Monday, August 1, 2011

Christening gown done

Yes, finally, the christening gown is done. But more importantly; we have heat again!! My thanks go to the plumber who came out here after work (after his boss promised to come out in person during the afternoon; wrong), to fix it for us. So after six days without proper heating, i am happy again. 

So, to the gown.  The original had little cap sleeves but after trying and trying and being unable to get them in without puckers, I changed them to these puff sleeves. I do like the cap sleeves and being unable to fit them drove me CRAZY! So I had to give up, for my own mental health!!LOL!!  These sleeves look fine though.  It has other original touches, such as the placement and pattern of the smocking; they smocked the bodice, not the skirt.  The embroidery is not the original design either.  (also, I might point out, not my original design, it is from the Country Bumpkin christening gown book). 
I am very pleased with how it came out. the seams are all bound with home made bias binding.  Makes for a lovely finish; a bit more work than a french seam, but I couldn't do French seams with the way the pieces fit together so binding the seams was the next best thing.
Okay, enough waffling, to the photos:


So what to do with it now? I will show it, in the upcoming Show season and then I might just sell it.  Who knows.  I have two others here; one is too dear to my heart to sell and the other is not something I would really be happy to sell; there isn't anything greatly wrong with it but it does have flaws so I wouldn't sell it.  This one i might though. 

What next for me? Well i have started making a dress for the daughter of a friend who is making her First Communion in a month's time. It has a lot of smocking and beads on it; it should be pretty.  I have also bought some more material for the shop to make another smocked dress for the window. I heard today that someone was interested in the dress i have already made but we will see if that comes off or not.  I don;t mind if it sells or not really. i was hoping to have another one made before selling the first one but I will not complain (or knock it back!).  But this second dress will have to wait a couple of weeks until I have the communion dress under control. 
My quilt blocks are also still sitting here; lonely and waiting for the last three to be done.  They are not far off but might also have to wait.
A friend came into the shop the other day and marvelled at how I have been very restrained and have not bought much. Now don't get me wrong; I would looooove dearly to buy so very much from the shop where iw ork but it would cost all of my pay, and more, and I am really trying to get some things done; i have too many things on the go as it is.  Someone asked me today how many things I had on the go and I couldn't count them; shocking!!LOL!!  So i still want to get some UFOs out of the way, as I still work on new things; there should be a balance i can strike between them both.  And while starting something new gives such a rush, so does finishing something off. Although, it is August already and I have not achieved half of what iw ould have liked to by now.  Oh well, it will wait for me I guess!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Karyn - so glad your heating is fixed. The gown looks wonderful - I'm sure it will do well in your shows....
    The dreaded UFO's (or PHD's - projects hald done) - the bane of us all.....hard to fit everything into the day though.....:)

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  2. Karyn, that christening frock is superb. You have made such a beautiful little frock!! I am sure despite the few niggling things, it has given you lots of pleasure. Thank you for the good photos. I'm so glad the heating is going well again. Good luck with the newest sewing project. I think a lot of us have a few things going at once. BTW, no package yesterday, so looks like Friday is it. Take care.

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  3. That is beautiful Karyn. Your work is always lovely and I am sure it will do well in the shows.

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  4. A truly beautiful gown Karyn, I am sure it will be greatly admired and treasured by whoever gets to wear it.

    You sound as if you are enjoying your new job. I can well imagine the temptation to buy up all you can. Yes, we all have many projects on the go, thats because we get "inspired"

    Anmne

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  5. Karyn,how very beautiful is this..good to see your work...I remember seeing some of your work on another site we used to post on..good to find you again.x

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  6. Hi Anney, so good to hear from you again. How's things??? :-)

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