Major update soon

Since my last post, I've given birth to my baby girl. Charlotte was born December 3rd!

My next website update will be a brief one, as soon as I can find the external drive on which it's saved. At some point in the next month or two, I have several items to add. A Titanic Flying gown, a black silk corset, an Edwardian gown (just need to finish the beaded trim on that one), a water birth gown (that ended up not used because, well, when in labor, you really don't care about looking pretty), a Christmas baby dress and a family set of three stockings, and an Eowyn gown.

I've got the Titanic Swim gown in progress (the sizing for it keeps changing!), and a mother/daughter regency set (deliver-by date: February 28th) and two dresses for another little girl (deliver-by date: February 21st) in queue for the next couple months.

March through August are fairly open just two rather simply orders, the Titanic Breakfast gown and Kimono, though I may have a Hermione Yule Ball gown (from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), a Titanic corset, a Don Juan (film version of Phantom of the Opera) custom wedding gown, and a Princess Diaries gown for this later spring and summer.

Next fall and winter are going to be very busy seasons. Two fully-beaded Titanic gowns and two wedding gowns with the entire bridal party for at least the second included. For January of next year, there's a possibility of another Princess Diaries gown.

As I can fit it in, I will continue working on the Titanic Flying gown patterns and work on a line of spring/summer cotton dressed inspired by Disney characters that was inspired by a dress I saw on etsy. The main color for easy dress would be white with the underskirt and top of the boddice/sleeves being a different color.

The Disney-inspired line will be aimed at adults, which adds a challenge. It's easy to get away with the princess elements for a child's dress. Adding most of these elements to an adult's dress makes it look like...a child's dress. I've completed the Belle dress (though it's not blue or yellow!), and have the Ariel designed. They'll all be very similar in design, easy to tell they're part of the same collection, with the main variations being the skirt and waist embroidery. I've got ideas for Pocahontas, though am still utterly clueless about Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Tatiana. I still need to see Princess and the Frog, so that may help with the Tatiana dress. Jasmine and Mulan seem like they'd be easier to design by studying a bit more about the garb from the countries those stories take place in, though this would require walking a fine line between inspiration and having people froth at the mouth at me for misappropriating a sacred detail or something, though Disney already did a good enough job at slaughtering the garb of those countries. But Disney parks are fun, so it seems Disney is let off the hook in a way I wouldn't be.

If the potential orders come to fruition, then I likely will not accept orders for gowns more complex than fairly basic gowns for the next year. Without a baby, I'd be fine packing my order schedule to the gills. But I've got to have enough time for my little girl first. Her care is more important than anything, so most sewing will be done when her daddy is home, cutting down the hours I can reliably sew in half.

A couple finished Wendy Darling dress pictures

More details will be on my site later. A couple pics for now.




Blue buttons close the back, nearly identical in shade to the ribbon.

Wendy Darling gown

For some reason, etsy wouldn't send messages with these images attached. I'm guessing they're too large? I don't know. Blogspot shrinks them if they're too big or something. Regardless, they've uploaded here.

This first one is the front of an unfinished gown. It's taken at an angle, which I didn't realize at the time made the neckline look crooked. Straight-on, it's not.



This is the back, before buttons.



And the right sleeve.



These pictures were taken before hemming and buttons, and the ribbon was just tied on instead of tacked into place. Finished photos aren't on this computer, so until tomorrow for those!

Whirlwind!

The Producers has opened to great reviews. I personally saw it together on stage the second night, and there's always a thrill at seeing my name in a program.

I'm terribly lagging in updating my website. Putting together Making Of pages takes a good deal more time than it seems, and I need to do that for both the Titanic Flying AND Swim AND Breakfast gowns. I really prefer to have those pages up before adding pictures to other areas on the site so that, in case the first time someone views something is the only time, that the Making Of is there to be seen. Unfortunately I just don't have time to dedicate to these pages at the moment. Each one takes the better part of a day, time needed for sewing right now. I've got the Infant's Regency Wardrobe to finish, as well as an entire crib bedding set (quilt, bumper, dust ruffle, some decorative throw pillows, though will buy the sheets) to make for my own little girl. Both of those take priority.

Between three making-of pages, a write-up of my time on The Producers (and I realized I never did a write-up for last summer's The Pajama Game either!), three dresses, and a crib bedding set, there will be quite the large update in another month or so from now!

Not to mention I still have several things to photograph and upload to my etsy shop.

As for today, now that I've moved and once again have a dedicated sewing room, I need to unpack it and organize so I can find what I need to move ahead with the dresses and bedding!

Busy!

I FINALLY got the remaining silk for the Swim dress. I'm also on board for The Producers. And in another six weeks I'm moving. So finishing two gowns, starting and finishing another, plus costuming a play that opens...July 24th. Toss in packing. I will be a bit too busy to update here very often in the coming weeks, but will try.

Whew, talk about busy, eh?!

Flying dress lace and Swim gown bodice

Well, the lace for the Flying dress finally got here. But the chiffon for the over-bodice still is on back order.

I was going to take pictures every single step of the way for both, but just sailed through a few steps of the lace part of the Swim bodice without a single picture. I needed the distraction. One of my kittens died this afternoon, after my very old cat died four weeks ago as of tomorrow (he would have been 24 in a couple more months). This has been hard.

A Titanic Elevator gown might be added to the agenda. That could be fun. I made one years and years back, before there were as many pictures on the internet, so all there as to go on was that brief second shot in the movie. It was requested in satin, as that's what it looked like at the time, though the final effect was a bit costumey. Now there's a picture of the real gown available, and it's not satin at all. In fact, it's not even one piece! It will depend on finding fabric (cotton) that will be suitable.

Soon I will stop taking orders that aren't for immediate making, due by October, or due April or later of next year. I don't want to have many orders due around the time my baby is due, or soon after, as I don't know yet how I'll feel, and I'd rather not commit to an order due date if I don't feel 100% confident about my ability to keep it.

Website update, Dinner dress beading

I went ahead and updated my website with pictures of the flower dresses.

The edge beading is finished on the second layer. Now to finish the third layer up. Pictures here. I ordered another 4,800 of the 3mm black beads and another 4,800 of the 4mm beads, and 200 of the 6mm beads. I'm burning right through these things, especially with the edging.

Some of the jewelry components weren't in stock, even though the website said they were. Since the supplier doesn't back order, this means paying for shipping again. I'm not happy in the slightest.