Sew nice

Last night, I did something I haven't done for a really long time. I got to spend about an hour and a half sewing. Well, most of it was cutting and pinning, not actually sewing. But I did thread my sewing machine and do a little basting before I had to close up shop for the kiddos' bedtime.

I'm not sure I've spent more than an hour or two since Trystan was born with my sewing machine. Its really sad, to me, because I enjoy sewing. But when Char was born and we converted my craft room into her bedroom, I moved my stuff into the office that had previously been my husband's alone. Between adjustments in sharing the space (adjustments we're still making, LOL--we both have a LOT of stuff and our own preferred environment), general schedule constraints, and the fact that the office shares a wall with Char's bedroom (thereby restricting after-bedtime sewing because it affects her sleep), I haven't had much time to sew.

Charlotte attends a Catholic school, and they have a certain number of special masses throughout the year where all of the girls must wear an all-white dress to school. The first one's coming up next week. I could buy her a dress, but outside of Easter season, the only stores that carry all-white dresses for little girls are bridal stores and fancy heirloom shops, both of which are expen$ive. And I can sew. Sew I am.

I bought the fabric and the pattern from Walmart over a month ago, but since the date is coming fast, I have to actually work on it (or go shopping). The style is pretty simple--the fabric is a pre-smocked and pre-hemmed, with two layers (a satin underneath with an embroidered organza on top). The body of the dress is all one piece, with the stretcy smocking at the top. The sleeves will be kind of 3/4, leg-o-mutton style with the smocking part toward the cuff and a puffy cap. I modified the original pattern for these, as it wanted short sleeves with 3 separate pieces, and I thought their design would be a pin in the a$$ with the 2 layers of fabric. Of course, it might have taken me longer to draft a different sleeve than to just do the extra basting and sewing, but whatever.

I'm a little worried that it will be a bit fancier than they prefer (it sounds like they want all-white, but not mini-bride), but I'll take the chance for now. Because it will be cute, and it has sleeves (sleeveless dresses are not allowed, which rules out one already in Char's closet), and because Walmart had no other all-white fabric and I had no time to go to a real fabric store. If I have to sew another because this one is too fancy, I'll do that later.

So, I got kid-free time to sew while my husband took the kids for a playdate. AND I got to watch a couple of episodes of Project Runway as inspirational background noise while I did it. Come to think of it, there's a strong chance that watching Project Runway inspired the whole sleeve-redesign....