(no subject)

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Sewing business angst

Sigh. There is a light at the end of the tunnel (and I don't think it's a train).



I'm doing alterations on a wedding dress. I hate alterations, but this is for a very nice lady who got a really nice dress for dirt cheap (even with my cost) and it shouldn't have been that hard. Except.....



I had to convert the back zipper to a lace up, because of how it needed to be let out. (too small in the bust, not enough seams to let it out, but it looks great with the lace up back and that give just enough room). Now, this normally would be not a problem. Except....(there's that word again).



I could not do a sewn eyelet with my machine. There were so many layers of fabric, beads, interfacing, etc. that it wouldn't sew through it. I also couldn't sew it by hand, for the same reason. I couldn't use metal eyelets, because, although I know they make them, no place around here carries them in white, and I don't have enought time to have them mailed. And, the silver ones, which I have in plentiful supply, would look awful.



So, I looked at using the elastic loop braid that they use for buttons on wedding dresses. The only problem with that is that it really isn't meant to take any strain at all, so using it for lacing won't work well, although it does look nice.



So, after stopping for pizza and caffeine and thinking really hard about it for a while, I finally figured out a solution. I sewed the elastic loop braid on the outside, with the edge of the loops at the back edge of the dress. Then, I took the hook part of hooks-and-eyes, in white, and sewed them directly under each look, on the inside, so when the dress is laced, the lacing will go through both the loops and the eyes. The eyes are strong enough to take the strain of being laced through, and the loops look pretty. The only problem now is that I have to get more white eyes, but if I can't find them in white tomorrow, I can use the silver ones, since they're on the inside of the dress.



I delivered this thing today. I am very glad to have it gone. I got some really nice ribbon for the lacing and whipped the ends so it will be easy to lace up.

Now, all I have to do is get  a cheongsam done by Friday. I think I'm going to get big and brave and skip the second toile in favor of just cutting and sewing it.  I know what changes I need to make to the pattern, and I'll do the back fitting darts last after she tries it on, but without being able to get another fitting between now and Friday, I really can't play it safe.

Minions, I want minions!