I’m sorry I wasn’t able to join in with all the comments today, but Barbara did a great job replying of all of you who shared your thoughts. I’m so glad everyone enjoyed her dolls in their pretty dresses.
My day was busy for hours with an alterations project. A young girl from church asked me if I could fix her dress for a celebration party the homeschoolers are having this weekend. Her mom said she thought it was just a minor fix..it just needed to be taken in a little bit under one armhole…
Well it was anything but minor…it was beaded with very bumpy beads…it had a zipper under that armhole…and she wanted a piece of lace sewn on the one side to cover her bra strap…the dress is a one shoulder dress and comes under the arm on the other side… the lace had to have something under it so the bra strap wouldn’t show through…so I used a piece of stretchy blue mesh knit to line the lace with…
It was just a really difficult alteration…I did take some liberty and added some blue beads on the lace and hand stitched them on to tack the blue mesh lining in place…
Oh that’s enough on it…here are a few pictures…
It was after 10:00 before I decided on the fabric for Julie’s dress. It’s a very pretty lavender fabric and it looks a bit baggy and flat just laying on Julie’s torso right now, but I have high hopes for it…
Well, I’m off to bed…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What challenging fabric that must have been to work with, on the alterations project, I mean!! It seems you had just the right color blue to fit behind the lace to hide the bra strap, but one has to wonder, wouldn’t it have been easier to just wear a strapless bra?! Well, I suppose it depends on how old the girl is, and how “well endowed” she is; when I was a teen, I didn’t have much to keep one up!! LOL (Come to think of it, I did wear a strapless bra under my h.s. graduation dress, but it had rubber grippy things all around to make it cling to your skin and stay in place; I think it also could have stood up by itself. Not the most comfortable garment I’ve ever worn!)
But…now a new dolly dress!! I like the fabric; can’t wait to see what’s next!
I like the Julie fabric!
I have been painting my living room. That has turned out to be a job and a half!
The “minor” alteration reminded me of a friend who was flying to a wedding and wanted to know how to iron her synthetic fabric dress — though she was in her 60s, she had never used an iron! I told her how to steam the dress in the bathroom, which worked. I was afraid she’d ruin the fabric if she tried to use an iron. People who don’t know how to do something don’t know what they are asking.
That’s pretty amazing beaded fabric. The family was lucky to have you as a resource.
Julie’s dress is going to be lovely. It’s a beautiful color for her.
Oh how I dislike doing alterations. The people needing them done really have no clue how time consuming and complicated they can be. Of course, you have done a beautiful job on it, and I know she will be happy with it!
I think Julie will look nice in the lavender color.
Dear Jeanne, you are such a good friend. That does sound like a pretty big alteration.
I like the color of Julie’s dress. Is it going to be a shift? I think that’s the term we used to use for straight dresses.
10 more days until May!!!!
Well,isn’t that just like you, Jeanne, to go over and beyond what was asked! You added beads and they match perfectly! However, earlier, on my desktop, the strap with the beads on the right side showed up, but on my iPad, only the back is showing! Strange!
I see that Julie is up for the next dress, which looks to have a 70’s vibe!
I just got in from outside, covering up my azalea bush from the freeze we will be having soon! Not looking forward to that!
Wonderfully kind of you Jeanne to even attempt to fix the dress. Was there sentimental value in it for the young girl? I thought maybe it had belonged to a relative or friend. I’m sure she knows all of the effort you put into the rearranging. Wish there was a full length photo of all of that beading. Lovely fabric. 🙂
The lilac fabric for Julie’s dress is perfect. Looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.
Beautiful job on the alteration. I’d rather make something from scratch than perform any alteration. I remember asking my granddaughter several years ago, “Do you know where Mommy keeps the ironing board?” She asked, “What’s an ironing board?” Times have changed.
I looked at Barbara’s lovely collections of dolls yesterday and forgot to comment. Barbara, what a collection of dolls — and the spring clothes are lovely. I hate to think how long all the changing and arranging take, but it’s certainly a lovely gift to all of us..
First I want to thank Jeanne so much for posting my Tea Party pictures yesterday. As I said in one of my comments, doing all that would not be near as much fun if I couldn’t share them with such an appreciative audience. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments. The girls read the comments and thank everyone too.
What an amazing job you did on the dress alteration. It sounded difficult enough until you mentioned the side zipper. House of horrors! But it all ended up looking lovely. How nice of you to add the extra beads. What a nice finishing touch.
People who do not sew often have no clue what it takes to make the alterations they think will be so simple. One year before the prom my oldest stepdaughter brought me a gown to alter that she had bought at a resale shop. I tried to teach Shana to sew but she never could grasp the concept of putting a garment together “inside out”. She kept trying to sew things as you would see it finished so she got frustrated and gave up. She has no learning disabilities so I never could figure out her problem. She wanted me to turn the dress into a “Scarlett O’Hara” type dress. I can’t remember all the details and I don’t have pictures, but I do remember it nearly required a remake of the dress. I had to remove all the underarm panels because they had serious perspiration stains. Fortunately I managed to find fabric that exactly matched the dress fabric and could do this. It took several evenings, after working all day amongst all the other things I had to do, to recreate this dress. I said never again. When her sister was preparing for her prom two years later she brought me a pattern and fabric to make her dress from scratch. It was a Vogue pattern and as much as I usually steer clear of Vogue patterns it was a whole lot easier than the remake of her sister’s gown.
Looking forward to watching the development of Julie’s dress/ensemble.
Hi Jeanne,
You’re such a busy lady. I think you are part energizer bunny! I’ve altered my share of prom gowns and dance outfits. You can add me to the list, I also dislike alterations… taking apart a beaded garment stinks. Cute fabric for a 70’s spring outfit. It’s been a while since we’ve seen something purple. Can’t wait to see what happens with it.
Barbara your girls were such a delight. So many girls and such pretty outfits. I loved them and appreciated your hard work. Thank you and thank you Jeanne for sharing!
hugs
Ingrid
I really like fashion for Julie. Color great. I am waiting impatiently for the sequel.
Oh Jeanne I am with Carolyn, Susette and Ingrid I loathe alterations and mending! You are such a kind person. People often don’t understand that you construct a garment in a certain order, To alter something you probably have to deconstruct it then re-make it.
Susette your post made me laugh, My ironing board is set up in my work room all the time but I very rarely iron my clothes! It is purely there for my sewing.
I remember years ago I would never serve milk without it being in a jug and we had bottles then! Now my grandchildren wouldn’t know what a milk jug was!
The fabric for Julie is lovely, I love the colour, looking forward to seeing it finished
Alterations🥴😳 Wedding dresses , prom and bridesmaids dresses give me a headache. You are an angel… Hope you charged her😀 Charlotte is right… why not a strapless bra? I guess it is a moot point now🤗 some of those dresses take forever to rip apart… made awfully well. I’m sure she appreciated it …. you are a good friend!
The little lavender beginning is interesting
Oh yes! I believe it takes more skill to do good alterations than to make a garment from ‘scratch.’ Kudos to you Jeanne!