July 5, 2019

Hope you had a great 4th and still enjoying it.  I am too and am a little late today but never fear - I'm still around.

I had a real nice post from one of my students and it was so full of great advice that I thought I would share it!

She made her own wedding gown, which I love hearing about because this means there's a future sewist in that body trying to get out.  And sewing one's own gown, means that most likely that sewist will get out and start doing some more creating.  Whether it's because of one reason or another, I really don't care, because it's enough motivation to reach outside one's comfort zone and try something new. And that, my dear petunias, is what sewing is all about. 

So for those of you who do sew and do stretch yourselves, congratulations, because this means you are willing to try something new; it means you are willing to stretch yourselves; and most importantly it means that you are willing to get outside your comfort zone which means that only your imagination is your limit!

So I was teaching a fun class over at my favorite Bernina dealer and there was the store manager (and heir to be), lurking about after class, and I could tell that something was up.  She had one of her followers (the store manager has a network of the most creative people in town following her), and she was having trouble with finishing her wedding gown.  Sometimes this can be the scariest part, cause this is the part that really shows. 

Here she is in her words:



The @'s refer to contacts on Instagram - I've tried to link most of them. 

So I made my own wedding dress. There was a lot of hubris and emotional rollercoasters during the process. First, it took me months to even start it, because I was having trouble accepting and loving my body. “I’m supposed to be look perfect for my wedding. I don’t feel perfect.” During my first engagement/wedding and ever since, some people, especially my mom have commented how I’m so fat now. It was strange for me because I never had body image issues before, and suddenly I developed them. When I looked in the mirror I truly didn’t know what I looked like. Was I ugly or pretty today? In the last few years, I have come to love my body. All versions of it. I love it when I’m soft and squishy. I also love it when I’m more athletic and trim. But something about the idea of a wedding got me all messed up again. Thankfully, my friend @emeraldjeana’s retreat helped me get kick started on my dress. Yes, my body does not conform to the pattern, but I know how to alter patterns!


The second pic is my inspiration dress and...



...the third is the pattern I based my gown on (#georgiadress @byhandlondon). It took me three muslins to get the fit right, and I appreciate all my friends at the retreat for pinning me and cheering me along the way! Also, even though it’s trickier to alter things, making it fit YOUR BODY does wonders for the ego. When I got home, I started cutting into the satin and French chantilly lace I bought from @promenadefabrics.

NOTE FROM CLAIRE - this is THE fabric store in New Orleans and Herbert is a long-time hand in the fabric business.  His son is now taking over (thank heavens), which means it will be around for another generation.  The store is the main place to shop for Mardi Gras and all the royalty of Mardi Gras which require huge ornate evening gowns.  So they know fabric and they know it very well.   Now back to Maria's story!

Everything was going so well! Look at those scalloped straps! I’m badass! And then my freak out happened. See photo 6 as evidence. Somewhere along the way, I had accidentally sewn or cut my skirt short so that it didn’t line up with the bodice. Add to that, that I was trying to be tricky with the lace and it ended up being shorter as well. To add to that, I asked Matt to pin me in and he could not do it. I panicked. I thought about ripping the dress apart, resewing, ordering more fabric from Promenade, making a totally different shift dress, buying a dress from David’s Bridal, burning down everything, etc. Also, how could it not fit?? I hadn’t gained very much weight since the retreat. What the hell went wrong??
 


Continuing  the comments....
@emazon (part of the BerninaOKC dynasty and mistress of networking) told me not to touch ANYTHING on the dress. She got me in touch with sewing fairy godmother, Claire Kennedy @sewingartistry, who reassured me that everything was okay! It turns out that since Matt doesn’t know about sewing, he just didn’t know how to pin me in. And Claire said that we had to [sic no] problem solve it, and would just put the zipper in with less seam allowance, and tug the lace over. And holy shit, it worked.


It fit. It was an excellent lesson about just continuing and moving on even if you have to choose between two bad options. Being paralyzed with fear gets you nowhere. Thank you, Claire, for helping me get unstuck! Also, as I was finishing the dress, I made a small tear in the lace. When we got to NOLA (New Orleans, LA)  I told Linda at Sam Wing cleaners about it, just to let her know I knew it wasn’t her fault. We talked a lot about sewing, and I learned from her that I should have just hand stitched the lace trim on, rather than machine appliquéing it. Then I wouldn’t have weird bunchiness. AND THEN, LINDA FUCKING HAND STITCHED MY LACE HOLE CLOSED! You couldn’t even tell! I have been so fortunate with all the help from EVERYBODY. I am so lucky to have such supportive, loving people in my life. And yes, something did change with my body between my muslin fittings and when I finished, but it was still a dress that I got to wear for such an important event. Oh yeah. And I made a matching purse. I only have a photo with the masking tape to hold it together while the glue dried, but I will leave it here as evidence that it was made.  


OK - back to Claire again - see how great this dress works on her - she looks just as good as the dress she choose to be inspired by (the one with the greenery background above.  Only this was made for her and this has all the parts and things she loves about the dress.   And remember this is the zipper that didn't have enough lace to go over part of it, but it still works!  Can you see it - I sure can't, and this was my point to Maria - under the arm (it was at the top of the zipper) no one will be looking and if they are you have my permission to slap the h*ll out of them!!!  You simply can't see it, even when you know where to look and what to look for.  Now 

She used her courage, confidence, constancy, and more than anything her curiosity to not delay or deflect her from her goals.  Amazingly enough curiosity overrides your failures, blocks and trials through a project.  The thought that it's been done before - maybe not exactly like the project you're working on, but some where, very similar, and therefore it can be done by you - that feeling can get you through most of the problems in sewing.  Maria had that in spades and was not going to be defeated, deterred or deflected from her goal. 

In the meantime you're local sewing junk dealer has another newbie hooked!!!!

 

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