Joy Blogs

Good lord where does the time go?! I hadn’t realized that I’ve not made an entry here in like.. Forever! Gimme a break I had a bitch of a year last year.

Okay.. lets catch up on some of the projects I’ve done since we last met..

Last year was my youngest sons grad. He wanted to do something special for the day. To shall we say.. stand out in the crowd a bit.. Well stand out he did.. we all did!

I asked him on how he wanted to dress for the occasion.. I was half way hoping for a purple tux with ruffles.. ya know something out of a 70’s wedding party.. but no.. he said someone was doing that already.. (okay so it was a powder blue tux but you can imagine we didn’t want to look like copy cats.. So he mulled it over for a bit and then says.. “I want a Kilt.. I want to wear a Kilt.”.. My husband then pipes up says yea that would be really kewl.. and I’m thinking.. Oh yay! He’s not going to follow the norm and rent a damn tux .. I’ve succeeded.. he’s as off beat as I’d always thought he was deep down inside..

So we’re sitting around the living room talking about his kilt.. and my husband again pipes up and says.. I want a kilt too. I’ll wear a kilt.. Then I get to thinking.. Since we’re of Scottish decent.. it would be very kewl for us all to go in the family tartan.. That was until I found out the cost of material shipped over from Scotland.. yea.. NO..

The family tartan would be something along the lines of 78 bucks per meter.. now.. that’s not out of line till you consider a kilt takes about 8 meters of material.. you can understand our dilemma at this point.. Dilemma? Well no not really a dilemma.. our HORROR.. That idea was quickly put to rest. But then!…

A flier arrived in the mail from the Fabricland stores in the city. They had a wonderful sale on and guess what they had on sale.. yep Tartan fabric..Actually it was the Canadian Provincial tartans. Seems each province has it’s own tartan. And get this.. it was like 8 bucks per meter! So I ran the idea past the family explaining that if we didn’t choose the provincial tartan then we just weren’t going to be able to pull this off.. We were all in agreement that if we could get enough of the Manitoba tartan then all would be well with the world.. But.. after scooting to the city to pick up the fabric I was shocked to learn there wasn’t any to be had! They had to order it in from Saskatchewan for me. But they did.. Oh.. I kinda over ordered so if anyone out there wants a crap load of Manitoba tartan Call me!

So the tartan was taken care of now to do a bit more research on the project.. I now needed some Prince Charlie jackets. A Prince Charlie jacket is a more formal dress jacket for a well dressed Scot. But now ordering these was going to run me about $150.00 a piece. Again.. Not acceptable.. onto ebay.. I managed to get 2 tail coats for $25 bucks a piece from the states. I just had to alter the backs of them.. and well a bit on the front and buy some silver buttons.. which I might add almost cost more than the damn jackets! Hadda look authentic though.. oh and some vests to and those were a bugger to find.

Well I got the jackets and altered them they were perfect.. I fashioned a wild dress for my youngest daughter. Not exactly classic dress but kewl none the less.. Anyhoo.. I got all the accessories I needed jackets were all ready. Steph had her dress ready and now.. it was time.. to make the kilts.. I’d bought “THE” kilt making book.. had started to read it.. and.. and.. Didn’t understand a freakin thing.. I swear to god.. I had the biggest damn brain fart I’d ever had.. Nothing was sinkin in.. This is when I started to panic..

So I had heard of a woman a little ways away who was a professional kilt maker.. I called her up to see what she charged.. Again I was slightly horrified when she told me she charged 400.00 per kilt.. and that was NOT with the material included!! Arrgghhh.. The brain fart was still lingering though. Luckily I have a brilliant husband that can actually follow instructions *L*.

After coming home and finding me sitting at the table on the porch weeping in yards and yards.. and yards of material he sat down and read the book.. Now that might sound odd but I’m not a book learner.. show me I’ll pick it up in no time but don’t make me learn it from a book.. my mind just can’t wrap around written instructions.. So he reads.. and he explains to me what he’s reading.. The fog is slowly lifting!! I get it!!! So a kilting I will go…

I now know why the woman I called charged $400.00 for a sewing a kilt.. the hours and hours and HOURS it takes is unreal.. not to mention there are different ways of matching up the pattern to have it hang certain ways etc.. suffice to say.. Kilt making is an art.. I don’t know how the pros do it but I hand stitched both of them. A machine never touched those damn things!

I managed to get the guys kilts done.. put something together quickly for myself. Made sashes and we were good to go.. My oldest son refused to wear a kilt.. (Thank god cause I would never have been finished in time).. Though I was a bit disappointed.. and my oldest daughter only got a sash cause again I ran out of time.

The day of Grad I was sewing right up until the final hour well 15 minutes.. I was fraying a sash as I was walking out the damn door.. Talk about leaving things till the last minute! We were all lookin spiffy and made it in time for the ceremony. I was POOPED!

Anyhoo this is what we all looked like that day..

Would I ever make a kilt again.. Oh yea for sure I’d love to. I’ve discovered I love hand sewing! And I just happen to have yards of material left over! But it would have to be a project that didn’t have a deadline! I do work good under pressure but that was nuts!
The whole process was so rewarding though. We got many compliments but the best one was from one of the teachers who was Quite Scottish.. (even had the accent).. She asked where we got the outfits and about the tartan we were wearing.. she didn’t know we have Provincial tartans.. She said it all looked very authentic..I was quite tickled to hear that..

I think the only drawback of the entire evening was Dan kept having mosquitoes fly up his kilt and was in a bit of distress for a while there. But apart from that all went well Kids had a good time and I took the rest of the weekend off!..

Now I had to prepare for the in-laws 50th anniversary!

 Well I actually did do something other than the grad dress last summer. Very shortly after Graduation I was informed that there was some kind of Anime convention my daughter just HAD to go to.. not only did she HAVE to go to this.. she also wanted a costume.  I had a wee bit of time on my hands and I must admit I was going through a terrible case of withdrawal from the months I spent on the grad dress so I was  more than happy to oblige.

No I didn’t go sewing this all up from scratch. I more or less put it together with what was on hand. What was on hand was a bustier that just need to have some tulle taken off it. The skirt was made from the underskirt of another dress my daughter had. It was a Southern Bell looking gown. I took the silver underskirt sewed it in half and put the waistband on the top of the shorter skirt and we then had the skirt done. Very simple to do really.

 I used the neck ruffle from the black dress to sew onto the bustier. The original black dress had silver bows on it which I took off and used on the boots, gloves, hat and front bodice. The hat was made from an old silver open weave vest type cover up that I’d bought at a thrift store years ago.. I knew it would come in handy one day. I just slathered white glue all over it and draped it over a can of snails for the night.. (An empty can if you’re wondering.  Snail or Escargot cans are the perfect size for hat tops!) It was held tight onto the can with an elastic band. The material had dried and hardened into a hat shape by morning.  I just added some black tulle to the bottom and some ribbon for the band and we had hattage..

Stephie had the gloves and boots. I think all we had to buy for this outfit was the white tights she had on. Talk about recycling at it’s finest! Course I didn’t stop there. She had another idea she wanted to have a second outfit.. *groan*..

 

To be honest it was fun to do, and again I had everything on hand so the cost was nil on this one too. Steph had an old halter top/mini dress/weird lookin thing she’d picked up at the thrift store god knows when. The white fluffy underskirt was bought at a yard sale years back. It was the petticoat for a square dancing outfit.. I bought the whole shebang 2 square dance skirts.petticoat/peasant top/ruffled panties and a country shirt for 5 bucks. A deal I was Not about to pass on even though my husband gave me the wtf ?look..

 So anyhoo..

I took an old scruffy button up shirt she had and cut off the collar and sewed it onto the halter dress, took off the cuffs and added some plaid fabric to them to make them into false cuffs.Then I found some black tulle and made the waistband and big bow. I had lots of plaid material and I made a belt of sorts with squares of plaid fabric hanging off it. I think it turned out kinda cute.

Now after that, I didn’t have to much to do craft wise  for a while. .But.. Halloween was coming up and of course Missy wanted yet another costume. She had plans for Halloween. I had plans for Halloween too! I was going to make myself and Dan a costume for the first time ever. Unfortunately ..the best laid plans of mice and men and such.. I did manage to get material for our costumes but I got a bit more elaborate than I wanted with costumes for Stephie and Nathan. So sits material in my laundry room  for some killer costumes. Maybe next year..

I had wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland theme for our costumes. As things turned out, I made Steph the Queen of Hearts. I would have gotten far more elaborate given the time.. I think it’s a good thing I didn’t have a lot more time! I had to hand stitch so much on this costume it was nuts. I finally gave up and glue gunned the big hearts on the front of the dress on and fabric glued the wee ones onto the bustier otherwise I’d have been sitting here still sewing things on well after Halloween was a distant memory!

I was so sick with a cold the day we’d gone into the city for material I just quickly grabbed what ever I could find just to get the heck out of there.. Plus I saved a bit since I hit a busy sale day. The checkered material was heavier than I’d liked but it worked. It was an upholstery weight.. Real over kill but it’s all I could find and I was just not feeling up to shopping around other places that day. So I bought the .checkered and gold material. I ordered some cording off eBay and got steph to pick up some red material while she was in the city. Oh the bustier on this one was a cheapie eBay buy too that I added material to.  The white on the skirt was from an old satin wedding dress. Nother EBay deal.

The hardest part of this was sewing on the cording. My old machine would just not do the job so I had to hand stitch it to the skirt and the bustier. I used fusible web to iron on the hearts but with out stitching they probably would have all fallen off.. this is where glue became my best friend. 

Her neck and head piece were made out of gold beaded coasters. Again another eBay deal.. I’ve had them in a drawer for a few years now and I just knew they’d come in handy someday.. for something.. somewhere…I.. just have to figure out what to do with the other 67 I have left over…

With a bit of glue, tulle and other odds and ends we had accessories. Those wispy things in the head piece are the same fiber optic lights I used on her grad dress only in red. You can’t really see them lit up but they were kewl.. Plus I just happen to have an excessive amount of those things left too… I am not a hoarder ,I am not a hoarder I am not…. I may have a wee problem but you didn’t hear it from me…

Oh and because this is Canada and it’s freakin cold out in October she found a little black shrug she had and wore that too.. went well with the costume over all.

Had I had more time I was going to make a coat to go with this outfit but time did not permit.. and there were more meaty things awaiting!

The dress took me a few weeks to put together. I kind of had a deadline because she wanted to have it the week before Halloween so I quickly finished it up so she could take it into the city with her when she was out the weekend before. I wasn’t going to do anymore costumes. My son is in grade 12 now and he didn’t really say anything to me about a costume for himself.. Till of course the weekend BEFORE Halloween.  Now.. I’m sure this wouldn’t generally be a problem for most folks.. but.. see.. I tend to go a bit overboard..

It was quickly decided (by me) what Nathan was going to wear. See… he has now started his first job.. in the meat shop at our local grocery store. What better for a butchers helper to wear than a steak! So I started in on his steak outfit on the Monday before Halloween.

I have worked with foam rubber before on costumes. One time was the sponge-bob costume and another was the Brain which was made from an old mattress pad covered in a stretchy grey fabric and quilted.

Working with foam rubber can be great fun. In this case though Hot Glue is NOT your best friend! Nope not at all. Some rubbers melt and if you are unlucky enough to dip your finger into the hot glue and have it adhere to your flesh.. well.. suffice to say it’s not a great medium for these kinds of projects. What is you may ask. Rubber Cement! Yepper it’s GREAT stuff.. unless you are in a small room with poor ventilation.  Or in a big room with lots of ventilation but sitting very close to your project and manage to sniff half a can of fumes in an afternoon.. *Cough*.. not that I’d know anything about that..

The rubber cement will not burn your fingers.. even if it did you’d be so bloody high you just wouldn’t give a damn.. You apply it to the pieces you want to join together. Let it set but not dry completely you want it tacky.. then stick the pieces together and squish them a bit and you have a join.. it’s really the best thing to use for your rubber projects.. By the time the kids get thier heads inside the fumes should be long gone..  They’re gonna be on a chocolate high any way right? Really though the smell goes away fairly quickly.

 I cut up the foam padding and spent a day gluing it all together. Then came the material cover. Stephie had picked out the material for it since she did my shopping for me and I think she made perfect choices. Now, I don’t have a photo of Nathan in the costume but he did wear with a tie he was a “Meat Suit”.  It and was a huge hit. The costume did double duty this year triple actually. Nathan wore it to work and school and Dan my husband wore it to the bar and out to the casino the next day. Dan  got me to make him a baked potato for a hat and sewed Budweiser beer cans to it. He went out to the bar as Bud, Spud and Steak night! The next day I took the beer cans off and used an old leather top hat we had to glue playing cards to. We went off to have lunch at a nearby casino. He was “High Steak Poker” cause all the cards were in poker hands.

Everyone had a lot of fun and the costumes went over really well.

Next I guess I’ll be gearing up for Nathans grad outfit.. Little hint.. It’s Plaid… Wish me Luck!

Well Grad 2010 is now just a pleasant memory. We made it. A good time was had by all.. Well… almost all.. My poor hubby was ready to slit his wrists if he had to sit and listen to the music much longer but apart from that we all enjoyed ourselves.

Stephie was the bell of the ball. All the girls were just beautiful in their gowns and the young fellas looked so nice all dolled up too.

Stephie and Rain her friend had the 2 dresses that were most unique at least that’s what I was hearing from a great many people.

Stephie graduated with honors. We’re Quite proud. The day started early with me ousting her from a deep slumber at 8:15 am. Since I was doing her hair I wanted to get an early start.. Good thing too cause it took 4 hours to get it just right. (the way she wanted ..not me I like big hair but apparently that went out in the 80’s.. who knew!?) . I managed to keep my sanity and hold my tongue and we got it done. I added flowers to her hair. They were the same as the ones sewn on her dress. I just glued them to little wee claw like clips so they were super easy to put in and take out.

After Stephie’s hair was done I went for my bath and was getting ready.. that’s when she decided she wanted the back of her hair pinned up too.. aarrgghhhhh…. Hell I didn’t even have my deodorant on yet and she wanted more pinning.. Thank god I got 2 packs of bobby pins!

You will notice the flower corsage in the back too. First time I’ve ever made a Back Corsage. *L*.. Course she asked for this THE DAY BEFORE GRAD!!! Arrrrgghhhhhh.. I still did not have my dress finished by then so I was in a bit of a flap trying to get it done. Plus my poor old sewing machine decided to crap out on me the night before. Good lord you want to see panic! I had Nothing to wear so I just Had to get it fixed. With Dan’s ingenuity and my perseverance it started working around Noon that afternoon.. I was quite relived. Elated almost after spending 2 hours getting the tension just right. I love my sewing machine!

We decided it best to give her the grad gift BEFORE the make-up was applied. Bloody good thing too. There were a few tears shed when we gave her, her new laptop. Hell she was just tickled she thought all it was only a lap top bag for the computer she was going to save for.. Then she opened it and couldn’t believe her eyes.

Everyone got dressed and off we went to the hall for the ceremony. I managed to keep it together this year. Only teared up..oh half a dozen times or so.. never broke out in a good sob.. god it took restraint! Even more than choking her while I was doing the hair!

We took some photo’s outdoors afterwards. I had to get her back into her cap and gown to go stand with her brothers.

Lovely little bunch aren’t they? The darlings. My oldest son Gray had his girlfriend graduating that day too. Chelsea was wearing her beautiful blue dress and Gray in his co coordinating tux. I tried to convince him to just buy a suit but nope they shelled out the cash instead for the tux.. Looked more like a suit to me..

My youngest son Nathan was going to wear one of his dad’s suits. Probably could have too but when I went into the city last week to pick up a few last minute things and the flowers for Rain’s corsage, I found the suit and shirt at the second hand store for… are ya ready? 15 bucks! A deal to good to pass up on. The pants were a tad tight in the waist but I was able to take them out a couple of inches and he was quite happy with the whole outfit.. Hell at that price it’s practically disposable!

Now I’ve been yacking about this dress for a while now and I did mention at the start I would tell everyone the cost. I was breaking it down today. Here’s what I’ve figured.

Organza material for dress $30.00
Hot fix Swarovski crystals on organza $6.50
Swarovski crystals used on dress and in jewelry $45.00 ( Damn those things are expensive!)
Ribbon flowers for dress and hair $6.50
Fiber optics for dress, flowers and hair. $25.00
Fake Flowers for corsages $7.50
Shoes $10.00
Incidentals $10.00
Total to here 140.50

Cost of original dress.. are you ready…. Ya sure? The dress was a sample wedding dress, bought on ebay. It came with a sale tag on it. The original price I think it was mentioned in the ad for over 500 dollars. The sale tag that came on it was for 395.00.
My cost on ebay..$20.00!!

Total cost of dress $160.50
The happiness it brought us.. Priceless.

I almost forgot to mention. Today (Sunday) I had a look at the dress. The hem(S) were Black. I decided I’d best see if I could clean it up a bit. I will hopefully get it to a dry cleaner to have it properly cleaned and packaged but I have no clue when that might happen so I started to clean.. The dress has 3 hems. The inner one with the crinoline. the lining and then the outer dress hem. I started on the outer dress. Let’s face it if the inner lining hems are black who’s going to see. If the outer one is black the dress is ruined.. Which I actually thought it might be. Ya know.. It’s just amazing how well Palmolive dish washing detergent cleans satin! That warm water and an old tooth brush for scrubbin.. Three hours and a bit later I had all the hems cleaned up. Not perfect but you have to look closely to see any discoloration. I made Stephie put on the dress and got her brother to rinse her off with the shower head in the bath tub.. Perhaps not the best way to treat a delicate dress but it’s no worse for wear and I even got off the large shoe print on the front.. I don’t even want to know how that got there! The dress is now hanging in the porch with a fan on it drying.

Now.. I’m going to get my cat who seems to have sworn off eating thread and needles, put my feet up and let my ankles drain. I need to plot out my next creation. Thanks for sharing my adventure in Grad dress construction. I’ll be up to something else soon I’m sure and hope you’ll share in that too.

The big day is almost here. One week till Grad.. but.. what the heck am I going to do afterwards? Housework? God help me! NOOOOOOOOoooooooo

I’ve still been busy with all things Grad. I got the head piece for my daughters friend done. Now my daughter wants one. There is just NO way I can get supplies before the big day so I told her she sparkles enough. We’ll make one for the next outfit. I’m quite sure she’s going to hold me to that. The following photo is her wearing the art nouveau inspired headpiece for Stephanie’s friend Rain. (That gal in the post below with the colorful dress).

I’ve also made a necklace to go with this but I was told Rain doesn’t want a necklace. No matter. I was on a roll so I quickly made this one up to match kinda sorta. The discs match the circles in her dress. I’m quite sure if she doesn’t want it I can find a few outfits to go with it. *S*.. or Steph will steal it!

I made some matching earrings too but forgot to get a photo of them. Apparently I’ve been volunteered to make Rains corsage too. Fine by me I love doing it. I just wish there was more time to play with it all.

I’m in the process of sewing myself a dress now. I’m almost done just need to put on the sleeves and hem it up. Stephie’s dress is finished. I have to press it the night before and sew on one little clasp at the top of the zipper (note to self do that tonight) but that’s it. She put it on last night and we lit her up. Unfortunately you can’t really see the lights on it/in it, but they kind of show up as a silver streak in the following photo. Also the earring studs are LED lights. We’ll add a few of the fiber optics to her hair too. Once the lights go out she’s going to be her own disco ball!

I did not make the beaded gloves. We are going with the formal satin ones instead. I’m going to make 2 small bracelets to go on them. They will match the necklace and the beading on the arm.

Steph went and got her hair cut yesterday after school.. Oh lord.. I had given her the perm months ago and it was really in need of a trim and perhaps a bit of a thinning. She also wanted her bangs cut. She’s obsessed about having her bangs sweep to the side and wants them cut on an angle.. I was not about to take on the task of this since her and I disagree on how they should be cut so I sent her off to the hairdresser. To my horror she came home with.. well it wasn’t quite a hair cut.. it was more… my hair got caught in a lawn mower. It was Horrid! I guess the hairdresser had used a razor to thin and cut everything. What a hatchet job! I nearly cried when I saw her bangs they were chopped so bad someone would have taken one look at them and thought she’d gotten gum stuck in her hair and just lopped it off to get out the goo.. I just had to trim it up for her. She was a bit horrified when she saw the amount of hair I was taking off but it was the only way I could even things out and make her bangs presentable.

Luckily she was quite pleased with the results in the end. Thank goodness. I was quite relieved and her hair looks lovely now. Only thing is she can’t decide whether to wear it up or down. So long as I can fill it with fiber optic lights I don’t care *L*.

It has all come together. We found out last week that Stephanie has been accepted to the University of Manitoba in the fall. We’ve booked her a dorm room and a parking spot. Dan has determined he’ll be working till he’s 85.. 95 is Nathan decides he’s going on to University. So all is well at the Geddes house. I guess my next posting will be after grad with all the details of the evening.

Till then my friends!

Well I’m in the home stretch. I still have a few things to do for Grad.. like make myself a dress.. but my daughters is done. I will post some photo’s but I need to get a few more first. Late at night.. in the dark. No.. the dress didn’t turn out that bad.. but if it were being scrutinized by my grade 9 sewing teacher she’d be hard pressed to give me an A.. I know where the booboos are but unless someone get’s up close and personal with the damn hem on the dress it should pass with flying colors.

In between all the sewing and beading I managed to get a gift ready for my son’s girlfriend. She’s also graduating this year. I didn’t have a clue what to get until she showed me a photo of her dress. Then I had an idea. Which usually means work for Dan but not in this case.

I can’t buy her jewelery or make it because she had something in mind already.. I thought of a hair clip of some sort but really that’s a rather personal choice.. What I thought of was an Evening Bag.

I ordered this little white satin purse on Ebay.. course I couldn’t stop there. It needed to be blinged.. What can I say I was desperate to crystallize or rhinestone anything I possibly could.. It’s bloody addicting..So of course, since I was on eBay anyywayyyyy… I ordered a few hundred thousand hotfix rhinestones for it.

I have not seen the dress up close only in a few photo’s so I was not to sure about the rhinestones but I did the best I could to copy the pattern on the bust.

Now I was a tad disappointed in the size of the purse when it came. It was much smaller than I thought but after lookin at it I realized it will hold a camera and some makeup and a small brush or comb. I then started to decorate it. Man.. was I glad it was the size it was! Wholly cow.. Okay so I’m not a professional rhinestone putter on-er but daaammnnn.. This little purse took me over 3 hours to do! I kid you not. What a piddly job. But I think it turned out pretty good and Chelsea my sons girlfriend seemed happy with it. I was able to tick off yet another project on my list of things to do.

Today I put the finishing touches on my daughters Grad dress. It’s lovely. And the lights are all workin and look great too. Unfortunately in the photo’s I took it just did not show off the lights I guess the room

wasn’t dark enough. They aren’t gawdy looking just small twinkles. I’ll post more photos in the next few days.

This week I start My dress for the event. That shouldn’t take me any time at all. It’s pretty simple and I’ve made a few before. I’m also hoping to make a headpiece for another friend of my daughters. Oh her dress is something else I just love it!

It’s bright and beautiful just like this little gal is. Rain is a wonderful artist. I’m totally blown away with some of the work she has done. She’s heading to University in the fall with my daughter. Rain will be pursing Graphic Arts. My daughter Stephanie is hoping to get into Nursing.

Now the head piece I envision with this is a very Art Nouveauish. The Dress and Rain, remind me of an Alphonse Mucha artwork. I thought that a headpiece such as this would compliment her dress.
Not in those colors of course. I came up with a better idea.

I’m going to use a brooch for the circle piece. I found one on ebay that seems to match perfectly I’m hoping that these brooches won’t be to heavy for her to wear but till they arrive I have no clue what they’re like. I also found some beautiful glass beads that match nicely too.

I’m not even going to mention the chain I bought. Well.. Chains.. so I have a bit of a hard time making up my mind.. coming to firm decisions.. um… um… okay.. so I’m a Hoarder.. but hey …till I see it I don’t know what to pick so I got a buncha different kinds.. BTW.. if anyone out there needs one of these headpieces. I’ll probably have enough stuff to make a few dozen by the time I’m done. Oh yea.. and if you happen to need rhinestones or crystal beads on anything at all just drop me a line and we’ll talk.. I even have ones that will stick to your face.. Okay so I went a bit over board.. but ya never know when you need a bit more twinkle right? I draw the line at vajazzling.. that’s way over the top for this old gal. What is Vajazzle you ask? It is the art of attaching rhinestone crystals to your nether regions. Or in layman’s terms. To Bling ones Beaver. Yea.. just not going to go there.. nope..

Note to self… watch for sales on rolly carts.. need more storage containers!!

Well it’s been a month now. I am making progress. Thank god. The thought of going out and buying one of these things from a “salon” or what ever the devil they’re called is not the least bit appealing. I have learned one important thing though. Working with a White Dress when you have hairy dogs and cats and people who eat in the living room can be a tad unnerving at times. I’m constantly shooing the cats away. They like to hide under it. Luckily they’ve not used it as a scratching post or a climbing pole while it’s on the dress dummy.. I had to go and make a cloth bag to drape over it when it’s hanging up so they don’t play hide and seek under the skirt.. Cats is so stupid..

You have to wash your hands a lot when working with a white dress. That’s not a big problem but when someone comes sits close with a plate of lasagna and a Pepsi I start to vibrate. I think the worst was when my hubby came in from fixing the lawn tractor in his work coveralls and greasy hands and loomed over the damn thing while it was on my lap.. had he touched it.. he would be a dead man today. Anyhow as I said I’m making progress.

The panels have been inset they still need to be hemmed. Well actually the whole dress needs to be hemmed. I had to pull it apart since it was connected to the lining. I needed to get in between so I could sew flowers and crystals to the outside of the dress. It’s hard to see the crystals in the photo but they sure glitter when the light hits them. I may even add a few more. One can never have enough twinkle. I also have this kewl tool that affixes rhinestones onto fabric. It’s very much like a soldering iron but it doesn’t melt the fabric. The rhinestones I have, they have a glue on the backsides and you just set them onto your material where you want.. touch them with the wand and let it heat the stone and then the glue melts and.. you have sparkle. A bedazzler of the new mellenium!  Here’s a link that will show you a video on how they work.  It’s really neat! Rhinestone Hot Fix Applicator. I put rhinestones on the burgundy panels in the skirt and on the bodice. (I’da put many more on these on the  whole dress but the daughter told me to reign myself in.. *sigh*.. I’ll have to start a new project soon I have rhinestone fever!)

In my last update I showed you all the beaded glove I’m making. Well I’ll still be doing those but we’ve decided to leave out the dark burgundy beads. The dress was supposed to be strapless but my daughter was afraid her boobs are going to fall out when she’s dancing up a storm so we played around with possible solutions and I came up with the swept over shoulder idea. I saw this photo on the net and it gave me the idea. Don’t even ask me what the writing ment it is on the photo when I nabbed it.

So I tried the bead strands with and with out the dark burgundy beads and Stephie and I both liked with out better so that’s what we put on the shoulder. They hang really nicely too. I’ll now have to make the gloves with out the darker beads. I do know how to make work for myself don’t I?

As you can see she’s got a corsage now too. I know you’re supposed to let the boy get it for them but ya know.. I’ve been doing flowers for years and like.. it had to co ordinate with the rest of the dress and.. well.. I could just do it better than a florist could so as a treat to myself I took a day and did the corsage. Yes a day.. but there was a lot to it.. did I mention it lights up? Hehehehe.. yea I’ve gone and put some fiber optic lights in it too.. It’s SO KEWL! I’ll have to get a picture in the dark of it glowing away. The fiber optics are in the dress panels too but we’ve not lit them up just yet. I’m dying to but there are10 of the damn things and it’s going to take a bit of work. She’ll be her own Christmas tree.. Or should I say Grad Tree..BTW.. that glowing white dot on the right side of her nose.. well that’s her addition to the outfit.. She decided to go get her nose pierced last week… I suppose I should be happy it’s not her eyebrows eh?

The corsage is 2 orchids and 5 burgundy rose buds with a sheer organza avacadoish ribbon. The cascading pearls really finish the whole thing off. I may balance it off with another grouping on the left wrist once I get the gloves made.. we’ll have to see if it’s needed. Oh and I’ll have to make her date a matching boutonnière.. That kid will get off easy not having to buy one for her. He’s gonna have to come up with something though *S*.

So this is what I’ve been locked away doing for the last month.. well not quite but it has taken up a good amount of my time. Which is fine by me I’m truly in my element when I’m creating. The next thing I have to tackle is 3d nail art.. yep.. I’m doin her nails too..She wanted a nice manicure for Grad.. Understandable yes? Well I was thinkin bling on the fingers too.. yes.. I do tend to run with things.. Well didn’t I just stumble onto actual bling for nails! Then that lead to the 3D nail art. Oh MAN.. This is something else! An art unto it self. I’m just dying to try some. I got the creams yesterday as a matter fact.. now to play. 

The nail art the 3D kind is not the least bit practical but it’s so much fun for a special evening. I think I could get into wearing false nails myself. Not that I go out much but it’d sure be fun to show them off when I did! Here’s a fun set that I’m going to try. Wether or not it works is another story but hey.. if she has a dress that lights up. A corsage that lights up.. hair that’s going to light up.. Nails with bling can’t be all that over the top… can they?

Oh yea.. My youngest son graduates next year. I was sitting talking to him on what he would like to do to make his grad garb special.. (There’s just so much you can do with a suit right?)  He sits and ponders for a few minutes.. then he says.. I want to wear a kilt.. This may horrify some people and it did cause a bit of a heated discussion with my husband and myself. I want the kid to wear my mom’s family tartan and he figures the kid should wear his families tartan.. Which I suppose is more appropriate.. So it’s been decided the kid will go in full regalia. Right down to the knee highs and sporron! Did you know it takes 8 yards of material to make a kilt?!  Kid had better not change his mind. His father either he wants a full outfit too.. and of course.. my family plaid needs to get a showing too so guess what I’ll be wearin!

 Stay tuned !

 
We’re in full swing.. well sorta.. Okay so I got the train cut off the dress. We were pinning on the material just to get yet another visual of the dress so we took some photo’s to show everyone. I can describe it till the cows come home but seeing is understanding don’t ya think.. besides it gets you out of reading all this blather too.. oh.. and no more incidents with the cat..yet.

The first photo is of the dress with some of the flowers pinned to it and one panel of the burgundy material in it. There will be 4 panels of burgundy organza in the dress and the flowers will be few and far between.. in this case less is more.. Course.. that hasn’t stopped me from sewing Swarovski crystals into it for a bit extra bling, bling.. Oh I know doesn’t need it but it’s quite nice when the light just catches them.

I’ve also ordered some very tiny hotfix silver crystals to put here and there.. The girl is going to twinkle!.. Did I mention.. it’s going to have lights? *L*.. I know, I know it’s a GRAD dress she’s not going for carnival queen.. but picture this.. I have some really kewl fiber optic lights they’ll be underneath the organza.. once they’re switched on she really will twinkle.. I know you probably can’t wrap your heads around that just yet but I will get photo’s of them so you can see. These fiber optic lights will also be worked into her hairdo so once the lights go out she just switches ‘em on and she’s her own disco ball..

Oh I know it’s all a bit weird and I probably have been makin to many Halloween costumes over the years but hey.. if nothing else no one is going to duplicate her right?!

The beading on this dress is something else. I mentioned in my last post that I have yet to find a bead missing.. well I found one missing the other day. No biggie I just sewed a crystal in it’s place. You’d have to be goin over the dress with a fine tooth comb to notice. I just happen to have a massive amount of crystals.. ya see I’m making her gloves out of beads.

 I’ve done one as a sample but I’m not to sure if I’m to fussy on the darker crystals. I think something that is similar to the ribbon flowers might be better. Anyhow there’s still a bit of time to decide. I have to make 2 of these things for her. One will hold her corsage flowers. Orchids. I told her her date can get her what he likes cause I can’t see her wearing these all night long but I want her to have ‘em for a while at least.. Since I also love flower arranging it’s going to be hard for the kid to say no to me *L*.. Hell I’ll just charge the date for the glove.. since it’s more expensive than the damn dress was! Ha you’re still wondering how much I paid aren’t you.. Nother time perhaps I’ll keep everyone in suspense.

Any Questions, Comments or Suggestions are more than welcome too btw so please feel free to comment in the comment box. I’ve had a bit of spam so your post may not show up for a bit but I will get them.

Guess I’d best quit blogging about the dress and get on with it eh? Stay tuned!

Right.. so as I mentioned the Grad dress has begun.. I’ve taken over the livingroom with my sewing stuff the dress dummy, a sewing basket.. various sewing implements.. The place is a disaster …. But that’s okay.. we’ll just clean around things for a few months..
Anyway… I have a terrible habit of sticking pins and needles in the arm of my chesterfield. Oh. I do have a pin cushion yes.. and I also have a pin box.. and if I don’t put the needles in the arm of the chair they’re usually hanging on the lampshades.. but the other day I had one threaded and ready to go stuck in the arm of the couch..

Now.. on occasion my nasty little habit has bit someone in the ass.. or hand.. or arm.. but no one has been severely injured.. Just really pissed off at me.. usually Dan.. why he tends to always find the rouge needles is beyond me but they’re usually stuck in him.. Till the other night that is..

We have these cats.. The kids found them.. We already had a cat.. A big old tom cat.. he did his job he hunted mice and various other things lurking in the basement and garage.. He’d go away and come home battered up.. eat, sleep, poop.. kill and then take off for another few days.. The cycle was working great although ..once he came home and was so torn up we thought we’d have to shoot him.. Thanks to my daughters caring ways he survived.. well her and a few tubes of polysporon and a box of gauze bandages from the drugstore.. he lived to eat,sleep, poo, kill and screw another day.. So we were happy with said cat.. Happy enough.. till the kids found the kittens in the back yard.. I’m thinking some neighbor got just a tad bit tired of their cat getting knocked up they musta dropped off a litter at our place.

Now had the first kitten not been the spitting image of the father cat. I would have been a tad angry.. but the son brought in this tiny black and white kitten that was just a miniature version of Daddy cat I knew we were to blame.. Course they brought in the second one that looked NOTHING like Pappa cat and I did question his linage but hey they’re kittens.. they’re cute and fuzzy we just had to keep them. Okay Dan didn’t have a hope in hell of getting rid of them cause no one would have spoken or cooked for him for weeks so he just gave into the fact that we now had 3 cats.. and all he really has ever said is.. Get them fixed.. Them meaning the 2 new ones. One male.. One female..

I did get them fixed a few weeks back when they started making eyes at each other.. Called up the vet ,made the appt, took them in, got them shots asked no questions and nearly dropped dead when they handed me the bill.. for over 400 bucks! But.. I didn’t feel all that terrible since the Boss had been harping on me for weeks to “Get Them Fixed.”.. he was pleased till he asked the cost.. then he went rather pale and asked why I didn’t just get the female done.. or let him just shoot it like he wanted to from the beginning.. I think he’s still trying to get his heart out of his shoes on that one..

Well, Hannibal and Clarice.. (Dan named them).. are doing well.. Clarice is a tiny little thing. She will go outdoors from time to time and is a bit more adventurous than Hannibal.. He just likes to hang out in the cat food bin. He was developing a nasty habit of laying in the bathroom sink and turning the taps on himself there for a while.. You could always tell cause you’d hear a terrible clatter and a cat darting down the hall.. and the pump would keep running so someone would have to get up and shut off the water in the middle of the night. Usually me of course. Dan finally tightened the taps so he can’t work them anymore but oh he does try.. Now it’s mostly just batting disposable razors down the hall.. Cat lives on the edge..

So what does this have to do with my sewing? Well the other night we’re sitting in the living room and my daughter looks down beside me and asks what the cat is chewing on.. I didn’t even bother to look. There are so many damn things in this house it could be chewing on I just really didn’t care.. Till she got closer and notice a needle coming out of the cats mouth.. Course her screaming scared the cat under the couch and then down the hall under my bed.. and then back down the hall under the couch.. Hell she scared me with her bloody screaming.. This is a girl who’d hoping to go into nursing.. I’m starting to see a flaw in her plan..

So we finally get this cat from under the couch.. by this time it’s trying to hork cause it swallowed the damn needle.. I guess the horking helped but it has now lodged the needle in it’s upper pallet and is in quite a bit of distress.. Not nearly as much as I am thinking that this is going to cost a small fortune if I have to rush this cat to emergency an hour away and get it operated on to remove a bloody needle.. I’m seeing dollar signs.. course.. I was also eyeing up the 22 cause there is no way I would have let him suffer either.. That thought didn’t last terribly long cause I’d just remembered I’d given the damn vet 200 bucks to lob off the things balls just 2 weeks ago.. I’m not going to shoot a 200 dollar ball less cat!! It’s now worth something right!? Shooting was out of the question. It would have to be a trip to the vet.. But wait.. we can see the needle!!

I calmly take the cat and check out the situation in it’s mouth. Okay I can do this. I tell my daughter to shut the F up and go get a pillow and a pillow case and her brother. This will take the whole family.. oh yea and my beading pliers.. We put the cat in the bag.. Literally.. and hold it down on it’s back on the pillow. Son is holding it’s body in the pillow case and daughter is still whining on the verge of tears holding it’s head still.. I .. pliers in one hand open the cats mouth.. Cat’s teeth are friggin sharp!

My pain threshold goes so far and I realize I’m going to loose a finger getting this needle dislodged if I continue along this path so I call a stop to things and ask for.. *DA DADA DA*.. the Duct tape.. No No NO I didn’t wrap it around the cats head.. Just around the fingers I was trying to hold the mouth open with.. It worked well..

With the precision of a master beader I gripped the needle in the cats pallet with my bent nose mini flat head pliers, dislodged it and removed it along with the 2 feet of thread that was still attached to it from the cats mouth.

The Ball less Wonder (Hannibal) was happy.. The daughter was happy.. the son was wondering what the hell the cat was doing eating needles.. and I needed a drink..

I now have a lovely like infection on one of my fingers from the cats initial biting frenzy.. but I think I’ll live.. I’ll just .. stick a needle in it to drain off.. I have lots.. The cat.. loves everyone. He’s still batting razors down the hall..and I think I’ll keep the threaded needles out of the couch for a while.. this living on the edge thing is just a bit to much for my liking.. no matter how much the cat enjoys it!

It has begun..
I have to keep a running blog of this project I think it’s going to be loads of fun.

My Daughter is graduating this year. Where does the time go?! Anyhoo Grads these days cost a small friggin fortune.. it’s insanity to be honest so I’ll save a dime where ever i get a chance. I’ve heard talk of gals ordering grad dresses ranging from oh 200-600 dollars or more. The norm these days is about 400 it seems. That’s for the dress.. not for any accessories. Ya with me.. INSANE! Good lord wedding gowns should be that price not grad dresses! Okay so I have my head in the sand I suppose but we just cannot afford that kind of money for a dress that’s to be worn once.. and I’m sure they are pretty much only worn once. So I’ve been shopping.. on Ebay *S*.. I do love my ebay..

So I needed something fancy that I could add a bit of my own flair to and have it look like a million bucks.. the cheaper the better too.. I started looking at vintage wedding gowns and soon found that sample wedding gowns go for insanely LOW prices. By samples I mean gowns that have only been tried on in the stores never worn by a bride to a wedding. Sure nuff I found one!

It’s rather hard to see by this photo but the dress is a matte satin. It’s beaded with tiny pearls both back and front. It had a bit of a train but I have cut the train off and will hem it all at floor length.

I’d love to tell you how much I paid for this but I’m going to save that little tidbit for another time. I will say though that the sale ticket price on this dress was $395.00.. Sale price. I think the original price was over 500. There are no flaws or missing beads or buttons that I have found yet so I’m tickled.. Not to mention it fits her like it was made for her so I really lucked in there!

As you can see the red writing on the photo. I’ll be adding a burgundy organza in the spots the arrows point to. There will be 2 pannels of it in the front and 2 in the back. I’m also adding a bunch more to it so stay tuned!

Okay so I came home this morning and was backing into my parking spot under a tree. The lens pops out of my glasses ..I’m a tad distracted.. I don’t HIT the tree.. nope.. but there is a loud explosion in the back and the window blows out of the van… now.. I wasn’t near the damn tree.. Course the branch above the van was much closer than it appeared in the mirror…
feck..

Anyhow.. damage is done.. I’ll probably need a new back hatch for the van.. okay fine.. insurance deductible is 200 bucks.. alright my bad, BUT, The bastards are tacking 200 dollars onto my drivers licence too!!!!

I don’t know how it’s done in other places but if you go for 2 years you get a merit on your drivers licence.. I have 5.. maximum amount you can get.. Haven’t had an accident in many many years.. and I do mean many.. Now they’re chargin me 200 dollars extra just a one time payment mind you.. but sheeeiiittttttttt.. So far as I’m concerned that’s highway robbery.. what the hell are we getting charged on our insurance for???? Now the damn licence too?

I knew it went up the more accidents you were in but like what the devil are these merits for then? I thought if you had ‘em you’d get one taken off and you’d be okay.. if you had none at all then you’d pay extra for your licence..

I’m thoroughly pissed off right now..

I dunno if the worst part is the 200 bucks or the fact I had my 15 yr old son with me when this happened.. not only did I have him with me.. we’d just come back from town where we’d been having a discussion on why he HAD to take drivers ed when school started in the fall.. He figured he could just study the book I told him no way, he had to go through the program…

*sigh*

I .. think he knows why he’s got to go through the program..

I’m never gonna hear the end of this am I? *groan*