I need to keep blogging!

I have had several adventures in sewing over the last few months a have really, really failed at keeping up with my blogging.
Believe me, I don't mean to do it.  I just hate sitting there at the computer when I could be sewing.
Oh, where should I start?
Right now I am the Costume Designer for Hello Dolly that will be performed here in Springfield, MO at Evangel University.
There are about 50 people in the cast, including a few high school students and some younger children.
I am making all of Dolly's costumes from scratch and re-constructing the others from previous performances.  We are also looking into borrowing a few pieces from some other shows.  For anyone who has ever thought, "I can sew, I would like to be a costume designer!"  There is so much more to it than just being able to produce a great costume.
You also have to really be able to see the finished production in your head and have complete confidence in your work!  You have to be able to stand up for your decisions even when others are questioning them and you really have to be able to work at any moment.  You do not just have your mind on your work while you are at the studio or theater.  Your director can call you at anytime with an  idea and expect you to put your mind in your work to make a decision.
You also have to be able to work around everyone else singing, dancing, yes, even cartwheeling.  You have to be considerate of the stage, the set, the audience...
It is not a zoo, it is a circus!!!
Below is Evangel's Press Release, the dress she is wearing, or course, I made!
http://www.evangel.edu/apps/pr/releases/ShowPressRelease.asp?ReleaseID=183&Title=Theatre-students-present-Hello-Dolly-for-spring-musical-

Another Dreamstress

So I found another seamstress named Dreamstress...very interesting...I love her stuff...her style...it was almost as if I was looking at my own site...weird...
Anyway, I put a whole slew of bids in on some projects for my Etsy site! DreamstressVintage.etsy.com
It is not so much that I want to make money, more I want to build up my positive feedback.  I have got to get this ball rolling if the last 6 months of work is going to be worth it.  The only bad thing would be if I got them all and had 5 orders in the next few weeks!  Not bad, just totally stressful!
School...ah...weeks away and I am already thinking about school.
Music...well, that is on my mind every second of the day!

I Know, I Know

So I start this blog, and I have every intention of writing every single day...and then I don't...sorry...
Anyway, I made a necklace out of some vintage "crystals", it was a great break from the sewing...and it turned our pretty sweet.  My daughter thought she was going to steal it...it feels good that she likes my work.
My big personal sewing project right now is I am making some vintage reproduction dresses.  Both my mother and I find little bits of fabric everywhere we go.  Garage sales, estate sales, people give them to us.  I have also acquired hundreds of pieces of lace, buttons, and things and packed them away with my vintage fabrics.  So now, I pulled them out and I am putting together with vintage patterns and creating dresses that look as if they came out of my Grandmother's closet.  The really great thing is that the materials cost me close to nothing, so when they sell it is almost all profit, and the please of knowing they made someone happy. 
Making them makes me happy.  The feeling of finishing, completing, in a time when everything goes so fast and it feel like nothing ever gets done!

The Day After

So, the fourth is over and the rest of the month has begun.  I drug my children into a new antique mall today and found the perfect booth for my children' clothing.  I have been looking for a place to have a booth forever but did not like some of the flea market places because they could have junk in their booths next to my $300.00 christening gowns!  This place is huge and has only vintage and antique items in it.  I just have to figure out how to get the money together for the deposit, but I think it will work itself out if I just keep at it.
It makes no sense to have all these dresses hanging in my closet where no one can see them and people will be more likely to buy them if they can see them and touch them.  My Etsy site gets hits, but no one ever buys anything so I figure I will just let it sit for a while and focus on the whole booth thing.
We will see what happens...I will keep you posted...haha!

What did I sew today?

I made a dress, I made a dress...yes Kristen, I was talking to you while I was hemming it!  Mint green cotton embroidered with white and blue flowers.  If you ever see me wearing it, you will know which one.
Here is the deal:  it was Simplicity pattern 2642.  Not bad, but I never can get these patterns to fit me the way I want them to!  I have big boobs and a long waist, there is never enough fabric were I need it and I never really know that until I have made a pattern for myself at least once.
I do better, much better, fitting to someone else.  But the dress turned out nice enough that after a few touches here and there I will be able to wear it in public.
I also made 2886 C (not today, a few weeks ago), which is my Dancing Cranes for those of you who know me.  The only thing I messed up was that I started it and then lost a couple of pounds.  I am not going to re alter it until I know I am done losing weight but I have fixed a couple of little things here and there.
I really loved it because of its vintage cut and it really suit my body type, although I do have to sacrifice a little putting cranes on my butt!  I am going to use an amazing grey silk to make A.  Can't wait to see how that turns out.
Next week, finishing a bride's maid dress.  This bride has been so kind to me, I don't want to put her project off any longer.  She ordered her dresses from St. John's Bay or something and they did not have the size she needed so I am recreating the dress with the measurements of the bride's maid.  It is a double edged sword for me.  I love the challenge of making the dress like this, but there are so many projects on my mind for children's clothing that it drives me a little crazy.
I also have a quilt I need to finish for me...tell me to go finish my quilt!

July: The Best Month to Start!

Here I am, in my favorite month of the year!  Anyone know why?  If you don't already know then you don't know me very well...maybe...if you keep coming around enough you will.
I decided to start blogging my sewing adventures for 2 reasons.  Number one:  my sewing is tied directly into everything I do every day.  The fabric of my life is not always made of cotton or polyester.  Sometimes it is made of thunderstorms and fights with my husband.  There are times when it is made of my children's laughter and my adorable nephew who has Down's Syndrome and is one of the lights of my world.
I am very, very proud of knowing how to sew.  Knowing a skill that is dieing among men and women.  Knowing something that humans have been doing for all time in a time when some of us know little except how to send a text message.  Reason one for writing this blog?  Most people don't care how their clothes are made.
Reason two?  Some people think it is magic.  What do I mean by that? 
The average person knows that sewing is a skill.  The average person knows that some people are just born with the insight on how to make curtains and pillows and corsets and slacks.  This little piece of everyday knowing makes them feel like they can treat you like crap because you can sew.  How many times has a woman said to me, "Well I could make that if I wanted to!". Then by all means, go make it.  But here is the big kicker, they don't!  They want to pay you $2.00 an hour like your working in some shop in Mexico, which, don't get me started, is a whole nother blog.
I do not spend 10 hours throwing around 10 yards of silk to make you an amazing dress that will be in your wedding pictures the rest of your life (well, until your second marriage anyway) for you to pay me $25.00.  There is a reason the dresses at David's Bridal are $1,000.00!  Well, the really amazing ones, and please don't tell me your dress was custom ordered from some famous designer in Australia because if you didn't fly there for your fittings, it wasn't...end of story...But if you have to tell your groom and your father that so they will pay for it, go for it, just don't ever let them read my blog!
Here I am, waving hello, just letting you know that if you read this, your going to be reading about my sewing yes, but you are going to be reading about my life.  The life of a dress that will never be finished, a dress that will ever be priceless...I like my little tag I made up, "You may only wear it once, but it will be your dress forever!"