Smorgasbord
The biggest bloom yet.
No. Your eyes aren’t going wonky–the flowers are out of focus. Just don’t look at the picture anymore. ~smile~
It is at this precise moment that I feel it necessary to remind anyone reading this that I am not a photographer.
Nah-ah-aht a photographer.
That being said, isn’t that a beautiful big flower of bright yellow? Tis.
A simple, sweet Sunday morning gift–from the Peanut Butter Bunch.
—-
My sister posted a song on facebook this evening: Gabriel’s Oboe.
It is exquisite.
I found another version–this one with words. It is sung by an astonishing 11-year old girl, Jackie Evancho. Astonishing.
—-
I found an almost perfect black dress–perfect in every way–but for the length. THAT is the easiest thing to remedy.
The dress needed 5 1/2 extra inches. Here’s how I did it:
Materials needed: the dress, some 2″ wide ribbon, trim (pre-gathered trim is awesome), and a sewing machine (or patience to infinity and beyond if you’re going to hand sew this).
#1-The easy fix is to take the hem out. Carefully, of course. Cutting a hole in the fabric is a fast way to turn an easy remedy into a hassle. (Unpicking the hem gave me 2″. I still need 3 1/2″.)
#2–Iron the crease out of the hem. (There was a layer of facing underneath the hem. Doesn’t bug me.)
#3–Cut a piece of black 2″ ribbon (or whatever color) the length you need (measure it against the hem of your dress all the way around and add 1/2″ for a seam–mine measured 39″ around which means I cut 39 1/2″ of ribbon) and set it aside.
Pretend that this is black ribbon and that’s it’s 39 1/2″ long. ~smile~ I think this will help clarify what I did.
#4–Cut three pieces of your trim the same length that you cut the ribbon (I cut three pieces of trim that were each 39 1/2″ long).
Pretend they are 39 1/2″ long, kay?
#5–Sew a piece of trim onto the top edge of the ribbon (the edges should be flush).
#6–Sew a piece of trim onto the bottom edge of the ribbon.
Pretend that there is no pin in the first layer–because we already sewed that, remember? HaH.
#7–Sew the last piece of trim inbetween the first and second layers of trim–I pinned the first layer up so I wouldn’t accidentally sew it again.
This is the real and true third layer of the trim sewn between the first and second layers of trim.
Now, you should have your dress that needs length, and a piece of ribbon that has three layers of ruffles on it.
Nice.
#8–Now sew the 39 1/2″ of wonderful closed with a 1/4″ seam. (1/4 ” on both ends will equal the 1/2″ we measured.)
#9–Lay the top edge of the ribbon/trim on the bottom edge of the dress–overlapping it 1/4″–and sew it. Don’t make a seam (too bulky)–just overlap the top of the ribbon/lace on the bottom of the dress.
I ended up adding 6″ instead of 5 1/2″ because of how I arranged the trim on the bottom. It looks great.
Ta-da.
I definitely don’t put ruffles on the bottom of every dress/skirt that needs length–but–it looks great on this one. Which brings us to
#10–wear the darling thing.
Ta-da.
I definitely don’t put ruffles on the bottom of every dress/skirt that needs length–but–it looks great on this one. Which brings us to
#10–wear the darling thing.
—-
I decided to wear a new blue bib necklace I found on ebay (for only $13.50 AND free shipping) with it because I wanted to.
Uh–I don’t know if you have one like this–but–the necklace is actually heavy as far as necklaces go. (Which is why it has been sitting all packaged up on my table for the last month.)
I figured out what to do.
At least for this dress I figured out what to do.
Because the chain is gold-ish in color–I found two tiny gold-ish safety pins–and pinned it to my dress.
I decided to wear a new blue bib necklace I found on ebay (for only $13.50 AND free shipping) with it because I wanted to.
Uh–I don’t know if you have one like this–but–the necklace is actually heavy as far as necklaces go. (Which is why it has been sitting all packaged up on my table for the last month.)
I figured out what to do.
At least for this dress I figured out what to do.
Because the chain is gold-ish in color–I found two tiny gold-ish safety pins–and pinned it to my dress.
Handsome Dude took this picture which is why it is oh so NOT fuzzy.
Look closely and you can barely, barely see where I pinned it. Just so you know, I didn’t pin it until the dress was on–which took a bit of navigating, but oh so worth trying to figure out.
If any of you are still even reading this–I should make you cookies.
Or share an etrade baby video which makes me laugh every. single. time.
How’s that for a smorgasbord?
Now let’s start the dancing.
2 COMMENTS
Law Family
12 years agoI always look at the dress you are wearing each Sunday and wonder if you did some magic work on it. I thought it was darling, by the way! The whole thing, dress with necklace so cute. Thanks for sharing your secrets!
Teresa Jones
12 years agoThank you! And you are welcome–I don’t know that they are secrets as they are a collection of tools. Happy to share them. Happy to.