The Dress Is Done!

I finally finished up the dress for DGD. And tried it on her... but forgot to take a picture with her in it. So, on Tuesday when she actually wears it, I will get a couple of pictures to post.
Meanwhile here are a couple of the front and back with no one in it! Lol...





I did end up not happy with the lace facing..... sooo once again, (this is just how I am! Picky!) I undid the stitching and this time went with a full bodice lining. Happiness complete! It has more body to it now also. So yes, so glad that I made the change.

And can you see the line down the middle of the bodice and front of the skirt? You may have to enlarge... but let me know if you notice it. I've gotten so I barely notice it now! It helps that my DD didn't seem to mind it at all.
O.K. here is the back! Oh, and between the time that I finished and then gave it to my DD, I sat on the floor at church.... (DD was helping out with a Primary.... a kids activity...) and I made thread loops to hold the ribbon tie on. I put them on at the side seams.... Have you ever made those? They are relatively easy to do, but I just kept getting interrupted and so then I would lose where I was and so had to undo and start over. Which truth to be told isn't all that hard, it's just that I wanted to get it done! So here I am, sitting on the floor outside a doorway, while about 45 kids were inside a room watching a video of something they had recorded earlier... and these ladies that didn't know me, kept walking by probably thinking that I was nuts sitting on the floor sewing!!!! Hmmmm, maybe some truth to all that!
Here's the back! And When I get some pictures of the dress on DGD I will post them!

One thing that I did too, was I made an under slip for just the skirt! I didn't take pictures of it, but I may have to later... I used the front pattern piece for the skirt and then used only 1/2 of the back piece, because it really didn't need to be as full as the dress itself. I will explain in a moment. So I pieced the skirt pieces together so that I had a seam to use for the back opening. I left about 7-8 inches opening so she could get into it. I attached it with 4 small clear snaps that I put into the waist band. I figure it will be easier for my DD to clean if she can take the slip in and out. Also, on the bottom edge of the slip I put a couple pieces of cancan netting about 2 inches tall by the width of the bottom edge.... I gathered it first, and then attached it. This will give the appropriate puffing... as you can see in the picture. We tried it on DGD and it looks sooo cute! Sorry, guess it's a grandma's pride... she looks so sweet in it! Take care. Remember to put your scissors and or rotary cutter up so little fingers/hands can't find them!

Monday Loser's Post

O.K. this will be short and sweet..... (come on now.... all my posts are sweet right? O.K. now imagine a cheesie grin.....) There is going to be a scheduled outage in a few minutes so I need to hurry!
I've managed to loose the weight that I had regained.... although with certain stress's in my life... we shall see how things go! You people know who you are!!! (stress wise!)
I'm just about done with the dress, just a hem and the pleats.... oh and let's see.... I need to make up a little underslip that will snap in (my own idear....) so they can just take it out easily. And it will be all done!
I also need to plant the garden and hmmmm clean my house! Family coming to town and then a family reunion, pictures etc.... and Good Times Today!!!
Take care everyone!
Don't forget to change the needle on your sewing machine! Oh, and if your stitch tention is bad unthread and try it again!!!

Happy Birthday To DD #3......

So, 24 years ago.... I was minding my own business (but pregnant as all get out!) and I got a phone call from my MIL.... saying that she had gotten a call from one of her daughters.... (my SIL..... also pregnant!) and that she was at the hospital in labor! Now, those of you who have had kids know that it gets longggg and drawn out at the end. Well, I was supposed to be due before my SIL.... so I wasn't a happy camper. Anyhow that was around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. Also MIL/FIL were going to the airport to pick up another SIL that was coming home from a mission for our Church. Noooo problem! At noon when MIL called me back to tell me that the plane had been delayed and that SIL #1 (preggers one) still hadn't had baby... While we were talking on the phone.... all of a sudden I went into labor!!! Now it takes me a little while to get things going and well this was baby #4 altogether, so I wasn't really in any great hurry (no water breakage or anything dire... just labor). I told MIL that I was now in labor and of course she got really excited! I hung up the phone and being the normal procrastenator that I am, I pulled out my nightie that I hadn't finished sewing yet to take to the hospital! Stop laughing!!!!!! My DH would have killed me had he known I was doing that then! Of course, he was at work.... so what he didn't know, wouldn't hurt me!!!! MIL called one more time to inform me that SIL #1 had her baby at 3 or 3:30 (can't remember now.... it's her kid, not mine!) At around 4:00 he got home from work and I told him I was in labor. Your going to be shocked.... but he asked if he had time to shower!!! Now, you need to understand, always with the past babies he has had plenty of time to shower b/4 we left... so I'm sure that he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask! I said fine, make it quick! DH does not know how to make his showers quick!!! I'm just saying.... most times he pretty well drains the hot water tank of anything remotely near hot water! I finished the nightie and finished the packing and was trying to cross my legs....... if you know what I mean... and finally I said we need to hurry this up a bit! Pains were getting closer and closer... we lived near the Air Force Base and so traffic was a mess, and they didn't have the roads as they are now... let's just say at one point on the way to the hospital we had to wait our turn to get onto the Hiway.... I said, "Can't you just go around the people..... cause it seemed like all they were doing was sitting there! You see, by then the pains were a little less then 5 minutes apart! Hospital was still about 6-8 miles away... with too many traffic lights in between for me!!! We made it to the hospital and BIL met us there cause well... someone had to take our other 3 kids.... NO ONE WAS HOME IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!! We got me to the labor room.... I was checked and I was dialated to a 3 and 10 minutes later they came to check me again.... yep, I was a 10!!!
So, things were going fine, I'm in delivery and ahem...... NO DOCTOR!!!! They said he was on his way, he had been in the North part of town at another office when he got the first call. They called him again the 10 minutes later.... and he left and was scurrying towards us.... He got to the hospital at 6:15 p.m. When he walked in, I told him I was glad he was there but there or not this baby was coming and I told him that she would be there no later then 6:30 p.m. Baby Girl #3 was born at 6:30 p.m.! How's that for labor and delivery! 6 1/2 hours total! And girl cousins were born 3-31/2 hours apart! They call themselves (or did) the twin cousins! So today is that day.... 24 years old.... oh, and Cousin (not DD) is pregger herself now! Due in Sept. or Oct. with a little boy. Funny how things change but remain the same.... So Happy Birthday DD #3..... (oh, and no we didn't name her DD #3!) You know who you are! We Love You!!!
Oh, and what I forgot to say was that another SIL ( I have 7 on DH's side and 1 on my side) was planning a wedding later in the week! 3 days after the Twin Cousins arrived.... I was there (not for the wedding.... no way!) for a family picture! Let's just say.... it wasn't my best picture! Hmmm, maybe I will see if I can find that... too funny I'm sure! The two of us new mommy's and all the motley crew! And 2 months later..... the SIL that came home from her LDS mission, she got married! Talk about your whirl wind courtship!

Ever Want To Tear Out All Your Hair?

Sometimes I just wonder.... a while back I took a bit closer look at DGD dress and well there are these fold/crease lines that are on the bodice and the front of the skirt! Yep, the type you get from a well defined bolt crease!!! I tried everything I could think of, also trying to pick the brains of a few people out there who I hoped would know what else I could try! Yeah.... nothing! You see back between last fall and winter, I had read a bunch of library books on different sewing thoughts, idea's etc... anyway I remembered that there were several different idea's in said book (I no longer remember the name) about how to get hardy crease's/fold marks out! I went back to the library to see if I could find the book.... nope! And then asked the librarian if she could show me a record of the books I had checked out over a number of months.... (sorry... this may take a bit longer....) that was a no go.... she said, "It's for your protection, that we don't have a list of all the books you check out". Well, another librarian and I both went HuH????? This way the library can't have their records supenied by a judge.... I'm thinking big WoW.... all I ever read are sewing, craft and novels! O.K. so that was a no go! But, I ran into a friend that said I ought to try the extention service! Good idea! But, that was to no avail either! Last but not least I finally took it to the cleaners to see if they could help me out! I figured if worst came to worst I could start over with a new piece of fabric! The gal at the cleaners did her best and it did look better, only not the best! So, I corraled my DD and had her take a look... and she said it looks fine! So, on with the show! Guess I need to try not to be soooo picky! So, I will try to finish up today!

O.k. so since I started a post a while back that I didn't complete and then went to another one... I messed up big time! So if you want to read about what I'm doing with my DGD's little dress, you have to go back a couple postings....to the May 26th post cause it won't let me change the date of the post... and I'm just not qualified to move things around to get it to change any other way! LoL.... later, Jean

Emily is having a contest!

I'm Backkkkk! Kinda like a bad penny! (I think I've said that before!)
First things first.... Emily over at RavenHill http://ravenhill.typepad.com/weblog/ is having another contest to enter... and she is giving away some really fun things! This after just finishing up a giveaway for a wonderful shawl. But, for those of us who did not win.... she took this to heart and is now giving away a craft magazine that has an article about her in it! (clever girl is just getting her name out there all over the place, blogs, posts, and in print too!) So, she is now giving away the magazine she is featured in, (she already has a subscribtion) and also some wonderful fabric's.... on second thought.... don't go to her blog cause the more people who go the less chance I have to win! Just kidding.... well..... maybe!
That's all for now.... back soon with the pic's of my DGD's dress!