A Work of Art

I hope you'll forgive the diversion from quilting, but since we're all fans of fine sewing, I thought you'd appreciate a glimpse of some incredible sewing that I saw this weekend.

As previously mentioned, I attended the wedding of a dear friend of mine, who is very much like a little sister to me. Her family and my family are incredibly close, and the bride is a very special woman who is possibly the most kind and gentle lady in the world. So we were all very happy to celebrate with her!

The bride's mother is a talented, talented seamstress and she made the wedding gown. I think we can all agree that home sewn clothes occasionally look, well, home sewn. This isn't a big deal for simple little shirts or skirts or dresses, but it might not be the look for we strive for with wedding attire. But this is no ordinary homemade dress. Oh no. This gown is practically couture.

There are three hoops in that skirt. Seventeen and a half yards of fabric just on the outside of the skirt. Lace. Beading. Gathers. Petticoats (yup). The mother-of-the-bride/seamstress estimates that including the veil, there is close to 100 yards of fabric used in this dress, linings, and underthings. I think it's pretty amazing!

This is the third dress the bride's mother has made. She made her eldest daughter's dress and one of her daughters-in-law's. The first was a pretty basic satin A-line with a lace-up back, but it had a ton of hand beading. The second was a replica of a designer dress the bride loved, a tight-fitting lacy dress. But this was "by far the most difficult" dress she has attempted.

I think she succeeded admirably, don't you? It is definitely the Cinderella dress* that this bride has wanted for her entire life.

The rest of my weekend went well, and I had fun visiting both Chicago and Indianapolis. We drove through a crazy storm in between those two cities, and then got to relive/drive through the storm again after we stopped for dinner in downtown Indy and it caught up with us. Getting out of Indy proved challenging, and at one point, I was scheduled on seven different flights on either standby or with an actual seat. There was real danger I wouldn't get back until this morning and I would have had to cancel class, which my students wouldn't have minded, but which would have been a pain for me, especially after having last Monday off. Thankfully, everything worked out ok and I slipped in off standby on an earlier flight to beautiful Newark. It's good to be home!

*Boyfriend compared it to Belle's golden dress in Beauty and the Beast, and I think he's accurate. So pick your Disney princess for comparison, but it's definitely a princess dress!

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