I Have Returned

Obviously, it has been awhile since I last updated my blog. I am no longer sewing professionally. Since my marriage in August of last year, I am delighted to have started a new career as "domestic engineer." I still sew a bit, too, as the notion takes me. (No pun intended.)

I sewed for our wedding, of course. I had to. No one else could make my dress for me--and I certainly would never find such a dress in a store.



Yes, that is my wedding dress, and yes, it is blue. I have never wanted a white wedding dress. The fabric I used is actually drapery material. A seamstress friend gave me a roll of it years ago. I thought it was beautiful at the time, but it never occurred to me that I would end up using it for my wedding gown.

The princess-seam gown has a very full skirt: It is nearly a full circle. It is fully lined with cotton, which is cooler and more comfortable than a synthetic lining. The raglan sleeves are darted at the top to give them a bit of shape, and they are roomy enough for swing dancing (which was essential for the dance at our reception). The original pattern had a scoop neckline with a zipper down the back; but V-necks look better on me, and my husband likes buttons down the front. So I changed the pattern a bit and made a practice dress to try it out. It worked.


The ornamentation is handmade Irish crochet. My mother did most of it; I added a bit, as well. Each of the buttons has a tiny crocheted flower stitched to it, with a ring of opalescent beads in the center. (I made the buttons.) All of the threadwork has beads in it.



Here is the back. I made the snowflake-like motif in the center of the design and a few of the small flowers. Other than that, the credit goes to my mother. She made a large number of individual motifs and sent them to me, and I figured out a placement for each of them before hand-sewing them into place (and adding beads where necessary).

I did some other sewing for the wedding, too. Perhaps I will make some posts about that another time.

Nature's First Green is Gold...

It is not, though, a hard hue to hold when it is incorporated into a pretty dress. Actually, the dress is gold with a green vine, but that is a mere technicality. I think Mr. Frost's rhyme still applies.

This particular creation is a combination of two different decades: The sleeveless bodice is a modification of a 1950s pattern; the A-line skirt is from a pattern printed in 1976. The span of a score of years or so, however, does not detract in the slightest from the nice result.


It is also a combination of a couple different needlework techniques: sewing and crocheting. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the pale green crocheted vine that winds around the body from the neckline to the hem. The small photo at the top is a detail of the neckline.


The fabric is a gold brocade, and the leaf pattern is a perfect background for the crocheted vine. Because of the zipper down the back, the vine is actually in two pieces, but the general effect is of one long sprig of greenery. Once again, the subtlety of detail is what takes this dress beyond the ordinary--and contradicts dear Robert's assertion that "nothing gold can stay."

Just One More (for a Good Cause)...

This will be the final post about the Sticks to Bricks dinner. I think. It is not really sewing-related, but it does have to do with my outfit for the evening.


I posted earlier about my gold evening gown. I accessorized it with this beautiful little handbag, a reproduction of a Victorian opera bag:



I crocheted it a year or two ago, using size 30 thread. I made it a little larger than the pattern specified and lined it with some off-white fabric pulled from my stash. It is big enough that I had room for my car key, business cards, and camera; and the drawstrings are long enough that I could put them over my shoulder. The ecru thread went perfectly with the gold silk of my dress, and it added a vintage touch of class to my attire.