The first update, though, is about the sewing machine(s). If you recall, I drove to Philly to buy a machine to replace my water logged machine. I set it up Saturday morning and started test stitching with it...I turned a couple of dials making sure everything worked (because, why would I do that before I handed over cash to a stranger?)...and I noticed the needle wasn't going up and down anymore.
At. All.
I. CRIED.
Everything I sewed this weekend was on my water logged machine, which is now starting to sound like a small mouse being tortured every time I start to stitch. I'm not sure who will break down first--me or the water soaked machine. All I know is I do not have time to take either of these machines to a Mr. Fix It right now. Maybe that's why, once I started sewing this weekend, I didn't stop. For fear that both machines would give up the ghost in the same damned weekend
I'm trying not to panic. Several people have offered me their machines if I needed to borrow on to finish the dress. At the rate I'm going, I'll be done in another few weekends, which is THE GOOD NEWS. Finally, right?
Alright, let's get down to business, not to mention all those images I just promised you!
Above is a photo of some glorious *fine* glass pins. Gals, buy yourselves new pins once in a while. It really changes the sewing game. Fresh, sharp pins. Ahhhhhh. Denise, my wedding dress sewing buddy (she's sewn three wedding dresses!), gave me these for Christmas--along with a seam ripper. She said, about the seam ripper, "you'll need it." Damn her. And I used them both today. A LOT.
Here I'm testing out sewing the boning casing to the organza (the layer that makes the bodice stiff but isn't seen. I was lucky to be able to sew these by machine. Denise did hers all by hand and bled a lot on her sister's bodice (but only on the inside so no one could see). Eww. So, no blood in, on, or around this dress! I started by sewing the casing to the very front bodice piece.
I had to pin all around the organza to keep it from shifting while I cut the bodice pieces out. See those polk-a-dot things? They are pattern weights my best friend, Patti, made me years ago. They are filled with little dried beans...and I'm still using them today! I'm also using a small Pyrex dish to hold down the pattern. All the bean bags go in there for storage when I'm done cutting. Cute, huh?
Then, I moved on to installing the casing in all the bodice pieces. Here's the entire bodice in organza and boning casing.
I cut out the fashion fabric (the real deal: silk hemp) for the bodice and stitched all the organza pieces to the silk pieces. Here's the front.
And here's the inside, bone casing showing.
I sewed them all together and pressed the seams, adding four more bone casings in each ditch of the seams...for a grand total of 17 bones! Denise says the dress will stand up without me, which is good because I'mma be pooped by the end of that day and I'll need someone/something to hold ME up!
Once I got this far, Denise told me I needed to do some "catch stitching" to keep the seam allowances from raveling. I needed a YouTube video for that!
Catch stitching requires hands, not machines, so I stitched up my seam allowances on the couch with Craig late Saturday night.
The Powerball jackpot was at $900 Million this weekend, so we played the lottery in the hope we'd be millionaires so I could pay Denise to finish this dress. We didn't win.
That sums up Saturday's activities.
Sunday morning I was at it again. Oh, Craig's mom bought this huge butterfly for me for Christmas and now it's part of the sewing room. Mom's watching me. :)
Gratuitous puppy shot of Roxie who sometimes kept me company when I sewed.
Sunday morning was all about tackling the lining of the bodice and the dress--100% silk is slippery to deal with! But, gorgeous. And, has no wrong or right sides. Bonus for (lazy) me!
Here's the "finished" bodice (I still need to insert the plastic bones). Denise is so disgusted with me that I didn't go buy steel boning. I just couldn't face all the finality of needing to know exact measurements for each bone. With plastic, at least I can sit there and decide in the moment how long or short the bone should be. Anyway, because I'm willing to use cheap plastic materials in my wedding dress, I'm not sure if we're still friends. FYI, this photo of the bodice might be upside down.
Here I was enjoying my sewing machine's version of catch stitching...so much faster. I did this to all the seams of the 100% silk lining to prevent fraying.
I cut out the lining for the skirt and began working on the netting that will fill out the bottom of the dress.Here's the finished product. Ready to be installed once I cut and sew up the bottom part of the dress.
And finally, here's my (very teal) work product for this weekend. I feel I accomplished quite a lot for one weekend. I really owe it to Craig who fed, watered, and walked me when I needed it so I could concentrate on all of this. He's great. At this rate, I'll only need another three to four weekends to finish up.
What's left:
1) cut out and sew the skirt portion
2) install the bones in the bodice
3) install the loops in the back of the bodice (which will be laced up
4) install the skirt and slip (including a zipper)
5) hem to the correct length
6) drape-fit and sew a lace, half-sleeve overlay
Not bad, eh? Mojo was in full force this weekend.
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