No posting because I've been swamped with other tasks, mainly related to my fabulous sister-in-law's equally fabulous wedding the end of last month. She got engaged while we were all in Paris last year and pulled off the largest, most amazing wedding this year. Personally, I was engaged for five years, so... she's just an overachiever as far as I'm concerned! I also went on vacation for awhile and have been generally spending all my free time in the pool. Summer is sweet, but almost over.
Wedding stuff! In addition to making the labels for 300 jars of jam in five flavors and two sizes, I helped tie/hot glue the raffia to them for the place cards (I thankfully had nothing to do with that massive seating chart).
 |
| Tip for wedding beginners: Combine the favor and the place tag and save room on the table for important things like wine and food and wine. |
 |
This was the version the happy couple chose; still think I would have gone with a simpler design myself, but this did have the advantage of the jam flavor listed for the guests.
|
But mostly my time was spent corralling my (adorable) children in their roles as a ring bearer and a flower girl. I made the three girls' bow barrettes. They all have super fine, super thin hair. My mother-in-law wanted really understated bows, made with a specific translucent ribbon, which is exactly the opposite of what I would have done, but they were cute on the girls so my stress about it was stupid.
 |
| Henry & his fellow ring bearer looking gentlemanly. I had to do nothing for the boys. Thankfully. |
 |
| My nieces sporting their handmade hair bows- constructed with love and a heavy sense of anxiety by me. |
In between those actually necessary wedding tasks, I made myself this bolero to wear over my dress.
I wanted to make the bolero a little less formal as I was afraid that my dress was too cocktail. I used
Simplicity 3921, though I made a few changes to View C. I used a cotton polka dot fabric to dress it down and lined it with a coordinating costume satin. I shortened the sleeves and narrowed them;
I don't think a wide sleeve is all that flattering. I also expanded the front curve to accommodate my bust line without having to make darts. I skipped blanket stitching the edges because... who would do that?
 |
| Trying out different sleeve lengths. Please ignore the unfinished dress underneath- still working on that. |
 |
| Flipped open to see the lining. The cheap costume satin worked fine and looked way better then most lining fabrics would have looked. |
The only trouble I had with the pattern were the instructions on how you attached the sleeve lining to the sleeve at the opening. I followed the directions word for word multiple times and always messed it up, so I just hemmed them together, made some narrow bias tape, and called it done. I would really like to figure out what I was doing wrong. In the end I never wore it. HA! I'm an idiot.
I will now be making all my own wraps. Suck it, Macy's (tiny evening-wear-accessory-department)!
 |
| Random picture: Abigail drinking milk at the Barndiva bar before the rehearsal dinner. Yes, she's winking and yes, she ordered that milk from the bartender herself. She LOVED being in the wedding party. |
