Hi Sis,

I can’t believe it, this week I finished Holly’s dress. We started it last autumn before I got pregnant and a mixture of morning sickness and snow belt winter slowed down our progress. I was determined to finish it before the baby came, and I finally did!

Holly and I met online on facebook’s history groups. We were both starting out as vendors, and lived nearby so we figured we could vend at some local events together. After we started chatting, I mentioned working on dresses together. Holly didn’t sew dresses, but she said she would love to pay me to make one for her. Excited to make a dress for someone that wasn’t myself… I said, “I would be happy to make a dress, but I am a novice fitter so I wouldn’t be fast a fitting or sewing her dress.” She was fine with that, and then sent me pictures of the dress she wanted to reproduce!

I will admit to complete intimidation, I was imaging making a nice sheer or basic day dress. lol But, this was so tempting and beautiful, I jumped on board. Then I found out there weren’t any patterns similar to this dress that I could buy. So, when Holly came over I started draping her with tissue to paper to make our very own pattern!After a few tries, we started working on a fabric mock up. With that we continued to work with until we had the kinks worked out! We wanted to make sure we had something that fitted nicely before cutting into the beautiful silk wool blend fabric Holly bought.

And about half a year later!!! Believe it or not, the dress still isn’t complete! Holly has ordered some hand dyed matching soutache braid that matches the dress fabric perfectly, and she is going to braid the bodice. She is also attaching buttons to the side of the bodice to hook the skirt too, and working on some cute fluffy organdy under sleeves…. and she even bought a small black antique lacy mantle to go with the dress. I can’t wait to see it when it is truly complete!

Love,

Jamiegoof