Orange You Glad

Knock, Knock!
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, Knock!
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, Knock!
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

You will all be so glad that the next two projects did not arrive on your doorstep just before Christmas!

This summer a client asked if I could fix her sleeve in the back where it had torn away from under the bias binding. The fabric is silk gauze…not your average every day fabric but I assessed the situation and figured I could open it up, slide a piece of silk organza into the seam, flip it flat, stitch the bias binding strip over the top and as they say in the UK- “Bob’s you uncle.” See what I did: Things went OK for a while and then like those bad bad pennies…it found it’s way back, but this time it is no easy fix. The organza held well but all the fabric above and below couldn’t stand the stress and just went ballistic. The bias strip is strictly decorative so it was no help holding anything together…sort of like a well worn old stretched out black lace bra…merely decorative and not too good for holding things up. Now we have this situation:

There is no chance of pulling the fabric across, adding more organza since it is tight when she reaches forward and it will happen again. This is a real problem for women who ask me “do I need that much ease back there?” I should keep a gallery of these photos for such stupid questions and answer, “No, you can have it tight and plan on returning here at the end of the season.” So I cut off the decorative cuffs and plan to open them up, and make some sort of triangular repair with top stitching so it looks like the jacket came that way to start with…oh Hell, I really don’t know what I am going to do but telling the client it was a desperate situation which would call for surgically removing the cuffs impresses clients and give some gravity to the alteration. The cuffs and I are waiting for some inspiration:

Now unto a real as Chelsea Handler calls it “A Hot Mess.” I have shown photos of this little honey a few posts back but I didn’t have to get real serious/want to raise my blood pressure but the Jan 5 wedding date is coming up pretty darn fast. It is wedding number 3 for this maiden and I hope it is “Third time is the charm” for her. She bought the dress over the internet, faithfully measured herself twice, sent the numbers to China and waited. Wedding dress roulette…then the phone call- Mrs Mole I can’t quite seem to get this dress down over my hips.

Let’s see what the problems is, shall we?

The lining was not made for this dress, it never was, so it will be removed so I can deal with just the satin underskirt and bodice lining. OK, the satin underskirt was not made for this dress either. The bodice and bodice satin lining was let out at the waist 4 inches and 1 inch at the top under the arms. The top of the zipper and lining was taken in 2 inches at the top. There are huge parts missing to the satin underskirt and I can just about stitch the chiffon layers together to meet at the side seams if she doesn’t want to do the Watusi at the reception.

Then there are the draped chiffon layers…two in fact, both long but not very wide. The inside of this dress is horrible and I wish I could ignore it/set a match to it but we can’t…it has to fit and have the gaps filled in. Luckily, I can cut a load off the length and put in wedges and strips to help. That is where we stand…patching and praying it will all turn out right. Click on the photos for some gut-wrenching views!

The bride is coming next week for a try-on with all patches basted in and we have gone waaay past any normal charges for this quick fix. It is now into the realm of a sympathy sewing project…doing my penance, sewing for Jesus.

Orange you glad you dropped by? Last week after Bunny gave a link to my blog, 7000 readers showed up…yes, you, you know who you are and some of you can relate to this type of madness so I am happy to share…stay tuned for the peach dress re-make and the sound of wedding bells.