Idle Hands

I realize I went a really long time without posting anything at all. It wasn't because I didn't DO anything. I was mostly working on the flower girl dresses. I did do a few smaller projects at the same time, not to procrastinate, but because I either didn't have the space (like inside my car waiting to pick up my oldest), or the ability to concentrate on such a big project (most of the time the girls were awake). So here are a few other things I did these past months that I never found time to blog about (free computer time is at night, and I needed night to work on the dresses):

I really wanted a floral print top (I don't own any -well, now I do. But anyways...) so I bought one at Target. This is the back of it. To make it less generic, I decided to add lace to it around the collar. This picture is of the back. It has an exposed zipper.
As I was adding the lace, I got the idea to use a lot of it vertically down one side in a manner similar to a Isabel Lu top I'd really liked months before. The top I'd seen had vertical ruffles on one side (not lace) that sort of stood out when viewed from the side in a cool way. So I did the same with this shirt, only I also decided it looked cool to have the strips of lace gradually get shorter as they got closer to the collar.

And finally, that zipper felt annoying on my back. So I sewed on some scraps of lawn fabric to keep it away from my sensitive skin. The neckline of the shirt is wide enough that I can just pull it over my head.

Next, I can't remember where exactly I found it (I think maybe on BurdaStyle's blog?) but I saw a tutorial for making a mini bouquet of roses out of felt. I printed out the pattern, let the girls pick out a couple of sheets of felt each, and went to work.

 Lina did hers mostly by herself. Basically you cut out circles of felt, then cut those in a spiral shape and roll them up and glue/sew them to the bouquet holder.  She added lace around the bottom of hers, while Miri put pearl beads in the center of each of her flowers.

 It made for a good rainy day activity, especially since it rained a lot here. And then they practiced being flower girls with their bouquets.

Things to do during a severe thunderstorm late at night - make jewelry and talk on the phone!
There was no way I was going to sleep anyways. It sounded like if the big bad wolf wasn't going to blow the house down, the rain was going to flood us out.  I made 2 bracelets for myself out of strands of coral red links I found at the store and really liked. They have a sort of Byzantine look to them. So with the help of clasps and my trusty pliers, I created something for my wrist that actually fits. Most bracelets are way too big for me.

I also made a simple bracelet out of turquoise disks to wear with some turquoise earrings for the wedding dress rehearsal.

Then, because I felt slightly confident, I cut up a set of old bracelets that never really fit me (so I never wear them), and re-strung them so now they do!

 

 It was a long storm.
Anyways, there are a few other projects that didn't make it on here (shorts, a maxi dress, another Target shirt, a pencil skirt) because they aren't quite finished yet (tailoring issues). But more on those later...