Making up Dreams

 

That moment you know you look beautiful.

I have sewn for a good part of my life. In earlier blog posts I highlighted wedding gowns I have made.  This past year I had the honor of making my oldest grand daughter's wedding gown.
She asked me to make it just before I went in for a complete hip replacement. At first I said I didn't think I could do it because I had no idea how long my recovery would be. But as I thought about it I could not say no even if I had to drag myself from my bed to the sewing machine to do this for her..
 The bride, her mom and I went shopping for patterns and looked at wedding gowns in bridal shops. We bought some lining fabric to make a mock up of the dress and a pattern that was close to what she had envisioned.
 She also had a dress picked out just in case I would not be able to make it. As it turned out I would have had to alter the dress she found in the bridal shop even if I didn't make her gown so why not give it a whirl.

Initial fitting revealed several adjustments

1st fitting with sleeves

Detail of beading

Cap sleeves after last fitting

 I had 5 months to make the dress so I felt I had plenty of time for fittings but I literally had to use a walker and a cane to get around my sewing room and dining room as I cut out the gown and prepared to make the dress.  I remember the first day I ventured out in the car by myself.  I had a hand-capped sticker but there were no parking spots for me.  I made it in to the store , bought the things I went for and headed back to my car. I had to sit in the car for a few minutes until I had rested up enough to drive back home.

There were days I wondered if I had made the right decision.  After traveling to do the first fitting I made several adjustments on the gown and then proceeded to bead the bodice and the sleeves.

Notice the finished gown has cap sleeves.
She originally wanted long sleeves so I worked for 6 weeks with a custom design on the long sleeves.  Two weeks before the wedding she came for her last fitting and decided she did not want the sleeves after all. So, like a good grandma, two weeks before the wedding, I redesigned the sleeves, carefully cut off and detached them and made it the way she requested.

The wedding day

 came

 and 

the dress 

turned out

 lovely.