7-7-7

It was three years ago yesterday that my oldest son got married.  7-7-7  Good luck numbers in Chinese - or so he said.  He married Spring who now has a firm place in our family.  The two of them are living with us this summer (occupying my sewing room) awaiting their departure for a year in China on August 15th.   

When Lars and Spring were planning their wedding, Spring fell in love with a dress out of a Bride's magazine which was made of silk chiffon and cost thousands of dollars.  In a momentary lapse in judgement, I said something like, "I could make that..."  Like trying to retrieve every feather blown out of a down pillow on a windy day, I could not put the words back in my mouth.  

And so, it was done.  

Silk chiffon wouldn't do - the fabric had to be washable.  Gauze?  I wanted to get that ethereal effect of gossamer.  We ended up with a sheer, filmy fabric which was entirely too heavy, but Spring was still happily satisfied with the way the dress turned out.

Of course she didn't wear the four foot pearl necklace and a lace cami made the plunging neckline more modest, but Spring definitely pulled off the same hair adornment.  What did it cost?  Probably about $100 in materials.  I have never really learned how to draft patterns to design clothes, but I am the master of combining elements from separate patterns.  Like Dr. Frankenstein, I can piece anything together to make a worthy creation.  The sleeves came from one pattern, the bodice from another, the skirt from another - all tweaked, tailored and lined to match the style of the original dress in the picture.  It was epic.  I finished it just hours before the wedding (in the wee hours) by lamp light in our Great River Lodge on the Mississippi in Nauvoo, Illinois where the union took place.  

All's well that ends well, I guess... yet it took me a while before I could come to terms with my sewing room and face the strewn discarded bodices, white fabric, and popped invisible zippers.   (Imagine how Dr. Frankenstein's lab looked after an operation...)

Happy 3rd anniversary Lars and Spring!