Pictures, I promised Pictures

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It was a good one. Without further ado:

My haul from New York:






Other than planning to sew it up this summer, I have no concrete plans. I'm in the process of inventorying what's in my closet for summer and will use these pieces to fill in.

Kashi of Metro Textiles:



Kashi is just as nice as everyone says he is.







My "new" baby:



Still haven't had time to play with it yet, maybe next weekend. I've got a four day weekend and hope to get some things done. I'll try to get a bit done in cleaning up my room in the evenings this week.

My nieces' dress:




There are several reviews of this pattern on PR. The dress was relatively easy to make. My niece wanted a combination of two views. We essentially made view A and added the overdress from view F without the ruffle. Imani is 13, and has definite ideas about what she likes and what works for her. She's also quite modest so even without the restrictions (sleeves, no halters and no plunging backs or fronts)on what the female graduates could wear we would have made this dress. I had a couple of problems but I'm convinced that if I'd read the instruction sheet and thought through the process, some of the problems/challenges could have been avoided.

1. Challenge #1 - zipper. When we bought the fabric, I couldn't find a zipper to match or even one close to the color so I bought an invisible zipper. This zipper gave me a fit. After I finally got it in and the lining attached, I broke the zipper opening it. And then had to cut the zipper out of the lining. If I were a cussing woman, the air would have been navy blue. I removed it and went to the closest JoAnn's. I found one almost the exact color and inserted a centered zipper as called for by the pattern. I also created a label to cover the hole. Lesson Learned: Check several stores and locations for the appropriate color notions.

2. Challenge # 2 - Without the ruffle the hem had to be completed differently. I'd originally thought I could finish the bottom of the dress as 3 discrete layers. The pattern has you treat the fabric and the overdress as one piece. The ruffle is added last. I used lace hem binding on the two pieces and treated them as one for the hem. I simply serged the hem on the lining.

3. Challenge #3 - My niece orginally asked me to make this dress at the end of March. At that time I told my sister that I needed everything as soon as possible since I knew May was going to be extra busy. Needless to say, I got the fabric late and then felt rushed. Lesson learned - set deadlines and stick to them. I'd hoped to deliver the dress on Memorial Day. I delivered it about 1 hour before she left.

But it was worth it. She was adorable and is quite grown up. She received several awards so she got to showoff several times. VBG

I've got daughters, but it is always fun to watch girls at this age. One minute they're still little girls and the next you see a glimpse of the women they're going to be. Some of them are wearing heels for the first time and even though they've practiced walking in them the relief on their faces as they successfully negotiate the aisle is priceless.

One last shot of the happy graduate.




TTYL,

Melodye