Wedding Sewing

  My older brother is getting married to a very good friend of mine in June... and I will be a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?). But before then, I have a lot of sewing to do. I'm sewing boleros for three of the bridesmaids, as well as adding length and a neckline modesty panel to dresses for the same three bridesmaids. In addition, I have to do extensive alterations to my dress (I will be almost 8 months pregnant!) and sew a flower girl dress for Booper.

  Here's what I've finished so far:

  It looks uncomplicated, and the pattern really is pretty simple, but you know I went and complicated everything up. First, I added a lace overlay, which required basting every lace piece to the corresponding underlining pieces. Second, I decided against using a lining, since I was already quite a bit over budget in the fabric department. Skipping the lining meant that I needed to use some other sort of seam finish on every seam, and since these are for a wedding and I really want them to look nice, I sewed every seam as a French seam:

   
  And finally, since I'm not using the lining I have to finish the outer edges of the bolero very differently than the pattern suggests. I am thinking bias strips as a facing... I haven't sewn this part yet. I'll need to sew them on the inside by hand to avoid topstitching, which I think wouldn't really look good with the lace. I also need to hand-sew the sleeve hems. So, a lot of work, and this is only the first of three!

  Booper's dress will be fun though. I don't have the design fully planned yet, but I know I want tulip sleeves, a square neckline, and pick-ups throughout the skirt. I'm using white satin overlaid with hunter green lace for most of the dress, and hunter green satin for the sash. For this, I bought lining.

  Isn't that pretty?

  Initially I couldn't find green lace in any of the fabric stores around here, so I ordered it from Joann's online... and let me just say that was a mistake. I ordered the color on the left, and the light green on the right was what I was sent:

  They aren't even close to the same color! And while both are pretty, I really needed dark green to match the wedding colors. I had given up on the lace overlay and went to Joann's in person to look for dark green satin, and was surprised and delighted to find just 3 yards of the hunter green in store... so it all worked out, except that I have to either find something to make with 3 yards of bright green lace or pay the extra to ship it back. Any suggestions?

  I'll share photos of the dress alterations when I'm finished, as well as a modeled photo of the bolero. And you know I won't be able to resist showing you the flower girl dress... I'm excited about it. =)

And now I must be off to sew... I have only 7 weeks to finish everything, and I'm not nearly fast enough at sewing yet!

Thanks for stopping by,