The girls aren't going anywhere.

This bodice is crazy boned. The girls have no chance but to stay in place. I wish I could get a picture of it on me, but without the skirt done and Steve at school, it is left to the hanger to give it justice. I'm worried I used a little too much boning...I'll see on Friday at class.

 

My fitting last Friday went really well. Yes, the muslin was way too big, as I knew it would be. But that's better than being too small at a fitting!

My teacher taught us how to average seam lines in alterations once everything is pinned where it should be. 

Let's take the side seams. If we want to take in side seams, we get someone to pin a new seam line in the garment, right? Right. But NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE can take out equal amounts from both side seams to make it even. It's just not possible. but the good thing is is that you don't need to be perfect. 

My bodice with blue chalk marks showing where the new seam lines should be.

Once the garment is off, transfer each new seam line to the pattern. Then, ta da, average them to get the perfectly balanced seam line that will fit both sides! SO EASY. 

Transferring my new seam lines to my pattern. Instead of cutting out the extra from my pattern, I trace the pattern and cut it out so that I always have the old pattern to refer back to.

I love this class so much! I'm learning line crazy. I bought the charmeuse for my under-lay the other day at Yellow Bird. It cost me an arm and a leg but it's totally worth it (once again I had to curb Steve's reaction to the receipt by reminding him it's all tax deductible :D)

However, it is great to have such a great mom who buys you a new iron when your 7-year-old costco iron dies right in the middle of doing homework. You can get this little bute at Bed Bath and Beyond! It steams beautifully.

More homework tomorrow: advanced pattern making and I need to make a pair of panties for my intimate apparel class :)))


I love school!

Hem and Haw

Tonight, I:

Hemmed two pairs of girl jeans:

AND hemmed a wedding dress (not scary at all)

Crappy picture

All in a night's work.

Do you need alterations and live in the Salt Lake area?? Email me.

School tomorrow! Advanced Pattern Making, specifically.

Academy Awards, Here I Come!

No, I haven't been in an independent film and no I'm not nominated for anything, but I am making an evening gown for my bridal/evening wear class at SLCC!! It's my favorite class so far this semester. My teacher is amazing and I know I am going to learn a TON. 

Last week after my first class our homework assignment was to design our gown, and show our inspiration. I designed a gown and brought in some swatches of fabric I already have (trying to be frugal and not spend a ton of money), but my teacher said my gold polyester sating I wanted to use for the skirt looked cheap. Ugh, you had me at polyester. So I scratched that whole sketch, and thought of another dress I had already designed, a dress I had in mind for my little sister for her wedding one day far, FAR INTO THE FUTURE (do you hear me, Liv?) This is my sketch:

The dress has a boned bodice, with a gold charmeuse under-lay (new fabric I'll be buying after all) with a black silk chiffon over-lay.  I bought this lace at Mood when I was in New York City over New Year's, which will be placed on the hem, the waist, possibly the neckline, and the hem on the sleeves. It's beige applique on black tulle. I love how modern and updated it is for a lace. I think it'll go well with the gold charmeuse.

This week I had to make the entire pattern for my dress, plus sew the muslin mock up and have everything ready by this Friday..... crazy town. SO much to do! I was able to get the pattern done using the slopers I already have from BYU (which I use for all the patterns I make for this blog) which is great and saved me a bunch of time. So far the muslin fits pretty well. I know I'll need to take it a bit (I've lost weight!)

In class I'll set the neckline to the V-neck in my sketch, get the fitting right, of course hem it, and fix the boning to fit my shape perfectly. I'm so excited. I've never sewn with boning before, except for at work doing alterations. I've never sewn a GOWN for start to finish before, either! It feels great! This week, before my Friday class, I have to make the sleeves and part of the skirt in the chiffon for my muslin. Pictures to come! 

Here is what the inside of my bodice looks like with bodice, if you care to see...by tilting your head to the right since blogger screws up sometimes and doesn't turn the photos!!!

Umm hello two months ago!

I have a really great excuse. Honestly. On November 12, the day I stopped righting for two dang months, I decided to go back to school. 

Back. TO school. 

Fashion School, that is. At Salt Lake Community College. It was a big step to take only because my husband is also starting grad school at the exact same time that I start... which is this week! So life got pretty crazy pretty fast. I haven't even cut out my coat. I did make a dress, that I will be posting asap. I just have to line the sleeves, and we'll call it done. It is a great dress. I can't wait to show you! 

My coat will come to life. I promise. Some time this year while my creative mind slaves happily away in Fashion School. giddy.

 I went to NEW YORK CITY FOR EIGHT DAYS on vaca with my perfect husband. 

The vacation was.... breathtaking. I ate my butt off (not really...I didn't gain any weight, but I definitely didn't lose ANY!). 

The bakeries...the burgers....the bagels..... oh my the food. I dream about it. I had a crepe at a great place on the upper west side, it almost made me cry. I ordered a second it was so good.

I hope you cry from jealousy from my photos. You really should, or you have never known true joy. A new york joy. 

That crazy illusive food we call crepe. It had me at it's description on the menu: "Sweet butter and sugar crepe". Do ya get the gist of it? No. You can't. You weren't there as a swallowed every morsel. 

THE BAKERIES. The bakeries. So much love at Ferrara Bakery in Little Italy. Of all the bakeries found on our bakery crawls (yes, we crawled), Ferrara was our favorite. They ship their cannolis nationally!

And me, in front of my favorite store in the whole world. Henri Bendel #1. It's a real shame they stopped selling clothing in 2009 and just stuck with accessories. Their clothes were amazing. oh well. The spring in my step that came from holding that bag on my wrist all day shook the Brooklyn Bridge.

Oh and of COURSE I went to Mood. I bought a few things. All tax deductibles since I'm a student now, which I had to remind Steve of as the cashier rang us up for a small fortune.

I want to say that we'll move here someday. Steve absolutely loved the place. He still talks about it. He looks it up on Google Earth at work. If not in the city, we will definitely end up on the East Coast. Connecticut maybe. Just close enough to that elusive city.