There is nothing that can't be fixed.

As you can imagine, being wedding season, I am immersed in wedding gowns.  I haven't had much time to even do normal stuff like laundry.  Thankfully two of my dear daughters are helping me this summer.  Jami is sewing with me doing bustles and such.   Traci is cooking and grocery shopping.  I don't  know what I would do without them.  

Blogging has been relegated to the back burned in the meantime, but I thought I would post a couple of photos of a recent dress.  The brides mom called very upset and said that they had taken the dress to another seamstress and it had been hemmed to short.  Could I help them?  My comment was, "There is nothing that can't be fixed".  

Here is the dress.

Cute ruffle on the back.  

Here is the solution we came up with.  

The ruffle fabric matches the back.

She was very happy.  In fact I think she like it better than before.  

See you in the fall!  :)

Before and After

Since this is my busy season, I have not had much time to do anything but sew, so I won't write much, but I can post photos.  This is a dress I completed yesterday.  

Before

 Dress was purchased at Adorned in Grace, the bridal shop that exists to help fight human traffiking in the Portland area.  

AFTER:  

Congratulations Katie!!

An ADORNED IN GRACE dress.

I often volunteer at a bridal shop in Beaverton area called ADORNED IN GRACE.  It is shop that is run by volunteers and the proceeds go to help educate and fight human trafficking in the Portland area.  The space that it is in is donated space, and all the wedding/formal gowns are new or used and donated.  Their website is www.adornedingrace.org.  Abolition Now is the non-profit that the shop is affiliated with and they have a website with more information on the mission.  

Anyway, this week I had a lovely bride that purchased her dress at the shop and needed alterations.  I thought I would share with you before and after photos.  

BEFORE:

The dress fit pretty well, but she wanted a lace up/corset back put in.  She also wanted a sweetheart neckline and a bustle.  We decided on a French bustle.

Here are the AFTER photos.  (shared with permission)

Today's project

Here is a photo of today's project.  This bride was a little uncomfortable with a strapless dress and wanted a little something to cover the top.  She brought me a photo of something she liked so I had an idea of what she wanted.  The only problem was she didn't have any lace to match the dress.  During the first fitting at some point she mentioned that she might want the train to be removed.  Problem solved!  I was able to cut off the train and use the fabric for the top.  I even used the buttons on the train for the top.  It turned out fabulous and matched perfectly!

Grandmother's gown part 2

I spent a good part of a day working on the vintage gown that will be worn by a granddaughter.  It is a classic ballgown style with a tulle skirt and lace top (see photos on previous post).  In order to replace the lace, the gown had to be taken apart.  

First I removed the bodice from the skirt.  Fortunately in those days gowns were more simply made.  Meaning that they did not have boning, several layers inside with lining etc.  There is the lace and then the fabric which is a lightweight satin. 

This is the bodice fabric.  The lace was stitched into the darts, so those had to be removed also.  

The lace pieces. It was lined with some tulle, with lace over it.  The tulle was in better shape than the lace, so it held it together where the tears were.

I removed the buttons on the sleeve and will plan to reuse the loops on the sleeve and the back.  It was in pretty good shape.

 This is the new lace cut out and put together front and back.  I plan to put an edge around the upper edge, and the sleeves will also have an edging.  

With the sleeves.

Fitting with the bride.  The edging was just tacked around.  We needed to mostly check for the fit. 

The back.  It will have the buttons and loops down the back.  The fit was nice.  Need to make a few nips and tucks, then reattach the skirt.  Stay tuned....

Grandmother's Gown

I have a bride that I am working with that is wearing her Grandmother's wedding gown.  The wonderful thing is that her mother also wore this gown.  It is truly a treasure.  The only problem is that by now the lace on the top of the gown was ragged in a few places and had some holes, so my job is to replace the lace on the gown.  Other than that we are not changing anything about the dress.

Here is the dress:

The dress fits perfectly, so it will just be a matter of carefully removing the lace and using it as a pattern to cut out the new lace, then putting it all back together.  Easy Peasy.  Well maybe not.

This is the lace we are using to replace the original lace:

It is an Alencon lace with a nice wide edging on both edges.  We will be able to use the edge on the sleeves and around the neckline.  

More to come......

Coat finished

Back from Rwanda, and it turned out I didn't get to see Jami after all.  I did finish her coat however.  Unfortunately I got so busy finishing it - I forgot to take photos.  I am not the best blogger  ha ha. Here is the finished coat however.  

I am on to another project now - so stay tuned.....