| 2005 |
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| Well! I did it! I'm back at work and surpise, surprise taking 23 hours out of every week is taking its toll. I'm finding it much harder to do everything. Less time for mothering (oh no!), less time for sewing (oh no!), less time for website (double oh no!) and less time for housework (oh dear, how sad, never mind!!!!) |
| But I haven't taken as much time off over our summer break this year and was back into our dressmaking by March. Jane has also gone back to work so its taking us both twice as long to get moving. I have started the year off with two lovely dresses. |
| Unfortunately there were twelve different sizes and directions so it wasn't just as simple as going for it. Jane had to first of all sit down and work out exactly how many different shapes and sizes there were, then trace each one and then when the time came, scan each different sized one. Then, when it was done she passed it onto me and I cut out each one, about 4-5 mm around the edge, ironed them on and then passed them back to Jane who appliqued each piece on. I sewed it all together. Zoe's dress is the first time I have made a minimal shawl. I was so stressed about making sure it stayed on the dress that I used nine large pieces of Velcro to make it stick. Now Zoe's Mum has trouble getting the darn thing off!!!! |
| This dress is my daughter Jessica's new dress. The black is full sequin. The sequin is square. The fabric the sequins are sewn onto is very fine and has quite a lot of give so it was necessary to first interface the whole lot of fabric and then back it as well. (Thanks to Kathryn Trenholme for this tip!) I found this fabric quite tricky. The sequins were very heat sensitive and even when I was very careful, in some places the sequins melted a little and shrunk! Great!!!! This is the first time I have gone out and sought professional help for the embroidery. Jane's sewing machine wasn't able to sew the Trinity Knots |
| this time so I actually had the shapes professionally embroidered by a little business just down the road. I went out seeking quotes and was so shocked when the first quote came in at AU$890. Unbelievable! This was with me supplying the fabrics too. Too much! Then I tried a little company working from their garage and much to my surprise their quote was only AU$305 which included AU$55 set up charges. I was so happy and relieved (go the small businesses!!!!). Until now I have been able to make Jessica's dresses for under $350 and so far this one has cost at least AU$1000, I feel that is a little extravagant given that I'm making it myself (the things we do!). |
| From my spies at the Worlds I have found out that shaped panels were not as popular and the shaped hems were a more gentle, soft feature. So of course this influenced us when it came to having the design drawn. Poor Liz Davies was very patient with us (love you Liz!!! ). |
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| Anyway! This first dress belongs to Zoe. This is almost the last dress order I'm definitely going to take. Heard that before? This time I really mean it ... off the racks all the way for me now! There's just no time. This dress was designed by the lovely Liz Davis. There are about 120 teardrops on this dress. It is made from plain pink glitterdot, but it is very effective on the stage under lights. It is very sparkly. Once again Jane's Janome Memorycraft 9000 has taken a very important roll. We were able to scan the tear drop picture and Jane's machine just embroidered it all by itself. |
| Congratulations to Zoe for winning the 11 Years ACT Irish Dancing Championships in August 2005! Well done. |
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| Congratulations as well to my beautiful Jessica for coming third in the 12 Years! Well done! |