I started the dress with plenty of time. We actually bought the pattern(s) sometime in February. But as it turns out, you can't buy even a pattern for a modest evening gown. I made a bodice mock up of the strapless pattern gown, with the intention of modifying it. Turns out there was no way to make the dress not looked peiced together. So after combining four different patterns, and making three mock-ups, and finishing a custom peice to accent the waist just before we left for church that fateful Sunday, I felt ready to begin the actual dress.
Returning home from church and realizing that we'd been burglarized, we all looked for something different. Cambry first reached for her dream: "Did they take my prom dress fabric?" So if I couldn't finish the dress for her that week, it would have been just as pitiful as though they had.
On the other end of the line, Karen calmly assessed the situation. She could look at the serger between other customers, but she would have to attend to the potential sales coming into the store. I packed up my stuff and zipped over to A1 Vacuum and Sewing almost as soon as they opened.
It took Karen all of one minute to realize that my serger required mechanical attention. Still believing all things can work, I left it there with the hope of picking it up in running condition by 12:00. I ran home, where Anna had been putting sleeves to sleeve linings. She worked on the slip ruffle while I put the sleeves on the bodice. Finally we were coming to a place where we needed a serger to secure the organza seams. We called A1 at 1:00. Karen delivered the bad news: no repair possible today. But then she waved a magic wand and said she would let me serge on her demo machine in the store.
Organza and hope in tow, I ran into the store by 1:30. I figured if I could just get the overskirt put together and hemmed, we could do the rest at home on the sewing machine. But working with the organza, I soon realized that it would have to be sergered to the gown if we didn't want it to frey apart. After I rolled-hemmed the overlay skirt, I realized I could do the same to the gown skirt and the lining to save time. I called home and had them courier over those pieces, luckily Anna had just finished sewing the ruffle to the lining skirt.
They arrived and I hemmed them while Karen started the stitching to gather the overlay on a different machine. I might add, this was the only period all day that no one came into the store and she was able to sew for me. Then I realized I was going to have to serge the skirt to the bodice if I didn't want the gown to fall apart in the middle. So I called again and Anna dropped the finished bodice off to me while taking Cambry to get her boutineer.
It took three fairy godmothers, a lot of cool thinking, and solid hope, but I walked out of the A1 Sewing at 4:55, five minutes before closing, with a dress nearly ready to waltz the night away. Anna came over and put in a zipper for me while I went to pick Cambry up from getting her hair done.
Her date, Nick Pope, waited while we finished the zipper, but she says the look on his face when she walked up the stairs in her Cindrella dress was not laced with irritation, but expressed only pure awe and adoration.
Bibbidy, Bobbidy, Boo!
PS - I have cried only a few times times through this unfortunate burglary. The first was when I took an accounting of all the photos I'd lost and the landmarks they'd documented. The second was during a panic attack which caused me to stay home Thursday, thereby avoiding a second victimization - apologies to my neighbors who got hit instead. Also that night, in thanking my mom and dad for coming to my aid. The final tears were shed Saturday night when the relief of the miracle I'd participated in washed over me. God must love His faithful little Cambry! Heaven knows I do.
1 comment:
Very nice! Love the sparkles in the fabric! And every time I drive by your house I admire your new siding and landscaping. I really hope those darn burglars leave everyone in your area alone!
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