Final Photos... Ready to travel!

The last task was to get the right hanger, and attach some ribbon loops to enable the dress to stay on the hanger. Here it is hanging fully attached, and ready to pack in the travel bag....Close up of the back showing the small train....

The back loops ready to be laced tight....

The flower completely attached with feathers and beads in place....

And the final photo is the dress in the carry on bag, ready to travel to the beach!

Three Ocean Dresses

Here are the finished bridesmaid dresses. Cocktail length, three styles, three colours of the ocean.

They look sweet together and should look really fresh and bright on the beach just before sunset. The wedding is coming up soon, and I will post the photos of all the girls in the dresses at the wedding in a few weeks. Note the little matching purses.

Such a relief to have everything done, and ready to pack and fly to the tropical destination.

Hems and hooks and finishing touches.

I have spent the last 3.5 hours working the rest of the dresses for the bridesmaids. There are two hems for each dress, one on the chiffon, and another on the lining satin. Then there are hooks and eyes to close the zipper top, and finishing touches to tidy up all the details.

I also decided that small purses in the fabrics would be a nice touch. So here they are...

I fused interfacing to the back of the chiffon, sewed the lining fabric in a rectangle with right sides facing, leaving a gap on one seam. Turn right side and press. Then I slipped some quilt batting in making sure the corners matched up, and top stitched in about an inch to hold it all together. Folding like an envelope, I marked the top flap and topstitched again in a rectangle, then stitched a starfish into the center of that flap. Last I topstitched the side seams closed. I only need to add a big snap to keep it closed and some kind on should strap (not determined just yet)....

Pursuit of Purse

I received some really cool scraps of fabric from a friend, as payment for some minor sewing alterations. The pieces were an intersting taupe crinkle fabric that were from a designer outlet, left over from lightweight coat designs. She picked them up for a song, but did not know what to do with them... I was intrigued. Originally I thought a coat from them, but there was not enough for a whole coat. Then the body of the coat with knitted sleeves, hmmmm. But in the end I have so many coats, knitted or otherwise.

Then it hit me last week. A big Hobo purse. The idea of binding this fabric (wonder-under) to a sturdy canvas (also from my stash of fabrics) could make a purse fabric sturdy enough to stand up without being mushy. I used pattern Simplicity 3828, model G, and added a contrasting fabric for the handle and my own design of outer pocket. The contrast was actually from the alteration for my friend, about 6 inches cut from the bottom of a long coat, then the edge rehemmed. Again, the scrap was too small to do much with, but the pocket and handle were perfect. The colour is similar, and the fabric smooth and sturdy, and complimentary to the crinkle fabric! I lined it in a sweet batik cotton (left over from a previous quilt) and the zipper is from a purchased sweater that I did not like (except for the crystal encrusted zipper!).

The whole thing was from fabric in my stock and about 3 hours of time.

Cool

Quilting Continues

I have not had much sewing time for a week, with lots of visitors and activities over the long weekend. Back to normal, I managed to finish the border of the Savanah Quilt on two sides (half done!).

I have also churned out a quick quilt project. It is a book cover for my eBook. It has a grey vinyl cover, so I used that as a pattern for a slip cover. The front and back are a quilted rectangle, and the inside is a non-quilted piece to hold the front and back covers. I machine appliqued my name on the front cover, just for fun.