New Project: Operation Wedding Dress

So today I realized that I have precisely 25 days to start and finish my next project...I was putting if off because I wasn't sure whether or not I NEEDED to make it and now I realize I do...


My cousin is getting married in Monterrey, Mexico on November 26th, which not only happens to be Thanksgiving, but also my Birthday... My family originally had plans to attend, but then temporarily decided not to go and now the plans are back in place... 


After the Bridal Shower I decided that I wanted to make my dress because I saw several beautiful dresses on Etsy...  I totally fell in LOVE with all of the dresses made by Ouma... at first I wasn't sure whether or not I would be able to make any of these dresses for myself, but after talking to my mom and several friends I decided I was capable...


So off I went to High Fashion Fabric to find my supplies...I decided on dark gray/silver for the dress with black ribbon and lace...

So tomorrow is Day 1 of Operation Wedding Dress...I'll post updates periodically...

Halloween!!

Seeing as how this was our last year in Law School, therefore very likely our last Halloween celebration all together, my friends and I decided to go all out for Halloween...We chose Alice in Wonderland as our theme...

I, personally, don't buy into the whole, "Halloween is the one day a year girls can dress like "ladies of the night" and not be judged" school of thought...ummm call me a prude, but you are still being judged, but if it helps you sleep through the night... I just think you can do cute and  show a little skin and still be tasteful...

That being said there was no way I would find an Alice costume in my size that I would feel comfortable wearing...So I made my own...and thank God because it was freezing last night...I went for the traditional Disney Alice... I used old bed sheets to make the dress and white cotton to make my apron and my petticoat...

my outfit looks very prudish, but I really don't care... Doesn't the whole group look great together...

My friend Marco was the Mad Hatter...as you can see his hat was enormous...there was a fantastic tutorial on Thread Banger for the character which we used to make the top hat...

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween evening tonight...

Look What I Found on My Doorstep Last Night!!

My new Sewing machine, originally uploaded by SuiGenerisByAmy.

Ok...Ok...so it wasn't some big surprise like my sewing table, but it was just as great... Thanks Babe!!

Since I began sewing I kinda had told myself that when I graduated from Law School I would get a new sewing machine...but the more I have been the sewing the more I realized I wanted one sooner (apparently 9 months is too long for me to wait)...

A few weeks ago I was in the Valley visiting Louie and my family (they drove to the valley for the weekend)... I had my "epiphany" on the way home in Louie's truck after picking up pizza for my parents...(back story...I normally am a pain to shop for...but this year I had asked Louie for a purse for my birthday...mind you its not til November)... As we were getting closer to my house out of nowhere I turned to Louie and said, "I want a new sewing Machine for my Birthday" and just like that Louie says, "OK"...I was totally expecting him to push back a little, but no, he just said "OK"...

So when we got to my house we started looking online for a new machine for me!!! Boy are there a million options...but i found an affordable machine that did what I wanted it to do and he ordered it for me!! And then about a month and a half early my Birthday Present arrived...yay! Just in case you can't tell I am beyond excited about my new machine!!

First thing I did was make a cute dust cover for it!!

Soo... I actually can make Grown Up clothes!!

See for yourselves!!!

Occasionally I have tackled the task of making something for me to wear...but I am usually very hesitant...

I do love men's shirts refashions...I found a tutorial for the the blue and white strapless tops here...

I made the black tulip skirt out of $1.50 a yard fabric from walmart... liked this skirt from Mod Cloth...but I prefer a much higher waist and am still too nervous about inserting zippers into clothing...so I made a big sash to tie around the waist...

I found a tutorial for the tank dress with the fuchsia sash  from the blog My Mama Made It... I used an old dress from the gap...the sash and the bow are made of fabric scraps left over from a blouse I shortened for my sister...

The pink and green stripped dress is a copy of a dress I made for Lori...but I added pockets at the hip...its soooo comfy

The green and blue plaid/fuchsia paisley dress is made from an 80's old lady outfit I bought at a thrift store...

Here are the before and afters!!

I posted the before pic on facebook and some friends gave input and I went from there...I shirred the back of the dress with elastic thread bc as I mentioned I'm terrified of zippers (my next project will use an invisible zipper...wish me luck)...the waist of the original dress had an elastic casing so I used it as the point for the empire waist...to make the straps I used the sleeves and once again stole an idea from My Mama Made It...I also made a small casing for elastic  in between the front straps to add a little gathering in the bust area...

I am quite proud of the results...I even wore it last weekend to my cousins bridal shower...

Hope everyone has a great weekend...I'm spending mine making a laptop case for my Daddy and possibly starting my new project...if I can figure out where to start...