From wedding dress to christening gown: Part 2, cutting the pattern and sewing the gown

Phew!  Most important to this part of the saga is a special shout out to the Byrne Sewing Connection, who saved me from a potential sewing CATASTROPHE this week!  I'll get into that in a sec...

After separating all of the layers, I spent a lot of time figuring out the best way to lay out the pattern on the fabrics.  Normally, I could just follow the pattern instructions, but since I'm using the reclaimed fabric of my dress, I had to take into account the various seams, etc. to make sure everything would fit and wouldn't look crazy once the finished piece was together.  Nobody wants a seam down the front of their skirt!

Since the skirt of the christening gown is largest user of fabric, I laid that out first.  I was able to get the front piece cut out in all one piece pretty easily using the the front of my wedding dress skirt.  I folded the WD skirt at the middle in the front so that any seaming would be symmetrical and look deliberate.  I did this for both the satin and the lace.  I was also able to line up the pattern so that I could use the hemmed edge of the satin layer as well.  This saved a little bit of time and bother since I didn't have to hem anything!

The back of the skirt was a little trickier.  Since there wasn't enough continuous pieces for a single cut, I split it in half and matched up seams again so that they, too, would be symmetrical.  You can see in the satin layer the way I matched up the seaming between the pieces.  I figured a seam down the back wouldn't be a big deal, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. 


Since the bodice pieces are so tiny, I was able to fit them in quite easily in their entirety.  I didn't have to split the back at all.  The difficult part was finding two pieces of the lace that had similar amounts of detailing on them.  I found that even though I had more than enough of the lace layer itself, I had to work some magic (and patience) to find "matching" bits.  Some bits of seaming from WD ended up in the CG, but they're not terribly visible as I managed to hide them in the shoulder seams.

I did cut out sleeves, too, but decided against using them--mostly because I didn't feel like putting a zipper in or extra snaps at the shoulders to make the finished gown baby-head-accessible.

 *Note: I definitely laid all of this out first before cutting to make sure that I had enough fabric the way I laid it out.  I didn't want to kill my wedding dress for naught.*

I started with the bodice since it's the most time consuming part of the CG, and a bit more confusing than the skirt.  I deviated slightly from the pattern as I had to use a lining (satin layer) since the lace would be see through, so the bodice pieces were sewn in a kind of sandwich configuration (satin, lace, satin).  I pinned and sewed on three sides, leaving the waist seam open for turning it right-side out. 

Although my son sleeps very well, I'm still suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation and mis-read the directions a bit.  I was apparently supposed to sew the bodice front and back together and the sides first before making my fabric sandwich.  This would ensure that a seam wasn't rubbing up on his soft little side belly.  Not a big deal, though, because I do a mean whip stitch!  I just lined up the finished parts and sewed down from the armpit.  The extra bit of thread at the end will be hidden in the waist seam once I'm finished.

To the right here is the fully assembled bodice.  The purple dots you see on the shoulders is where I have to put snaps so we can get his head in.  I haven't purchased them yet, so I hope I can find them easily on Saturday morning--yes, I will be finishing his CG in the car on the way to see Gramma and PapPap and no, it's not the first project I've finished in the car on the way to the party...


I then had to tackle the skirt.  The skirt is gathered and then sewn into the bodice.  The problem is, when I put in the stay-stitching rows on my practice piece, the machine wasn't working with me.  The satin kept pulling on the needle for some reason, and when I tried to cinch it to make my gathers, the lace kept getting caught.  To do the layers separately would (in my opinion) have made for a really bulky seam, so I improvised a bit.  I made my own gathers and pinned them together.  Worked on the practice piece pretty well, so I started on the real skirt, pinning my gathers to the bodice, and then went to sew them together...

I got literally an inch into sewing and my bobbin jammed. I've had this issue a few times before (I sew on a 1963 Singer Touch N Sew generously donated by my grandmother), so I knew I was toast.  I'm still awaiting a call back from the repair shop, but odds are another gear or belt went, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to go any further.  To be honest, I was pretty darn lucky I could muscle the needle back up and out of the fabric so I could retrieve the GD CG out of the machine!

That was Monday, on Tuesday I brought my machine to the aforementioned Byrne Sewing Connection, as they are really great with repairs--timely, nice, reasonably priced and willing to work on my 45 year old sewing machine.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to fix it in time for me to finish my gown, but when I mentioned to her that I was hoping to finish my son's christening gown for his baptism on Saturday the woman gave me a loaner machine FREE OF CHARGE!  I almost jumped over the counter and hugged her--I don't think I've ever been so thankful for anything in my life!

So tonight, while Daddy's at the Flyers game, I will be happily attaching the skirt to the bodice of my son's christening gown.

p.s. I'm also taking donations for a new Pfaff sewing machine since Grammy's machine is about die a real and serious death probably after this repair...

Cranberry Orange Pork Chop

So I'm realizing more and more that I'm becoming the queen of quick protein-laden meals.  Nursing is making me hungrier than when I was pregnant, and luckily I'm not just maintaing weight, but losing it, too (really slowly, mind you.)

Here's some more of my pantry randomness mixed with fresh ingredients to make a pretty darn tasty meal.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops (bone in, and at least 3/4" thick)

1/4 jar cranberry orange relish from Williams Sonoma (preferably gifted to you by your mother-in-law)

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

1/4 cup or less of finely chopped onion
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Cook the pork chops over high heat about 4 minutes a side in a non-stick pan.  I usually cover the pan with a lid to help the pork chops stay moist and speed up cooking a little.  Remove to a plate, cover with lid to keep warm.
Turn the heat to medium.  Add a bit of olive oil to the pan (maybe a tablespoon) and add in the onions, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.  Sautee until the onions are translucent, and be careful to not let the garlic burn or get more than golden even.  Stir in the cranberry relish, adding any accumlated pork chop juices.  If you'd like a thinner sauce, add a little water, OJ, or chicken stock.  Add pork chops back to pan, and cover with lid for a minute or two before serving.  Check to make sure the chops are fully cooked at this point before taking off the heat.

We ate this with some brussel sprouts I sauteed quickly in olive oil, salt and garlic.  I may post on this at some point this summer, since that's becoming a quick favorite in our house.

If you don't have a jar of cranberry relish, you can use canned cranberry jelly/sauce (whole berry would be best) and then just add in some orange zest and a few cloves to get a close approximation of the WS stuff.  To be honest, that's what I'll do when I run out of this jar...

Enjoy!

From wedding dress to christening gown: Part 1, Cutting and Deconstruction

I think a few people who know me might be really surprised to hear that my child is being baptized, but it's something that is really important to many members of my family, my husband not the least of all.  My contribution to his christening (and likely our potential future children's christenings) is the conversion of my wedding dress into his christening gown.

Since this is a pretty long and involved process, I've decided to split up the posts into a few parts for easier reading: deconstructing the dress, cutting the pattern and sewing the gown, and adding notions and the final reveal.

The dress

I first heard of this concept around the time we got married, so I made sure to get my wedding dress cleaned well after the party to make sure I had the most fabric available.  My dress definitely deserves to be worn again, and since I don't plan to get married another time I couldn't imagine a better way to make sure that happens.

Luckily, my friend (and sewing mentor) Anna had a christening gown pattern I could use.  This is most helpful since I wanted to make sure my proportions were correct and this gown had a chance of fitting my son!  I'll be honest, the hardest part was picking a gown to make--I wanted to make sure it was a fashion that would be useful for either a boy or a girl.  I ended up picking one that was a little plain, but considering the lace pattern of my wedding dress, I'm not sure one of the more intricate designs would have worked without purchasing quite a bit of other fabric.

As you'll see here, I chose the slip (design D) and the sleeves from design C.  I figured this was thre most gender neutral of the gowns, as the trend now seems to be for boys to wear trousers.

Skirt Close Up

Deconstructing the dress was an exercise in discovery and also a learning process.  Even for my "crappy" David's Bridal gown, I found a lot of infrastructure that I hadn't realize existed in there.  There was quite of bit of light boning, many linings, interfacing, etc.  I was happy to learn that one of the lining layers was satin, so that I don't have to go out to buy that for the christening gown.  Biggest surprise?  The lace on my dress was not tatted how it apeared on my dress.  Pieces had been individually cut out and sewn onto tulle and beaded over to make the declining pattern on the skirt. 

After taking apart the various layers of the dress, I went through and took apart the seams of each layer.  I left the hems intact, though--I don't see the point in taking them out when I'll just have to re-do them myself later. 

Tulle & Lace Layer

The layers I found were a cotton/poly blend  inner lining, the satin lining, a plain layer of tulle, and then the lace/tulle outlayer.  I also took of the lace sleeves (with the interfacing stablizer that keeps it all together), which I'm thinking I might be able to turn into a collar, and saved the beaded sash which I could add onto the christening gown for some extra bling if the future potential child(ren) is a girl.  We'll see...

The deconstruction took me the better part of an afternoon and evening, mostly because of the lace which I didn't want to rip.  I was so focused on preserving the integrity of each fabric, that I didn't realize until after I was done that I probably should have tried my wedding dress on one last time before "destroying" it.  Then I remembered that I just had a baby 2 months ago, and parts of me definitely wouldn't fit into anymore and I probably would have been frustrated with the zipper.  I was (and frankly still am) pretty surprised by the emotion, but it gives me even more incentive to get this christening gown done right!

Hopefully next week, I can get far enough along in the next step to post about the cutting and some initial sewing.  Wish me luck!

Food: Thai Easiness

Last week, I went to Whole Foods to stock up on arborio and sushi rice, quinoa, couscous, and lentils from their bulks bins.  Quick tip, they sell the arborio rice (risotto rice) for about half the price of anywhere else if you buy it from their bulk bins.  Since I'm still on maternity leave, I had some time to kill and play in the aisles.

One of the fun things I found was a bottle of Thai curry sauce.  They actually had three colors to choose from (red, yellow, or green), but I chose red since that always seems to be what Mark ends up with when we get a curry at a restaurant.  I also found (okay, searched for) shelled edamame, which is a great and easy way to add protein, fiber, and a bunch of vitamins to a dish.

Since sleep, time, money, and brain power is at a premium right now, "one pan throw everything together and use up some leftovers" meals are really incredily handy and Tuesday night was no exception.  Sterved over leftover rice from our Chinese takeout Sunday night, I made this Thai-esque stew and it turned out quite well.

Looking back, we should have gotten some cilantro, and we added srirachi and lime juice to jazz it up.  Still, it wasn't bad for a 15 minute meal.

Ingredients:

Two small frozen flounder filets
One cup frozen shelled edamame
One cup frozen broccoli florets
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 jar Thai red curry sauce
1 pint leftover Chinese takeout rice (or fresh white or sushi rice)

As you can kind of tell in the photo, I sweat the veggies on one side of the pan while cooking the fish on the other.  After about 5 minutes (when everything was mostly cooked through and the veggies were still crunchy) I put the sauce over everthing.  After that, it all simmered together for another 5-10 minutes, I threw the leftover rice in the microwave and dinner was served!

Another serving suggestion would be shrimp.  I actually think the shrimp would have been better, but I didn't feel like peeling a bunch of shrimp that night...

An ode to my half done pregnant projects

I was so excited to make things during my pregnancy, that I now realize (1 month post delivery) that I overcomitted myself to projects.  I thought my newly slightly sedentary life would be a great opportunity to sew a bunch of things. But I honestly didn't anticipate how tired I was--especially toward the end--and frankly didn't need the things I was going to make as badly as I thought.

Half-done pregant project #1:  Hope Wrap Dress (modified for maternity)

I really didn't want to buy too many maternity clothes--they're expensive, don't tend to fit very well, and I didn't have to wear them for very long.  Therefore, when I thought I should have a wrap dress in my wardrobe, I decided to make it.  I found a free pattern to modify on Burda Style (http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/hope-wrap-dress), went to Jo-Mar and bought the fabric (jersey) for $1/yard, and set out to modify the skirt of the pattern enough to accomodate my growing belly.  I got about 3/4 way through the project (half-sewn literally) when my newly "fixed" sewing machine crapped out on me.  By the time I got it back (some cog or sprocket had cracked), I honestly just was over the project.  I guess I'll finish it during the next pregnancy (mine or a friends').

Half-done pregnant project #2: Tankini Bathing Suit Top (modified for maternity)

Before getting pregant, I was running 3 miles a day and running around like a crazy person all the time.  Since I literally am that person that is able to trip while walking in a flat open lot, I figured it would be best for me to start swimming again since my risk of injury would be lower (and I figured the weightlessness of water would be awesome later on, which it was).  Once I started to show, I was self-concious of wearing a bikini top and then I started to worry about putting on a racing suit (the only one pieces I own) in a wet locker room, so I decided I needed a tankini top to go with my black bikini bottoms.  After spending about 4 hours modifying a free pattern I found on BurdaStyle (http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/alison) with my friend Anna, and cutting out my $2/yard fabric from Jo-Mar, I again got about halfway through sewing when my very best friend gave me a small haul of her maternity duds--including a tankini top!  It wasn't the best fit, but it worked for the 3 times I actually made it to the pool... 

No picture of this one, because I can't even find it in my cabinet!

Half-done pregnant project #3: Vintage Pattern Cape-Style Coat

I took so many pictures of this project while making it!  Around Thanksgiving, I started to get worried about staying warm and having a winter coat in my final months of pregancy.  Already a few of my favorite winter coats were becoming tight and I didn't want to literally be left out in the cold for the final three months.  Luckily, my former seamstress neighbor had given me to really awesome gifts a few months prior: 1. A vintage cape coat pattern, and 2. About 5 yards of heavy wool flannel fabric.  This project is only missing the fasteners and a good pressing at this point, so I will probably finish it soon and save it for me or a friend (or a sudden onset of obesity).

Half-done pregnant project #4: Bassinet for Baby

I'm not sure that this one can qualify as even halfway done!  While I fully suppor the idea of "co-sleeping" (or sharing your bed with your infant) for the ease of feedings, etc., I have a hard enough time sharing my bed with my fully-grown husband, who I can't roll over on top of, smother in his sleep inadvertantly, and who doesn't make weird little grunts that wake me up every 20 minutes.  My compromise was to make a quickie bassinet that would fit perfectly on my large nightstand.  I have a large basket, some thick, firm foam for a matress, and quilting cotton to line to sides in addition to a lot of fun cotton fabrics to decorate with.  This idea never even made it near a measuring tape!  Which is a shame, since it really would have been perfect for the first month when he would have fit into the basket well (now it might be a bit small).

So what did I learn here?  A few things:

1. If you're planning to get pregant (we weren't), it's good to start your pregancy projects then instead of waiting until the baby is on its way.

2. If you're already pregant, don't bit off more than you can chew--you're going to have a lot of other more important things to figure out in the coming months.

3. I really hate to say this one, but, maybe you should just buy it.  The urgency with which I felt I had to make these projects took some of the fun out of making them, which is probably why I abandoned a few.

Hopefully in the next few months (or years), I can redeem myself by finishing these guys up!

Getting the Garden Ready

I am so excited for Spring this year!  My poor garden really suffered from my pregnancy last year, and I can't wait to get my hands (and baby Mikey's) dirty this summer!

Right now, I'm planning what I'd like to grow and Mark is plotting a compost pile.  Thankfully, we have a wasteless friend without a garden, who set up and has been maintaining a worm compost system in her basement since the fall to help rejuvenate our tired soil.  It's a pretty amazing contraption which I'd like to learn more about and post on in the future...

I generally order my staple plants and seeds from Burpee and then supplement with a few "test" plants I'll find at a farmer's market, the Depot (Home, that is) if they actually have something that looks worthy, or the New Jersey Master Gardener's Plant Sale at Rutgers in May. 

My staple plants are the veggies that we eat all the time:
-Raspberries.  I got a stem from the Depot about 10 years ago and then two more from my in-laws (apparently a family heirloom) about 5 years ago that fruit on different schedules (not planned) and seem to do really well in our yard.  We eat them fresh, frozen, and I make jelly out of them, too.
-Tomatoes.  I order the plants from Burpee--I haven't had much success with the seeds for some reason.  I really like their heirloom mix package which has some really great varieties and is just our size (4 plants).  I've grown the heirloom mix at least 4 times and they do really well every year--even two years ago I had a HUGE haul when the rest of the eastern seaboard wasn't getting any tomatoes!  I definitely can my tomatoes, which I showed you how to do in this post (LINK).
-Cucumbers.  I grow the cucumbers from seed--it's just as easy.  This year I'm trying a bush variety, as the vines haven't really done so well for us, and Burpee says they're a great container option.  When I get a good cucumber crop, I make refridgerator pickles from my grandmother's recipe in addition to eating them fresh.
-Herbs.  There are rosemary and sage "bushes" that come up every year for us, and then I plant basil and cilantro.  I usually plant both from seed (start them indoors and then transfer outside), but last year I just bought the plants since I wasn't feeling well (and hadn't figured out why yet).  I actually plant so much basil that my husband has dubbed a section of the garden "Basil City".  I make basil pesto continually through out the summer and fall (learn how in this post LINK), and if I have any spare cilantro that I won't have time to use fresh I'll make a puree out of it and a tiny bit of oil and freeze it or refridgerate it until I can use it.  It's great.
-Peppers.  I usually get two bell pepper plants and two hot pepper plants--one chili for drying and one jalapeno.  Hot peppers do especially well in our garden for some reason...
-Eggplant.  2-3 plants depending on the variety.  I go for purple bulbous varieties.  Not into the white ones or the skinny asian varieties for some reason.
-Lettuce.  I get seeds, and usually go with Burpee's heat wave blend.  Our garden gets a lot of sun, and I like lettuce in the summer (typically lettuce likes it a bit cooler so spring and fall are high-lettuce periods) so the heat wave blend works well for us.  To save space, I plant it between the tomatoes--it helps to shield the lettuce in the summer from the sun, and allows them to get all the sun they need in the spring while the sun isn't as strong yet.  As I harvest my lettuces, I'll plant more so that we have a continuous harvest.
-Squash.  I have both started from seed and plant--just depended on my mood and what was available.  Because our garden is relatively small, I can only do one squash plant per year so I rotate.  Last year we had zucchini, so this year I'll probably do butternut or some other winter squash, and next year I'll probably do pumpkin.

My test plants are fun things I'd like to try.  Sometimes I plan it and sometimes I'll just come across something randomly.  Here are some things I've done in the past, and some I'd like to do in the future:
- Thai Basil
- Bush beans of some type
- Melons
- Pumpkins
- Lemon Basil
- Leeks
- Kohlrabi
- Spinach

I'll be starting the seeds soon, and I'll try to get some good photos for a tutorial. 

Parent Cave: Desk Organization

Wow!  With the arrival of the holidays and my "tchotchsky" as my mother calls him, I've been woefully remiss in posting.  Thankfully, I've got this post that I had started before Thanksgiving which only needed a bit of editing and some photos before it was ready to put up.  Enjoy!

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Phew!  I thought this would be easier than my sewing stuff, but alas, life doesn't work that way.

After the relatively easy task of setting up the computer and sewing apparatuses themselves, some odd conundrums presented themselves:

First to tackle the trash: Please husband, remove!  I can't lift too much stuff anymore as my abdominal muscles are actually separating down the middle!

Then lamp selection and finding them light bulbs.  This was actually difficult because the lamp with the best light for sewing (and the only readily available bulb) was also the lamp with the writing utensil sorting bins.  Husband side won that one, and after a few projects were completed, I realized that with the natural light coming in from the window, the lamp was a very minor concern anyway.

After that, I had to make some decisions on leg space.  Originally, one of the two file cabinets on casters was to go under the Kim-section of the desk.  After some thought, I realized that I need to be able to move back and forth kind of easily under my desk during some sewing projects, and sometimes even to the computer (for uploading photos and blogging of course) and my knees were going to be rainbow colored within a week if I left it there.  It also had the potential to block some of the heat from the radiator if we left it under there, which is never a good thing.  So I sacrificed some ease of getting into my yarn cabinet to save my lower extremities.
Shelves will be going up on the walls above the husband's side with his books--big heavy engineering books--and our joint reading library.  We're quite lucky in that we both like similar types of pleasure reading books and many of the same authors, so when we actually buy a book it gets read at least twice.

For now we're sharing a chair, but a new chair for Kim is definitely on the horizon.  My husband's chair (apart from being 10 years old and a remnant from a frat house) is a bit too big for sewing making it difficult to move around, and its arms make it hard to wrangle some fabrics.  It's also not the easiest to move up and down (or even around on the rug we bought), and I like an especially high chair while sewing; the husband prefers a low chair to type and review documents.

We will also be buying/making another chair--a bean bag chair!  I'm very excited about this, as I was never also to have one as a child, and I LOVE them.  I also anticipate this being a great place to be able to put the baby when it's sleeping and I'm hanging out in here.  Currently researching...