i just finished this beautiful communion dress for a dear friend of mine who i met many years ago via the chicago forums on ye olde urbanbaby. we haven't seen each other in a long time, as she moved an inconvenient 800+ miles away.... even though i made the dress with measurements, i still see her daughter in my mind as a baby busily eating breakfast at bongo room next to my (now 9 yo) baby... :')
boy. howdy. this was probably the most challenging dress i've made since... i dunno... final projects/critiques in college? i almost titled this post, "war of the roses". :)
despite how difficult this rose ribbon fabric was to work with...i'm SO glad my friend asked me to make it and that i finished it! it really is a beautiful dress (if i may say so myself...) paloma tried it on and said, "it feels like i'm wearing milk". she clarified and assured me that was a good thing... (so glad she not upset that i didn't make her communion dress... i didn't make my wedding dress either... way too emotional/stressful... :) )
this all started at the end of february when my friend asked me if i could make this dress. and i replied that i could probably make something like it if i could find the fabric or something similar... i couldn't find roses that i liked to go around the neckline. and the fabric roses on the skirt aren't organza like the ones in inspiration dress, they're satin. but i think the same idea comes across. after getting her measurements, i modified simplicity pattern 3943 and made a muslin. by the end of march, the muslin was returned to me with a v-neck back and some measurement adjustments...
finally, i got to work on the actual dress... :) i was reaaaally scared about this (and most embellished) fabric. i wasn't sure how it was going to react after being cut. to my surprise, it was fine - the raveling of the ribbons wasn't too bad... i had a bottle of fray check on standby. just from sitting on the shelf at the fabric store, there were some spots that needed touch ups... at one point a pin went astray while sewing and snarled up a ribbon - so, it is very high maintenance...
i'm SO glad that she gave me such a huge window to make this dress because i did have to sew much slower to ensure all the layers of lining and tulle and fabric were caught in the seams and to check that the ribbons weren't caught in the feed dogs and especially the zipper foot... i prefer to install invisible zippers in my garments... but, i HATE the coats and clark foot... it's so flimsy and awkward and it doesn't allow for thicker fabrics to easily feed thru.... the ykk zippers and zipper foot were SO. MUCH. BETTER. but they no longer sell retail... yet another reason for me, to go into business for myself! ;)
again, i can't thank my friend, suzanne, enough for asking me to make this dress... it really was a personal challenge/accomplishment for me! i can't wait to see pics from the big day!!!!
to add to the drama of this dress, my back injury is proving to be worse than i had thought making it painful to do pretty much anything, especially sitting down! :( i'm progressing/healing very slowly, but it's amazing to me what little i can do... sadly, my chiropractor has advised me not to dance... :( so, i've been out about three weeks now...
so i won't be dancing for dance friday but that shouldn't stop you... :) i've been listening to a lot of the ladies 90s hip hop... this seemed somewhat appropriate... :)
thanks for coming by and reading! have a great weekend! :)
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