The Wedding!!

So it is finally here! My daughter’s wedding in the Netherlands. What a wonderful day, the weather was perfect and it was everything that the bride wanted for her special day.

Although this is not a perfect picture of the Mother of the Bride dress, it is one of the only shots I have of the full view of the dress. I was really happy with the way it came out and it was really comfortable for the day. Good thing too, as I was in the dress for about 14 hours total. The party lasted until midnight and although I ditched the hat and gloves after the church, I kept the shoes on until probably 11pm.

I actually received many compliments on the hat! As stated in prior posts, I found it at a hat shop in Berkeley, CA. I felt very “put together” with the hat and gloves! We don’t really get much of an excuse to wear such things in the U.S. so I took full advantage of it!

The Wedding Quilt: Labels!!

Labels, labels, labels!!!  I have a thing for labels. I think that not only do they provide a nice way to "document" your quilt, but they also provide a type of history of why the quilt was made. Especially for something like a wedding quilt. I added two labels to this wedding quilt.

One label simply provides my name, it is the same type of label that I use on garments. You can have these made from an online service and I probably have these from years ago. Simply hand stitch onto the back of the quilt.

The other label is one that I had made from a vendor I found on Etsy. I wanted something embroidered that documents the wedding. And since I don't do embroidery I enlisted the help of someone else! She did a fabulous job and the entire thing only cost me about $25. Now some have mentioned that this label is rather "large". It is. And I like it that way. I wanted to have this very cute saying on the quilt and although the label is larger than normal, it will document their wedding!

The last part of the quilting process is well, in process!  I go over the quilt for any mistakes and loose threads, then wash and dry the quilt. Why do I wash it? Well, it does several things. It removes all the pencil marks that might have been left on the quilt. It also removes any batting fuzz or potential dog hair (yes that happens!). But probably the main reason I wash/dry it is to shrink it. It gives it an "antique" look that I like. I do preshrink the fabric before I quilt it but the batting will shrink somewhat as well. When that happens it give the quilt a type of "lived in" look that I like. And of course washing and drying it makes it pristine for the presenting of the gift!

Stay tuned for more quilting madness!!!

Trip to San Francisco!

So this past weekend I headed off to San Francisco to visit Meghan and do some "wedding planning". Actually I headed to Oakland International airport and then traveled to Berkeley where she lives, but same difference!
The plan has been to try on multiple wedding gowns with the thought to decide on a style which would suit her tiny frame and then design the dress from that. She already had a style in mind, we just wanted to make sure that the one she thought she wanted would look good on her. She is very short and we all know that the fashion magazines tend to have 6'7" models in them who weigh collectively 42 pounds. Not the normal woman. Not even Barbie. But I digress....

One of our stops was the fabulous Britex Fabrics, on Geary Street in San Francisco. It is not far from the Union Square shopping area and is a SF landmark and caters to the local design stores as well as people from all over the country. If a fabric store could be orgasmic, this would be it!! It has a total of 4 floors and each one is amazing! If you are ever in the SF area, a trip to Britex is a must! Even if you don't sew, your senses will become alive with the fabulous fabrics and the extremely knowledgeable salespeople. Don't have the cash flow to spend $300 for Armani wool? No worries, head up to the 4th floor where they have a great selection of remnants for everyone! I myself have purchased remnants up there that have turned into wonderful garments!

See picture of the outside street level of the shop:

Britex Fabrics

We looked at many types of silks, chiffons and satins for the potential wedding gown. I didn't take pictures inside the shop because it just isn't the kind of place one snaps pics with your iPhone. I suppose that some people do that, but I felt uncomfortable doing so. Besides, we were talking with the clerk about wedding fabric, not trying to be tourists!

Now on to the wedding gown:
Well, there has been some discussion about me not making it at this point. Reason being, Meghan may have tried on the "perfect gown" in a bridal shop. It was something that I would be unable to duplicate, with an allover embroidery on silk and just the most amazing style and fit on here. She is deciding so stay tuned as to a potential change in plans. Since it is all about the bride, I am comfortable with whatever she decides! Stay tuned!!!

The Wedding Quilt

I have been trying to work on the quilt in between work travel and normal "house stuff". I am currently working on the part in between the medallions which is the "filler" part of the quilt. (Don't know the technical term, I say filler)  I was going back and forth as to what design to use and finally decided on just a straight line. The main reason is that I wanted the feathered wreath medallion to be shown off. I find that to be a beautiful part of the quilt and I wanted it front and center.

These pictures are a little hard to see because of the late afternoon lighting, but you can see the straight lines filling in the design. I think that it looks really nice because it doesn't take away from the central design but simply adds to it.

Working hard and coming right along! That's a good thing because before you know it I will be working on the wedding gown! My trip to San Francisco is booked for middle November to meet up with my daughter to try on wedding gowns! We are going to have her try on several styles that she likes (that she saw in magazines) and then decide on what type of style to design for her gown. We will also visit the ultra-fabulous Britex fabrics, located in San Francisco. It is the orgasmic version of a fabric shop and a must-see for anyone visiting the Bay area! 4 floors of fabric heaven!!

Stay tuned for updates on the quilt as well as wedding gown updates and my upcoming trip. Finally a trip that is not for work but simply for pleasure!!!

Straight lines fill in without taking away from the design.

Hard to tell it's navy colored but it is!