Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chloe's First Prom

Chloe and Kramer.  
They have been great friends since the 2nd grade.
Chloe's dress was made of a coral chiffon fabric overlay to a champagne satin.   The dress was sewn collaboratively by Sue Fenton and Madison Banks of the Finishing School in Salt Lake City, the best sewing school in town, by the way.  I had the arduous task of hemming this fluid nightmare, sewing on her choice of buttons and making the ruched organza bow.  Don't look to closely.  I ran out of time and had to quickly tack it in place because I had no time to hand sew on the snaps.  I quite literally sewed her into her dress.  She needed a seam ripper to get out of it.

When Sue instructed me on how to cut the hemline, she said to just take small handfuls of the fabric, line it up with your fingers, and cut it like hair bangs.  I said, "Are you kidding me?  No measuring?"  She said, "Just eyeball it and start cutting."  It was hard for me to believe that this was an actual couture sewing skill.  I have only watched 6 episodes of Project Runway in my life.  So there I was, cutting one side, only to find that now it was lopsided (just like with bangs), so then I had to fix the other side.  That is exactly how it all went down.  But I learned it wasn't going to be perfect like when I cut paper.
The rolled hem
Oh yea, and all those buttons had to be hand sewn.
The 3/4 length sleeve with bows
The ruching on the silk organza sash.
Her wristlet corsage was made from a double sided velvet ribbon with vintage coral velvet millinery flowers, a single white rose, a sprig of eucalyptus blooms, ivory silk and organza ribbons, and a rhinestone belt buckle.  I told Chloe to tell Kramer not to worry about a corsage, I had 2 dozen white roses left over from a baby shower I threw a few nights before, and I insisted I would make hers. (Bossy mother)  I hope that's not too weird, but good grief, these kids have to spend too much as it is on these dances and all these beautiful white roses were going to waste on my table.
 
  
 Proud dad with his daughter
The inside of Kramer's family car, the 15 passenger van, was decorated with white Christmas lights.  The outside was plastered with painted art.  That's what I call a limo.  Kramer's brother who leaves on his mission today was the chauffeur along with his girlfriend.  I loved everything about the fun Chloe stepped into.

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