CHRISTEPHI

It's 12.12.12 and my dad got married today! This is my daughter carrying the bride's bouquet. December Photo Project

Hubby has been practicing his soprano sax in preparation for my dad's wedding tomorrow, 12/12/12. December Photo Project

My little sister is now a Mrs.  The wedding was lovely, not too big, but not pathetically small either.  A bunch of people were up way too late decorating -- including the bride who did not sleep at all the night before! -- but I bowed out with the excuse of getting my own kiddos bathed and off to bed at a decent hour. In addition to the bride's gown, I sewed my (matron of honor's) dress, the flower girl's dress, the ring bearer's vest, the flower girl's basket lining, and the ring bearer's pillow.  I finished sewing buttons on the dress at our hotel the day before the wedding. The poor little ring bearer didn't get enough sleep the night before and wasn't in any kind of mood to cooperate -- we even tried bribing him with M&Ms, but to no avail.  He ended up doing his own thing.  It could have been worse! It was actually quite charming and as it didn't stress out the bride, no one much minded his antics.  Miss M was ra...

Just stealing a few moments to say I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, though I have gone underground, hiding out from life, to finish this wedding sewing! Here are a few shots from the past two weeks. My sister came down for the better part of a week to help out so I could sew. She's coming back next week and I'd better have her dress done or near-done by then! So off I go again to descend out of sight from the world and sew sew sew until everything is finished!

Since I have to make a flower girl dress for Miss M for my sister's wedding in May, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone as they say and make the mock-up be her Easter dress for this year.  I used Simplicity 4337 view A, sort of.  I completely redrew the sleeve so it'll match the style of sleeve on the matron of honor's dress.  I also shortened it and reduced the width of the bodice (by 4 inches!) to fit my petite girl. It'll make a great summertime play dress too.  It's made from a vintage bedsheet and is fully lined with soft bleached muslin.  I'll probably remove the tulle that's currently attached to the underskirt for ease of play and laundering.  I debated even attaching it in the first place, but I'm glad I did because I got a feel for the construction of the "real" dress.  I actually like this pattern and style a lot and I'd love to make a few more for summer.  I can envision one of lightweight denim...

In addition to starting preschool with Miss M, I also recently joined a women's Bible study and am trying to stay on track with the wedding sewing. Sadly that means my blogging time has been nixed. I'm enjoying school with Miss M very much and am making progress on the wedding sewing. I'll have something to show soon...if I can get it photographed and posted!

We're finally getting some decent weather.  I couldn't be more ecstatic!  The only problem is I need to make Miss M's flower girl dress and my bridesmaid (er...bridesmatron?) dress this month...including mock-ups before cutting into the silk. Between yesterday and today, I got the pattern pieces all traced and cut out for the mock-up of the bodice of my dress.  I'm using some weird fabric my sister gave me for that purpose (unknown content, strange mauve-ish color).  It's about the same weight and hand as the silk, so hopefully it'll work well.  I plan to use a vintage sheet for Miss M's and make an actual wearable dress for her muslin. So while I need to be inside sewing every chance I get, the songbirds are enchanting me with their melodies.  Come out.  Feel the warmth of freshly liberated sunbeams.  Sing with us the songs of Spring.  Come out.  The dancing wind is waking the groggy trees.  Soon it'll be green again.  Come out.  Come out!

My 23-year-old sister is getting married in May.  She has asked me to be her matron of honor and Miss M to be the flower girl.  She has also asked me to sew her wedding dress!  That means between now and My 8th, I need to sew 1 wedding dress + muslin, 1 matron-of-honor dress + muslin, and 1 flower girl dress + muslin.  Whew! She picked Vogue 2788 for both her gown (sleeveless, long, and fuller if possible) and mine (with sleeve and knee-length).  She and I have completely different body types!  She's long in the torso, short in the legs, and somewhat heavyset.  I'm built much more petite with a very short torso.  Still, I think this style can be flattering to both of us...if I do it right.  And that seems like a mighty big if!  I'm quite nervous about it...  It's one thing to sew cute stuff for my own kiddo, but it's another thing entirely to sew a wedding gown.  Sure, I made my own wedding dress, but I only had...