Kaylee took her finished prom dress home on Monday. We put in several long afternoons last week to make the school’s “oh by the way, I forgot to mention...” deadline. I muttered  less than generous things under my breath, smiled and sewed like a crazy woman. With Corrine making the sleeves (YAY! for well trained assistants!!) and Kaylee doing the handwork and beading, we finished by 5:30 and had the rest of the evening off.

Because Kaylee is going to walk the dress as one of my designs at the fashion show in June, I’m only going to give you a sneak peek:

I love how it turned out. It’s my most complicated piece to date — a strapless dress built over a full corset. The pleating on the bodice took over 3 hours. Handsewn petals dapple the top layer of the tulle skirt. I can’t wait to show you the finished dressed! (Construction details to follow.)

And for those of you who struggle with sewing mishaps and think everyone else has nothing but rosy and fair projects:

Last week my soon to be deceased Singer decided that buttonholes were NOT on its agenda. Negotiation was futile. We had 18 buttonholes to make for the corset lacing and it decided to make woolly coosters, as my grandmother used to call them, the size of ping pong balls. Four times. aaaaaaaah!

Not only did I have to dig the mess out of the machine four times, I had to take out the buttonholes on crêpe backed satin. Four times. aaaaaaah!

Changed needles, rethreading, a bit of oil, refitting of the buttonhole attachment, a few nasty words... Nothing worked. Corrine finally suggested I change out the bobbin because that was really the only thing left. After I rewound the bobbin, everything went smoothly. <snap> Like magic. Crazy stuff I tell you, crazy stuff.

I wish Murphy would stay out of my sewing studio when I have a deadline...