, cute though they might be:

  Happily, my future-sister-in-law is the farthest thing you can imagine from a bridezilla, and was perfectly fine with us making a few changes. I didn't have to alter the sleeves, since I'm also making boleros, but I did need to change the length and neckline. I knew I wouldn't be able to find a satin that matched well, so I went for a different texture and used lined lace.

  Here's what it looks like with the changes:

  To be honest, I don't really love the look of the length addition, but it does serve its purpose. The color matches a lot more closely than it appears from the photo. I'm kind of proud of the neckline addition though:

  I cut two pieces of the lining and one of the lace in the shape of the neckline opening, with seam allowances. Then I sewed them together and flipped them right side out. I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to attach it to the neckline until the last minute, but I ended up doing it similarly to how I would hand-sew hexagons for a quilt. I lined up one short side, right sides together with the neckline, and whip-stitched it together with tiny little stitches. Then I finagled and folded the pieces until I could line the longer sides up, right sides together, and whip-stitched those together. And finally I did the same thing for the last short side.

  It even looks decent on the inside, and there are no raw edges! And I was really happy with my hand-stitching this time, except for the parts where one of the daughters suddenly jumped on me. I was also pleasantly surprised by how quickly it went. I was expecting each neckline to take at least an hour, but I finished each in under 30 minutes:

  I used French seams for the side seams of the length addition, and a narrow rolled-hem (those are hard even with the rolled-hem presser foot!) on the lining. Then I gathered both layers together and sewed them upside-down to the lining of the dress, flipped them back down, and topstitched. It looks like this if you lift up the outer layer of the dress:

  Most of the time all the stitching will be hidden by the outer layer, like this:

  So the additions may not be perfect, but I think they came out well. =)
 
  Left to do on the wedding sewing list: Alter my dress and make these same additions, finish my bolero and make two more, and sew a flower-girl dress. I'm getting things done, slowly but surely! =)

Thanks for stopping by!