Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Bridesmaid Dress Part 1


My sister is in the bridal party for a wedding in March and the girls are wearing long knit dresses. She wasn't confident that she would find something off the rack that would suit her body shape, so I bravely offered my sewing services. To make sure I could actually do it, I made a practice one in black. I bought the fabric (of the Bride's choosing) from Spotlight, it is called "Kaleidoscope Interlock" or something like that, and it has a surprisingly lovely drape to it.

I used the Anda dress pattern from the Burdastyle website as a base and changed up the neckline to make it more scoopy, arms to make it sleeveless, lengthened it to the floor, and added a ruffle around the neckline too. I also made the elastic casing inside the dress, rather than on the outside.

The bride and my sister are both really happy with the outcome, and so am I. (It actually looks better in real life than in this picture, if I can swell my head to say so.)

It didn't take that long to make in the end, and now I have to rally all of my energy to make the "real deal".

PS I didn't end up using my overlocker, I needed the familiarity of a machine that I felt secure with- especially with the wedding in less than a month away. I used much of the wisdom in "Sew U Home Stretch" by Wendy Mullin.

In other consuming news, Caleb is settling in at "big school" and overall it is going fairly well, but statements like, "I like preschool better (because there is more stuff to do)," and "I asked some girls to be my friend and they just pretended I wasn't there!", indicate that this adjustment is not without its challenges. He pulled his brave poker face (the face he pulls when he is a bit overwhelmed) as he lined up with his class and tottered off to his classroom for Day 3- and that had my eyes welling up behind my big dark sunglasses!

Having said all that, I am pretty darn proud of him for how he has gone so far. It is a big culture shock for a 5 year old to adapt to the school system I think, and he is doing great. (And I am doing OK too.)

9 comments:

Sarah-Jo said...

Proud! you should be over the moon well done Bek xxx the dress looks fabulous cant wait to see the next one xxx

IndigoElephant :: Sash said...

Bek, that dress is gorgeous! And I have to say that I love getting a little dose of you by reading your posts!!!

sewing the seeds of love said...

Very flattering style of dress-well done.
BTW did you notice the postion of hand and fingers of your sister in her photo is exactly the same as you in the nursey outfit in your header !

jo so and sew said...

Hello there... I won the voucher on your blog last year (which all turned out so great by the way)... and am now hosting a giveaway on mine - maybe some of your readers are interested....cheers!

Christina Lowry said...

The dress looks great! Love that frill so much. Brave Caleb and brave Mummy! :)

Gina said...

I'm so impressed - tackling a bridesmaid dress, sewing with knit fabric, using a burda pattern, altering the pattern, deciding to sew it with your regular machine, doing an awesome job AND both bride and bridesmaid happy. Yikes. You are my heroine.

Can't get my head around the school thing (I guess it's a few years off!). Hope you're feeling AOK about it...

Sally said...

You're so brave. The dress is stunning. What an achievement. Stretch sewing scares me to my very core. I'm about to have another go at it... very nervous.

My thoughts are with your son. It really is an overwhelming time. So many mixed emotions to manage - a big ask of such little people.

Why do girls behave like bitches from such early ages? Is it learnt or just something in our dna?

jo so and sew said...

What goes around, comes around ... YOU are the winner of the $60 Buyster voucher... how funny is that? Do you still have their details? I will email Maree tomorrow and tell her the good news... enjoy whatever you purchase!

Cindy said...

Oh my, you should feel so proud. It looks REALY good. I will have to take some knit lessons from y9ou