Once upon a time, there was a lovely bride-to-be trying to have an inexpensive wedding. She thought wedding dresses cost far too much money (why they run into the hundreds, don't you know?) and she didn't think she deserved to wear a fancy white one anyway. She thought since white was out, pink being her favorite but her groom-to-be's LEAST favorite, she would go with a more neutral color. She envisioned a lovely dress to sew for herself. She found the exact pattern online; no matter that the lovely bride-to-be was a kindergarten level seamstress. She decided to make her dress jade green and took on the task with confidence. Kind of like an overconfident kindergartener, yes.
She read that it was wise to make a test dress first, so she found some lovely blue satin material for $1/yard and commenced to making a test wedding gown. She also bought two patterns because she realized she bought the wrong size the first time, as well as beautiful blue lace and jade green lace. She got as far as this before realizing she'd bit off far more than she could chew, considering the fact the wedding was less than four months away.
She caved and went shopping with a friend where she tried on over two dozen dresses, one of which was a lovely ivory gown with a beaded top. She really loved the gown, but alas, it was too tight, the zipper puckered, it was sleeveless (showing too much of the lovely bride-to-be's chubby arms) and it just didn't hang right. So she found this lovely gown which accentuated her curves and made her look beautiful. Unfortunately, she'd had a taste of the white gown and discovered that contrary to her previous stance of "I do NOT want to wear white" she actually did.
She put in a little prayer request and when she realized it was 50% off day at Goodwill, she knew she had to go shopping again. At the first store, she found a gorgeous white gown with light pink flowers and beads, size 18, but it was too small. At the next store, there were no wedding gowns to be found. At the third store, she found this one. It's a size 20, and actually a bit too big. But too big is much easier to alter than too small. And like the charming prince soon to be husband told the second hand store clerk, "The lovely bride-to-be has a few months with which to make the gown fit simply by putting on extra weight." He has a wry sense of humor at times, but I love him. ;-)
The lovely bride-to-be held the seams together and posed for a few pictures.
The dress is in perfect condition, aside from being wrinkled, a bit large, and one other little problem: it looks like the previous wearer spent the night running across blacktop. It is quite dirty at the very bottom of the hem.
Click on the image and you will see the lovely beading of the top part of the dress. The brand name is Eden Bridals. The bride-to-be realizes that her beauty mark will be on display in this gown.
The lovely bride-to-be acknowledges that this gown would be even lovelier if it were ivory, but considering that the lovely bride-to-be has already spent $123.89 on patterns, fabric, lace, sewing accessories, and sewing books, the lovely bride-to-be had better make up her pea brain before she ends up spending $600 on a wedding gown.
The lovely bride-to-be paid $24.98 for this wedding gown.
The lovely bride-to-be rested her pretty head on her pillow, dreaming of alterations and dry cleaning with hopes that neither are too costly.
The End
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Lovely Bride-To-Be Goes Crazy, Film at Eleven
Labels: Wedding
Dancing Lesson Number 1
Labels: Wedding
Last night was our annual client dance at my place of employment. Although I don't normally work on Fridays, I am on duty for event days. I picked up the shred first to get that out of the way and was at work by 11am.
The party theme was a luau... our young deejay played about 90% country and western. I'm not sure how "luau" translates into country/western. I think what happened is the young man wasn't sure just what was appropriate to play for all the old folks in attendance. Usually his grandfather is the deejay and the young man tags along to help. He must be about 15 years old. Unfortunately, grandpa is dying from cancer. He was in attendance last night, but looked very gaunt and tired. Sadly, one of our client's mother is also dying from cancer. She was there last night, too and poor thing, I felt so bad for her I actually broke into tears at one point.
So during one of these lovely cowboy serenades, my boss begins waltzing around and urging me to follow her steps. The reason I never dance in public is because I'm so embarrassed, thinking everyone is looking at me and laughing and pointing. So I was rather wooden and wasn't sure what to do with my hands. Uh, the song was NOT something to dance to, and my boss admitted that.
One of my coworkers thought it was pretty funny and took a picture with his phone. A few minutes later, my boss was talking to him about how she's won dance contests and how she can do this dance and that dance and I don't remember what precipitated this comment from my coworker, "Well, at least you have to have rhythm!" Which obviously implied that I have none. Sigh.
I also came to the realization that a custom for weddings is other men will want to dance with the bride (I promise I'm not this dense). I'm not sure if my honey is going to be comfortable with that. So I'm maybe rethinking the dance thing. Especially since I "have no rhythm". ;-)
Wonder if there's a ballroom dancing instructional video... I'm going to try this one. Fred Astaire Learn To Dance 1 - Ballroom Dancing.
I've been keeping track of the money I've spent, and it is right around $300. This includes all the "mistakes" like buying two patterns and material for a dress I won't be making. Ack.
Until next time.
Auto Maintenance Oil Change 7-28-07 218441
Labels: auto maintenance
Dh changed the oil in the Pathfinder today. Previous oil change 6-10-07 at 214,613.
3828 miles this time.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Update Post
Labels: Wedding
Making progress on the wedding plans. This is actually pretty fun.
I ordered a book a few days ago The Everything Wedding Organizer : Checklists, calendars, and worksheets for planning the perfect wedding by Laura Morin. I read it last night after I got home and it helped me with a couple ideas. For one thing it was a big help with choosing music. I had considered a coworker who has a band, but I think we'll just go with having someone play the music I've chosen from CDs.
I'm not telling the song I want to walk down the aisle with -- the "processional" -- I learned from the above book. It can be a surprise. Dh thought it sounded like a funeral... men. I have a song chosen for the recessional also. I'm still looking for what I'd like to play during the ceremony.
I asked dh if he would dance with me, if we took a few lessons from my boss. He says he will! Neither of us know how to dance and are both very shy. So we'll see how this goes. He says as long as he knows some steps to do, and we practice, he's game. Cool!!
I have to work today. It's our annual raffle dance fundraising event.
I should take a quick nap... I've been up since 1am!
Until next time.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
A Woman's Prerogative
Labels: Wedding
First of all, when did they start spelling Prerogative with "pre" at the beginning of the word!?
What a mixed bunch of torn feelings I went through on Friday afternoon. I agonized for several hours over the camisole before finally deciding to totally skip Step 8. Not a good idea? After giving up, I studied again and FINALLY it sunk in what I was supposed to do.
I called a friend during the time I'd given up and she told me her story about sewing 15 spa wraps for her daughter's recent wedding (less than one month ago). I had called to confirm our plans for Saturday. She encouraged me to consider buying my wedding dress, instead of trying to make it. In spite of giving up, I did forge on and finish the camisole except for the zipper.
Here's a little peek of what it was like inside my head:
Optimist Bride: I've always wanted to make my own wedding gown. I started crocheting a vest with cotton string back in 1986 but was unable to complete it. Press on, girlfriend, be brave and proud, we can do this!
Realist Bride: You sure are a glutton for punishment. You have low energy, and you're gone hours and hours each day of every week. And you REALLY think it's realistic to make a test dress AND the real thing within the next three months?
Optimist Bride: Shut up, you're just jealous!
What Will They Think Bride: Don't listen to the naysayers who tell you this is too difficult. They will be thrilled to see you fail!
Overwhelmed Bride: I don't wanna sew anymore!!! I've only sewed three items in my life, what was I thinking!?
Frugal Bride: The money! What about the money you've already spent on TWO patterns, material and lace for the test dress and lace for the REAL dress? Money wasted! WASTED!
Fat Bride: What if the dress doesn't look good on me? What if I go through all this work and hassle and agony and stress and I look like the side of a barn?
What Will They Think Bride: But what about all the people who have discouraged you? They will win! This is your perfect opportunity for you to show them all!
Fat Bride: But what if the dress makes me look like an elephant? Then what?
Optimist Bride: I can do this, I never give up.
Realist Bride: You're kind of stubborn.
Overwhelmed Bride: There's a lot of other things you could be doing to get ready for the wedding besides slaving over a sewing machine. I can't figure out what this pattern is saying. I'm skipping steps, I don't think this is going to work.
Realist Bride: R says she found a $600 wedding gown for her daughter at this one store and she only paid $35! Let's try that?
Frugal Bride: Only $35? I thought you said wedding gowns cost hundreds of dollars? I could maybe get on board but this better not cost more than $50! Remember how much money you've already wasted!
Optimist Bride: NO, never give up! I can do this! I can! I will! I won't be stopped!
Realist Bride: Someone gag her. I'm going shopping!
Although I actually HATE shopping. By Saturday morning, I'd decided I was ready to throw in the towel.
We picked through the racks for over an hour and found 19 evening gown type dresses that I could consider sizes 18 to 24. The place is packed with women milling all over, everywhere. We went to stand in line at the dressing room. There were four women in front of us. Ten items at a time, so my friend took 9 and I took 10. I stayed in the dressing room, she handed me dresses, zipped me, put the dresses back on hangers. She LOVES this! I was sweating like a pig, my feet were hurting (and starting to stink, I definitely wore the wrong shoes!). From those first 19 we kept two. One was really beautiful off white, fully beaded at the top. It was an 18 and I was able to barely squeeze into it. But it was sleeveless (pale, white, fat arms) and the way my rear sticks out like a shelf this dress just didn't flatter the backside of me. It was a GORGEOUS dress though and I considered it for quite a while as my wedding dress. Only $20!! If I could wear a dress that looks like a wedding gown anywhere other than my own wedding, I would have snapped it up. But it was skin tight, the zipper was pulling, no sleeves. The other one that I thought could work was a size 16.
We went back into the trenches and dug some more. It helped this time knowing that 20s and up were actually too big, 18 almost right.
This time we found seven more dresses for me to try on. They gave us the handicapped dressing room which worked out great.
I ended up choosing a dress that is actually available currently at Nordstrom's, retails at $158.00. It was marked down to $19.97.
Here is the dress on the model:
And I also found my shoes. They are Steve Madden shoes. Silver with a small rhinestone buckle. The shoes were $18.99.
And then today I succumbed to my curiosity and scheduled a fitting appointment at David's Bridal. I was ONLY interested in the gowns available for $99. The sale was ending today. A friend of mine who is getting married three weeks after us found her gown there. It was originally $649 and was on sale for $99. I thought I'd just have a look-see.
When I got there I told them I wanted to look at the sale gowns and they showed me the rack. All the gowns were small sizes, except for one size 16. My consultant asked what size I normally wear and I told her 18 or 20. She said their gowns run a size or two bigger. So no temptation there. Whew. I thought I was going a little bit crazy there. Although those I told about my curiosity encouraged me to check it out. Truth be told, I guess I would really love to have an ivory gown with beading. I know I was all gung ho against white, but then I was gung ho against blue and look at my gown. I will be going back to the discount shop where I found my dress, with my mom, to find her a dress and with dh to see if we can find a suit for him. So I can still skim the racks while I'm there.
Today I ordered some wedding favors off eBay. They are these cute little cards with a poem and a silver wedding bell. 100 favors for $17. I ordered two more books today about wedding planning. Those two came to $13. Both expedited shipping. So I could have saved $4 by waiting for Media Mail... I know it all adds up...
Also there was a little fiasco with who might escort me down the aisle. We decided ds1 will have the honor since he has for years held my hand and then walk me over to dh and put my hand into his. Before we got back together he would do that. So he has already done it quite a bit. Maybe he could also hold the ring in his pocket. I think he would really enjoy being a part of the wedding. Ds2 is going to be manning his digital camera and camcorder. Maybe he might like to hold the ring.
Yesterday we stopped by a thrift store on the way home from church and ds2 found 3 pairs of dress pants, two cost $2.99 each (50% off) and he found a dress jacket that cost $7.99. We also found a pair of dress pants for ds1, but no jackets. Nothing for dh yet.
Last but not least. Today on the way home, dh asked me, "What is the date we are getting married?" I said, "The 20th of October?" He then asked, "Isn't that the date of our divorce?" And then it hit me. I kept thinking there was some significance to the 20th of October, but I couldn't come up with anything. I know my mom's birthday is the 18th and ds2's is the 6th. The whole point for waiting until after ds2's birthday is I want the boys to be able to sign as our witnesses. So yeah. The date of our divorce will be the date of our wedding. Kind of like we are taking up on the day we parted.
Until next time.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Lane Bryant
Labels: Body Acceptance, Wedding
Yesterday afternoon as I approached the Lane Bryant store, I admit... I was apprehensive. I had never been in a Lane Bryant, have never shopped online from Lane Bryant. After all, that's the "fat girls" store. I don't mean it like, "I'm too good/thin (HAH!) to shop there" more like "I can't believe my body is really this size so that's not where I would shop." I still think my body just got this big a year or so ago. I dieted my way from a size 14 down to size 10 or 12 when I was 30, in 1993 and from birth until 1987 I was very slender. So basically the first half of my life I was slender and the last half I've been not slender.
I was apprehensive because I was dressed in blue collar type work clothes. I was wearing my company shirt that I wear to pick up the "shred" and black jeans. Apparently I look like a Walmartian for nearly every time I'm in Walmart dressed this way, I'm asked where something is. Last week I was in the fabric section and a lady asked me where the Southwestern type material was located. I told her politely, "I'm sorry, I don't work here." She was a bit hard of hearing and replied, "It used to be right here." So I repeated myself. Then she was embarrassed.
I was also apprehensive because even though we have air conditioning in the truck, it's so hot out that was already sweating, okay, glistening. But I smelled sweaty. And dh was dressed in coveralls. So we were quite a pair.
Nonetheless, I bravely approached the counter and asked the lady for help with a bra fitting. She was new, and said the other lady would be able to help me once she was done checking out her customer. So she did the fitting over my bra and shirt and said I measured 40" around my ribcage. Oddly enough, when I took my own measurement, it came out to 42". So she said you add two inches to your actual measurement. Another oddity, as on the Lane Bryant website it says nothing about that. I'm still curious how I'm 2 whole inches smaller with my own tape measure. I actually asked her to measure me again, while in the fitting room and then she said I was actually 39".
All right. I just stopped typing to tape my own measurement. I am only 39". Could it be that I was retaining water last week? Maybe that's what it was.
Enough of that.
After she deemed me a 42DD, she took me over to the wall to show me some bras, but first she asked me if this was for an everyday bra or a special occasion? I said actually we (pointing to dh) were remarrying, so she picked out a lacy bra. I told her I was making my own gown and it would either be light blue or jade green, so I thought beige would be the best choice.
I went in and tried on the bra. It was a challenge to get it hooked -- I finally caved a year ago and started buying bras that hook in the front -- but I got it hooked and got myself situated and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Was that really ME and my bust in the mirror? WOW. I have never had a push up bra, and my heavens did this one ever push them up! In a few seconds, my salesclerk was there at the door, asking me how the bra was fitting. She came in and checked the fit and deemed it good. That's when I asked her to measure me again.
She left and I took off the beige lacy bra. While laying it down, I discovered its secret... little baggies of air in side pockets, lol. No wonder it pushed and lifted. Next I tried on the black bra, it fit well also. Next I tried on the white "everyday" bra. She came and looked and said maybe I only needed a D cup since the bra looked a little big at the top. So she brought back a 42D and I tried that one on. It looked better than the DD. She reminded me they were having a sale on bras, buy one, get one for half off.
I decided to take the beige and the white. The beige was $34 and the white was $30. I have never spent anywhere near that on a bra in my life. I think $13 has been the highest I've ever spent and I ended up taking that one back. When I checked out, she asked me if I would like to apply for a charge account and get an additional 15% off. She said I'd get the discount whether I was approved or not. Once I was approved (I knew I would be) she announced I would receive 20% off.
So I ended up paying $42.30 for two nice quality (still MADE IN CHINA though, drat!) bras.
Overall, the experience at Lane Bryant's was amazing. Even dh commented on how helpful they were. To tell you the truth, I've never been to a "quality" clothing store and been treated so respectfully and like I'm really there. And the salesclerks were all "real" women and in addition they were mature women. Not just a bunch of young, skinny girls. Of course how inappropriate that would be to hire skinny girls to work at Lane Bryant's.
On a list I'm on for overcoming overeating (not to be confused with overeaters anonymous!) we have recently been discussing how as we age we become more invisible to store clerks. Maybe it's not JUST weight, but also age. I don't know. I am 44, but look more like I'm 25 or 30. So I still think it's my weight. My sister who has maintained her weight loss (I would guess about 40 pounds?) claims that store clerks consider her one of the "beautiful people" now that she's slender. She claims Walmartians practically fall over themselves trying to get her to check out in their lane.
I wish I had more money to spend on clothing, I would return to Lane Bryant's again.
I do plan to write a note to the saleswoman and thank her for the very positive experience I had in her store.
We have begun milking in the morning and so I am on my way out to milk. Today is the day we grocery shop and pick up the shred. I wish we could be home by noon so I could work on the dress again. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to a friend's house, the one that is going to do my makeup. I will arrive around 8am and I hope to be home by noon or 1pm at latest, again, so I can work on the dress. Ds2 did a "house blessing" on the livingroom yesterday, so that worry is off my shoulders. Also my Fit for Real People book came yesterday and I read some of it last night. Lots of information!
Until next time.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty
Labels: Memory Lane
When I was 8 years old we lived about four houses away from Mrs. Davis, the school crossing guard. Mrs. Davis' cat had kittens and I was allowed to take one home. I picked a calico and named her Tinkerbelle. One night, Tinkerbelle didn't come home. The next day she didn't come home either. After she was missing for two days, I went to Mrs. Davis' house and told her my kitty was missing. She began calling in a powerful voice, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty" over and over again. You see, Mrs. David knew the importance of teaching felines to come to "kitty, kitty, kitty".
We walked all around the area, calling out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" and finally we heard a cat meowing. It was obviously in distress, stuck someplace. We followed the mewing and finally found my Tinkerbelle. She was stuck in an old evaporative cooler. Somehow she had wedged herself in between the sides and the squirrel cage and she kept pawing and scratching at the squirrel cage, trying to get out, but all that happened was the squirrel cage would turn round and round. Her white belly fur was covered with grease and dirt. The pads on her paws were sore with cuts from desperately trying to free herself.
Ever since then, I've trained my cats to come to "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty". It is very helpful when you are looking for them and you have searched every nook and cranny in the house. They bolt awake from a sound sleep to the call and come racing to find out what I have for them.
It's very easy to do. Just sing out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" every single time you are placing a can of newly opened tuna on the floor, or a bowl of warm goat's milk fresh from the udder. ;-) It doesn't take too many times to train them in this manner.
You'll thank me someday for this little piece of advice.
Until next time.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Simpleton Socks
I'm using the book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts to try to learn how to make socks from the toe up.
I keep getting depressed because I can't get past the first few rows on the beginning of the toe. I have started the sock over five times while dh has been driving.
I finally learned how to do yarn-overs, and I learned yesterday by reading the chapter prior to the instruction chapter that I'm supposed to be doing a specific type of yarn-over, which she describes. I'm pretty sure I am doing the yarn-overs that she specifies. But then I get to the part where she wants me to "correct the stitch direction" and "enter the back of the next three stitches from left to right and purl" and there are several more phrases which have me completely befuddled. Especially since putting the needle in from left to right isn't even how you purl? And then things like "...slip the first stitch of the yarn-over onto the right needle, and then over to the left needle. Now your yarn-over is divided leaving one stitch on the left needle." Right. You just told me to move one stitch over and then back again. How did it stay divided, what am I missing?! Maybe I should find another pattern and compare the terminology. Like this site here: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern.
Anyway, so instead of depressing myself on the way to work this morning with what a simpleton I obviously am when it comes to knitting, I decided to take the test camisole along and rip out the seams and baste them. Some of the seams came out crooked, and my side seams aren't matching. That's what I get for sewing without pinning or basting satin material. At least, thank GOD I had the foresight to use the largest stitch so the ripping was fairly simple. I got all the seams ripped out and some of the basting done. I should be able to get all the basting done on the way home.
I talked with a lady today who made her daughter's first wedding gown and she said she was working on it every spare minute for MONTHS. She said she lived 5 minutes away from her job and would come home on her lunch hour and sew for 45 minutes. She said something about 15 buttons on the sleeve from the wrist to the elbow and a high neck with a lot of buttons. So I'm hoping it was much more elaborate than mine. Because I certainly don't have much time available. She even made a comment about how short the time was "and you're making a test dress?" I laughed and said I hoped I wasn't running around in a panic the day of the wedding screaming at dh to staple seams together.
I'm hoping to have the test dress done within the next four weeks. That leaves me eight weeks to do the real dress. I think it can be done, especially if I use some of our commute time basting.
I am learning with making the test dress. I think it's important to make the test dress. For example, I learned that I need to be more vigilant when ds1 is around and I'm working on the dress. Last weekend he put his water glass on the table, which left water on the table. Now the blue satin fabric has a stain on it. Looks like a grease mark though.
Today we leave work early. Dh has an appointment.
Until next time.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday Funnies
Labels: Our Happy Family
Welcome the Our Happy Family label.
Our family really has a lot of fun together. Being I'm the only female in a house of men, I had to develop the sense of toilet humor or be left behind.
On the way to church a couple of Sundays ago the car filled with an unpleasant smell. (We all knew ds1 was the culprit.) I was the first to notice it, saying nothing at all (being polite) and rolled my window down for about 15 seconds to bring in some fresh air. I rolled my window back up and as it was going up, ds2 began rolling his down. As his was going up, as if on cue, ds1 rolled his down and as his was going up, dh rolled his down, then back up.
We were all cracking up for miles after that. As ds2 said, none of us were sure our window rolling down had eliminated the odor.
I think that same day on the way home, ds1 got his cell phone out (it doesn't have service, he just pretends) and "called" his dad on his phone. So then ds2 got out his phone and started "talking" on his phone, then I got my phone and started "talking" and finally dh got his phone and started "talking". All four of us were pretend talking on our cell phones, all at the same time, laughing and cracking up. Talk about a bunch of morons. ROTFLOL.
This past Sunday, ds2 and I were the only ones that went to church. After we were on our way back home, ds2 called dh, talking in a high pitched Julia Child-esque voice. Saying things like, "This is your son's mother." Chortle, chortle, chortle. Then he hung up. So I called from my phone and said - in a gruff sounding voice, "YO, this is your son. What's up?" Dh laughed and then ds2 said, "Let me talk to him" and I said, "Here's your wife" and then ds2 started in again with talking high pitched and laughing goofily. Essentially making fun of me and how I talk and laugh. And doing a terrible imitation. Nonetheless, I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. Later in the day I mentioned to dh how funny that was and that he had laughed when I called pretending to be ds2. At that time he exclaimed, "That was YOU? I thought it was ds2!"
We do have a great family.
Until next time.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lace
I went to the discount fabric store today at lunch and had to look and look but finally found some blue lace that will match the test dress exactly!! And I like the lace, too. (They had a lot of UGLY lace there, lol!) Can you see the pinkish tint to the edges of the lace? The same thing happened with the blue fabric. I'm thinking it must be sun damage? Odd that both the fabric and lace would have the same pinkish tone to the edges. From totally different shops in different cities, too! On sale, $0.75/yard! I bought five yards. I only needed 2 1/2 yards. I guess to be on the safe side. And especially since the edges are tinted pink. That might cause a problem. But WOW, $0.75/yard!! The cheapest I found at Walmart was $2/yard.
The jacket is also supposed to have lace lining the sleeves and the bottom. I found some. It's not a perfect match, but it might work. After all, this is just a test dress. The lace edging cost $0.50/yard.
I also found the jade green lace. I hope I will be able to match a fabric to it, but all the lace was on sale for $0.75/yard! They had only one piece of this jade color, 4.5 yards. I bought it all. Whopping $3.38. Again I only need 2.5 yards for the jacket, but just to be on the safe side. 
I just LOVE the green lace. I really hope I can find fabric to match. I need to go back to the discount fabric store and check it out more thoroughly. I was only able to stay for 25 minutes and had to get back to work.
And I'm feeling MUCH more optimistic because I remembered that my boss is an excellent seamstress and used to sew clothing for her children and has a sewing machine and still sews things. YES!
I'm bringing my box of material and the pattern and everything in tomorrow and see if she can help me.
I started the sock over and my knitting was too loose, so I started it over again.
Until next time.
Maternity Smock?
Labels: Wedding
Just a quick update this morning. Yesterday afternoon I was quite depressed over the way the camisole is turning out. I'm fairly big in the bust department (pretty much huge - more than 6 inches difference so bigger than a D cup!) and the camisole somehow manages to downplay the size of my bustline to where I look like an A cup. Also it flairs out at the waist like a 50s skirt. We obviously did a bad job on modifying the pattern.
I couldn't figure out how to do the straps, which I sewed too wide to begin with. They are an inch wide but supposed to be a bit narrower - I measured 3/16" thinking it was 3/8" - one thing's for sure I am learning a lot with this test dress! I did get the darts sewed on the outside and liner and got the two parts sewed together. It wasn't too difficult, just stressful.
Also, the constant having to look at my "real woman" body in the mirror. It could drive a girl to drink. If I drank.
I was up at 5am working on it before church, stopped at 9am to get ready for church. While at church I asked the pastor and his wife if the pastor does marriages, he does and we'll make plans in a few weeks for his part. I was working on the camisole again by 3pm. I finally stopped at about 5:30, put everything entirely away, down to lowering the sewing machine down into its cabinet. I went out to milk and was really feeling depressed and started thinking of what my alternatives were. I have a light peach lace skirt and jacket suit that a friend gave me about 7 years ago. I thought maybe I could wear that. (I tried it on when I got back in from milking and it is tight and looks lumpy on me, waaaahhhhh.) My mom mentioned buying me me a gown. But I don't want her spending $300 to $500 on a dress I'm only going to wear a few minutes. Cried to dh about my "real woman" body last night during dinner. Tears and crying. It's not fair! I spent my childhood years forcing malted shakes into myself just to keep weight on, and I was still a beanpole. How did this happen to me?
Speaking of body size and all, I ordered a book which talks about adrenal fatigue. Maybe THAT'S my problem. I'm still taking my herbal thyroid supplement. Although I'm supposed to take it twice daily, I only usually remember Monday through Thursday mornings.
Dh made me eggrolls for lunch today. He put the ingredients for the filling together yesterday and fried them up this morning. I have already eaten two for breakfast. I have three for lunch. And a glass of chocolate milk. 210 calories on the chocolate milk. I'm looking at my calories a bit again and trying to wait until I'm really hungry to eat, as well as trying to eat less. I mean eat less as in not stuff myself. Which isn't very hard to do. I don't eat that much food, but I often leave the table feeling too full.
When I went to bed last night, I was still quite depressed over the camisole. This morning I feel a bit of hope. Maybe I can take the sides in or something and make it less tent-ish. More learning.
I gave the baby sweater to dh's boss this morning. I also included two of my scarves for his daughters. I told him I hoped the baby could still fit into the sweater once it cools down, but he reminded me his wife and children are going to vacation for 3 weeks in Alaska coming up pretty soon. He really liked the little sweater, I sure hope his wife likes it, too.
Until next time.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Working On The Camisole
Labels: Wedding
Oh man. I'm trying not to lose confidence in our ability, but this sure is difficult! However, I think we have made more progress with the camisole pattern. We studied and drew and redrew the bust dart. I think we finally got that part done though. I'm so glad I bought the book about making wedding gowns, it has been extremely helpful. Just to know putting the pattern on and seeing how it fits has been great help. Next we have to figure out what to do because my waist falls several inches below the pattern waistline. And we have to add 2-3 inches to the center back.
And this is just the camisole. I hope and pray the skirt won't be as difficult! Then there's the lace jacket! ARGH! And this is only the test dress. But once we get the pattern down, then it shouldn't be so difficult with the real dress. I have 13 weekends to work on the dress.
I'm pretty tired, even though I had a nap today.
I love that DH and I work together so well that we can figure out making my wedding gown together!
Off to bed.
Until next time.
Riding The Train
Today DH and I went into the big city to his sister's house to pick up her trailer and bring it home so DH can fix the swing jack. She drove over something and it got messed up pretty badly. He's going to have to reweld a new swing jack to the trailer. Anyway, when we got there she commented to me that I was "riding" instead of driving and I told her how stoked I am about and she said it was like riding a train and that she'd never thought about it that way before.
I came into town with DH because I was maybe going to go by my friend's house, the one that is going to do my makeup for the wedding. I'm going to help her with some eBaying tips. But our plans changed, so I didn't get to her house. We're hoping to try again next Saturday.
I spent part of the drive knitting. I have only knit one sock in my life and now I want to knit a pair of socks from the toe up. Before this morning I didn't even know how to do a yarnover. It was hot since our big truck doesn't have air conditioning and to compound things, it's humid. We got home about 1:30 and I was so cranky I got into the shower right away and then crawled into bed for a nap. I woke up at 3:30, feeling much better. But I also am way behind now on my weekend chores, like washing clothes for the week ahead.
I asked DH to help me start on the test wedding dress. I was hungry when I laid down for my nap and ravenous when I woke up. I don't think well when I'm hungry and DH was also hungry and had just come in from being out in the heat the last two hours since we got home. But he sweats a lot and loves the heat. We put our heads together for a while and then it was time for me to go out and milk and DH ground hamburger and made hamburger burros. In spite of both being hungry we managed to get a bit of progress on the pattern.
I'm growing less confident in my ability to put this dress together.
I also have to start the sock over.
ACK! My Peek-A-Boo post script is broken, the fix is here. In the meantime, every single post on my blog has "Display Entire Post" at the end of each post, even when there is nothing more to see. And I don't think the posts that do open up, are fully displayed. I don't have time to work on this tonight.
Until next time.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Instantly Add 2.5 Hours to Your Workdays!
Labels: cats, geek-stuff, knitting, Wedding
I don't recommend this method, but it's working for me.
My Dear Honey got his driver's license today after not having had one for many years. I am so excited! The way I see it is I gain at least 2.5 hours more on each work day since he will happily take over the driving. While he's driving I can look at grocery ads, put together the weekly menu and shopping list, compose blog posts on my laptop, KNIT, I said KNIT!! Whoooo!!!
Today we did our Friday Thang as usual, first stopping at Department of Motor Vehicles. Dh thought he would have to take the written and driving test again, but nope, they took their money and took his picture and we were out of there within an hour!
I retired my vanity license plate which had the letters ***MAMA. Dear Honey has suspected for some time that some of the road rage directed at me is because the other driver knows I'm a woman, due to the license plate. AND... he wasn't too excited about driving with my vanity plate...
I worked on my swatch for the pair of socks I'm planning to knit. I got several rows done. When we set out this morning I had the cast on row and one row of knit. I didn't knit every spare moment, but I got a lot more knitting done than if I'd have been driving the entire time!
We stopped at a little diner and had lunch together. Dh had a burger with fries, and I had a Reuben sandwich with fries. It was okay. Nothing compared to the Reuben sandwiches that ds2 makes.
We bought envelopes on Thursday afternoon for the invitations. $15 for 100 ivory colored greeting card envelopes. I stopped by the post office today to ask the postmistress if the envelope was considered "large" which would mean more postage. Whooo!! We only need to use regular postage. I have 1 book of the love bird stamps, but they don't seem to be available at usps.com, so I may use the wedding hearts for the remainder. I looked for a roller type thing to make the stenciling job quicker and easier, but no luck. There doesn't seem to be such a thing on the market.
I found my "test" material at Walmart today. Too bad it's not my color! Only $1/yard! It looks and feels like satin, the blue on the left side. I'm not sure why but the edge (selvage?) is pink and purple. I don't know if that was by design or some accident. The other blue doesn't really match, but it's to be the lining for the camisole. It was also $1/yard. I am starting with the camisole and hoping it won't be too difficult. I cut around the pattern pieces this afternoon. OH, and Walmart had the FF size of my wedding gown pattern. The pattern shows the price to be $16.95. I think the GG size is going to be way too big for my top. I was planning to buy the FF size from simplicity.com because it was $10.xx. I think $10.55. I still don't know if there was a shipping charge - didn't get a chance to see the packing slip invoice. Anyway, so I decided to bite the bullet and just buy the pattern in real life, instead of from the Internet. I was pleasantly surprised to discover after we checked out that the pattern was only $9.97! Whew. I seem to need a size 20 up top, size 24 for my waist and size 26 for my hips. Maybe I can combine the patterns. I wasn't able to find any lace for $1/yard. I might have to break down and buy it for $2.97/yard. I decided to wait on buying the lace since it will probably take me a couple of weeks to put the camisole and skirt together. I'm going to try to keep track of how much time I spend on it so I will have an idea of how long it will take to put the real dress together.
We stopped at a Super Joann's on Thursday after work and they every color you can imagine, with matching lace. But a very dismal choice for the dark green material. And no dark green colored lace at all. I am already beginning to wonder if this is going to be too difficult to find the green color that I want. I did see some beautiful brocade material that was marked down to 60% off, which would have made it $4.00/yard. I wished I could have bought some. I already have the material for two dresses, so I don't want to start some huge fabric stash that I'll never have time to use. I don't think I'll be able to sew while dh drives. ;-)
Here's a couple pictures of the adorable little kitties.
Ds1 drew a neat picture that I've decided to include as part of the RSVP card. He is so excited that Mom and Dad are getting married again. :-)
Also, I was looking at some ideas for making my own wedding guestbook, which I was thinking was going to be kind of silly since those books have pages and pages worth of lines for people to sign in. We probably won't have more than 50 people attend so only a page or two would be filled. I found this wedding book idea where you give everyone a page to write on and then bind it in a book later. I would love to do this. My friend who is going to do my makeup had the idea to make copies of the books and give out to anyone interested in having one. She said what they did at her daughter's recent wedding was to have a table with a Polaroid camera. Each person was to take a picture of his or herself and then write something to go with the photo.
I've been playing around with the files but it doesn't look like I have a program here at home that will alter them nicely. I do have the programs at work. OH, no, hold on... the program that the guy recommends is Inkscape and it's freeware! Neat! I'll have to check it out.
Until next time.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Transformers The Movie
Labels: movies
After church this morning, ds1 and I set out to the theatre to watch Transformers. I know very little about Transformers, and had to ask ds1 at some point in time if there were "good" and "bad" Transformers. Duh.
I was impressed with the graphics. It's amazing what can be done with computers. A movie like this would not have been possible 20 years ago.
It's been over a year since we visited this theatre, the one I complained profusely about in April 2006. I wasn't in the mood to spend twice as much money and go through more hassle to go into the big city.
I almost messed up though. I knew better than to try to arrive half an hour early and expect to buy tickets. We arrived at 2:30 to buy our tickets, then went for a taco and to pass some time. We got back to the theatre and there was a line and ds1 and I sat to wait for them to start letting people in. Soon the line started building quickly. We sat there about 5 minutes before it occurred to me that this was the line waiting to get into the theatre, not to buy tickets! So we went and got in line. It was okay, there was plenty of seats left.
When the previews were showing, there were three seats left to the right of me. A man and his son squeezed past, and several minutes later the other son arrived with the snacks. He sat right next to me and had very bad manners regarding theatre etiquette. I was sitting IN my seat, without my elbow even on the armrest and he kept jutting his elbow over into my space. He was one of those nervous people, he kept jiggling around and bouncing back and forth in the seat.
The seats in this theatre are ancient Harkins theatre seats and they are really low down and you sink way back when you sit down. You sink down so low that if you aren't careful the seat sits down onto your knees.
Dh milked. Ds2 and he cooked dinner. And I'm stuffed. And tired.
Until next time.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Roger. Precious Officially HATES the Kittens.
And LJ is doing very good ignoring the kittens. We're still on high alert when he's indoors and will continue vigilance. But so far, so good. That's what he needs to do is completely ignore the kittens. We are correcting him for showing any interest. We have to be very firm with him, considering his breed. His energy level is low and calm. That's what we are looking for to know he's getting the message that the kittens are off limits.
Hooded Baby Sweater Finished 7/7/07
Labels: knitting
Whew! I am finally done with the baby sweater. Now I can focus all my creative energies on putting together our wedding. Although I might get something on the needles, I'm still wanting to make some socks or a hat for ds1...
Until next time.
More Wedding Thoughts
Labels: Wedding
I have been studying the pattern - the picture and the material requirements, and I finally noticed that the jacket the model is wearing is different than the drawn image.
I ordered the pattern last night. To figure out what the differences were between the model's version and the other, I decided to take another look at the pattern online. I will be using Jacket B. I was pleased to discover that I won't need as much material as I thought I'd need. I originally thought I'd need 9 yards. But it looks like I'll need only six. That's if the material is 45" wide. If 60", then I'll need even less.
I found some material I like and it's only $2.95/yard. It's 100% Polyester. The pattern says to use, "Crepe, Crepe Back Satin, Brocade, Satin, Shantung, Tafetta or Velvet." I just looked at a place online and Tafetta costs $20/yard. Sheesh! OH. But it's 118" inches on the width. That's about twice the width of normal material. It's $1.75 to order a swatch of the material. The same place also has Crepe Back Satin for $6.95/yard. Crepe Back Satin is 100% Polyester.
And I had an idea to dress up plain envelopes... I think it will work out pretty good! My mom laughed yesterday and said, "You mean you aren't planning to pay $1 per envelope?" LOL.
We've thought about the location some more and the old Western town isn't really going to work out. So it will be at my job. We are also discussing the food a bit more... dh wants to make tamales so I told him we could have a taco bar. He wants to make cheese enchiladas, too. So I'm not sure what we're doing yet. It's going to make a lot more cleanup work. We could have chips and dip on each table... just thinking a bit out loud. And ds2 has decided he wants to make the wedding cake after all. A variation of the Flag Cake that he made on July 4th.
When we were married the first time, we had a very small wedding. Family only. And it was thrown together within a week. We weren't going to have a wedding. My MIL strongly encouraged us to, and loaned me her wedding dress and her husband's suit fit her son. We were married in a small wedding chapel. We didn't have a reception, we went to dinner with MIL and FIL.
My youngest sister asked me yesterday if she could please be one of my bridesmaids because she's never been one before. And she was hoping her daughter could be the flower girl and her youngest son could be the ring bearer. That would be neat, but it would make things even more costly and stressful, in my opinion. I mean, the dresses to make/rent.
I'm starting to feel a little bit like I may be taking on too much by wanting to make my own dress... I am planning to make a test dress... it will help me know how the dress will look on me and I will get an idea of how long it's going to take. Now I need to get off this computer and get some housework done. But first two more pictures. Ds2 asked me to take this picture when we arrived home last night.
The two newest members of our pet menagerie. Ds1 has been wanting a kitten, and my youngest sister's cat had a litter a couple of months ago. Talk about adding a bit more stress... LJ is TOO interested in the kittens... he thinks they are squirrels or birds or something. So we're working with him, while keeping the kittens in ds1's bedroom. LJ stays outside much of the time and almost every time he comes in the person letting him in says, "LJ is IN THE HOUSE." So hopefully that habit will help us to keep the kittens safe! LJ doesn't bother our other cats, but they were already here when he was brought home and they all whipped him soundly when he weighed under 5 pounds. So he pretty much thinks they will put a slam on him. He also did not bother the baby chicks that were living in the house. So he can and will learn, but we will be diligent in the meantime.
Until next time.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The Gown Inside My Head
Labels: Wedding
I found my wedding gown!!!
How awesome is that? I had visualized the gown I wanted to wear in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, and I want to sew it myself. I want it to be dark green. So I went to simplicity.com today and I put in the pattern finder what I was looking for, and I found the only wedding gown pattern available. It looks like this:
So then I photoshopped it with the green color I want it to be:
I LOVE the jacket. Now to find the green material to match. I am so excited to get started on it, but I'm going to wait until my books come - mainly the one that explains how to work with wedding gown type material. I read on another blog that sometimes the material can "run". I plan to avoid that, if possible.
I started wondering who Khaliah Ali was... and discovered it's the woman on the pattern there. She is the daughter of Muhammed Ali, and she recently had bariatric surgery to lose weight.
Until next time.
Weddings And True Confessions or The Forever Post
Labels: Wedding
They say confession is good for the heart, but first I'd like to talk about one of my pet peeves.
I think it's wrong, wrong, wrong when people refer to their partner as "husband" or "wife" when they aren't married. I feel like it's lying. I think it's embarrassing when you find out the couple broke up and there won't be a divorce since there wasn't a marriage to begin with. Or you hear they are GETTING MARRIED and here you thought they were ALREADY MARRIED. It's a big commitment to marry and it's not fair when people who aren't so casually claim the titles. I feel a man makes a woman honorable when he marries her, and claiming the title when it isn't true makes a mockery of marriage. Part of me rationalizes that it's none of my business and I shouldn't be so critical of others. I have known of older couples who didn't marry on purpose because one of them would lose their benefits. So I know there are some legitimate cases, but I still feel bad for them. As so often happens for me, when something really grates on my nerves, somehow I end up being in that very situation. It seems to happen consistently for me. I've heard people say "Never say never to God or you might end up in that very situation." I suppose it's for the purpose of learning a lesson.
Now that I've shared my pet peeve with you, I will swallow my pride and continue on with my confession. *swallow*
I'm guilty of the above. How very hypocritical of me, yes? My "dh" isn't legally my husband. However, he was my husband once upon a time. We married in 1986; our divorce was finalized in 1992. It was an amicable divorce. We remained friends but always at arm's length. In 1999 we decided to share a home and raise our boys together. I always made a point to introduce him as my *EX* husband. People just couldn't seem to accept it and would always drop the EX part. It used to really upset me when people wouldn't get it right.
As we parented and made important life decisions together, we became best friends and formed a strong partnership. In 2004, we realized our friendship had blossomed into true love and reunited as a couple. Since it was so darned hard to make people remember the EX part, once we reconciled it was just easier to say "husband". I guess technically it should be fiance, but that connotates that we are new to each other. And what about our children? If we have no history, how do we have children together? Sometimes I'd say let's just say this is my soon to be ex-ex-husband/ex-ex-wife. Get it? Two x's make a positive? Or something like that. We couldn't marry right away due to some things standing in the way, but now those are all resolved and we are free to marry again.
So guess what? We have finally set a date! Yippee!!
For the last few months I've been confused and torn, debating the options. Justice of the Peace? Tiny ceremony with witnesses and a minister? Small ceremony and reception with family and friends? Where to have it... at our home? MIL's home (she had graciously offered)? Outside? At my job? How much to spend? Dh is perfectly fine with anything I decide, so he's not much help. OH I'm too fat, I don't want to see myself in a wedding dress at this size. And on and on...
So about two weeks ago, I said a prayer and asked God to help me with this decision. Because clearly if left up to me alone, I'd be going back and forth, back and forth for the next ten years. It's truly not vaccilating over the decision to marry my honey again, it's not feeling comfortable with any of the choices so far.
I made my Turquoise Tie-dye dress over this past weekend, and started realizing the best place to have our wedding would be at my job. Almost perfect. Centrally located, air conditioned, a full kitchen, tables, chairs, dishes, coffee machine, walk in refrigerator. The only thing standing in my way was I was worried about a rental charge. I wasn't sure if I would be charged, and that was why I hadn't considered having it at my job in the first place. I started thinking if it wasn't TOO much, maybe it would be worth it to pay at least something.
So I decided to ask and found out that there won't be! Over the weekend I started planning in my head. We are working hard to pay down on our debt, so I don't want to spend too much money. Like... not more than $500 total. I'm dead serious on that.
I started looking on the Internet to find that today's average weddings are running TWENTY THOUSAND to TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. I remember a friend of mine got married - about twenty years ago and the wedding cost $10,000.00. She was a beautiful bride and it was a beautiful wedding, but unfortunately they were divorced within five years. I knew of another couple that paid $10,000.00 for their wedding, about ten years ago, and they were separated and divorced within THREE MONTHS. Yeowch!!
Then I started looking for "cheap" weddings, to find that those are running around FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Well, for this cheapskate, that's still WAY too much. Even $500 feels like too much!
My boss told me her wedding cost $4,000 because she had to invite "everyone" so no one would feel left out. She said there were 300 people at her wedding (she also felt obligated to invite every single client attending our agency at the time).
I'm sorry, but I have no plans to invite every single person at my job. I don't even want to invite all my coworkers, let alone every client. I am not planning to invite every single family member. Talked with my MIL yesterday... she agreed with my boss, that I have to invite "everyone" or someone's feelings will be hurt. My MIL's talking about all my coworkers, and all dh's coworkers. Right. About 50 are employed at his job, and about 30 at mine. That's 80 people right there!
I refuse to succumb to the pressure.
So I had my plans working out in my head. We'll buy deli meats, a roast, ham and turkey, and cheeses from Costco. I can come to work on Friday and slice the meats and cheeses there, arrange the trays and get everything ready. Put it all in the walk-in refrigerator for the next day.
I started thinking of the color theme. I don't want to wear white, I was thinking pink. I really like pink, but would like dh to wear a matching color shirt and he would be uncomfortable wearing a pink shirt. My eyes are hazel - green with brown around the iris. My skin tone is olive. I look really good in dark green. Coincidentally, dh's eyes are the same color. He's nicely tanned. Then I remembered my expensive emerald earrings and that clinched it. Green will be my theme color. I plan to sew my own dress.
So yesterday I went by to drop off some paperwork. My dh's boss' sister works there and when I walked in she says, "So you guys are getting married? A real wedding, wedding? Where are you having it?" I told her at my job and she says, "You want to have it at my place? There's a church in my old western town. Well, you can't actually go into the church, but you can stand on the porch. You can have the reception here and everything!"
Suddenly, all my plans are whirling around, with this new wrench. I mentioned it to dh and for the first time since I started talking about having a wedding, his face lit up, "I LOVE the thought of having it there!"
Pros and cons for work:
Pros: Centrally located, air conditioning, tables, chairs, tablecloths and dishes readily available, kitchen, walk in refrigerator.
Cons: Everyone from my job will want to come, just because it will be easy to get there.
Pros and cons for the cowboy town:
Pros: Unique setting, will eliminate some of my coworkers due to the distance, dh loves the idea, horse drawn buggy for bride to arrive in,
Cons: Some coworkers that I'd really like to come won't be able to - due to the distance, outdoors, possibly will have to rent tables and chairs, where to store the food, would need to purchase paper plates, cups, etc.,
I've already prepared a spreadsheet to calculate guests and food. So far, for 74 guests we're looking at $143.61 for the meat and cheese, and veggies. Guesstimate pricing. Here are a couple of helpful sites:
Feeding 100 people for approximately $100
The Dollar Stretcher - Planning Party Platters
Ellen's Kitchen Get Out The Big Pots
Food for a Graduation Party
How to Personalize Your Wedding
How to have a Small Private Wedding
I ordered these books:
Food for 50 : Bessie Brooks West, Grace Severance Shugart, Sina Faye Fowler (Binding Unknown, 1971)
Bridal Gowns : Susan E. Andriks (Paperback, 2000)
Intimate Weddings : CHRISTINA FRIEDRICHSEN (Paperback, 2004)
Bridal Gowns reviews said the book tells about sewing with wedding gown type material, I thought that would be helpful.
Oh, and dh has volunteered to make the wedding cake! It's going to be Judy's Carrot Cake, one of my friends has made this recipe for weddings and she says the recipe is always a big hit. I hope she doesn't mind if I share the recipe here. I might need to pick Judy's brain for food ideas.
Judy's Carrot Cake
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups oil
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup pineapple
Mix all dry ingredients, add raisins. Mix eggs, sugar, oil, add to dry. (The food processor does a wonderful job with the wet ingredients, shredding the carrots and mincing the nuts and
pineapples) Add carrots, nuts and pineapple.
Bake at 325°F for 45 minutes
Icing
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 stick butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Mix until smooth. (Again, this works well in the processor.) Spread, actually sort of pour over cake. Chill until icing firms up. Eat.
I typed into Google - getting married under $500 - and the only things that came up were people asking how to buy rings for under $500, was it possible to get a cake under $1000, hair and makeup under $500? Say what?! Ridiculous! No wonder people are spending $25K on a wedding. Oh come on, $500 for your hair being done and your makeup? I bet "wedding" nails cost $500, too. I won't even be able to let my nails grow much due to milking the goats. $1000 on a cake? PLEASE!!
Speaking of rings... the emerald and diamond ring purchased for me on Mother's Day will be my wedding band.
The tentative date is October 20. I have always thought it would be neat to have ds1 and ds2 sign the marriage certificate as our witnesses. Ds2 turns 18 on October 6th. Plus the weather will not be so hot mid-October.
Welcome the wedding label. :-)
I think that's all for now.
Until next time.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Happy Independence Day, America!
Ds2 woke up this morning about 7am, stumbled into the kitchen and asked me to check the artichokes because he wasn't sure if they had gone bad. I did wonder why he was wondering about artichokes this early in the morning, but thought he might be planning to have them for our meal today. I reached into the fridge and there was this huge pan in my way, so I pulled it out and laid it aside, searching for the artichokes. I LOVE artichokes and was glad they were going to be used! Then ds2 reaches over and picks up the item, brushing the plastic aside so I could see the contents.
He made the cake yesterday while we were at work and hid it on top of the big freezer so we wouldn't see it. Then last night after we went to bed he made the cream cheese frosting and decorated it.
Happy 4th of July!
OH, I forgot to attribute the recipe of the cake. It's one of Pioneer Woman's recipes. Go here to read her post for today, she links from there to the cake in her cooking blog.
Until next time.
Timing Belt
Labels: auto maintenance
I have been wondering when it would be time to change the timing belt.
We changed it at 117,000 miles back in February 2004. And then I decided to check my auto maintenance spreadsheet which I haven't updated in ages.
When I got gas yesterday the mileage was at 217,141. So if we let this belt go 117,000 miles, we have about 17,000 miles.
t's almost time for the next oil change. Last oil change done on 6-10 at 214613. So we've gone 2528 miles. Typically the recommendation is to change the oil every 3000 miles, but I was told by a mechanic that every 4000 miles would be okay since we do mostly highway miles.
Until next time.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Modifications to the Pattern
Labels: Sewing
Overall the dress pattern is awesome, especially for the first try. However, there are some things I want to remember when I make the next two.
1. The shoulder seams are off by an inch or so. The shoulder seam should be right at the top of the dress when on a hanger, but it isn't. The seams are about 1 inch to the back. This made the dress a bit shorter than it should have been.
2. We didn't factor in the darts when figuring the length the pattern. As a result, I had to trim about 3 inches off the back. The triangle for the bust was 3.75 inches.
3. The neckline is okay, but the dress we copied had a lower neckline. I don't wear any clothing which exposes cleavage, so the higher neckline is fine, but I would like to try the next pattern with a bit lower neckline. I like the look of buttoning the cardigan and then a bit of skin shows before the neckline.
4. I would like to research how to sew the slit seams on the lower bottom of the dress. I finessed it, but there is probably a better way.
Here's the new material, first the purple. This is the material I started out to buy, but my local Walmart didn't have it in stock. So when dh and I went into the big city on Saturday I stopped at a Walmart there and found it, as well as the rust. My local Walmart has the red. Maybe I'll get some of that one, too.
And here's a howdy from Daisy Mae.
I would really like to find a pattern that I like for a jacket for the dresses. It seems like it will be easier to follow a "real" pattern than wing it, at least for a jacket, which seems more complicated.
I think it would also be neat to make the jackets and then buy enough material to make skirts. Or another idea I have is to make a plain black long dress with sleeves and make a long vest using this material. Maybe not all the ideas with all the colors.
Until next time.
Turquoise Tie-Dye Dress
Labels: Sewing
Here I am modeling the dress by itself. I don't really like how the sleeves turned out. I believe there is a combination of problems. I think the pattern was off slightly and I hemmed the sleeves wrong. I didn't examine the original dress when it got to that part; I just folded the hem under twice 1/4" and sewed it - even though I knew it was probably going to make the sleeves curl from the tautness. But when it got to the neckline, it was obvious it would not work to do that. So I ended up sewing an additional piece around the neckline, then folded THAT piece under twice and sewed. I might take the sleeves out sometime and redo them. At any rate, I wasn't planning to wear the dress without a covering. My black cardigan works great.
Here it is with the cardigan.
Here is another picture of the front side of the dress. I just love the colors.
Here is the backside of the dress.
Here is a closeup image of the material. Even in this smaller image, you can see the threads running vertically which are rainbow-colored. If you click on this (or any of the above) image you can see the material even better.
This picture was taken later in the day out in the sunshine.
Now here is the dress I was attempting to duplicate. The neckline is definitely lower (not much once it's on me) and the sleeve tops are narrower than my copy.
I'm wearing my dress to church today. The last three Sundays I've worn the same dress. And now it's time for me to get ready to go to church. Maybe later I'll post some of the other issues I had with putting the dress together.
Until next time.
