First off, my co-worker emailed this to me - and it made me giggle a lot.  If you're in the need for a laugh - there ya go!  It's religious in nature so there, you're warned.

Second, I worked on the bridesmaid dress a long time last night - actually for several hours.  I hate pre-beaded fabric.  What was I thinking? I was distracted by the pretty, shiny and didn't realize - oh hey, pre-beaded fabric will be sort of difficult to sew! I have this terrible luck with needles, by the way, I seem to break twice as many as anyone I know.  So I went sort of slow and sewed the pre-beaded fabric to the other layer; I did a zigzag stitch since I don't have a serger, surger, um - whatever!  I was wanting to French-seam everything, but after feeling the fabric I decided that it wouldn't work too well and I would end up with a fitting problem.  So I now have all my shiny, beaded fabrics sewn to the under-pieces.  I actually got one shoulder-strap completely sewn up; I added another piece of fabric to the pattern for it so it winds up as a toube of fabric with no exposed edges.  None of the straps on the mock-ups stayed in place very well so I'm anticipating the need for double-stick tape to keep them where they need to be while moving around a lot.

I spent the greater portion of my time after work tonight actually sewing the whole bodice and skirt into their respective pieces.  The beaded fabric wasn't so bad when you just sew in a straight line; I was still awefully careful, but I was able to go a lot faster - which isn't saying much because I still went slower than I did on the skirt.  Sewing the bodice together probably took...three or four hours between sewing it together, shaping the bodice and breaking for dinner... Okay - I didn't spend three hours on it, that's lying.  I stopped every now and then and did something else.


The skirt went much quicker.  I think I should have lengthened it just a tad more, but I'm really liking it, and the pockets really disappear into the skirt, especially with the gores I added in to give the skirt more volume.  It really does weigh down and help the skirt lay nicely.  I didn't actually sew the skirt to the bodice because, well, it's 11pm and I want to sleep.  I'm very happy with the results thus far; I was worried about the darts in the bodice, there are two sets of them, but they turned out alright.  I get some small puckers, but with that fabric you won't notice all that much and pulling the stitches out would only mar the top layer of fabric so I am choosing to be okay with a small pucker. 

I doubt I'll get any done yesterday other than trimming off excess thread as tomorrow night is The Office Wedding.  My apartment is a wreck and I'm not going to get the dishes washed sooooooo, that means that tomorrow when I get home I'll take care of the big things: clean the Chin cage, take out the trash, load the dishwasher and clear off space on the couch for peoples.  The only thing on the dress I would like to get done is sewing the skirt to the bodice as having people at my place who can critique it and help me pin straps and the hemline doesn't happen everyday.  I pinned the bodice and skirt together for picture taking purposes only so I can show off and give the Bride a preview.

Now, with all that said - I will insert pictures and go promptly to bed!