Lorna’s Wedding Dress Transformation!

My daughter Ashley, has a good friend she has had since they were teenagers. Such a beautiful, spirited and talented woman Tasha is! She was planning her wedding and really wanted to use a dress that had been worn by her step-dad's first wife who had passed away from cancer. I told her to bring it to me so I could look at it and see if it was able to be altered the way she wanted. I made sure that if I was to start cutting and changing this dress, that she had a back-up! It pretty much made me want to run away thinking about ruining someone's dress. She assured me that she would love to wear this if it worked, however she could go and get one as well. She wasn't attached to the dress. That helped! So here was the first picture I received from her showing me this dress..... My first reaction is whoa! 

That is a lot of, well, just everything.

 

So I met with her and my daughter and started really looking at the dress and the seams and how it was all attached. This dress was handmade which made anything I do so much simpler since I'm a seamstress and understand how a garment is constructed.

First thing to do is get rid of the sleeves and all the extra polyester lace that is
draped all over the bodice and back.

So the sleeves and lace are off. It looks so much better already! Now to start doing all the things that will make it her own dress and how she sees it.

So here is one of her ideas of trying to make this dress the way she sees it...edges were just kind of tucked in and around in an attempt to play with it. I can already see the lace that will have to be oh-so-carefully cut off.  I won't lie, my heart rate went up just thinking about taking scissors to that lace. Before cutting, I would sit and just stare at the dress and what I needed to do. I would go over it in great detail in my head from start to finish before ever touching it. Probably looked hilarious to anyone watching as I just sat, not moving, staring at this dress.

So I just started to carefully cut off all that extra lace flowers around her neck. It came off in
two separate pieces, one on each side, which was perfect as I knew I was going to have to use it at some point as I was going to have to shorten the shoulder seams. The only way to do that was to cut the lace flowers apart on her shoulders, next to her neck, make the seams larger and pull that dress up. Then I had to replace the lace flowers around her neck making it look like one piece of lace. It worked perfectly. You can't even tell the lace flowers had been cut.

So after fixing her shoulder seams and removing lace flowers around her throat, I used some beige bias tape I made, stitched that on, turned it inward and hand stitched it down, finishing                                                         her sleeveless arm edges.

I wanted her to try on the dress and see how it looked. They took it to a bridal store as they were looking for other items she needed and she tried it on there. My daughter snapped pictures showing me what still needed to be done.

Tasha is so cute, seriously
ridiculous!

So, clearly, it's too long, and the zipper in the back is too high. Also, the bustle needs to be redone. It is only one button and it's too bunchy. If I spread out the bustle, it will be distributed better and look layered.

So back to work. Fixing the zipper gave me pause. I can't just tuck it under since it's a zipper and there is already a lace flower overlay. I really did some research before attempting this. And then I decided I would cut it, making my own zipper stop. I had to cut the lace flower overlay off the edges first and then cut the lace dress itself, all the way down along the sides to match the new zipper length.

So I cut off the zipper. I had to be completely confident before making this move! I had made my zipper stop first so the zipper wouldn't come flying off the end. Now to hand-stitch the lace flowers back over the edges.

I carefully hand stitched the lace back over the cut edges. Perfect!! Such a relief.

Now to fix the bustle. I added two extra buttons, one on each side of the original
button. I then made two woven thread loops for the extra buttons.

Perfect!

Now to fix the length. There is a lace overlay over the skirt underneath. I didn't want to cut any length in case this dress was to be handed down to anyone else. So I simply lifted the
lace up and over, leaving the extra lace in the back, pinned it down and stitched that in place.

I then folded the underskirt and made a new seam to match the lace length. If anyone wanted to take out the stitching, it would be easy to do because I had used a pretty large stitch.

I think I may be done! What a difference from that first picture!

I am so excited to give this to her! She still has to get it dry cleaned, (which turned into a
semi-nightmare for her) but my job was done.

She and her fiance planned a surprise wedding for her family. People were invited to a dinner party that they thought was an engagement party. It actually turned out to be their wedding! Such a fun day for everyone! I feel so honored to have been a part of this for her.

~Lorna~

Here are some pictures of her special day!

Lorna's Table Fort Tutorial!

 

I think every child needs a table fort!! Am I right? Of course I'm right. Pure happiness and giggles accompany this little fort. I climbed in there with them which they thought was the best thing ever. Man these little guys are pure joy to me.

I had this whole idea of what I wanted to do in my head. I knew I could wing this project as long as I had the table dimensions. So I started off with getting the dimensions online, of the dining table my kids bought at Ikea. That was easy and then they didn't know what I was doing. So, I cut the top the same as the table top dimensions along with 1/2 inch seam allowances on all sides. This fabric was something I had left over from curtains I had shortened for my granddaughters room. Perfect!

I had a few thoughts of what I wanted for the main body, but wandered around the fabric store with my 40% off coupon looking and looking. Finally this caught my attention as it was 31" as opposed to 44/45 and I wouldn't have to cut it down. There was not quite enough of what I wanted on the bolt, but I figured I could make it work. This looks like ticking, but it's actually canvas. It was so stiff when I bought it, the lady who cut it couldn't even get it to fold. So, of course I washed, dried and ironed it and it is the absolute perfect weight and softness.

I folded the top piece and found the middle in the back, marking it with a pin. I folded the canvas, marking it with a pin and matched those.  I pinned this fabric all the way around to the front discovering I was short about 1/3 yard! Shoot! So I started digging around in my fabric scraps to see what I could come up with. I had made aprons for the dads at my daughters wedding (they were our grill guru's) and I had these two pieces left over that were basically the shape I needed. Score! So I used some binding I had made for a quilt project and finished the outside edges. 

I then made some pleats so that it wasn't overlapping too much. I then pinned and sewed the fabric all the way around, pleating the corners as I went. The look I achieved was far and above what I had originally anticipated! I had extra of this fun fabric and decided I would use it to coordinate my windows I wanted. I decided I wanted windows that looked like they were framed from the outside, but clean on the inside. So I practiced on some scrap material.

 

My pra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut out two squares that would be my window size for each window. I stitched them, right sides together, cut a hole in the middle, turned them, pushing out the corners. I then pinned them to the inside of the tent, where I wanted my windows, measuring very carefully; I wanted them all aligned.

 

For the front windows, I stitched them so the blue would be on the outside. Once I stitched the seam, making sure it would be enough for a framed look, I trimmed the seams and made a cut to the corner. I turned them to the front and stitched them down. I loved this idea for a couple reasons. It gave the framed look I wanted and because I used two strong fabrics for the frame, it stabilized the window so it wouldn't sag.

My side windows were a big larger and I wanted the frames even wider, so I could add tiny curtains. Again, measuring very carefully as the placement would need to look the same on all sides.

The inside was perfect as I wanted a completely clean and finished look. This "winging it" thing is working out quite well!

My table is not the same size, so trying to see how it would look pretty much failed, but I was just too excited at this point to see!

I had a tiny hexie I had made just for fun, because it was so little. I figured I would never use it as I wouldn't make a hexie quilt that small. But a flower on the outside to make it look like a front yard? Yes! So I did a leaf stitch on the fabric and then hand stitched the flower on.

I found this fabric in the remnant section for a couple dollars. I was very excited as my little guys love, love, love animals! This would be the little curtains on the inside.

I cut material twice the size of the window, hem stitched all the four edges, gathered and stitched them on over the frame, making sure my stitch was above the outside frame. This ensured it would not cover much of the window and they could peek out.

 The curtains are in and my fort is done!! Done! Of course I had to crawl in there with them each time. They boys are such a blast!