Shifting Gears

I’ve been obsessed this week with sewing Easter dresses for Julia, Lydia and Bella.  I started on Monday with what I thought would be the most time-consuming part – cutting out the patterns.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that somehow, I didn’t have enough material – not sure if it was operator-error when I calculated what I needed or if the pattern requirements were wrong (the pattern instructions had a few errors so that’s a possibility) – at any rate, the sewing gods smiled on me when I returned to the fabric store and was able to buy enough of the same fabrics to finish my layout.

The first part – the bodice – was a piece of cake.  But the rest of the dress consisted of a full skirt with a petticoat featuring ruffled edging – which meant tons of gathering and then sewing them together in steps since the aforementioned pattern left out some key components.  I finally just figured it out on my own which resulted in me sewing until 2:00 a.m. one night so I could finish Bella’s dress.  I wanted her to try it on so I could judge how long I needed to make Lydia’s!

After ditching all but my absolutely necessary activities – working out, eating, Rotary, racquetball, etc. – I am done!    I can’t wait to see Julia and Lydia modeling theirs for Ralph tomorrow.    The photo doesn’t really show the detail but the petticoat, ruffle and bodice lining are white with pink polka dots. 

Now I can clean up my sewing room that looks like a tornado roared through it – and start packing for my tip to Des Moines for a few days to help Ralph pack for their move in a couple of weeks.

Oh yeah – and play with my darling granddaughters too – can’t forget that part of the trip!