Wedding Sewing

We are now down to just five little chickies left in the nest since son #3 got married a few weeks ago.

 

Adorable couple, right?

 

It is strange not having him home anymore, even though at the end, between work and seeing his beloved, we really weren't seeing him that much anyway.  You spend so many years raising your kids, worrying about where they are and what they're doing every second they're out of your sight, and then--it's over.  Your parenting job with them is done.    Your heart bursts with pride seeing them get married, but it's bittersweet, because you know your life will be different now. 

 

We are delighted to add another, lovely, daughter-in-law into our family.  She is a jewel.

 

So, before I start crying because I'm spending way too much time going down memory lane and thinking about my baby boy who's now a married man, I will show you the projects I managed to sew for the wedding.

 

First up: a frothy, lacy dress for a certain five-year-old who had the very important job of  "flower girl" in her older brother's wedding:

 

The pattern for this dress was my old stand-by, Mcalls 5793. 

 

I fell in love with a beaded, lace fabric at JoAnn's that only cost $29.99 per yard, and knew right away it would be perfect for her dress.  I only needed 1 1/2 yards for the overlay, but still!  I NEVER spend that much on fabric.  It was on sale for 20% off  in the weeks leading up to the wedding, but I was hoping to get it even cheaper.  So I waited.  And waited.  Every time I ran into JoAnn's, I nervously checked the bridal department to see if it was still there.  What if someone bought it before me?  Finally, about two weeks before the wedding, it dropped to 30% off.  I would have liked to use my 40% off coupon, but JoAnn's won't let you use a coupon off the original price if the item is currently on sale, and I just couldn't risk waiting any longer, so I bought it. 

 

The lining fabric is a cream colored cotton sateen.  The dress turned out beautifully, just like I imagined it.  The sash, however, not so much.  But wait a moment-- I didn't make the sash!  It was provided by the seamstress who made all the bridesmaids' dresses.  The bridesmaids' dresses were beautiful, but the sash?  I'm not sure what the seamstress was thinking.  It was very narrow, with a seam directly up the middle, and about twice as long as it should have been.  To make it work, I had to wrap it around my daughter's waist two times.  Because it was made from a pretty silk chiffon, it drooped limply and didn't look at all like a bow should look on a little girl's dress.  I wasn't happy.  So I set out to replace it, but wouldn't you know it--the color is very obscure, kind of a cross between robin's egg blue and sea foam green--and I scoured every fabric store within a 20 mile radius, trying to find a close match in a stiffer fabric. No luck.   I resigned myself to just making do, even though the sash wouldn't lay nicely right around my daughter's waist since we had to wrap it twice.  'Sigh'.

 

The day before the wedding, I decided to stop by my favorite fabric store, one more time, even though I'd already checked there earlier and had come up empty handed.  And what to my weary eyes did appear?  A gorgeous, crisp taffeta in the EXACT color I was looking for, just a shade darker!  I couldn't believe my good fortune.  Had it been there all along and I had just missed it?  Or had it come in since the last time I had checked?  It didn't matter, because it was here now, and it matched, and that's all that mattered!  I was so ecstatic all the way home, but my bubble quickly burst when both my husband and older daughter pointed out that it wasn't the same color at all.

 

WHAT?   "Of course it is!" I protested.   "No", they both said, "it's a shade darker than the original sash.  "But it doesn't matter!" I cried.  "It's in the same color family, it'll work just fine".  But no one believed me.  And then, of course, I started to doubt myself.  But I took the fabric up to my sewing room and made the sash anyway, just like I had planned.  And then, because I couldn't stop with just a plain sash, I embellished the front with ribbon roses from my sewing stash.  Roses that were in the exact shades of creams and corals that the bride had chosen.  And guess what?  It turned out even better than I had hoped.  The bow was crisp and huge and held it's shape, just like a bow should on a little flower girl's dress.  And the silk roses added the sweetest pops of color.  I thought it looked splendid.  But what would my picky family members think?

 

They LOVED it!  They took back all their earlier statements about it not matching closely enough.  They remarked how much more beautiful it was than the original sash, and how the old one couldn't even begin to compare to the new one I had made.  I basked in the compliments.  And I learned once again not to doubt myself and my inner voice!

 

My second sewing project for the wedding...a new dress for me!

This is the Martha Pullen "Mary Morgan" dress pattern which I've used several times before.  It is champagne colored lace over a blush pink crepe satin, both purchased from JoAnn.  It went together quickly, and it fits me perfectly.  I am pleased.

 

The Mother/Son Dance

 

  I chose the song, "Sunrise Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, because that is one of the songs that was sung at my wedding, almost 28 years ago.  Memories.

 

And here's the whole family now!  My oldest daughter was a bridesmaid, my two, older sons were groomsmen, and Sophia, of course, was the flower girl.  Looking at this picture, I realized that my oldest son's fiancée did not make it into the photo.  Now how did that happen?

 

So here is a photo of them:

They have tentatively set their wedding date for May of next year.  Another lovely, daughter-in-law.  I am blessed.