Shawnee sent off our Secret Santa Swap Partners, and today I am going to be a sewing Busy Bee!!

Last night my grandson Tony came over for a sleep-over...we had a great time!! He will be heading home soon, so I can get started on my Package for...!~:;"%#@*... Sorry, you have to be surprised!!!

Friday night Joe and I attended the LARC Dinner Fish Fry! We invited past neighbors, Bob and Linda, over for homemade Cherry Pie and ice cream. We should get together more often. When they left, I stayed up and made a dress.

The Dress...let me explain. This very nice young girl called and asked me if I would make her bridesmaid dresses, 5 in all, the wedding is next July. I said sure!! I told her I would want a separate pattern for each girl, stricktly for alteration ease. Not a problem. She asked if she could come over with her mother to discuss all the details. They came over on Monday late afternoon. We talked for awhile, and it was decided that they would go to a fabric store in Chicago and pick out the fabric they wanted and bring it back to me. The next day they came back with fabric. Also they asked if I would just make one dress so they could see if I new wht I was doing!! Can you believe this?  I can't believe I agreed!! I am nuts!! Certifiable!! Anyway, they then told me they wanted me to copy a dress they had without a pattern!! Be sure not to take apart this dress, because this little girl may still want to wear it!! This is all what this MOM was saying to me.

Okay, I have cooled down...

Friday afternoon while I was getting ready to go to the LARC Fish Fry, this little girl called, and asked if her sample dress was completed. Her bridesmaids were coming in for the weekend, and she needed the dress to show to them. Can you believe this...I'm still amazed that I haven't hung up the phone...I politely say to her...give me a call tomorrow afternoon, and we will work something out .

I haven't even thought about how I was going to make this dress...So now it is Friday night at 9:00pm.

I lay out the fabric, lay the back side of the dress down, and trace the outline of the dress with tailor chalk. Do the same with the front side, estimating the wideth of the neck line, because it is gathered into the collar. I cut the pieces  out, and then use those pieces to cut out the lining. Really a simple process, Cut out a collar, and start sewing.

The Process...I sewed the side seams of both the dress and lining separately, Put the lining inside the dress, lining up the side seams. Gathered the neckline to fit the collar and stitched them together. I hemmed both the lining and dress, and now I am finished...it is now 12:00am.  I waited until 2:00pm to call her. She loved the dress.