BALLOOP!

Well, I don't know when I'll ever post pics of my school projects. Either I don't have good weather or I don't have a photographer. Instead, I'll tell you about summer semester.

I am signed up for English 2010—an online class; and Cardio Fitness again (wait, did I already tell you this? Hm.) I've got Flexibility for Fitness; had Zumba, but went to one class and realized that "zumba" is just a fancy name for "aerobics"—and I have hated—passionately hated—aerobics ever since the 80's, even at my peak of physical fitness. So I dropped Zumba quickly. And I have Algebra, which is causing me fits. And I have Corset Making.

Corset Making is, by far, the most interesting, so I'll tell you some things I have learned about corsets:

First, there actually is something appealing about a piece of clothing that sucks your gut in for you, corrects your posture, and lifts your saggy . . . bosoms. (And I think it's actually more comfortable than some of those Spandex body-shapers.)

I made the mock-up for my corset this week and had the fitting today. My friend, Cherylene (say "Sherleen") was fitting me. She'd get me all pinned up and then call the teacher, Eugene, to come check her work. Eugene would say to me, "How does that feel? Does it feel like it's supporting you?" Well, it did feel like the tightest piece of clothing I've ever worn—including leotards and Miracle Suit swimsuits. But I really didn't know how it was supposed to feel. Finally, after about the tenth time he asked me, I said, "Well, I don't usually wear a corset, so I don't really know if it's right."

Then, since my corset was the first one to get close to fitting properly, he had me demonstrate for the class lifting myself up ("Could you reach down your shirt and lift your breast?") so they'd know how to fit the corset to lift and not mash down. (One girl, seeing me fearlessly reach into my shirt and lift—in front of the whole class—laughingly said to me, "Now I just love you!")

Finally Eugene and Cherylene got me all snugged up, and lifted up, and now I do know what a corset should feel like. For next week I have to fix my pattern and sew up the alterations.

The second thing I learned (or figured out) is this: There is NO WAY you could ever put your corset on all by yourself. I realized this when I was fitting Cherylene. I had to grab hold of those seams and pull with all my might, and then pin it in tighter and tighter and tighter. Now, imagine trying to put on a tight pair of jeans and get them zipped up. It is really difficult, but at least you can do tricky things like lie down on your back and suck your tummy in. (Come on; we've all done it!) But how on earth can you suck in your tummy and your sides and your back-fat and lift your boobs up and put on a garment that can't hold itself up (having no sleeves) and then fasten it? It can't be done! Seriously, I dare you to try it. No wonder Scarlett had Mammy tugging on her laces while she held on to the bedpost.

The last thing I learned about corsets is that they're probably not really all that sexy. I know you can sometimes see them in the lingerie department; but those must just be eye-candy corsets—not corsets that actually do their job.

It's like this: You manage to squeeeeeze yourself into your corset somehow, and you look beautiful—maybe even sexy! Thin, flat tummy; full, lifted breasts; amazing posture—lovely! But if you were to open this package (and I know this from experience today) all that stuff that you somehow squeezed in just mooshes out. Think of filling a Ziploc baggie with bread dough, and then letting the dough rise until the baggie is full almost to bursting. Then you take a knife and cut a lengthwise slit in the baggie. All the dough just kind of "balloops" out onto the counter. This is what happens to your body when you loosen the corset. See what I mean? Not sexy.

I am learning so much in school!

I am so Awesome! ;-)

Straight A's again—and I worked for it! Yay, me!!
(I'll post pics of my projects soon.)

Crazy-Busy!

School is keeping me extremely busy right now. Every week I make a new pattern of some kind—right now we are working on sleeves, so I make two different sleeves and a bodice to put them on—and then I have to cut them out of muslin and sew them all together. Yes, I do something like this every week for this class. I'm working on a jacket for Adv. Sew, my coat for Tailoring, and three more patterns for Pattern by Measurement. The P by M patterns are finally drawn; now I have to cut them from lovely fabrics and make them to fit me (and hope that they really look nice enough to wear).

Plus all my school and all the kids' school entails a lot of running around, and our van has been out of commission for three weeks. Ben and Tami have been far, far more than extremely generous and kind to us, and have let us use their van all this time. (I think a catered dinner with a lovely dessert is in order for them.) Hopefully our van will be out of the shop tonight—or tomorrow morning.

On top of all that, we have BIG family things in the works that are . . . a little stressful. But I'm not ready to divulge more than that right now. It's just that things here are crazy, crazy-busy!

p.s. Send me a poem for my contest! I could use the break. ;-)

Fashion Design

Pattern by Measurement is an interesting class. We are making our body drafts (I can't say we are drafting patterns because Signe tells us many times each week that these are not patterns—they are body drafts. I understand why. But to most people "drafting patterns" makes more sense.) The work is fun and interesting—I like it; but almost every week Signe makes me feel fat. Whenever I have a question about how to draw something, or how much seam allowance to put in, Signe will pat me, feeling the place in question (my sides, my hips, my belly . . .), and say something like, "You're a little heavy there, so . . ." It's a little disheartening. But, in spite of the little sting, she doesn't offend me because she really doesn't think a little weight here or there, or a little bit of "extra floating about the middle" is bad. "We are all different," she says, "and that's why we are not boring. If we were all the same we would look like sacks of potatoes."

Well, my body drafts are finished. I need to sew them up in muslin and see if any changes are necessary. When it's sewn it will pretty much be skin-tight (body-draft, not a clothing pattern) and, hopefully—if I've done it right—will fit perfectly. Then I can start making patterns from it. I have to make a dress or a blouse and a skirt, and I have to make a pair of pants. So I've been thinking about dresses. I love full skirts—very classic, and you can actually move in them. I'm not planning to do tour jetés in my dresses, but I do like to feel like my legs aren't tied together; and climbing into our van on Sunday in a straight skirt is nearly impossible.

Friday I googled "1950's dresses" and found some that I really like. I don't have the classic, tiny waist—far from it. But I did a "shop your body type" search and here's how it describes my figure: "Womanly. Ultra-feminine. You have a fullness through your core, arms and legs."

Right on! And much kinder than I would have been to myself. It says: "Look for clothing that draws attention to your face and elongates your silhouette. Vertical, stripes, collars and details at the neck, dark colors, flared skirts and well-fitted clothing are best for you."

So maybe the fitted bodice, full-skirt thing would be OK for me. Anyway, some of the fabulous dresses I found are scattered throughout this post. Some are vintage, some are new, retro designs. What do you think?

What's Her Name?

School is definitely well under way. I'm doing well so far—except for never doing my reading for Advanced Sewing. (Unlike Intermediate Sewing, where we were graded solely on our projects, now we are having quizzes every week on info. from the textbook. Fortunately, I know most of this stuff anyway.)

In Adv. Sewing I will have two projects: a fitted ladies vest—which I'm making for Lindsey who is definitely shaped like a lady—and a ladies jacket (or something else that is lined, has sleeves and lapels; I'm thinking that sounds just like a jacket).

In Tailoring I am making myself a full-length dress coat. This is to be made of wool (pricey!), and be perfectly fitted, and have lots of hand-sewing in it. In fact, last week we made our shoulder-pads—all by hand. I hope to have a really nice, heavy, warm coat some time in late May.

In both Adv. Sew and Tailoring we have to make up the patterns in muslin and do the alterations there before we cut into our nice, expensive "fashion fabrics." It always has been the fitting that gives me fits.

In Patterns 2 we have each been assigned our own dress-form. We had to measure our girls, and now we are drafting slopers (patterns with no seam allowances) to fit them. When the slopers are done we will be making different patterns from them. And, again, we are sewing

everything up in muslin.

Between three classes, I've already used 6 1/2 yards of muslin in three days. I expect to go through at least one entire bolt of muslin before the end of the semester, all for a bunch of very ugly clothing with lots of markings (in Sharpie marker) all over it; and most of it will only fit my size-eight dress-form. I wonder what I'll do with it all when the semester's over? :-/

And Pattern by Measurement is the exciting class! In this class we are getting our own measurements and drafting slopers and patterns that will be a perfect fit. Signe (say Sig-nee), our teacher, is a little 80-year-old lady who says she can "run rings round all of you." And she probably can. She invented this pattern-making system and she says that when you use it to make your patterns you will only ever have to have one fitting—maybe two if you're doing bridal wear. It is always sizing/fitting that escapes me, so I'm pretty excited about this class. And already I can see places where Signe's method is an improvement over the traditional method I'm learning in Patterns 2.

Cardio Fitness is no great thrill. It forces me to go to the gym twice a week and work out—which is good. But not too exciting. Of course, if I lose a pound or two a month, that would be exciting!

So, I'm well into it all now. But the question is: What should I name my dress-form? She needs a name, don't you think?

Betty-Lou? Bobbie-Jo? Georgianna? What is her name?

Before I get back to Life As We Know It . . .

. . . I'll show you the rest of my school projects. Yes, I am done for a whole month! I really liked my classes, I think I did well in them, and I am ready for a well-deserved (I think) break. Now I can get back to the relaxing business of doing dishes all day long, and washing 32 loads of laundry a week. ;-)

But first . . .

In Intro. to Fashion I had to design a fashion accessory, using old stuff that I had around—or stuff from a thrift store—and without using my sewing machine. Oh! And it had to be something I would actually use myself. I decided to make shoes that would match the outfit I made for my Patterns class. So I hot-glued the matching fabric onto a pair of size-8 shoes (too big for me) that I found at the D.I.

The red fabric on the toes is pleated, and it has the little pleated circley thing to match the belt on the dress. Too bad the shoes aren't half-size to really match the dress. Would I wear them? Yes, if I had the matching dress. I don't know what else I'd use them with. The instructor, Jill, said that was the best shoe-covering job she'd seen. Actually they do look pretty good from across the room. On close inspection you'll see a lot of hot-glue mess, and the frayed edges of the fabric—which I fudged over with paint.

I think I'll give these as a white-elephant gift tonight

In Int. Sew I had to make a pair of perfectly-fitting jeans. I had no confidence in this project, and was already feeling a little burned-out by the time we started. So I didn't even try to make them look nice—no fancy stitched pockets, no nuthin'. I don't even particularly like the fabric color (although that's not my fault—they were not that color before I pre-washed them. I was amazed at how much color washed out). Too bad, because they really are a perfect fit! Next time I'll actually make them look nice.

And in Textiles I made my gorgeous swatch book. I won't include a picture, because I don't think a photo online would show how really cool this book is. But if you don't believe me, you can ask Melanie. And for my final, final project in that class I had to design and make a fabric and design three outfits that would use the fabric as their central theme. At first I wanted to make a Batik because it sounds like a really cool process. But that wasn't going so well, so I decided that embroidery would be easier. (When I told this to the class during my presentation, Janet was very surprised that I thought embroidery was easier than Batik. I thought about it after I sat down, because that does seem like a crazy thing to say. I guess what I meant was that I knew I'd get the results I wanted with embroidery, while I wasn't so certain about the Batik.)

Anyway, I made my fabric—about 10 to 12 hours of work for an 8 by 8-inch piece, which makes this "hand-made-in-the-USA" fabric about $2,000 a yard (minimum wage; wholesale). But once the embroidery was done, I realized I really didn't know exactly what clothes I'd make with it; bridal, obviously, but what?


In reverse order, here's what I came up with:

For the third outfit I was completely stuck. First I thought a vest of the embroidery with a skirt or slacks in a dark olive-green, and a cream-colored blouse with bishop sleeves would be nice. When I drew it, it looked fantastic—for the 70's.

too 70's

Then I thought a "mother-of-the-bride" suit, in the olive, with a collar of the embroidery would look great. And my colored picture was great, but I re-read the assignment and realized that a collar could hardly be called "central" to the outfit.

mother of the bride

By now it was 3:00 a.m. on the day the project was due. I finally just drew a little-girl's dress: embroidered bodice, silver skirt with "toast" organza overlay, and organza sash and organza puffed sleeves. Kind of a cop-out, and not original at all. But I was too tired to care about creativity at that point.


Second, a little prom-type dress. The skirt is the embroidered fabric, the top is the same fabric without the embroidery, and the little flower-things on the neckline are made of organza that matches the embroidery thread colors, with little diamond-thingies in their centers. Very cute, I think.


And the first design: A gown . . . ball-gown? red-carpet dress? This dress is also made of the silver fabric without the embroidery; the shawl-collar and the poufy, bustled train are made of the embroidery. I really like this one.


My presentation went very well. I was the only person with embroidered fabric—there were lots of Batiks; so I was glad I'd made that change. And Janet told the class they should all have a look at my embroidery before we left that day. I think I love Janet!

After the presentations . . . the final exam. And now I am freeeee! For a month. And then I'll be doing Advanced Sewing, Patterns 2, Tailoring, Fashion Illustration, and Pattern by Measurement—the class I'm dying to take. Oh, and a Cardio-Fitness class.

But, for at least one month you won't have to hear from me about school—at least, not my school. Hooray for the holidays!

Ah, Sweet Success!

I have finished my biggest school projects (and they are marvelous!), and it's as if the weight of the world has been lifted. I knew I was stressed out about all the work I had to do, but I didn't entirely realize just how stressed I was until it was over with. I feel so good, and happy, and . . . light now!

So let me tell you about the projects:

In Patterns I had to design an outfit that had a skirt or pants and a blouse/shirt; I had to change the darts or shape of the pattern from the original slopers; I had to include a collar or facing on the top and I had to do sleeves—also different from the original slopers. (Slopers are basic patterns without seam allowances on them.) We also had to turn in an illustration of the outfit.

As soon as we got the assignment I started thinking of what I might want to do. At first I thought I'd like some kind of dressy blouse with a flouncy ruffle that went around the neck and down the front opening, with 3/4 length sleeves and a flounce at the sleeve hem. I thought that if I could continue the blouse-ruffle down the skirt somehow, that would be cute. But my pictures all looked pretty stupid—like pajamas, at best.

Yes, I sat in my other classes and doodled pictures

Then I thought that instead of a frilly ruffle, I'd make a pleated, stand-up neck ruffle; I liked that. My next thought was to make a full, pleated skirt and a little belt to go with it. Closer, but still not right. So I thought of adding a pleated peplum to the blouse—which would make it more like a jacket.

Finally decided that to get the look I'd really like, I'd do away with the full skirt and make a straight skirt with a pleated ruffle at the hem; I wouldn't pleat the peplum; and the bodice was a lot cuter if it was cut down almost to the navel. Hm. I guess this means I need a blouse under the jacket now. So I decided to make a sleeveless, scoop-neck blouse with French darts. And then, the very last evolution was to make it a dress, instead of a skirt and blouse, with the jacket and belt. This was really overkill—much more than I was assigned to do. But I couldn't help it; once I had this great idea I had to finish it!

I spent several hours making the patterns, but couldn't decide on colors. Finally I decided to go look at Wal-mart's bargain fabrics; the fabric textures I liked would determine the colors. Now, I would never really make clothing out of any of these horrible fabrics; the suit was drapery stuff, the pleats a stiff, polyester home-fabric, and the blouse a cheap costume satin. But I did achieve a great look—the textures are lovely, and I love the colors.

And when it was all made, I realized that I'd also made an "day to evening" outfit: Take off the jacket, replace the belt and you're ready to leave the office and go on a date. ;-)

Here are my swell drawings (I can trace a body off a pattern envelope as well as the next girl):

check out my drawing of Jamie Lee Curtis! ;-)

And here are pictures of the outfit itself on the mannequin at school:

day . . .

. . . to evening

I have to admit that I love my little dress—I'd wear it myself (then I'd have a designer dress! Haha!). Janet (the instructor) said it was a lovely design, she loved the colors, and she said it's a very marketable design. :-) The girls in my class loved it too. Everyone presented really cute stuff on Wednesday, but they went nuts over my dress—they even told Janet that she should give me extra credit for it. :-) Janet said, "What good would that do? She's already at the top."

I flew home on clouds! Who couldn't have a stupendous, happy day after that?

I Can Make Twins

In all the free time I have these days—there's just SO MUCH of it!—I'd like to earn a little extra Christmas $$. So I'd like to sew matching little girl and 18-inch doll outfits for people, a la American Girl or My Twinn. I can do these on an as-ordered basis (I'm not going to make up a bunch to keep in stock), and I can do just about anything. So if you know or hear of anyone who is interested, direct them to http://loraleesfancy.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-can-make-twins.html

Pioneer Pics

Here are the pictures of the bonnets:

Nine little pioneer girls (and one cowboy)

Anna in her pioneer outfit

Cute, huh?

April Showers . . .

or When it Rains, it Pours

I just finished a totally insane couple of weeks!

It started because my friend, Nicole, asked me (in the beginning of March) if I would make ten pioneer sunbonnets for her daughter Anna's birthday party on April 16, and I said I would. In the interim, she had asked if I'd also make Anna a pioneer dress and apron. Sure! No problem!

So, of course, I put it off until the last minute. Thursday (April 8) found me madly working on sunbonnets. That same Thursday Ryan reminded me that Pinewood Derby was on the 16th, and we hadn't even started making his car. I promised we would get to it ASAP.

Friday morning (April 9) I was about 2/3 done with the party bonnets when Nicole called to tell me that she was changing the party from the 16th to the 24th, so I'd have an extra week. Whew! "But," she said, "Anna is doing a "wax museum" at school, and the person she's chosen to be is Laura Ingalls Wilder, so could I still have Anna's stuff done by the 15th?" Naturally, I was almost done with everything except for Anna's stuff, which I hadn't even cut out. I said, "Sure. No problem."

I finished the first nine bonnets Friday afternoon. That evening I helped Melanie throw a bridal shower for Stephanie, our niece-to-be.

Saturday morning (April 10) I went to my exercise class—can't miss that! When I got home I pulled out the scroll-saw and cut out Ryan's car and got him started on the finishing (sanding, etc). It was also my birthday, and Bruce took me out that evening. :-)

Sunday (April 11) we had stake conference, so church was only two hours instead of three. Good! We spent the rest of the day making Lindsey's campaign posters.

Monday morning (April 12) I worked on the posters that we hadn't finished on Sunday—we thought Lindsey was supposed to put them up that morning. When they were done I rushed them to her at school only to find out that she couldn't put them up until after school anyway. That afternoon when I picked up the kids I helped Lindsey put up her posters.

Tuesday (April 13) I finally started on Anna's dress (I thought that she needed it for Thursday). During all the rest of this madness our computer got a nasty virus and we had to wipe all the drives. So I also copied all our important stuff onto discs that morning. By afternoon I was able to erase all the computer drives and I spent the evening installing stuff and doing updates. That night we all stayed up until 1 a.m. helping Lindsey write her campaign speech.

Wednesday (April 14), I took Michael to the orthodontist in the morning and then went to buy a few groceries. Back at home, I finished the pioneer dress and apron by 1:00—not bad! Then I got a phone-call from another friend who needed a ride to go run some errands in the afternoon; so I took her and got back just in time to pick the kids up from school. The kids and I delivered the sunbonnets and dress before we went home (I'll post the pictures after the b-day party). After dinner, Michael and I went to his board of review for his Eagle award that evening, and then returned some library books.

Thursday morning (April 15) I did major kitchen-cleaning because I was going to make Stephanie's wedding cake. Not much housework had happened the prior week. And on Thursday afternoon I started making the flowers for the cake. And sometime that day I also realized that, oh, crap! It's tax day! I'd started our taxes earlier, but didn't finish because of all the computer trouble. I had a super hard time getting into the online tax program, but I finally did manage to get my federal taxes in on time. Oh! And I also went to the school to see Lindsey deliver her speech that afternoon. Worked on flowers the rest of the evening.

Friday (April 16) I worked on the wedding cake all day until about midnight. I sent Bruce and the kids off to Pinewood Derby without me. Ryan came in 5th. This year is the last year we'll have a cub scout in the Pinewood Derby. (Dare I say, "Whoo-hoo!" ?

Saturday (April 17) I went to the stake exercise class in the morning :-) and then went home to work on the cake until 3:00. At that point it was ready to transport to the church. By 5 p.m. I was really all finished with it; I went home, fed the kids, and turned right back around to go to the actual reception. (Stephanie loved the cake!) As I was sitting in a stupor at one of the tables, thinking that at last I was done with all the craziness, I realized that I had to teach Relief Society the next day. Shoot!

Sunday (April 18) I taught my lesson, and it turned out all right.

All the stuff I'd done over the previous week or two is stuff I really enjoy. Any one of those projects in a week would be great—and keep them coming! A new one every week. All of it heaped together like that—on top of the everyday stuff—was a bit much. Although I have to admit I'm pleased with myself for getting it all done, done on time, and done well. ;-)

Monday (April 19) I thought things would be quiet again , but I ended up taking Kaylie to insta-care for a bladder infection. But I guess that, at least, is just normal mom-stuff. So, yeah, all is quiet on the Northern front—for now.

Christmas Projects!

I am so excited! I love to make and create things, and I've been doing just that for the last couple of months. I know I already mentioned that I was working on several projects for the holidays. I've finished the first one: A nativity set/puzzle. I made one for myself, one for my sister, one for my mom (who collects nativities) and one for a very dear friend. And since I already gave them out (so they could display them—and play with them this season) I will show you what they look like.



I'm still working on one very exciting project—at least I am excited about it; it's keeping my brain very busy. But it's a gift, so I can't tell about it yet. And I've got another gift 80% finished.

But today's excitement is for Christmas dresses! Looking through my fabric box I found a beautiful gold brocade and some black velvety stuff that go wonderfully together. So I measured them this morning and I have enough to make dresses for all three of my littlest girls. I am about to turn out some dresses that will look like I spent $50 to $75 each, but will only cost me . . . probably less than $15 to make all three! How's that for cool?

So, I'll have to post photos of my Christmas Belles when the dresses are done. I'm so excited!

Sew, Do I Hafta?

I am at it again. Sewing. Well, first I had to procrastinate—"never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after." So, yeah, I procrastinated; but now I am sewing. Well not right now.

A couple months ago my sister-in-law, Becky, asked me to make her and her daughter some dresses to wear at her sister's wedding. And I said, "Sure!" And I meant it, too. And then I went through an incredibly lethargic, apathetic, lazy phase that really isn't quite over yet. But the wedding is this Friday (the 17th), so day before yesterday (Thursday, the 9th) I finally got started. Fortunately the patterns are easy; Becky's dress is all done except for buttons and the hem. I'll get Emma's done on Monday.

But then, Halloween is coming up and we'll need costumes galore in my house. Rachel has one that she's borrowing from her cousin, but that's the only costume we have ready. Kaylie wants to be a ballerina, Jessica wants to be a flower, I think Ryan is going to be Frankenstein. Michael is going to take care of his own costume; but I don't know about anyone else yet. Well, Bruce has a pretty cool costume that I made for him last year. I think I need a costume—why should everyone else have all the fun? But, like Cinderella, I can only make mine when everyone else's is done. (Hmmm. That sounds whiny and negative, which is not what I intended.)

Anyway, there's lots of sewing to be done around here. And after Halloween I'll have to think about Christmas sewing. But hey! I still have two months before I really have to start on that, don't I?

The "Belle" of the Ball

In March I was asked to make a prom dress that looked exactly like Belle's dress (from Disney's Beauty and the Beast). I wanted to wait until I had a picture of Heather in the finished dress before I wrote about it, but I've given up on getting one. Which is a bummer, because the gown was gorgeous but I never got to see it modeled once it was finished. I do have pictures of the sewing process, including her wearing it when it was almost done, so here's the story of the Belle prom dress:

The dance was on May 17, so I figured I'd have plenty of time. I spent a lot of thinking time, designing it in my mind, watching Beauty and the Beast, looking for fabrics, and generally figuring out how I'd put the dress together. I couldn't find any patterns that I thought would work; a couple of years ago I could have, but apparently this year that's not the stylin' thang.

The first part of April I started trying to actually get hold of Heather so I could get her measurements; that turned out to be a big phone chase, but I finally did reach her around the third week in April. She is tiny! I had one pattern with a bodice that I thought would work; it said she's a size 12--which I really doubted, but I decided I'd try it out. So I made up a size 12 bodice in muslin and had Heather come try it on. It drowned her! I could easily grab a fistful of fabric in the back, and still have more than enough room for the girl! So I pulled out my custom pattern-making kit and drew up a pattern from scratch. That one was much better; it would have been a perfect fit for a nice Sunday dress, but for this sleeveless, strapless dress it had to be a perfect, body-hugging fit. I pinned in the seams a little and told her the next time she saw me, the dress would look like a dress. Bold words for someone who's never made a dress like this one before!

My little girls fell in love with the slip. Jessica is modeling it.

I had to order in the yellow satin for the dress, and it was taking forever to arrive (I admit, I was really beginning to worry that I wouldn't get it in time). So while I was waiting on the satin, I started with the slip. To make it exactly like Belle's dress (as requested) it needed one of those full, poofy, wedding-type slips. You know, the ones with a stiff, crinoline under-skirt, and layer upon layer upon layer of stiff netting stitched to it, and then a crinoline over-skirt. However, those slips are not very pretty; and I happen to know that Belle's slip had at least one layer of lace at the hem. (Watch her dancing with the Beast--you'll see!) So instead of the crinoline over-skirt I made it of tulle, edged with 8-inch lace. I also put a small lace edging on the under-skirt part of the slip. I spent about 15 hours sewing it, gathering 18 yards of netting to make it; the whole slip used about 20 to 21 yards of fabric and could stand up by itself. It turned out beautifully. [I think that when my girls get married I'll have to make their slips so they can have pretty ones.]

The satin arrived with only a week-and-a-half to spare! That was OK. I was pretty sure I could get it done. I had to hold my breath and start cutting up the fabric. The bodice was of a gold-toned satin and went together pretty easily, but I debated whether or not I should ask Heather to come back just to be certain that it really fit. In the end I decided just to trust my measurements--mostly because I couldn't really try it on her without putting in the zipper, and the zipper really couldn't go in until the skirt was attached anyway. I just held my breath some more.

After the bodice, it was time to do the over-skirt. It was of a sheer, sparkly, yellow fabric--lovely! After studying Belle, I could see that each of the eight seams needed to be gathered in some way to create the draping effect of the skirt. It took me a while to decide how much too long I should make the over-skirt so that once it was gathered it would be shorter than the under-skirt. Talk about brain cramps!

Once I got the sheer fabric cut, I stitched a gold satin piece to the bottom of each sheer piece to create the drape that hangs just below her knees. Then I tried gathering the seams for the draping, but they bunched up too much. So instead I decided to pleat each seam all the way down; each one had about 20-25 small pleats. To keep the skirt from fraying apart I sewed every seam in a French seam. For those who don't sew very much, that means that I sewed a 1/4-inch seam, right-side-out, trimmed it to 1/8-inch, then turned it wrong-side-out and sewed a 3/8-inch seam, encasing the first seam. Was that explanation helpful at all? Anyway, what it really means is that I sewed every seam in the skirt twice. Each seam in the over-skirt took me 45 minutes to an hour to complete--I found that rather astonishing! Once the entire over-skirt was done I attached it to the bodice; now I was ready to finish the rest of the dress.

The under-skirt was easy--the hardest part was making the French seams again, and that's more time-consuming than difficult. I got it attached to the rest of the dress, put in an invisible zipper and it was ready to be fitted for hemming, and for any alterations it might need in the bodice. Heather came the Thursday before the dance (May 15) to try it on--fortunately it didn't need to be taken-in anywhere. I also measured her for the shoulder-drape at that time. [As a bit of trivia, this gown for this girl with a 26-inch waist used almost 20 yards of fabric in addition to the 20 yards for the slip. The girl is tiny, but the dress is huge!]

Heather looked absolutely beautiful in it! Our mutual friend, Nicole, was there for the fitting and she was just thrilled with the dress. She echoed my own thoughts: If it were white and had sleeves it would be a gorgeous wedding dress.

Well, after the fitting I only had to hem it, put in the lining and attach the shoulder-drape. Simple work, and it was done by Friday afternoon (the day before the dance). I am so very pleased with the way it turned out. I just wish I had a picture of Heather in the finished product.

And now, I absolutely must thank my kids, once again, for being so good and patient while I spent ten-hour days working on this dress. I barely managed to get dinner for them during that week, but they (the kids, not the dinners) were great!

Would I do it again? For one of my girls, if they wanted it. Would I love to see it as a wedding dress? For one of my girls, if they wanted it--but only if we had lots more time to work on it!

I am sewing, daily sewing...

I have become the local seamstress. It started on March 6 when I was at a Relief Society party and Heather asked me to make her prom dress. She wanted a dress like Belle's yellow gown (Disney's Beauty and the Beast), and since she obviously wouldn't find one in any store she needed someone to make it for her. I agreed. [More on the prom dress later--when I have pictures.]

At about the same time, Brandon was looking at clothing patterns while I was shopping the craft department at Wal-mart. He found one he liked and said he'd like to make it for his little sisters. Brandon is only 10, and has never done any sewing, but I figured he could at least do some of it. I hadn't planned to make new Easter dresses for the girls, but if he wanted to learn to sew--making something for the girls--then I'd do it after all. I really did end up making the dresses myself, but they were easy and cute. But what I really wanted to do was make a dress for myself, so I did that too.

Soon after Easter my brother asked me to make his daughter's costume for the school play she was in. OK. I also had to make Lindsey's costume for the play (they go to the same school). And in the middle of all that a friend asked me to make a Little Red Riding Hood cloak for her little girl's birthday. And of course I said I would.

I've got all those projects done now. So far, so good. But I still want to make myself another dress or two (it's been a while), and my three littlest need nightgowns. It's a funny thing...I've done almost no sewing at all for---a really long time. Now suddenly I am swamped in sewing projects. It's OK. I really enjoy it. And I like to see my finished work--because, Dang! I do a good job!