Last post of the old year!

by Connie on December 31, 2008 · 13 comments

Yes, I hear the “tap, tap, tapping” at my window.  “Post already would you” it is saying!

The mound of unfinished projects is growing mountainous here- a highwaisted skirt, a cape, a really cute tee and so on and so on!  Meanwhile I do silly things like, after finding out that my niece received an American Doll for Christmas, scour the internet looking for cute patterns, put 150 dollars worth of said pattern books in my shopping cart, then come to grips with reality and purchase only one book.  (just a second, I need to check if that last sentence is a contender for the longest runon blog sentence in recent history…..nope – but close, I’ll bet!!)

I have been hard at work on those bridesmaid dresses.  I took advantage of having Miss Leah and Miss Lauren close for a couple of weeks, and got their bodices almost done.  Let me tell you  – there were a lot of headscratching moments trying to meld wants and wishes with reality.  Thank goodness our priest had a long, boring, (sorry Fr Dominic, but let’s face it- you were meant to be a lecturer, not a parish priest attempting to instill just a titch of Catholic doctrine into our tiny brains for an hour on Sunday mornings) Now where was I? O Oh yes, a longgg, slightly boring sermon on a Sunday morning is just the place to set your chin on your guitar and ponder down and dirty ruching, seaming, and lining!

After spending hours and hours and days and weeks on Kate wedding dress ruching- which was worth every nanosecond- I knew that I would have to try something different for the ruching on theses dresses.  I mean they are only bridesmaid dresses for goodness sake!  Let’s just say that the methods included, bias, pins,pinspins, cardboard, the ironing board and iron, and lightweight fusible interfacing.  Are you intrigued?  The results are great- just what the mother of the bride was hoping! Of course, I was on such a roll that there are not many photo’s and the camera has dead batteries…

From the skin side out, the layers are- lining, cotton flannel with boning channels, interfaced lining fabric for under the ruching, and the fashion fabric, ruched and “stayed” with lightweight fusible interfacing.  And, in Laurens case, a layer of georgette under the ruched piece to zap up the colour(as that ruching is netting) 
When I bought the heavy interfacing to stabilize the bodice with- I want something that will quite basically stand up by itself in the end- I ended up getting what is fusible buckram.  The saleslady thought I was crazy to spend that much money on interfacing, but it really worked well!

 Uncle.  enough  posting for one day!

Today’s Postscript…

My mom and dad made 18 – Count ‘em- EIGHTEEN! of the cutest Santa’s for their children and grandchildren this year! And here are our “FiveBlondes”  all together for the first time in 8 months! 

The FiveBlondes

The FiveBlondes

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Rhonda December 31, 2008 at 11:18 am

You’re a HOOTJE, Connie!! Thanks for all the entertaining blogs you wrote this year.
Soft hug,
Rhonda in Montreal (PR)

PS I’m gonna tell Fr. Dominic what you said… Tee! Hee!!

Shannon December 31, 2008 at 3:22 pm

I hope the new year is a happy and healthy one for you and your family!

Gorgeous Things December 31, 2008 at 4:13 pm

I hope you and yours have a wonderful 2009!

Kat December 31, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Happy New Year, Connie! You have been SO busy. I can’t wait to see the results of all your hard work on the dresses. They’re going to be AMAZING!!!

designdreamer December 31, 2008 at 8:36 pm

Okay, I wrote a big long spiel about AG dolls, patterns, boring priests, etc., and I lost it so I’ll just give ya this link. I think you and anyone else that would like to make clothes for AG dolls will like it!

http://www.agplaythings.com/AG%20Patterns/DollDressPatterns.html

designdreamer December 31, 2008 at 8:38 pm

You MIGHT like this one also:
http://www.paperminis.com/

But you might want to wait ’till after the weddings to click on them!

designdreamer December 31, 2008 at 8:41 pm

Ooops, I also meant to thank you for your Blog and wish you a Happy New Year.

Summerset December 31, 2008 at 10:07 pm

Happy New Year! You must post about these gowns – I’m very curious as to how all this worked out.

Sigrid January 1, 2009 at 5:52 am

Happy new year to you and your family.
Those Santa’s look awesome.

Erica January 1, 2009 at 1:03 pm

You should aim to blog MORE for 2009! Who got the AG doll – Chloe?

Gwen January 2, 2009 at 8:25 am

Wow – the wedding dress sounds really complicated and very beautiful! I can’t wait to see pictures! Happy New Year!

LindsayT January 2, 2009 at 9:44 pm

Your five blondes are beautiful!

Alexandra January 4, 2009 at 3:57 am

Happy New Year!

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