Dresses 3 and 4

Ok so sorry I'm a little behind, but I will admit dress 3 gave me the run around. (if we are friends on facebook you've probably already read this stuff. lol Feel free to scroll down to something new.)

So back to dress 3...I initially planned on making this great lime greem dress trimmed in black lace and ribbon. Something along the lines of Lola's dress from back here. BUT I wouldn't find my gathered black lace. (which now that I think about it, I think I used up ON Lola! Whoops) Since I had already cut out and started sewing the lime green fabric I decided to just paint it with daisies. You know a cool handpainted dress. Um ok first off I really had NO CLUE just how long it would take me to paint an entire dress with simple 5 petal daisies. Let's just say i was very glad I started painting at the top! LOL I got bored with the flowers about halfway down the bustline, it was just taking way too long. But I perservered and painted dow to the waist. I wanted to making a hot pink belt to coordinate with the centers of the daisies. BUT could I find any solid hot pink ribbon in my stash...NO, tons of sheer ribbon but no hot pink solid. So I thought...oooooh I'll just use some of my alcohol inks and dye some white...well I wet the ribbon, added a few drops of the right color ink and added the ribbon. I smooshed it around in the baggie I was using. I even popped it into the microwave to set the dye. Well needless to say when I rinsed off the excess dye, my hot pink was a lovely shade of PALE!!! ARGH. Next brainstorm...friendship bracelets. I made them all the time as a tween and young teen. Easy Peasy. 90 minutes later I realized I had made the very same mistake I would often make as a girl. My embroidery floss was too short. it ended up about 3/4 of an inch to short for me to use! Just wanting to finish the *@&#&$ dress grabbed some white ribbon that was sitting on my desk and sewed/glued it in place. AND DANGED IF IT DOESN'T LOOK PERFECT!!!! (That annoyed me btw!)
Today I made a little shoulder bag to match. Bren came out of the kitchen to model it for me. She says it's perfect for wearing to the farmer's market while she looks for fresh ingredients for her cafe. (Cafe...hmm...last I heard it was just a bakery?!?!? Oh well. )

Before finishing my little bag this morning I took the kiddos to school and started my walking regime. (ok so it was really just a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood, but I did set a pretty brisk pace and worked up a good sweat!) I'm very proud of me and am actually looking forward to working out tomorrow too. I think I am going to see about hitting the pool to swim some laps.

Ok back to the Sweat Shop (I mean sewing room/craft area) I set to work on another dress using the same pattern as the green one. I had envisioned red satin trimmed in FLAT black lace, like an overlay. But for some reason I grabbed a chunk of red suede instead. I didn't like the idea of lace over the suede like I was seeing in my head, so I found some hand crocheted white lace. (atleast it LOOKS hand crocheted!) Once I saw them together I knew...Santa Baby! This one went together a good bit easier. Ellie is back from her break and is showing off this fun, flirty holiday number.