Wedding Planning, Designing a Dress, and KITTENS!

Well I knew this would happen but I thought I’d be better at managing it: I’ve become a bad blogger due to being immersed in the throes of wedding planning. I have nothing very meaningful to blog about, since my future husband reads my blog and while nothing else at all about our wedding is traditional, I am trying to keep anything bride-related secret from him, or as much as I can do, living in an apartment together ^_^

We are just having a small wedding; less than 20 people, but the planning is still a lot more stressful than I anticipated! There is still just as much work to do, only it’s on a smaller scale. Fortunately, we are doing pretty good ticking off our to-do lists.

For me the biggest hurdle to cross, of course, has been making my dress. I initially thought it would be exciting, an amazing challenge, and such a fun project. But I quickly became overcome with all the different choices, and in trying to decide what style of dress to make I found myself overwhelmed: what if I picked the wrong style and regretted it? You only get one shot… what if I picked something too boring and it wasn’t “special” enough? What if I picked something too difficult and I didn’t have the skills to execute it? What if? What if? What if?

Finally I settled on a design, and then I had to try and find a pattern. Again, the stress… should I just draft it? Am I really that crazy? But every pattern I looked at had some feature that wasn’t quite right so I would end up having to change it anyway. Then, miraculously, I found a vintage Dior pattern that was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

The next hurdle was fabric. Readers, you’d think this would be the MOST fun part, and I honestly thought it would be (and I still think it SHOULD be!). I spent a lot of time and money selecting and ordering swatches, paying a small fortune in shipping just to make sure I got it right. I picked my perfect fabric and ordered it, and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, two months later, my fabric still hadn’t arrived. Long story short and a bit of a nightmare later, I had to source a new fabric from a new supplier, and start over.

So fast forward to about a month ago, and I FINALLY got my fabric, my pattern, now it was time to start doing the fitting. And boy, do I hate that part LOL. This is a designer dress, which means it’s constructed in as few pieces as possible – which sounds easy but when you have to do a massive FBA it’s not. Not only did I have to figure out the fit on a very odd bodice, but then I had to decide – woe of all woes – how in blazes I was going to construct the thing. Because the instructions – vintage, bless them, call for overlocked seams, and we all know that’s just not acceptable on a WEDDING DRESS (at this point I do realize it’s ridiculous how much angst I’m causing myself). So for the last few weeks, I’ve been simultaneously making a test garment, as well as agonizing over all the possible ways I could finish the insides.

Now, I’m almost ready to cut into my beloved fabric. Readers, I’m kind of terrified. Because there is something about making your wedding dress that lays bare all your shortcomings which you are very adept at hiding from yourself in regular garment making. I am not fastidious. I have a tendency towards impatience, which leads me to rush and cut corners. I am also running out of time. I am terrified my dress is going to end up some nightmarish creation of bollocks that looks like a cheap, badly fitting polyester taffeta Halloween costume purchased hastily at the 25th hour from the dollar store. Which considering how much time and money I’ve invested in it, would be a terrible travesty.

So, I’m trying to force myself to take it slow, thinking and planning, and not rushing. Which means the blog gets neglected.

Which is good, because I have nothing to blog about anyway LOL.

So in the meantime, here are some pictures of our kittens – they are growing SO FAST!!!

Named Rene Maxi Skirt

Hola amigos! I am so excited to show you this fantastic skirt – the Named Rene maxi skirt, which I’ve long LONG adored, and which i bought immediately after they did the re-release of their first season on pdf.

Named Rene maxi skirt in linen-viscose blend

This skirt has everything I love: firstly, it’s a maxi skirt, which I pretty much live in, in the summer. It’s a simple long line, slightly flared at the bottom, without too much fuss; has long vents up each side, is partially lined, and has a clean, semi-high waistband with zipper closure. I did not take pics of the zipper or the lining, sorry! LOL You’ll have to take my word, it’s a lovely style. The second I put it on, I was in love, and wore it straight away – that NEVER happens with new makes, for me – usually they need some time in the magic closet, as I’m kind of turned off by it by that point LOL.

Part of it obviously has to do with the wearability of this great pattern, but the other part is this fabulously bright fabric from Blackbird Fabrics – a gorgeous linen/viscose blend which is absolutely heaven to wear in hot hot weather: it’s soft and cool and flowing, just as a summer fabric should be. Sorry peeps, I bought it all – but they always have great prints in lovely fibers available 🙂

Here’s a little peek at how the vents show when the wind blows it around:

Named Rene maxi skirt – vent action!

The pics here are taken the second time I wore it, when the weather hit 35 degrees Celcius just over a week ago – yuck!

The first time I wore it was the day I finished sewing it, and I wore it for a very special occasion: to go visit our NEW KITTENS!!! Yes, we are adopting two beautiful rescue kittens, and we are so excited! They are still too little to leave their foster mommy, and need to be spayed still before we can take them home, but the adoption date is scheduled for July 24th, just over a week 🙂 We are counting down the days!

Happy Forest Kittens – Cricket & Katydid

The little calico is named Cricket, and the sweet Siamese is named Katydid (or Katy for short). All four kittens in the litter were named after forest bugs/animals, since their mama is a forest feral – part of the TNR program in Langley (Trap-Neuter-Release: a program designed to reduce the feral animal population in the most gentle, humane and stress free manner possible). One of the toughest parts for them is trapping the pregnant moms, because they are understandably very skittish, and if they have their babies in the wild, the mama hides them, and many of them do not survive 😦 But luckily they were able to nab these babies’ mama while she was still pregnant, so the kittens could be born in safety. Mama has since been spayed and released back into her colony, and is living happily ever after 🙂 These little ones will have a much more pampered life, but we know they’ll always have roots in the wild! ^__^

If you’re interested in learning more about the program, the website is www.tinykittens.com. There is a writeup on these kittens’ story, and you can watch them on Livestream 🙂 There are also write-ups on all the past kittens that have been fostered in this program as well. They really do unbelievably amazing work, and so many little precious lives are saved because of all the wonderful work they do! 🙂

My Miette! :)

My first cardigan – finished – YAY!!

(goofy pose courtesy of my lovely man, who when I did this in jest said he liked it so this one’s for him because he loves me enough to photograph my makes when there’s dinner waiting LOL)

I’ve been simultaneously also making a Sedum so it probably took me longer than it should have, but I have issues with knitting project monogamy LOL.

I found this pattern to be a little intimidating for a first cardi – even though I’ve already made a pullover top, some of the instructions required a little leap of faith (what? you want me to BREAK MY YARN??) but the pattern is flawless, so if you knit it, trust it – it’s sound 🙂

The sizes go from 34 to 38 and I’m finding a 36 typically fits me the best so I had to do some math… ok a LOT of math to get this one to fit. So basically it’s a 34 at the beginning/yoke, with increases to the 38 bust but with the stitches re-configured so there’s more at the front where there needs to be and less at the back where I don’t need them. Yeah it’s confusing. You should see my pattern sheets. It looks like a deranged particle physicist got a hold of them and madly scribbled formulas all over it. I’m not sure how I managed it but it worked somehow LOL. I also added an extra repeat of the pattern above the bust darts so they actually appear below my boob, and give me some much needed extra length to COVER said boob.

The yarn is Soft Donegal – a lovely merino tweed with a richly saturated dye, a relatively new product at my LYS – 88 Stitches. It was expensive but um yeah… look at the colour. I had to have it 🙂 No regrets 🙂

Side note: one thing I really like doing to justify my love of expensive fabrics (and now yarns), is compare similar garments in similar fabrics in RTW – dudes, that’ll make you feel good about expensive habits, lemme tell ya. Hats alone are going for $70 – imagine what a pure merino little number like this would go for – and it wouldn’t fit nearly as well 😉

I wore it like the above pic to work (this is me after work, and after making dinner and lunches and then working some more LOL… plus I need a haircut something fierce so don’t mind my rumpled-ness) but even despite that, the sweater still looks great so that’s cool! 🙂

I took a pic with it all buttoned up just for grins but I probably won’t wear it like this unless it’s with a cute skirt or something… which, incidentally, I’m supposed to be sewing and is sitting on my sewing table half finished, collecting cat hair, but I am currently battling my hatred of zippers LOL.

And now the aforementioned Sedum, in progress, with bonus CAT:

 

Lola’s Week

So Lola survived her first week with her new family! 🙂

She had some bugs & some baths, (which she did not care for), her first nail clipping, and her first trip to the vet today, which has left even her seemingly boundless energy sapped:

On the bright side, there were steaks, treats, and lots of play & cuddles. She has even taken an interest in some of my hobbies:

kitties can game too 🙂

I’m not sure if that last one was “Mama can I sew too?” or “Mama, get your ass in gear and finish that dress!” lol.

I think it’s the latter, and she’s got a point 🙂

And not to forget my always stoic, regal, gentlemanly Hutchie, with the biggest kittie-heart in the world:

Broken sleep, bugs, baths, and brutal heat… it’s been a whirlwind of a week but we all made it, and our family is intact 🙂 Now, onto the next adventure! 🙂