India's White Batiste Dress

Last week was so crazy busy that I forgot 

to post more info on India's graduation dress.

Notice her gorgeous cameo and matching earrings.
They were gifts from her Aunt Hrisula and Uncle Lee.
They are antique and vintage and perfect for our girl!
She is crazy about them!!

She wanted her dress to be kind of a cross between Maria from

West Side Story and 

Alice in Wonderland.

And since the India was to be wearing her

graduation cap and gown over the dress and sitting 

in the hot sun on the football field during the ceremony,

I wanted to make the dress as light as possible.

So, we made the dress out of white Swiss embroidered batiste 

and lined it in white Pima batiste.

I added a lining to the skirt and used 

two different kinds of Cluny lace.

I am kind of on a Cluny lace kick lately.

It is so soft and pretty and vintagey looking.

You probably can't tell from this picture,

but I added another layer of lining to the bodice and 

included boning. 

 India loves boning in her dresses,

so I have boxes of it around all the time.

Notice my "new-to-me" mannequin?

A local dress shop is going out of business and 

let me buy this lovely one.

I am so sad they are leaving but glad I have this dress form 

to remember them by.

The pattern I used was discontinued McCall's 5095. 

It is one of my go-to patterns and I have made it for India several times.

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I am working on Ahnalin's Disney outfits and hope to have something finished
to post tomorrow!!!

Happy Sewing!

Bollywood Ball Gown- Boning and Zipper

India's date will pick her up in 27 hours.

So, the ticker is going.

These are the "bustier" pieces.

They actually go inside the lining as the foundation.

These are the channels for the boning.

You remember how I said I hate tulle?

Well, as much as I hate tulle,

I enjoy dealing with boning.

Which is a pretty good thing since India likes it so much.

I like that it adds such a lovely structure to a garment.

I like "foundation".

Says a lot about me as a person, eh?

Two important things to remember about boning are this:

1. You must round the edges of your boning before inserting it in the channels.

If you do not do this, the boning will eventually poke through the fabric and not look pretty.

and

2. Boning has a direction because it is coiled. 

So you must make sure you put the boning in the channel

going the right direction or your fit will be funny.

Oh, and yes, that is a bowl of baked ziti. I did a lot of eating standing up this week

while I was sewing. I get a one-track mind and 

simply can't be bothered to stop and eat sitting down.

Not a good habit for a mama to teach her kids, I know.

But India made the ziti and it was GOOD!

Here is the foundation with the lovely sewn channels for the boning.

For a girl who loved geometry, this is bliss! 

Isn't it a pretty look?

(Sorry, I'm a geek!)

So I took in the dress again and the fit is looking better and 

India is smiling now.

Still dealing with the sway back but better now.

Ok, this is where things are getting frustrating.

We are not really sure how to do the draping of the sari fabric.

And of course, we are running into the

awareness that India will never be

six feet tall like Nicole Kidman when she wore the

Hindi wedding gown in Moulin Rouge.

So, we may go another direction with the sari fabric.

But we have a few more things to do before we get there.

The pattern called for a zipper sewn by "Prickstitch"
or as I was taught "Handpicked".

I contemplated sewing in an invisible zipper but

decided instead to add a bit of interest to the zipper.

On the inside, I machine stitched the zipper to the seam allowance.

But on the outside, each time I prick stitched, I added a crystal bead.

Not a great picture but this shows the zipper with the 

crystals attached.

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Then yesterday was Ahnalin's open house at her school.

She insisted on wearing a smocked dress I made for her 2 years ago.

And I did not make bloomers for this dress.

Silly Me!

Monkey Girl was in rare form!

What a cutie pie!

Now, I get to attache the dress, the lining, and 

both pieces of the foundation.

After that I will have some hand sewing and the 

hem.

Then, I have to deal with that sari fabric! YIKES!!

More pictures to follow later today.

Bollywood Ball Gown- Fitting, Lining and Gathered Tulle

Tulle!

Yeah, I hate the stuff.

But we will get to that in a moment.

Here is the lining.

Yeah, not too exciting.

BUT......

Looky here!

So, I hate tulle,

and my serger and I have a rather tentative truce going on.

But, I had heard that, (and don't laugh all you 

girls who are all chummy with your sergers!)

gathering could actually be done on a serger.

So, I did a little internet search and came up with this

tutorial from Kymy.

And, well now! 

It worked!

Gathered tulle! 

While watching the newest episode of Glee

that I had waiting on the DVR, I pinned on 

the lower ruffle to the lining.

And as a side note, wasn't that an amazing episode???

I mean, from the first time I saw Lea Michele on the Tonys,
I thought she was a dead ringer for Idina Menzel!
AWESOME!!!

Ok, back to the subject at hand,

tulle....

Here is the upper layer of tulle pinned onto the lining.

Remember, Princess India likes full twirly skirts!

Sewing this onto the lining was not fun, but it is done now.

Phew!

Then I got to try the lining on her!

It looks all wide on her because the seams are on the outside.

This is so the inside where her skin is touching will be protected 

from all that nasty itchy tulle!

By the way, notice India's "Mom, the pins are sticking me and I am exhausted

and have an Algebra final tomorrow so I need to get to bed!!" look.

Now the dress is tried on over the lining.

It is still pinned on in back and raw on the top.

Still all pinned at the back.

I am debating putting in the zipper now, 

or waiting until the Sari fabric overdress is done.

She wants the over dress to be separate so it can come off,

but I don't think that will lay well.

So, I have a lot more to do still.

Now, I get to make the seam adjustments and make it fit better.

And I get to sew the bodice lining and add the.....

take a guess.......

BONING!!!

Yep. Time to add the boning.

Back to the dress mines for me. 

More pics tomorrow!!

Oh, and yes, I KNOW the ball is on Saturday night!

Bollywood Ball Gown- And So It Begins!

India's Senior Ball is next Saturday night!!

And the theme is 

Bollywood!!

Can you think of anything more perfect for 

a beautiful, dramatic princess of a girl named India? 

 

 Her favorite color is blue, so it HAD to be blue.

Her birthstone is sapphire, so sapphire blue it is!

She has always loved this dress from Moulin Rouge,

which Satine (Nicole Kidman) wore during the 

Hindi wedding musical scene.

So this was another influence.

But my girl loves a full, twirly skirt.

 

So, we chose Vogue 2717 as the base dress pattern.

 

And what is the hallmark of EVERYTHING I sew for my India???

Yes!

Boning!!

I will start the muslin tonight. 

I know what I am going to do for the basic dress

and foundation, but I have no clue

how the draping of the sari fabric will go.

Oh, and we DID find the sari fabric at 

an Indian store.

I forgot to take a photo of it but it was interesting. 

It was an Indian grocery store that had a fabric department!

And it smelled like yummy spices!

The fabric is embroidered strangely, to me, because it is intended 

to be wrapped a certain way. 

So, it may be a challenge to make the most of the embroidery.

But we are excited about the challenge!

And for a little fun, 

I had my niece try on some of MY old 

prom gowns from high school.

This one I made in 1985.

I can't find the pattern right now, but I know I kept it.

I think it was by designer Bellville Sassoon too!

I LOVED the asymmetrical bodice

and the ruching.

Yes, it was very "80s"

but I loved this pattern so much......

That I made it up again,

for another prom, 

in a different color and length.

I went to a lot of proms.

I may show a few more of my gowns if I can find them.

I think I had the best job in the whole world in high school.

I worked in a high end fabric store and 

one of my jobs was to sew the displays.

 

After they were on the mannequins for a few weeks,

I got to take them home and wear them.

I ALWAYS chose Vogue patterns,

so I was very stylish in high school.

Of course now, I pretty much wear jeans and tops. 

I think I should make myself some pretty stylish things again,

dontcha' think?

So, I had better get in gear and get to work on that muslin so 

that India won't be naked next Saturday night at the ball!

Keep checking back as I will be posting updates and photos every day!

India's Easter Dress

India's Easter dress is done. 

And I must admit to LOVING IT!

India loves cameos, so we had to add this little cameo button to the front.

I think this dress just sings

SPRING

I know this does not show up well,
but I had to laugh when I read through the
notions requirements for this dress.

Yes!

In typical "India" fashion,
this dress requires boning!

India did not even notice that when she chose the pattern.

Yet everything India falls in love with has boning.

I keep a few boxes of featherweight boning on
hand at all times in my stash because I always seem to use it.

So, this is the "gratuitous boning shot".

The pattern repeat, and placement of the flowers,
is quite large. So in order to make the most
of the fabric, I had to "fussy cut" it.

I like how I was able to piece the top so that the
flowers were only in front.

While the bodice, was fully lined,
the pattern did not include skirt lining.

But any girl knows that dresses are the perfect
summer wear, with just a pair of sandals or flats.

That means, NO SLIP!

But I do not like being able to see someone's underpanties
through a dress.

So, prefer to line the skirts of dresses to keep
a smooth line, along with some modesty.

Adding the skirt lining was easy.

All I did was cut another skirt front and back
using the white lining fabric.

The inside of the dress shows no seams,
as the seams are hidden by the lining.

After attaching the skirt to the bodice,
and inserting the zipper,
I attached the skirt lining right at the waist seam.

Then all I had to do was to hand stitch the lining down at the zipper.

Instead of attaching a ruffle, like for the skirt,
I added this pre-gathered eyelet trim.

This is the lining hand stitched to the zipper.

The pink zigzag you see at the top of the picture is
just the underside of the attached
coral cotton lace on the bodice of the dress.

I cut the back pieces of the skirt so the flowers would not
be centered right over my daughters bum.

I am just funny that way, I guess.

All in all, I am really pleased with how this dress turned out.

It was worth the extra effort to make the muslin
and get a good fit.

I plan to sew up this same pattern,
Vogue 8185, in a denim version for India as well.

I will show you modeled pics when I get the accessories done.

But next up is Ahnalin's dress.

Oh, and the reason for the delay in getting this dress done?

Well, I have been doing a really fun bridal alteration.

I will show you all the completed alteration of the bridal dress after the wedding
so as not to spoil the surprise in case anyone from the bridal party happens upon my blog!

Heehee!!

Happy Sunny Monday! Easter is just 3 weeks away!!

Thanksgiving and My Nutty Family

Yes, this would be cranberry sauce from the can.

We have to get the kind that is organic, without corn syrup or food dyes. But yes, it HAS to still be in the shape of the can in order for India to think it is truly Thanksgiving.

Whatever!

And this, this is my mother. Yep! She is the one who is very demanding about pictures.

However, when I tried to take her picture during the weekend, this is what I got.

This is my cute mother. She made faces every time I tried to take her picture!

And then there is my Daddy.....

NOW I know where India gets it from.

And then there was Ahnalin. Oh yeah, you can see her neck now.

Yeah, I cut her hair the other day. I won't go into the whole nightmare, but after certain

notes came home from school stating that the entire Kindergarten class had been exposed to lice uh...some highly contagious stuff, and Ahnalin reacted really badly to the shampoo, I couldn't take it any more and I cut her hair. Myself. It is crooked. Really, really crooked!!!!

This was her hair before I cut it. The nasty shampoo had turned her scalp into a dry, scaly mess and her hair was brittle like straw. I was so sad to do it but knew that if I did not do it when I made the decision, I never would get up the courage to do it.

This was the "after".  My Mother-in-law and I cut it a few days before Thanksgiving, but Ahnalin has taken a few minutes every day since then to tell me how much she hates her haircut.

So, the picture up a ways is the view I got each time she pouted.

Here are the girls playing one of the many hundreds of games of "Candyland" that took place this weekend. You see, I told India that since I was working on her Queen Katharine costume for the Madrigal dinner, she had to keep her sister occupied. To Ahnalin, "occupied" translated to "Dida has to do whatever I say."  HAHA!!! I stayed out of it!

This is just proof that I really was there.

I think Ahnalin took this picture while I was cooking something.

I started on India's gown and realized that I needed to get pics of the process. India, in true India fashion, decided to be goofy.

This is the front of the bodice of the dress.

I am using Simplicity 2589 and Simplicity 2621. So far I am not loving the instructions.

I prefer to hide the seams inside the lining, but for whatever reason, this pattern does it differently. Because I have to have the whole thing done by Wednesday, I decided to just follow the pattern and realize that no one will publicly humiliate me because the seams are visible in the bodice.

Yes, the seams are finished, but I can see them!!!! I don''t like that!!

The boning is all done, and now I need Don to hammer in the grommets on the back opening. The skirt pieces are almost ready for me to attach to the bodice. I still have to make the sleeves and attach those.

I am still scrounging for fabrics to do the sleeves and underskirt. Even with using bargain fabrics and remnants, this costume is costing me wayyyyyyyyyyy more

than I am used to spending on any one outfit.

I will post more pics as I sew.

So, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had so much fun. I am so blessed to be with my loving, nutty and generous family.

I pray you had a great Thanksgiving as well.

Stay tuned for more pics of the Queen Katharine costume over the next few days.

Sivje