Lexie's Wedding Dress! Part 1 - Chelsea

So on Wednesday, I was scheduled to get off work early, we were needing someone to leave early for pay role, and Lexie and I had already accomplished our main task for the day and the store was so over staffed and under shopped that afternoon that we volunteered to leave early so we could go fabric shopping for Lexie's wedding dress! Aren't we just so nice like that? ;-)

We started by looking at patterns since we knew that the pattern we chose might dictate what kind of fabric we needed!  And boy were we right! (for non sew-ers, all the available patterns a brand has they advertise in a great big giant hardbound catalogue) After digging through the dress sections of half a dozen pattern books, we found the perfect pattern for Lexie's body type and design preferences and beach friendly.  Only one little hitch. It was jersey knit only!  Jersey Knit wedding dress?!  Why not!  We found a lace that had enough stretch to it that it should work, and we found a true knit fabric that exactly matched the lace fabric!  We also found some antique looking broach/pendanty things we're going to add to the shoulders.

Thursday afternoon I took out the pattern instructions and studied them forwards and backwards.  The instructions look pretty clear and simple and straight forward which I'm grateful for!

Friday I had the whole day off with nothing planned so I was going to get started in the morning and work all day getting the pieces cut out and hopefully get a good chunk of the sewing done! I was itching to get started!  But the best laid plans of mice and men and crafters got shortened on one end when I got a last minute desperate request from a friend to babysit Friday afternoon. It is so rare that I can say yes that I was happy to help her out! But that meant I could only work until about 3. Oh well.  Then on Friday morning I wake up to find out that my mom is having an important event on the far side of town and forgot a few things she really needs. So I delivered them and then visited a bit and got her lunch while I was there, but I didn't get home til 1.  And I needed to finish up a project for my store manager and it had a much shorter deadline.

So needless to say I haven't started cutting or sewing at all!  But I have Tuesday off and I hope to make some good progress then!  In the mean time here is a sneak peek at the pattern and the fabric we picked out!
Also if you want to see some of the inspiration photos we looked at before we went shopping you can find them on my pinterest page.
 

Under Construction

Hey everyone!

Sorry we've been absolutely rubbish about keeping you updated! Let me try to catch you up on why we've been absent from online! We haven't forgotten or given up on Zoe Cara... She's just had to slip a little lower on the to do list. More on that in a bit. Rebecca has some fabulous projects in the works, but isn't sure yet how to finish them. If we ask nicely she might give us some sneak peeks!

Rebecca had gotten her nursery all adorable and her craft room nicely set up, when they decided they wanted roommates! The first lovely couple wasn't able to move in due to technological issues, but I suggested my fabulous friends Emily and Trisha (check out Emily's etsy shop 104 Jewelry!). So the next several weeks were spent doing a giant reorganizing shuffle, now Rebecca's craft room is consolidated into her closet, and a book case in the living room, and the nursery is in Rebecca and her hubby's room. Don't worry, there is plenty of space for them to share!

So now the dust has settled, but my gorgeous and precocious goddaughter (I'm biased, but complete strangers walk up all the time and say how pretty she is!) has just reached the crawling/almost walking stage and needs almost constant supervision, which has made craft time an endangered species for Rebecca! Currently most of her creative juices are being used to help her daughter play and learn and develop and she's doing a fantastic job so far! Hopefully as they get a routine established Rebecca will be able to get a little more craft time in.

And what have I been doing? Juggling! Not bowling pins or bouncy balls, but working 5-6 days a week, going to two different churches, spending time with family, teaching an ASL one day, helping in a 1st grade math class another day, helping Trisha and Emily get settled in, helping Becca get prepared for them to move in... It's been great but hectic and on the rare occasions when I have a few hours to myself, I hide and veg! However! School is out! Or almost out atleast! And that will help open up my schedule quite a bit actually!

I still won't be able to start crafting right away because of the"Big Two Projects."

Project 1. Make a wedding dress for my manager at work. (I gave her her own board on our Pinterest!) She is having an informal family only beach wedding in July and wanted something very simple in design, not floor length, but still made out of white lace and ribbon etc ;-). I'm excited and nervous! I've made fully functional and wearable and even cute clothes before, but not spent much time working with lace! So bring on the practice scraps and bring in the google!

I promise to show lots of pictures as I go along!

Project number 2. "The Great Room Swap". It started on my birthday. My mom asked "are you sure...." And our entire summer got taken over! But that will have to wait for the next blog post!

Hope everyone is enjoying the green spring and not suffering too terribly from allergies!

Chelsea