Micaela – the most recent bride – and I are in love with black and white dresses for little girls.  At least we are ever since spotting the most adorable ones in Ottawa on the Glebe.  I don’t know who talked the other into a black and white, sophisticated  dress for her oh-so-sweet flower girl, but it certainly reinforced why I love making little girl dresses!  This one was so cute that I couldn’t give it up!

The pattern- Simplicity 4647 cannot be applauded more for it’s ease, correctness in sizing and adaptability! 

On to the Pattern Review

Simplicity 4647

Pattern Description: Child’s special occassion dress in two lengths.

Pattern Sizing: Children’s sizes 3-8  Using 2 measurements sent by the flower girl’s mother- chest and length from neck to mid calf, I decided to make the size 5.  The flower girl is a thin 5 year old and the dress fit perfectly.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, it did.  It may have even been fuller in the skirt than is pictured.  The dress actually stood upright on the floor all by itself!

Were the instructions easy to follow?  This is a very straightforward, easy dress to construct.   There were a few “whadda mean?” moments, but they may be attributed to the fact that too many dresses were trying to be sewn in a short period of time!  If you know how to sew a dress and a lining, there should be no difficulties with this pattern.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  I liked the simplicity of it.  The fabric that is chosen and any embellishment that is added really make the dress.

F abric Used:   Black and white gingham taffeta for the dress, black broadcloth for the bodice lining.  Heavy black crinoline for the petticoat..  All from the local Fabricland.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I made the shorter style with the sweetheart neckline and no sleeves.  I bound the bottom of the netting with some of the taffeta just in case the flower girl decide to do somersaults down the aisle- she didn’t but she did play bocce ball during the reception!  <This dress was made “from a distance”.  The mother sent me the chest measurement as well as the length from shoulder to mid calf, as I requested.  From those measurements, the size that I chose fit perfectly.  The zipper was hand stitched to ensure that the gingham matched perfectly.
I was not happy with the size of the bow.  I drafted a new bow which ended up about 50% larger than the original.  I hand tacked the bow to the left side of the sash and used a hook and eye to attach the bow completely.  It caused no difficulties throughout the day.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This makes an adorable, easy dress for an occasion such as a wedding.  I would definitely make this dress again.

Conclusion: The flower girl looked and felt like a princess!  It even won first prize at our local fair.  The judge was especially impressed with the bow! Truthfully, I felt like a bit of a fraud, this dress was sooo easy to make, and the little model was a pefect angel all day and night!

I know you are all thinking “enough with the teasing- let’s see the bride’s dress in all it’s glory.  Patience my friends, Patience!  I’ve been trying to get things sewn for the Wardrobe Contest on PR, and have 5 items this far from done.  I keep changing my mind on the “topper” but I think I found just the right item while doing some window shopping a few days ago.  I need a raglan sleeve, turtleneck pattern to make it, and as I don’t have one, I am going to get a Simplicity pattern that I think will do the job.  No time for pattern drafting at this late date!

Picture this.

It’s wedding day morning at the Bontje household.  7:30 am

The hairstylist is here (Krista rocks!).  Micaela is trying on her dress one last time, as I wanted to check the fit at the back one last time before I handstitched the lining down.  The fit was pefect- then I saw it….

The zipper had separated!!  Ahh the horror. Aughh the look of fear and dismay on my face  when I mentally went through my invisible zipper stash in my head and realized that there was not an ivory or white invisible zipper to be had! 

Served me right really – using an generic brand, Fabricland zipper.

I was on tenterhooks till the fabric store opened at 9:30.  In fact, I was waiting in front of the door 10 minutes early, with my hair already in wedding state, in case they happened to see me there with my hand on the doorknob, ready to sprint to the zipper section.

There was one other woman waiting as well.  We struck up a conversation, compared family, sewing, and it was then that I found out that she owns a brick and mortar as well as an online fabric store!  One that I never knew existed- less than 20 minutes from my house. I promised her that I would visit her, and review her shop here and on PatternReview, threw opent the door of the store, grabbed 4 invisible zippers, and ran to the checkout.  My 18 minute drive home was consumed with reviewing all the steps I needed to do to quickly insert the zipper.

By 10:30 it was done!  Whew, disaster averted and the bride looked radiant.

Wedding Day story #2

We are ready to go to the church.  It just so happens that August 15 was also the day of our community’s townwide garage sale.  One we never missed until this year.  I jokingly suggested that since they had a few minutes to spare, they take some “bride goes garage sale-ing on her wedding day” photos.  The photographer was game so off we went. 

It was at their very first stop that a very humerous event occured.  This is so indicative of things that happen to our Micaela.  Every always turns out right in “Micaelaland”!

 Micaela had decided she didn’t want a veil.  She had an adorable headband and her hair was up and looking gorgeous.  Someone happened to see a veil hanging up and she decided to try it on for a funny photo.  It was a beautiful veil!  “Mommy, will you buy it for me?” Micaela questioned.  Now how can you say no to a one dollar purchase!  We gave the guy a five, waved off the change and charged back to the cars eagerly looking forward to the rest of a perfect day!  Oh by the way, it also happened to be the very same place where we bought twinkle lights to decorate the tent with at the previous years garage sale!  We left the female owner of the house with tears of joy in her eyes.

So.  I leave you with 2 questions.

1. Which brand of zipper do you trust your life- not to mention your Wedding Dress- on?

2.  Do you have any Wedding Day humerous stories to share?

By the way, the rest of the day was magical!  I will share more when I get photographers photos back.  And now it is time to be excited for me as this is the first time in 2 years that I have not been in Wedding Mode!  It was all so worth it.  Baby Mode is looming on the horizon!

Some photo’s….
Review of the yellow dress to come. any guesses as to which current Vogue pattern it is?

Have you ever read a book that hit you so hard, it almost became a part of you?  You read it, laugh, cry, question..then you read it again and again, recommend it to others, force your bookclub to read it,  write in the margins….
I have such a book in my life.

I fell in love with The Time Traveler’s Wife when it first came out  in 2003 and have read it at least once a year since.  I don’t know what draws me to it.  Perhaps the idea that love can cross time, space , and even thought.  It is an interesting mix between science fiction and romance, delves into love and loss, and, for the author, served as a metaphor for her own failed romances.  It is nostalgic, and a bit wistful.  You almost need a playbook to figure out at what point in their lives each  character is in each chapter.
It comes out in movie form next week.  I won’t be able to stand in line on opening night.  Something about a wedding happening!  Sunday night though, I will be sitting in my seat at Silver City, fearful that the movie- like most movies that I see after reading the book- will not hold a candle to the movie version of the book that plays in my mind.

Some quotes from the book

“Don’t you think it’s better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?”

“We laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost, or dead, or far away: right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment.”

“But you know: you know that if I could have stayed, if I could have gone on, that I would have clutched every second: whatever it was, this death, you know that it came and took me, like a child carried away by goblins.”

What follows is digression taken to the nth degree….

That last quote reminds me so much of a “death memorial” that I have had on my fridge for at least 5 years. 

I never read memorials.  Well, almost never, apparently!  This one struck me as written by someone in love for all of her life.  I happened to see it one day, and cut it out.  The next year I saw it again- eerie no?   Remember, I don’t read memorials.  I guess someone wanted me to see it and keep it.  I don’t know who the author(?) submitter(?) is.  It was signed “lovingly and respectfully Madeline“  It is too long to copy here, but my favourite line is..

“You were the treasure in my heart, you were the one who always stood beside me, so unaware I foolishly believed that you would always be there, then there came a day when I closed my eyes and you slipped away… t

I don’t see any regret in it,  just love, and longing to feel the past once again.      I like to think I will feel like that someday- holding the love that I have in my heart with a desire to remember and relive the joy of the past.

I don’t know if the movie will meet my expectations.  Somehow I expect it won’t give me that thrill I get when I reread the book and and  the shiver of sharing the love that  that little piece of paper on my fridge gives me.    I’ll be sure to let you know though. 

So, Sunday night at the movies- I know Erica, Kate, Leah and Lauren are excited to come along.  If you are in too, let me know- the more the merrier!

How about you?  Are you looking forward to “The Time Traveler’s Wife”?  Are you usually pleased or disappointed with movies made from books you have read? 

Man Oh Man, is that pile of wanna-do’s  getting   precariously and dangerously high!  I can’t see over the top, and I even forget some things that are on the bottom.  Would you all pretty please stop making so many incredible articles of clothing?!!

Enough about you now, and back to me! (You know that I’m not quite that narcissistic in real life don’t you?)   It’s just that I have a really special  project set that is bursting to be sewn!  After the wedding.  After some “me” sewing.  You know what I mean!

A hint…

I have been sorting through my ridiculously large collection of vintage patterns, and came up with a few that will  will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Here is the first one. Cute no?!

and the second…

And a couple more…

 Still baffled?  Then let me tell you a story.

About a month ago, our daughter Katelyn  and her husband of a year and a half,  had us over for brunch.  During the course of the meal, I asked Kate about the status of her sewing machine, one she had “inherited”  from my mom who finally broke down and bought a new one. (Kate knows me VERY well, and knew that I would ask about the machine) She said that she hadn’t much time to use it, but did I want to see the patterns that she bought.  Of course I said yes, at the same time reminding her that she didn’t have to ever buy patterns, as I have over 500 of them!  She responded with “I know, but I wanted my own“.  Well, you can’t fault a girl for that!  She learns from the best you know!

When she handed me the patterns, I was confused.  Where I was expecting to see a couple of cute dress patterns, I was seeing patterns for babies! 

“Um, Kate- are you going to sew for Laura?”  I asked, as their good friends Matt and Laura had just announced their pregnancy the week before. 

“No, I’m going to sew for ME!” was the reply.

Knock me over with a feather- we’re going to be grandparents!   What thought went into how to tell me the wonderful, awesome news!  That makes it even so much more special.  It is so great as well that they will be sharing this part of their life adventure with such dear friends. 

An interesting side note.  Kate’s friend Laura’s family and ours are good friends.  Camping together when the kids were little, going on ski vacations together, ski patrolling , racing and intructing together kind of friends.  What makes this “sharing a pregnancy ” thing so interesting is that Laura’s parents and MyMike and I were also pregnant at the same time – FIVE TIMES!! That’s right, we each have 5 children and every time that I was pregnant, so was Norma!  We didn’t know each other aback then, but would see each other as we lived – and still live- in the same community.  We would giggle inwardly in amusement and amazement, not realizing at the time how our lives would intertwine.   The kids all became very good friends, as are we “parents”  and we find it so great that the pregnancy sharing tradition is continuing!!  Now if only Lauren and Owen would get together…(kidding, I’m just kidding!)

 So tell me- what is your favourite baby related sewing project?  What is a must-sew?  What can’t I forget to do?  What should I not bother making at all?  How can I talk them into letting the baby call me “Connie” and NOT Grandma or Oma!

With TWO weddings coming up in the next year, I think I had better get my groove in the move gear! 
Erica is having her 4 sisters as bridesmaids- this mothers dream come true!  This makes for a great opportunity to get us all involved at the design level.  Erica has stipulated only colour and fabric.  They are – a beautiful Aubergine (I like that word better than eggplant!)  chiffon with a lighter mauve underlining,  and maybe – just maybe, some great netting that we found – aubergine with loonie sized black flocked polka dots.  If we don’t use it for the dress, it will be great for decorating.

Erica is letting each of the girls choose their own style.  Once we got past silly ideas such as this one….!!!!(it was just a joke -REALLY!!)…

we got down to business.  I am putting together a storyboard of dresses that they like, and pattern interpretations, and they are going to choose from them.  .  This one is my favourite right now. THE PURPLE ONE PEOPLE, THE PURPLE ONE- SHEESH! Unfortunately – okay maybe fortunately as I am still working on my figure drawing skills!!- you can’t see the interpretations that I am adding to the presentation. 

Perhaps I should get back to REAL work now!!

I read this today in our local newspaper.  On the front page no less- it must have been a slow news day!

Eric Lammers wondered if he was just a wimp when he felt the occasional shot of pain in his foot when he played soccer in his bare feet.

Now, the London high school teacher knows he wasn’t.

Lammers recently injured his foot while coaching at London District Christian secondary school and went to Victoria Hospital for X-rays.

“Sure enough, my toe was broken but they also found a little something else,” he said.

The needle, which appears to be broken, is wedged between his big and second toe. Lammers, 35, thinks it has been there for 13 years.

His mother, Nellie, had shag carpeting in their house.

“I remember stepping on something and feeling some pain. There was a little red dot, but I didn’t think much about it. That’s probably when it happened,” he said.

Lammers estimates the needle is about an inch and a half long, but cautions he’s a fisher and it could be less.

He has an appointment with a surgeon June 27 to see if the needle should be removed.
Want to bet that….

A.  His mother sews!
B.  I will be hiding this section of the paper from my family!!
C.  I will be doing a better job keeping track of my sewing needles/pins from now on!
D.  If they find needles laying around on the floor (head hanging in shame because yes they will!) I will not be allowed to live it down.

Thank goodnes we don’t have shag carpet!

Darn you Eric Lammers mom -whoever you are!

Monday was Baby Girl # 5’s 19th birthday. Boy do I feel old. I am much too young for my youngest child to be that mature! She traipsed into Toronto with a car load of girlfriends to celebrate at a Blue Jays game, and within a few minutes of being seated the group found themselves featured on the Jumbotron. Apparently they can die happy and fullfilled now!

Here is my beautiful girl then and now…

Before you read today’s post- (this is to explain the first two, strange comments that are way too funny to delete- so read those comments before you read the rest of the post ’cause they are sooo indicitive of daughters the world over!)  I am fairly much of a blogging neopyte idiot.  That is, I embrace technology, but HTML is not my first language… or my second… or even in the top ten!  So in this post, I had a few technical difficulties.  But I learned new things too.  Like a carriage return is not just “enter” it is “shift enter”.  Like I can load pictures right from my computer, and not have to should not go through Picasa.  I am getting smarter every day. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Now on to our regularly unscheduled programming….

Niagara on the Lake was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the cycling wonderful, the company couldn’t be beat – superlatives all the way around!

We cycled about 60km the first day and 40km the second. The roads in the Niagara region are good for bicycles and not too horribly busy – except for some “woah, that’s a busy highway” moments!

Cycling took us through wine growing county..

And along the Welland Canal…

…where we were lucky enough to see 2 ships pass through Lock # 3. See the ship entering the canal?

 
In the first photo it is about 30 feet lower then in the second.

The whole process of the ship entering the lock, the raising(or lowering) of the water level, and the ship leaving the lock, takes only about 10 minutes!

And we visited a couple of wineries – of course. And what do you do at a winery- you sample the various vintages of course.  Just remember not to sample so much that you have to weave your way back along the bike paths!

Niagara on the Lake was crazy busy. We didn’t see any shows at The Shaw Festival- we have seen sooo many plays and orchestra productions in the last month, that we were content to laze around in the evening. Oh yes, I promised to show you the Floral Clock. Since 1950, I’ll bet 92 million people have had that exact picture taken of them!

When we got home, it was time to say a sad farewell to Leah- Bontje Baby # 4. She is off for a year or so of post-university adventure in Calgary. We had a few going away parties. I won’t bore you with all the details- suffice it to say that a lot of memories were shares, baseball played and entire herds of cattle were sacrificed so that we could feast on steak and burgers. The first photo is of all our baby girls and their respective men.

My God that is a disgusting amount of offspring! It honestly doesn’t feel like that many in person! Don’t we have a lot to be proud of though?!! And one last shot of the girls and their mommy.

My Mike had a Council meeting so missed the photo ops here.

So which one is Leah you ask? THIS ONE! with her boyfiend (whoops was that a slip or did I really mean FIEND and not BoyFRIEND!)  Nah – we love him dearly, and we will definitely miss them both.

By the way- Lindsay T wanted to be on the list of “Connie wants to fabric shop and have coffee with you” Sorry Lindsay, but any trip that includes My Mike will not include New York City! Here is the story- A few years ago while driving home from a vacation through the Mid-western States, The family was discussing what the next vacation would include. The girls all wanted to go to New York City, and I quized them.

“What do you want to do when you get to NewYork City?”, I asked.

The answers poured out…

“see the Statue of Liberty”

“see Central Park”

Mike’s answer?…….

“What do I want to do when I get to New York City? GO HOME!” We decided that when the family goes to NYC- Mike won’t be invited! But Lindsay – I will meet you for coffee anytime!

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

I can’t believe it has been so long since I last blogged.  The regular old excuses are there- a new job that for a while had me commuting an hour and a half away (and for a gal who is used to commuting a 2 minute walk away that is a big change!),  the latest edition of our community Dinner Theatre that I always have a large role in (this year it was onstage as opposed to stage managing), and now, an unexpected accident in the family that takes our new son-in -law away from the farm for a while.  He will be fine- if you want to read about it, head over to my favourite blog in the world, the one that belongs to my girls- http://www.fiveblondes.com/health/an-unfortunate-accident/

Then there was that whole insecure – every one but me is having fun blogging and giving each other those great blog awards and I was feeling left out… and undesirable…and started the “nobody likes me, everybody hates me” song. 

Luckily the sun came out, I got a much deserved kick in the pants (Thanks Karen, Kate, and Erica, and Leah, and Lauren!) and started to sew again!  I will snap some photos tonight and start blogging in ernest tomorrow.  Miss Lauren has a new house lined up in Ottawa for University next fall, and was so excited to text me with the information that “mom, our new house is a two minute walk from a Fabricland!!” Hmm – I’m not too certain how that last piece of information stuck itself in there right out of the blue- but it is cute!

Oh yes, a cool Patternreview-y thing happened to me yesterday.  I was in Guelph for work, and stopped by Fabricland to pick up these two Vogue Patterns                                   

I overheard (I confess that I eavesdrop on interesting conversations an awful lot) a lady talking about the dire need to get some pictures taken.  It sounded like a Patternreview thing(!) so I casually mentioned to the woman cutting my fabric- oh did I forget to mention that I bought some fabric too!  A few yards of red, and a few yards of a great yellow for jackets, but I digress.  Anyways I asked the woman who was cutting, if the other woman was taking photos for something for PAtternReview.  “Oh it was for some internet site thingy” she replied.  Some internet thingy???!!! I don’t think Patternreview has ever been described that way!  Any how, the lady I was asking about overheard me and said “well actually it is for the Timmel Swap, but I do belong to PR as well!  We introduced ourselves and were both tickled pink that we could go home and declare that “See, PR people are REAL- not just virtual friends”!  While I have met a lot of PR members, I do not think she has, and we are trying to make plans to get together again.

Next up – a comparison of two favourite pant patterns, and my new TNT pant pattern outcome and Tada! my first finished Nicole M purse - complete strangers have asked me about this one!  Here is a sneak preview of the purse in progress... 

Ahh – It’s good to be back – let me know if you missed me at all!

Rhonda of Rhoto’s Rag ( a very nice blog written by RHOnda and her husband TOon) tagged me.  As I have not been tagged often before, I will play by the rules, cheating only a bit!

Here are the Rules for this Topic:

*Link to the person who tagged you.  

 Done

*Post the rules on your blog. 

Here they are!

*Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

Ahh the hard part!

1.  I had laser eye surgery 7 years ago so that my goggles would not fog up when I ski or snowboard!

2.  I absolutely abhor anyone being late – that goes for me, my husband, our children, our priest at church, people coming to play practice, friends over to visit.  I obsess over it!  

3.  If my husband is away overnight I keep the lights on in the bedroom and the television on too!  Not because I am afraid mind you – I just worry that the hydro will go out and the automatic generator will fail and bad things will happen in the barn! 

4.  I can read, eat, watch tv and sew simultaneously

5.  I love to find jobs – for anyone!  In my next life I am going to own an employment agency!

6.  I have attention Deficit disorder ONLY when it comes to sewing.  I start one thing, see a cute fabric and start another, see a skirt pattern that I forgot about and start it….. which reminds me, I want to start that sweet Burda WOF blouse……..

*Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

Tag 6 and link– okay here is where the cheating starts!  My first tag is to these Fiveblondes and since there are five of them, I can kill 5 birds with one stone!  Oh I know- and Karen of Sewing by the Seat of My Pants - Cause I love her blog.  It is funny, informative and insightful all at the same time. I know Karen from Pattern Review New York City Weekend.  (If it sounds like I say PR NRC Weekend as if it was mecca – well — yeah it is!)
*Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. 

Sure will do!

Hmm I notice a similar non-sewing theme running through my blogs lately.  Don’t worry- I have been sewing up a storm.  The latest project is to compare these two patterns     and perhaps meld them into one tried and true, pair of pants, that I can use as a jump off point for other styles. Interestingly, both patterns are out of print! I am enjoying the task and have discovered some interesting things about both patterns. Next post I promise! I just need to take some flattering photos. Some photos that don’t make me look like “Oh some one is holding a camera I had better pose and smile”! Some photos that don’t break the camera!

That and a few daughters have been looking for jobs….

A parting note – the lost keys were found (after4 days) in a boyfriends car!  Gotta love them!