because I have too much free time....

As you might imagine, with five kids, one being a new infant, and the oldest being six, I have a lot of free time. Add to that a part-time job (20 hours a week), which I went back to this week, a Bible study that actually requires me to work at it, playing piano for church and getting ready for our big conference at work.... well, I really need a hobby.

So I took one up.

I've always liked to sew, In truth it's been a hobby for several years. I just go back and forth on whether or not I have the ambition for it. Right now I do.

I got the ambition last week, when I spotted a contest. It was for a new Bernina sewing machine.

Bernina is my favorite brand of sewing machine. I don't really need a new one, because I love the way mine works. But it's older than me, and well, I wouldn't mind some of the newer features.

And the contest looked easy: sew two squares of fabric (scarves) into a tube and use elastic thread shirring to make it into a dress. Then embellish, etc to make the dress your own.

Now, I haven't really entered sewing contests before, but I've seen enough of them to know that it's not the garment that wins the contest so much as the photo. So I mentioned it to Chester. He was totally on board.

I spent date night looking for inspiration, and decided on a sheer flowey white floor-length dress. I originally wanted to paint flowers on the back (that got nixed in the end).

We hit a rummage sale the next day, and bought a set of sheer light blue curtains for $2. At the same sale, we bought a small stack of taffeta scraps for 50 cents. Then I went to work.

Did you know that shirring 10 feet of curtains down to, say 32 inches or so, isn't really what elastic thread was meant for? I learned something.

The dress was done in two evenings (which included cutting off places where I screwed up). Then Chester designed and I made another front piece out of the taffeta to wear over the dress. They looked good together.

Now to find some popsicle-stick shaped young ladies to model.

I asked two friends. Both agreed. Chester shot the photos and played with GIMP to photo edit. Here's the results.




40 dresses were entered in the contest. There's some really nice ones there. But I honestly think that mine could win. So if you don't mind, please vote for me! I'm currently just barely ahead of another really nice dress, so I need all the help I can get if I'm going to get the new machine. Voting is open until Wednesday, September 30th. Thanks!

Now I'm excited about sewing again. Started a pair of booties for Tommy this evening. Maybe I'll finish the diaper covers I have cut out too :)