Why I want a “Threads” subscription for my birthday..

When Miss Micaela was first thinking about wedding dresses, she fell in love with a dress.  A Pronovias dress if I recall correctly.  Ah yes, here it is. 

 She decided against it, after traipsing all over Toronto with a carload of friends, but we liked the bodice idea so much that it became the inspiration for her bridesmaid dress for Miss Erica’s wedding. 
The dress is pretty well done- just needs the zipper and hem, but I have been agonizing over the flowers on the bodice. 
There needs to be 7 of them, all around the empire bodice, and they need to be about 6 or 7 inches in diameter!    The ones I did for the tutorial earlier, while perfect for Erica’s dress, are too small and perfect for Mic’s.  I tried freeforming some, with “Njeh” results.  I just couldn’t get the look I was going for.  It actually looks not too bad in the photo, but they were just not as dense and reallife as I wanted.  As well, silk organza does not come in a colour anywhere near deep eggplant,  and neither does any dye so I had to frankenstein a colour.  I  made up 7 of them, using up all the silk organza I had on hand and they would do.  Scuffing feet in the dirt saying “yeah sure, if you want to get kicked off of Project Runway they would do”!!

Enter this months issue of Threads.  I don’t have a subscription for the magazine, but lately I have found myself really getting a lot out of the articles.   Flipping through the latest issue, what did I find but an article on fabric flower making- and gorgeous ones at that!  Here is a 5 minute trial version of the flower I put together this morning using some poly organza in completely the wrong colour.  Picture it in silk organza and in the right shade.  Love it, LOVE IT!! 

Cursing myself for using up all of my silk organza, I spent a few minutes, wasted 2 hours hoping I could find some fabric in what passes for fabric stores in London, Ont. (note to readers- London is NOT a fabric mecca.  If you visit me hoping to do some fabric shopping, we are heading to Toronto.  Or Montreal.  Or New York City!!)   There is no such fabric to be had for love nor money within 200 km of my sewing machine!  My little fingers sped over the computer keyboard, and while my credit card is a few more dollars closer to the credit limit, at least Dharma Trading will be happier.  I will be spending the next week or so stalking the mailman waiting for my new bolt of “flower making fabric” to make its’ appearance.  Meanwhile- on to zippers, hems, horsehair and beads!
For comparison here are the two off them together.  See how the centre looks filled in on the one on the right?  I may pull back a bit on the amount of gathering I do in the final one, and it will have to be larger, but all in all I am doing a happy dance.  I did the “cabbage rose” version, it anyone who has the magazine is wondering.  I am not doing a tutorial on it here, as that is not fair to a good publication, but if you are at all interested in the process, I can reccomend you getting this months issue of Threads.   
And, FiveBlondes, if you are looking for a birthday present for me, look no further!