Sewing Machine Disaster!

So, I've finally done it! I braved my way upstairs and took the sewing machine out of it's wrapping, which had gathered dust since my future mother-in-law had given it to me last year.

Having given up on finding the instruction booklet, I found an online copy and went about threading. I had to take the covers off, but I understand the principle behind that now.

The actual problem was the sewing. The pedal either didn't react at all or the needle sped faster than Speedy Gonzales on drugs. I also got lots of knots and ripped thread, ending in what you see below:

The Finished Veil

So it took every free minute I could spare for the best part of 2 days to get the veil finished.

Let's walk back through the process.
Bought organza, mistakenly thinking I could use it to crunch nicely for a petticoat-like underskirt. Thought I'd use the material somehow and it was thin, light, white - it seemed perfect for a veil.

So I roughly cut out the shape:

It was messy. Very much so, and very scrunched up. The steel rulers I bought seemed a decent weight to attempt straightening the material out a little, whilst I used pins to mark the places where the Fraystopper would go:

The Fraystopper made more mess than anticipated. Ribbon - folded over the edges and sewn on with invisible thread - was needed to both smooth out the edges and hide the glue-like substance:

The hand-sewing took the most time. I sat for about 8 hours to get all the way around the veil.

The next step was to affix the shape to the comb. Again, I used invisible string to - I forgot the technical term - crunch the fabric and used a bead on either side to keep it in shape.

More thread to sew the fabric onto the comb, and it was done!

I'd like to take a picture showing the whole veil, the way it falls to my waist, but I have found out that organza, whilst nice in natural light, is not particularly flash-friendly and looks more like a plastic bag over my head :-( That means that I may still decide to go veil-free after all. We'll see what it looks like when the dress is ready.

What have I learned?

Material matters. I did not really have a clue about different types of netting, now I know which material to use for what. I had no clue how they would fall, or even be worked. And, obviously, whether they worked in different types of light. This has helped me think a lot more about the materials I need for the corset and I have bought some lining, which is very strong.

I have also learned that everything takes more time than anticipated, especially when hand-sewing. Things go wrong, need working out and re-working more than I thought they would.

I have learned that I love my big saviour, the glue gun, when things go wrong. And that I hate nylon string.

Paper Roses - Table Decorations

So I am taking a break from dressmaking (forced - we are both on holiday and the mister won't leave until the end of the week) and have thought about table decorations. I want to keep them simple and cheap, so thought of making paper roses to cover the tables with. If they disintegrate by the end of the night I doubt it'll matter as we're guaranteed to be too jolly to notice and at least no one will care if the umpteenth glass of red gets spilled over them.

I've been looking around a bit and got stuck with these instructions from Buzzfeed. The roses looked gorgeous and easy to make.
So I did what it said on the page.

I cut out 4 pieces of paper. Well, card, I only had card and folded them as instructed.

Then I cut them into petal bits and glued them together with craft glue. Bit tricky as the glue not only did not fasten the paper, but also tried to get my fingers involved. A job for the glue gun if I consider mass production.

Plastic pegs turned out to be a bit of a saviour.

Unlike in the instructions I also cut the bottom into little strips, which helped enormously in trying to get each layer to stick. Here's the result, following instructions:

It looks better in the photo than in reality, trust me.

I was a little frustrated with the fragility of the whole thing. I didn't expect it to last a lifetime, like I said earlier, but layers still seemed keen to separate. So glue gun again? Craft glue does seem the wrong choice.


My second try was inspired by this website, but I didn't use the template as my card was A2 and not printer-friendly. Instead, I drew and cut my own petals, just roughly making the shapes smaller towards the middle. As suggested, I used a bamboo skewer to wrap the first few petals, then slowly added the rest. Again, craft glue was a bad choice, but I am happier with the shape of the thing, which, incidentally, looks worse than in reality.

I guess I'll go with the first, but will have to alter the type of glue, paper and bottom bits to make it work the way it should. I am now collecting little Brie boxes to paint, bejewel and stick the roses onto. I might add a little glitter to the tips and/ or glue gun dew.

Update

Men. I am sitting here waiting for my cheesy eggs to set, having completely forgotten to eat over the excitement of having the morning to myself. It is cold. Freezing cold, in fact, after our boiler broke to mark the start of what could have been a nice, cosy half-term.
He took my child out for a bit to get his car fixed and give me a bit of space, but it's pouring down with rain and it's cold - did I mention that? - so he is bored now, waiting for his car, and keeps phoning up to talk. It's lovely, really, but a little annoying as I am still struggling with the nylon string to stop knotting. It's a sewing machine thread, but honestly, I can't see that working without constant annoyances.

I have not been idle, even though it seems to take ages to get the veil into shape and sew the ribbon all around it.I have finalised the shape by using pins to mark the approximate shape, once again battling with Threadstopper to stop going all over the place and cutting off the out-of-shape fabric bits. It's now in a rectangular shape with a semi-circle at the bottom.

I have enlisted the help of my future mother-in-law for the corset. She seemed surprised, but (hopefully) pleased that I asked her to help me. She used to make corsets all the time and I hope her expertise will come in useful when choosing the shape and measurements. Bach to food.

Veil-making

The rest of my day on Thursday was spent attempting to make the veil for the big day. After all, how hard can it be? It's only a rectangular shape with rounded ends.

Well, turns out, the material plays a massive role in how well these things go.

I used some of the organza mistakenly purchased to make a layered underskirt to make a light, flowing veil.

First of all, organza creases big time. Most of my materials spend a lot of their time sitting in a drawer or a plastic bag in my wardrobe to hide from the eyes of my partner. Taking the organza out and flattening it was a maddening experience, but the steel rulers I will attempt to use in my corset have helped keep the majority flat(ish).

After prepping the material with Fraystopper (did my homework there) I cut the rough shape of the veil. Then cut it again as it was still out of shape. And then some more to make sure it looks as straight as possible.

So then I had a rectangle and decided this was a good time to start sewing the translucent-white ribbon on to smooth out the edges. Folding said ribbon was the next big issue. Boy, that stuff is stubborn and will attempt to straighten out rather than being folded in half lengthwise every chance it gets. I got a load of pins and, after much colourful language-exploration mastered the seemingly impossible.

Then I started sewing. The easy part, right? Only I used the string pictured above in an attempt to be clever - if you can't see the thread it doesn't matter if the technique isn't perfect and I didn't think white string would have worked well anyway. Big mistake. Not on the look - I did get that right - but the string curls like pigtails and WILL knot. Thankfully, the nylon makes it easy to de-knot, unless pulled too hard.

After an hour of sewing it was time to pack away. I didn't get as much done as I hoped I would - it takes more time and patience to sew with these materials - but I get a day off on Friday to carry on.

Frustrated!

Why oh why is it so hard to find a simple, plain corset? I am not buying online. I have tried every single lingerie shop, clothes shop and brides shop in the area. It's not that small. Really. But nothing.

So I got fed up enough to decide I'll have to make that myself, too, despite the fact the very thought scares the hell out of me. I have, however, one advantage over the skirt issue: I have found a decent sewing pattern online.

So off I went to Halfords in weather that told me that today, even the sky couldn't be bothered to decide whether to snow, rain, or just be done with it all together and decided on a measly compromise which got me wet and miserable.

In Halfords, there was nothing even approximating steel ribbon to be found, but then, I had a brainwave! Steel rulers! They're durable, stiff enough to last the evening, but just bendy enough to be shaped into corset bones. And, looking at pictures on the internet now, they appear to be just the right size.

I also got a Sainsbury's TU Shapewear dress in hideous nude (does the inside matter? I needed stretchy material and Hobbycraft is shamefully short on those!), in L rather than S for the extra inches of fabric.
There is enough satin to cover the corset, inside and out, if necessary.

Home alone at last!

As I am sitting here, munching on last night's pizza for a late breakfast, waiting for the shops to open, so I can go about my business today, I am musing on the next steps for the dress.

See, I get panicky at times over the thought of not completing it on time.

I really am not idling away my time. I've been up since half 5, even on my day off, to make breakfast and lunches for my future hubby and my daughter, sent them off on their way around 7 and spent the time until now - a quarter past 9 on my weekly or fortnightly de-zombification - you know, the stuff women feel compelled to do: making sure my hair is the appropriate shade of purple again rather than showing the brown roots for yet another week, jumping in the shower afterwards, getting dried, only to realise I'd forgotten to shave and jumping back in, then sorting the laundry and throwing the reds in the machine (yes, I am a saddo who sorts her washing by colour - we generate enough as a family of 3 to justify 4 weekly washes of different colours).

I still have to sort the house out, ready for yet another visit of in-laws (did I mention his family is HUGE? And what's more - they all still talk to each other, unlike my tiny bunch, who generally don't. Maybe, though, that is why my family is so small to start with...), throw the whites in the wash, get my daughter's shoes exchanged (where is that blooming receipt gone?!?) and, realising yesterday we still hadn't done so and a few frantic phone calls later, handing in the signed T&Cs to our reception venue.

Back to the dress, the sewing machine is coming out today. I have plenty of organza - mistaking it for tulle - silly me! - to make my underskirt and the garden wire to go with it. I am a woman who owns a toolbox - no doubt I'll be able to find shaping tools and a wire cutter. I definitely have some duct tape to ensure the ends of the wire won't poke.

Do you know what I worry about? Sitting down with a wired underskirt. I mean, either it will deform - in which case, why bother, or the dress will poke up. So is the solution to only wire the bottom bit, or at least everything underneath the knee?

I will also practise embroidery - I have bought this awesome book from Hobbycraft, which may actually teach me all the bits I need in order to embroider my dress and shrug once completed.

Oh, and more cards need to be made. The first ones have been sent off abroad on Monday.

Better get started!

Timing Troubles

It's been a busy weekend. I have to admit, I am finding it hard to adjust, still, to working full-time, looking after my family, do the household and have time for my hobbies. I'm not even particularly stressed, in fact, quite the opposite. It's just difficult re-prioritising, I guess.

We moved to the town we live in now last September. Before that, we'd had separate places. I lived in a flat with the little one and he in his flat about 30min drive away. Now we live in a house about 20min drive from my workplace (as opposed to 5min walk) and I have resolved to take little to no work home - something I have never done before. I used to time manage by skipping sleep and surviving on 3-4 hours a night. You could argue, he's been good for my health :-)

Anyway, last week was the first time in a while I've spent a whole 5 days at work. This may not sound much, but when at work, I tend to put in 10-11 hour shifts, so even on 4 days/ week I still worked the average amount an adult should. However, I decided I need the money now more than ever, so I put in extra days if I can. This then leaves me with less time to prepare for the wedding than I thought (boy, this house is big and 3 people generate a mountain of washing!).

The bridesmaid dress has been bought. I walked into Monsoon the other day and found a gorgeous little thing in turquoise blue (which I can't seem to find online), and some white wedding shoes, which were reduced from £90 to £27, so I couldn't resist. The shoes may still need pimping; we will see how they go with the dress.

I have spent part of this afternoon putting the postcards with directions together and forcing the cards into their envelopes. The other part was spent building a Lego model, out of protest, as I hadn't really had any me-time this week. So hopefully, all invitations intended to go abroad will be at the Post Office tomorrow and find their way overseas. And even more hopefully, we won't die of shock when presented with the cost of postage - they did feel rather heavy and bulky... We'll see.