Hand Beaded Details

Beaded dress strap

 This is not a very good picture, but I added bead clusters to the nude strap of my bridesmaid dress. 

 close up

 The dress is hemmed and almost finished

 I think I want to do something about the way it kicks out slightly on the left with all the gathers...

But I don't really know how to fix this besides holding it like in the picture above.

Beaded peacock feather detail 

 First I drew out a pattern and stitched it to the netting I'm using as a backing.

 Then I  added iron on interfacing to the "eye" of the peacock feather where most of the beading will be for a little support.

So far this is what I've got.  It is much more sparkly in person.  I may do just the center of the feather on the netting and interfacing and then attach it to the dress and add the feather "whisps" straight onto the dress fabric.

This is all new to me and it's hard to find beading tutorials online for adding beaded details to a dress, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along...

Finally a new painting!

Collage, mixed-media Doggie Portrait.  

Repo, Austin's dog.

I started by collecting items that reminded me of Repo for the background.  His name is collaged into the background along with a puzzle piece, a chinese watch dog, a dragonfly, and a few hand made (years ago) paper leaves.  I painted the background first and then started painting Repo's face, layer by layer.  The leaves and dragonfly are actually the last layer applied on top of the painting with collage glue.

close up

A Bridesmaid Again...

Making my own bridesmaid dress:

 pattern chosen...

 Navy fabric bought, then cut out pattern (I hate this part...)

 Starting to sew!
  Right shoulder gather detail.

 I love my trusty sewing machine!

 Bodice done, checking for fit.

 No zipper yet, holding it together to check fit again.

 Ok, zipper in... Looking good.

Still need to hem and I am working on some hand beaded detailing for the left shoulder strap and possibly at waist.

more to come soon...

Vintage Inspired Sundress

With this dress from Pinup Couture being my inspiration and a bit out of my budget, I decided to make my own yellow roses sundress.

Cynthia Rowley dress pattern:

This pattern was fairly simple to put together, and I'm super pleased with the results.  I love the fitted bodice and full skirt.  There are two black beaded buttons at the waist that are kinda hard to make out with all the pattern on the dress.  It's definitely a little different from my inspiration dress but ultimately more wearable.

 (These pictures were taken in Spring when it was still too cold in WA to wear a dress without tights.)

This dress looks great with a little black cardigan (I wear my fav Betsey Johnson skull cardigan with it).  Also, it would look super cute with a crinoline for added fullness in the skirt.  I think I'll be adding a black crinoline to my wish list!

Wedding Day!

Flowers

 Dorothy and her Mom ordered the flowers from  a local farmers market to be picked up the day of the wedding.  They were absolutely gorgeous, but a little big.  The boutonnieres were bigger than my hand so I took out most of the greenery focusing on the single thistle and a few leaves and tied the stems up in sapphire ribbon.

The bride and bridesmaids bouquets were a little on the large side as well so me and a few of the bridesmaids took them all apart and redid them in smaller groupings.  It was fun the get in there and arrange the flowers ourselves plus we had a bunch of left over flowers for table arrangements!

We finished the bouquets by tying pretty ribbon around the stems.

(these are before photos of both the boutonnieres and the bouquets - I wish I had gotten better after photos - because we really had to fix these a bit - but you can see the final results in some of the wedding day photos below) 

Set Up

big box - o - pom poms!

 Hanging hundreds of tissue paper pom poms by fishing string... great idea in theory... not such an easy task.  Thank goodness for helpers!

We used outdoor "cafe" lights inside to add to the "sparkly" ambience. 

So pretty.

Tom has monkey arms.

Starting to look almost ready...

Tables were lined with tiny ferns, floating candles, and wood scraps (aka "Folly Wood") acquired from the re-roofing project of Tom and Dorothy's newly purchased, but very old house.

The ugly unremovable paintings in the venue were covered in left over tissue paper and snapshots enlarged at Costco of Tom and Dorothy (including a staged photo of the hasmat suited proposal) adorned the walls.

The moss covered T and D foam letters found a spot over the dessert table.

Hundreds of ferns were brought in by Dorothy and her Mom as wedding favors.  We hand wrapped each fern in burlap and attached a tiny tag with the date.

The paper pinwheels up on the wall in the background look awesome!

All Done!  And we're ready for the party!

Pre-Wedding Photos

Tom and the girls of our family.

Mom and I with BJ looking dapper in the background.

The bride and her bridesmaids.  I love the shoes! (Tom's shoes - our bridesmaid gifts)

Reception

 from left to right:  Dan Smith (groomsman), Steve (brother/groomsman), Me (bridesmaid), BJ Smith (best man)

Not a very good picture, but the cake and dessert stands were made from tree limbs and flat wooden plaques bought from a craft store.

 Tom and BJ with BJ's mom, Donna.  Such handsome men!

Tom and Steve, my little brothers.  So cute!

and the party begins...

 best - wedding - ever...