Sneak Peek

The dress is coming along! In fact, it's almost done!

Progress this week included putting in the zipper, inserting the lining around the neckline, edgestitching it, basting the armhole layers together, and handsewing the lining around the waist seam and zipper.

To do still:
1) Hem on dress--done by sewing the satin and lining together right sides together
2) Horsehair braid sewn in seam allowance of hem
3) Sleeves need to be put in
4) Bias binding around armholes to finish raw edges
5) Lace trim around neckline needs to be sewn on by hand
6) Hem on organza overlay (most likely just a serged hem because the lace will cover it up)
7) Lace border hand sewn to the organza overlay around the bottom of the dress
8) Extra lace motifs placed and sewn here and there on skirt
9) Embroidered applique with my name, Justin's name and the wedding date hand-sewn into the bodice.
10) Final pressing!

This may seem like a long list, but really it's not. I'm very encouraged that this is all that is left. I won't make any promises, but I envision it being done by the end of this week to the middle of next week.

I don't want to ruin the surprise for all who will be coming to the wedding, so I don't plan on putting any pictures up of the completed dress in its entirety until after the wedding. I will however continue to put pictures up of bits and parts of it.

Cheers,
Jessica

Plaster Columns --Question

The first picture below is the inspiration for my cakes---4 cakes on different sizes of stands. We are planning on using tall roman pillars for the backdrop in the auditorium for the ceremony so when I found these smaller plaster pillars at Garden Ridge, I thought they would be perfect for the cakes. I plan to make silk rose cake toppers and trail some greenery or something up the pillars.

I want to glaze the plaster pillars somehow to soften the stark white and make them look "finished". Does anyone know, do I need to do anything to them first before applying paint? (like a fixative??) I've never worked with plaster like this before, and I imagine it will soak paint right up...any tips would be appreciated!

Jessica

Bridesmaids's Bouquets

The Bridesmaids's bouquets are done! They are smaller than my bouquet and brighter in color. They also have ivory ribbon instead of white like mine had. I'm having 4 bridesmaids...2 sisters, a cousin from out of state, and a friend here. They are going to look so pretty!

I'm getting so excited about the wedding. 46 days today!
Jessica

Fake Fur Capelet

I really do not need another project at this time of my life. Okay, so today Jessica and I went to Hancocks to see if they had pearl-headed straight pins (they don't), and since Butterick patterns were on sale for $1.00 I couldn't resist looking.

I came home with a pattern to make a capelet, the fake furry fabric (on sale!!!) to make the capelet, and the ribbon to tie it in front. We have enough satin from Jessica's wedding dress to line the capelet. Ta da! Easy pattern, cute little cape for Jessica to wear as she leaves the church on her wedding day! Hmmm... I hope the weather will still be coolish in March....

Ruth

Bride's Bouquet

Originally I was going to just do silk flowers for the corsages and boutonnieres only, but last week I changed my mind and decided to go with all silk. There were several reasons for this change of mind.

1) I was getting a little uneasy about having to learn how to make bouquets with real flowers the day before my wedding. I'm going to have so much going on that week, that this will be one less thing for Mom and me to stress about.

2) I found the most beautiful flowers at Garden Ridge in OKC last week. They are even prettier than real roses and I could pick out the colors by sight (not something I could do if I ordered them through Sams like we were planning on doing).

3) I am a sentimental person, and I decided that I wanted to keep my bouquet more than I wanted fresh roses. In one of the homes Justin and I looked at, the owners had a glass cabinet that they had the woman's wedding bouquet on display in. I thought that it was really special, and when I saw it, I knew that I would want to do that too.

After Mom, Grandma, and I made the corsages and boutonnieres at Christmas, I found that I really liked working with silk flowers. Today I had SO much fun learning and making my bouquet and the smaller toss bouquet. It's fun to discover a new hobby!

I was really pleased with how the bouquets came out. The only thing that remains is to find some pearl headed pins or beads to put in the stephanotis flowers. I really like the look of the hand-tied bouquets with roses and stephanotis flowers. It seems to be really popular because I found lots of pictures online for inspiration.
Jessica

The Dress Progresses

Jessica's dress is looking so good, and I'm so proud of her! I want her to update with her progress. She spent a lot of time sewing last week, and the dress is coming along. Both of us have been pleasantly surprised that everything is going well.... no major sewing mistakes or anything like that. We went back to Helen Enox Fabrics last Thursday to buy some more lace trim, and the ladies there were so helpful in answering a few questions we had. I am going to put in the zipper tomorrow, and hopefully there won't be any glitches with that. There are four layers of fabric so far on the bodice, and two layers on the skirt, and I'm a bit hesitant about getting everything sewn straight and making sure the waist seam lines up correctly on the back. After the zipper is in, we will add one more layer of lining fabric, and then we will be in the homestretch with finishing the dress. (I can't begin to estimate the hours that it will take Jessica to sew the lace onto the border and throughout the skirt!)

Other sewing projects.... just in my mind thus far, in the planning stages. I want to make Ellen a dress to wear to the wedding. She does not really have a role in the wedding, but she really would like one. :-) I want to make her a dress, and possibly a dress for Emily and Jillian as well. Weddings are so fun for little girls, and they will need new dresses too, right?! Being sisters of the bride and groom is very special even if they will not be part of the bridal party, and I'd like to see them each with a special new dress, too. Of course, Emily won't care one bit since she's only 9 months old.

Right now I am debating between two McCalls patterns for Ellen, (McCalls were on sale for 99 cents!) as pictured below. I bought them both, but I haven't decided yet which dress it will be. Guess which one Ellen likes best? .... remember, she's 10 years old.

Ruth

My cousin's dress

If you want to see pictures of the last bridesmaid dress in progress, visit my cousin's Xanga blog. She lives out of state so we couldn't make her dress like we did the others...fortunately her mom is an expert seamstress and the dress sounds like it is coming along well. She also includes a picture of the pattern we're using which I have not shown here.

Bonny and I have always been very close, but very long distance friends. (Usually only getting to see each other every 2 or 3 years at family reunions). This year will be special because because she gets to come to Oklahoma for my wedding in March and I get to go see her for her wedding in July.

Today holds more sewing and more wedding planning for me. Yea!
off to work,
Jessica