A Seamstress Cat: April 2013

So my sister-in-law was wed yesterday. It was a beautiful ceremony. Almost everything went without a hitch, the only hiccup that the announcements were made before the groomsmen could get back out to escort the special guests out. No one would ever know just how close it was to get a certain bridesmaid's dress finished.

However, before we get to that, let me talk about the girls' dresses. If you will recall from this post, I had been planning for some time to make the Regency dresses from the Sense & Sensibility pattern. Since I knew I wouldn't be getting the fabric for the dress for a while I decided to make the girls' dresses first. I started them back in February, I think. I was able to find a really nice 100% cotton at Wal-Mart of all places. My mother-in-law was kind enough to let me borrow her serger so I could even finish the seams! I wasn't able to get them finished until the beginning of last week however, because we just moved on the first and it took a while to get my sewing stuff back out again. I'm so glad I made the elastic version of the dress. It is so much easier to fit a growing girl, especially when starting it several months in advance.

For my 2 year old daughter I added a grosgrain ribbon tie belt. I really like how it dressed up the dress. You would never guess how hard it is to get a full body picture of a toddler during the busy-ness of a wedding!

I have a spool of the purple grosgrain ribbon somewhere, but neither my husband, mother, or I could find it in the few days before the wedding. The ribbon I used for the belt had been sitting out along with a shorter piece. The second piece was too short to make a matching belt for the baby, so I used it to make her a headband. My mom made the flower while we were at the rehearsal.

I love how the difference makes their dresses different, yet still the same.

And now for the story of my dress. Originally I had planned on making myself a Regency dress as well. I wanted to alter the front to make a nursing opening. However, after several changes with the other bridesmaids I realized that if I made a Regency dress, then I'd be the odd girl out in the line up. The other 3 dresses were all modern styles and lines. So about 2 weeks ago, (yes, you read that right) I opened the box that has my patterns in it and found Simplicity 2926. I bought it about 4 years ago, always wanting to make it, but didn't have a reason to until now. Only problem is that it is not nurse-able.

However, since Miss Bubbles is almost 11 months old, my mom suggested that if I nursed her right before the ceremony I'd have a really good chance of not needing to nurse her again for several hours.

I made view C with view A's sleeves. There were 2 reasons I did this. One, I didn't think the sleeves for C would quite work for a bridesmaid dress; I really didn't want a seam down the center of my sleeves. And I figured with my time constraints that simpler was better! I did lengthen them about an inch and a half though. My mom also showed me how to make my own piping when she got here on Tuesday. I can't believe how easy it is!

I can't say that I constructed it all by myself though. Alas for two littles who are constantly needing mommy for something! While I nursed the baby, my mom worked on the dress. It was finished Friday afternoon. My mom was ironing it when the girls and I left for the rehearsal!

My husband and I.

And now I'm sure you'd all like to see the lovely bride. She is wearing a dress that was first worn by the groom's great-great grandmother in 1908. It was the dress of her dreams and only needed the tiniest bit of altering to fit her!