Monday, November 6, 2017

Alex, I'll Take Potpourri for $400

(Blogpost title referring to Jeopardy! and the mish-mash stream of consciousness that follows.)

It's been 3 months since my last confes.... kidding!... blogpost. Not as bad as last time when it was more like 6. I always want to blog but feel like I don't have enough thoughts to meaningfully fill up a post. Then a month goes by and I forget half of what I wanted to share to begin with or life just moves on, or both. So, here I am. Bear with me if things get ramble-y but I'm determined to get this done and posted.

The biggest news of the last few months is that (1) Tyler is out of the Marine Corps after 7+ years and (2) he got married. I'm not sure which he was happier about. KIDDING! He also just bought a house in St. Augustine and he and wife Angela moved in last week. He's now an actual Florida resident again and is less than 3 hours away. My (step)son Michael and his wife and son also live in St. Augustine so all of my boys are in the state and an easy drive.

The official wedding pics aren't available yet but I'll share the few I have. I didn't take many pics that day, knowing I'd be able to borrow from everyone else's cell. I just wanted to enjoy the day, not the phone.  


My boys, Left to Right: Michael, Alex, Tyler. The "baby," Alex (25), turned out the tallest. A fact he never forgets to mention. Tyler had as his groomsmen his brothers and two Marine buddies, one of whom was his best man. He's definitely made some lifetime USMC friends. Rah. Weird that he's now a former Marine.


Tyler and Angela in St. Peter's, an historic Catholic church in Beaufort, SC. They both looked beautiful. :-) Loved Angela's romantic and very tastefully feminine dress.


On the church steps.


Arriving in a 1957 Chevy to the reception, which was held at Traditions on Parris Island.


The Hollywood kiss!


After the reception at the "after party." Angela had changed into this dress. Tyler kept his tux on.


And, no. I didn't make my dress. I thought about it but my sewing time is so limited that I really didn't want to pressure myself. So I went shopping. Where I found even more pressure. Hah. I must have hit the stores in the drought of fancy dresses right after June brides and before the Holidays. There was almost nothing. But I did find the above dress at Dillard's and tried it on. I don't know that I would've tried it on had my choices not been so limited. It's basically a sheath and I don't usually go for those. But this was actually not bad, and ... on sale for $49. Seriously. I couldn't believe it was so inexpensive. So even though it was too big, by at least 2 sizes, I bought it because I knew I could do the alterations. (I wouldn't LIKE doing the alterations but I knew I could do them.)

I spent one entire weekend unpicking the CB seam in the dress and liningremoving the really long CB invisible zipper, taking in the dress at CB and sides, and re-hemming dress and lining for me and my sparkly shoes. I also added gathering to the shoulders of the cover-up so the armhole seam wouldn't be 3 inches down my arm. It worked in a pinch, looked pretty, and actually held up for the whole day/evening.

The funniest thing about this dress? It is pretty much the EXACT color of the bride's mother's dress. You would think we had planned it. And both of us matched the groomsmens' vests. Once we get the final formal photos, we're all just going to be so color coordinated! And puffy-eyed from bawling our eyes out. Her mom and I are criers. Even Tyler was teared up as Angela came down the aisle. Tissues for everyone! LOL

Moving on to sewing …

I started this McCall's 7381 well before the wedding. I thought I might wear it to the rehearsal dinner. Yeah, that didn't happen. Which is OK. It was actually on the cold side in SC that week so I would've frozen in this anyway. It was actually below 60 degrees F. Brrrrr.


I did finish it this past weekend and lucky you, you get more work bathroom photos. Dark, blurry, and so unflattering.

The dress is OK. I don't think it's super flattering on me but it's not the worst either. It is comfortable and it does fit. It's just got a bit too much waist floof to be my best silhouette (which you can see better on Zillie below). The dress may grow on me and I love this fabric, but even if it doesn't, I'm happy I made it. I liked the dress pattern when it first came out and I've wanted to try it. I'm not sure how I'll feel about ironing it when it comes out of the laundry. If nothing else, that may relegate it to occasional wear only. Not a big iron-er here anymore. Press-er when sewing, yes. Ironing, newp.

Pattern notes: I sewed it without too much pattern alteration. I did alter for my square shoulders since this is a woven (rayon challis from Fabricmart). I blended from 16-ish neck/chest to 20-22-ish at waist hips. I recall the pattern being lettered (S-M-L-etc) instead of numbered sizes, so blending was kind of an "by eye" thing. I also added about 6 inches to the above-knee view, since I wanted below-knee. I did not do an FBustA, but did a FBicepA (hah, so witty) of about 1 inch. The sleeves eased in very well, probably due to the give of the rayon. I haven't sewn a set-in sleeve in forEVER and I was not looking forward to fighting with excess ease. Luckily, I didn't have to. Dodged that bullet. All in all, it's a good pattern. I would recommend it.


It should be obvious in the pics above and below that I added pockets and have my hand jammed down in one. Pockets. Yay!


Here it is on Zillie. See the waist floof? It's kind of blouson-y, kind of not. I think it would be much better if my waist didn't have its own blousons.


Closer view of the bodice. I'm not sure if you can tell without me pointing it out, but I did sew down all the pleats (shoulders and waist, 12 total). I was not about to press pleats each time this comes out of the laundry, on top of regular dress ironing. No way.


Next up is the True Bias Hudson pant that's now a couple of years old. Nancy mentioned on Instagram that she converted one of her TNT woven pants patterns to a pattern for knits. I could do that, but I also like to just sew new-to-me patterns. Especially new-to-me *popular* patterns. I like to see for myself if the bandwagon is worth jumping on. I'm guessing I'm not alone. I'll keep you posted.


Signing off for now. I'll be back when I've got more wedding pics! I bet you can't wait. :-)

23 comments:

  1. I must have been reading your blog for well over 8 years as I remember Tyler signing up! Handsome family Deborah, lovely bride, the wedding looks beautiful. How lovely to have all your boys fairly close (in US terms I am thinking virtually neighbours). I like your outfit - Kismet re the colour. GREAT day dress.

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    1. Thanks Heather! Hard to believe that Tyler is "already" out of the Marine Corps and married now. But so great to have him nearby again.

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  2. How lovely! Tyler looks very handsome and Angela was a beautiful bride.

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    1. Thanks Vicki! You've been reading my blog probably since the beginning ... hard to believe this is Tyler, right? lol

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  3. Nice pics - everyone looks happy and you look nice in the dress too. I wanted to see a pic of you in the fancy dress, I'll have to wait.

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    1. I want to see those pics too! LOL Just have to be wait on the photographer.

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  4. Congrats Debbie! It looks like a wonderful time was had by all! And how nice that all of your kids are now 'within reach'!

    I like the dress but see what you mean about floof. I kept thinking I saw a tie at the waist. Oh and rayon challis definitely a candidate for 'pull out of the dryer while it's still warm and hang it' to let wrinkles fall out.

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  5. Congratulations on your son's wedding! By the way, I don't see that your dress adds any fluff to your waistline at all. I think it looks lovely on you.

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  6. It was great to see the boys together. And now living relatively close to you. Joyful days.
    I like your new dress on you - the colors are very flattering.

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  7. Beautiful wedding pictures ! Can’t wait to see you in the Mother dress after you altered .

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  8. Congratulations on all the great news, Debbie. A blog post from you is a real treat!

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  9. What glorious wedding photos! Congrats to the happy couple. I think the dress you made looks great on you!

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  10. You have a handsome trio of men there, Debbie. Congrats to your son and his new wife. Looking forward to seeing the wedding pics.

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  11. Congratulations on the wedding and new daughter! The dress is lovely too. So nice to hear from you!!

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  12. Congrats to the new couple!

    I already told you on Instagram, but I really love this dress!

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  13. Oh my, that first photo of the bride and groom in the church... it made me tear up it's so lovely and loving. Best wishes to the happy couple!

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  14. Congrats to the bride and groom -- beautiful couple! I've been reading your blog since your sons were in HS football and have always enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing the wedding pics.

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  15. Oh congratulations to your son! What a beautiful photo inside the church! I look forward to seeing the wedding pics.

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  16. Beautiful pictures of Tyler's wedding! I can't believe it's been more than 7 years since he became a Marine. I'm so happy that he's now closer to home; I'm sad that a couple of my kids are so far away. Your dress looks really pretty; I'm looking forward to the "real" pictures!

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  17. It's great to see you post again! Aren't they just the happiest couple. Looking forward to your next post and pics!

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  18. Congrats!! It has been awesome watching your boys grow through your eyes! Amazing young men! Thanks for continuing to blog! I stop in a few times a week for updates and to check out others on ur bog roll.I still miss Belinda!
    donna r.

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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