In the Know

I am so glad I worked in the fashion industry for a while. I learned where all these great production facilities are located, and I am not afraid to just show up at them and start talking to people. Today I went down to South Central Los Angeles in the rain to see if I could get some covered buttons made.

I had considered sending them to some place on the internet so I wouldn't have to trek downtown, but at $0.75 a button I thought it was too expensive. Today I dropped of my fabric and I am having covered buttons made for $0.85 a dozen. Yes, $0.85. Can you believe it? Anyway, they will be ready for pick up tomorrow and I should have my dress completed by the end of the week easily.

I will keep you posted.

Almost There

Sorry, I haven't been blogging. I have been very busy sewing. We have less than two weeks until the wedding now and I only have a little left to do on my dress.

Last week I made major progress. I cut everything out and then sewed the top and the bottom. I sewed in my pockets. They are the best ever. I love them. I don't know anyone else who had pockets in their wedding dress, but a pocket was one of my goals.

I love my dress. Love, love, love.

I still have to hem it, sew on the buttons and the loops and then I am done. That should only take a couple of hours. If I pull it off before next weekend, it will be the earliest I have completed a dress project ever. I am such a procrastinator. Although I guess there are a few other things to be doing the week of the wedding.

I hope you all like my dress as much as I do.

Favors Complete

Well, we completed the favors this week. I love them. I almost want to keep them all myself, but I am not sure what I would do with them... other than look at them and touch them. They are buttery soft and so cute. I can barely contain myself.

Thanks to Matt and my Mum for both helping out so much.

I hope everyone likes them as much as I do.

The Dreaded Phone Call

Well, last week I received the dreaded phone call. It was the fabric shop I ordered my wedding dress fabric from. They said they didn't have my fabric in one piece, but that it would arrive in another few weeks. And I would have it by the end of November. Oh no! That would be way too late.

Luckily after a little chat we figured out they had two pieces which equaled the total yardage. With a survey of the store staff confirming that the two pieces were indeed the same color, I decided to accept my fabric in two pieces. I ordered more yards than I need so it should be okay plus they said they would throw in an extra yard in case the cut causes a problem. Crisis averted.

I received the fabric. It looks awesome. I can't wait to get sewing with it.

Fabric Ordered

Well, I took a huge step in the right direction this week. I have been searching high and low all over the Los Angeles Fashion District for fabric for my dress. It needs to be the right color, the right texture, not too shiny and the right weight. I went to Mood in West LA too. Famous for being the Project Runway fabric shop. Needless to say I was starting to get a little worried that I wouldn't find something that was right. I really wanted a peau de soie, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the color I wanted. Last week I found a website and ordered one yard of satin to sample the fabric. It totally works. Horay!

I am relieved and delighted. I ordered the yardage I need and it should be waiting for me upon my return to Los Angeles. Soon I will be able to hurry up and get this dress made.

The Groom's Share

Of course I cannot resist creating one of my favorite little items as favors for our wedding guests. I ordered a new fancy sewing machine to DC so I didn't need to lug my old machine back and forth to make the favors. But now I am wanting to sew my wedding dress on the new machine. Oh well, you can never win. Probably safer to stick with my old machine though as I know it like the back of my hand.

I gave Matt a sewing lesson on the new machine. He fixed the belt loop on his old dressing gown, "robe" for Americans. He also made a wedding favor. He is so talented. Who said the Groom's share of wedding planning is nothing. Matt learned to sew for our wedding. How many grooms can say that? Too cute!

My First Full Toile

Tonight I made the first full toile of my wedding dress. It is so exciting. Of course, I put it on and couldn't stop walking around the house and staring at myself in every mirror I could find. Looking at it from the back, from the front, from the side. So fun! I love it!

The skirt is way too big so there really wasn't any point in fitting it tonight. I would have to take in every seam pretty much, so I will make the pattern smaller and start over on the skirt. The top looks good aside from the pokey boobies. They are reminiscent of a Madonna concert costume which is not the look I am going for. I will have to re-place the darts on the pattern for a more flattering shape.

I am sure I will have several toiles before I cut into the real fabric. I wanted to take a photo and share it with all of you, but Matt may be checking my blog and I want him to be surprised. I think I will start taking some photos and just save them up and release them after the wedding. I will try to give you some tidbits when I can though.

I am glad I have made my dress a priority now. I had such a great time sewing tonight.

Everything Else

Jackie wrote on our wedding website last week that we have 90 days to go until the big day. Aaahhh! Somehow I have not been paying attention to this. I can't believe it is coming up so soon. I have a lot to do.

It seems like everything, other than my dress, is getting done. Invitations, favors, flowers, and all of those other little details are all on their way. My dress on the other hand seems to be at a stand still. Everything else keeps popping up and pretending to be more important. Not sure how that can be. As soon as invitations go out, which should be within the next week, I will switch my focus to my dress. I really need to because I am spending a lot of time in D.C. during October and November. I can do pretty much everything else in D.C., but sewing my dress has to be a California priority.

I swear one of these days you will see some progress on my dress. I promise.

Practice Dress Update

I originally intended to sew three dresses even before starting my wedding dress, but I didn’t complete three. I did complete two however. I completed them a long time ago, but I forgot to update my blog.

Practice Dress #1 - The crumb catcher dress (see pics here), which I posted the inspiration photo below in my February 25th post, turned out okay. I would make the crumb catcher a little shorter under my arms if I made it again, but other than that it was nice. I got multiple compliments when I wore it. I tend not to tell people that I made the dress I am wearing, but Matt sometimes tells people. It is always funny how they are so amazed. Often it turns into the introduction piece. “This is Suzy and she made her dress, can you believe it?” Too funny!

Practice Dress #2 that I made was much simpler. I actually bought some pink super cool shoes which I decided needed a grey dress to go with them. Not sure if it was great practice for my wedding dress as it was a stretchy knit fabric, but it was cute and definitely got me back into the sewing mood.

Project Runway Season 6

Horay! Horay! Horay! Season 6 of Project Runway premiered tonight on Lifetime. It’s my favorite. There is nothing like a reality show of fashionistas in a designing/sewing contest/war to get you in the mood to sew. I love it. I always get inspired. I will use this season to help me on my way to wedding dress success.

It will be extra fun this season too because it is filmed in LA at my old school and I will know all the cool places around LA they take the designers. So just to let you know, don’t try and contact me on Thursday nights from 10 to 11pm because I will be busy.

Matthew Keller #2

Matt is in California this week so we are having fun running around and doing a few wedding planning things. We registered at Williams-Sonoma last Sunday and were surprised to find out there is another Matthew Keller who is getting married on December 19. Uh oh! Two Matthew Kellers! Talk about confusion.

Luckily it turns out that Matthew Keller #2, mine of course is #1, was married on December 19, 2008, in Colorado. I am hoping the fact that he was married last year will cause less confusion. Although the first time I looked at the registry I didn’t see the year so maybe other people won’t either. I think I will make a FAQ on our website about Matthew Keller #2 to minimize any confusion. I hope our guests read them.

Other fun things we will be doing this week include cake tasting and getting engagement photos taken. It’s great to have Matt around this week. He starts his third year of law school next week so it is back to the grindstone for him until his December break, our wedding and honeymoon.

The Little Things

So I am a little behind in my posts and on my wedding dress. I think I decided I would start my dress in June 2009, but I just started for real today. I needed to get some new supplies and set up my sewing area. I got about 20 yards of pattern paper, 10 yards of muslin, 4 yards of horsehair braid, 2 new grid rulers, and the pièce de résistance, new fine, sharp glass head pins. I am so excited for new supplies, especially the pins. It really is the little things that count. See the photo for the type of pins I got. I highly recommend them. Glass head pins are meant to be good because you can iron them without worrying about melting them.

I have decided on a design for my dress and drafted a pattern today. I am on my third iteration already. I have never had four months to make a dress before so I really don't know what to do with myself. In fashion school I would have less than a week with several homework projects due at the same time, and making all other dresses for myself I have only ever really given myself a weekend. Four months will mean many fittings and hopefully a perfectly tailored dress. That is unless I slim down or bulk up before December. I hope for the slim down though because it is a lot easier to take a dress in than it is to let it out.

I am hoping to be posting more often now that I am actually on the dress making train. I am enjoying it already. I do love to sew, and I am so glad I decided to make my wedding dress. I would hate to regret it if I didn't.

Save the dates are out.

Save The Dates have been posted, I mean mailed. It's Official. Do I keep saying that?
We had so much fun creating the Save The Dates. I spotted a similar design in a DIY bridal book and then spend hours on my Adobe Illustrator getting just the right placement for the photos to show through the holes we were punching with our fun Martha Stewart punch. I worked with a great printer in Long Beach close to my client that I have done some business stuff with and they were great. I wonder if they do wedding invitations?

Matt and I cut circles and punched holes. Who says grooms aren't involved with wedding planning. I have photographic proof.
We even stuck magnets on the back in the hopes they go on everyone's fridges. I tested them out on our filing cabinet. You can see the photo. Matt threw a bunch of them on the floor off our filing cabinet so I would thing they didn't stick and all fell. When I yelled out in disappointment his amused response immediately gave him away. I could tell he had set me up and they all worked after all. So stick them on your fridge.
Matt says the USPS does a lot of their sorting with magnets or something. I don't quite get it, but I hope our magnets don't screw things up and all get sent back. Particularly as we waited for the new Simpsons stamps to be released for us to send them. Matt is a big fan of The Simpsons and they were the perfect touch to finish off a fun Save The Date. I hope you all received them and liked them.

It's Official

After much searching we've decided on a location for our wedding and reserved the date. So December 19th, 2009, it is! Los Verdes Golf Course is the venue. It is a beautiful ballroom on a public golf course overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. And it is located just up the hill from my parent's place which I think is very handy. Now that we have picked the location I think the rest of the planning should be simple, right?


You can check out Los Verdes at http://www.americangolf.com/weddingevents/losverdes/

My First Practice Dress

After much debating I have decided on a design for my first practice dress. It is inspired by this beautiful Jim Helm dress. Unfortunately, I don't like the front of this dress at all, but the back is glorious! So I am going to try and do a similar back, but change the front. I must also incorporate some practice points for my wedding dress, so I am thinking I will add a pocket hoping not to ruin the line and covered buttons. I can't wait. I need to get a move on too because April is when I would wear the dress and I only have two or three weekends in between now and then that I will be close to a sewing machine.

Our First Successful Dinner Party

We had our first dinner party this weekend. We weren't ready for it at all, but if you put these things off until you are totally ready you may never have them. I think the same may apply to babies.

We had to buy some plates and glasses as we only had enough for four people, but I was all for that because now I can do dishes much less often. We had such a blast. I think our guests did too. Someone even had seconds of the main course, which delighted me because I hoped everyone liked it. Check out the tablecloth I made too. You can see Matt in the background working away on his soup.

I also made chocolate mousse which took casualities. Apparently the smart stick hand blender we had was no match for chocolate chips. As the smoke rose from the handle I couldn't help but think Murphy's Law always applies, especially when you are doing things at the last minute.

I need to keep that in mind for my wedding dress too. I am sure I will sew the front to the back inside out or upside down or something ridiculous like that. I have done it before. That is why the golden rule of "Don't sew when you are in a rush or tired" will have to be written in a large font on my wall.

I am glad it was a success and we had fun. Matt is already planning our next one.

The Most Magnificent Tablecloth

Tonight I spent about four hours making a tablecloth. Yes, a tablecloth, I know. You are thinking what on earth could take me four hours... All a table cloth needs is a hem, maybe a seam if it is for a large table. Well, it is for a large table. We have a huge square table in Virginia and we are having people over for dinner this weekend, so clearly we need a tablecloth.

But of course with wanting to get my skills up to snuff, I made the most magnificent tablecloth ever. I started with two french seams the length of the tablecloth. French seams are the kind that there is no edge actually showing because they are self enclosed. They are beautiful. And then I made a one inch double turned hem with mitered corners. The corners are glorious! I want to do mitered corners on everything! Although, I don't think my wedding dress will call for them. Too bad.

The one thing my wedding dress will call for though, is a plan to have it completed long before the actual day. I realized tonight that I do not want to be up sewing the night before my wedding because I didn't realize how long it was going to take me. A tablecloth took four hours. Any guesses how long my dress will take? I just hope it turns out as magnificent as my new tablecloth.

Distance

What is it about distance that drives people crazy? Especially me? I have been back in California for two weeks now and I miss Matt like crazy. I have almost another week and half here until I return to DC (this will be the longest we have been apart since we met). I think I was spoiled with having him around all last month and I don't know what to do without him. Somehow I have managed to pick a fight with him several times this week. I think I am starved for attention and will take any, good or bad, at this point. Luckily I have realized what I am doing and have vowed to behave in the hopes of getting more of the positive type. Wish me luck.

We have another year of me traveling for work. Well, that is the plan right now at least. Maybe things will change if we get totally fed up with it. I guess the thing I should be focusing on is looking at wedding locations. I can only do that while I am in California, so I better make the most of my time here. If I don't, I will regret it once we are down to the line and we have no where to get hitched. Once we get the location booked, I figure the rest of the wedding will plan itself, right?

I Got (No) Skills

I am slowly realizing how much planning goes into weddings. I am looking at ceremony and reception sites and trying to determine how to even compare them. I guess I will just have to follow my gut when it tells me "this is the place." I hope it comes sooner than later.

Another realization I am having is that my pattern making and sewing skills are not up to snuff. In fact, I am questioning whether I have any at all. I am very much out of practice and like any other thing in life, practice makes perfect. So before I start my wedding dress I am now planning on making several other dresses which incorporate details or techniques I want to use on my wedding dress. The good thing is Matt and I have three other weddings to attend before July. That means I have an excuse to make three dresses. That should get my skills up to par and hopefully ensure my wedding dress doesn't turn into an ugly mess. That would be sad. Very very sad.

A Month Together

Matt and I met in March 2007. And since we met I don't think we have been together straight for 30 days. He went on a sailing trip, then to Michigan and Virginia, then I was in Chicago and Las Vegas and then came Matt's big move to D.C. for law school. So this week marks our spending our first full month together since we met. And the good news is... we are both still alive and very much in love.

Matt came to California for the first two weeks of his Winter Break. I worked most of the time, but it was great to have him around being my chauffeur when needed. We spent Christmas with my family and then headed back to Alexandria Christmas night so we could head off on a Florida Holiday.

First we headed to Pensacola. We stopped along the way and met up with Ben and Katie and their new baby, Matt's friends from Michigan, who just happened to be visiting Florida too and on our way to Pensacola. We just met up at a Cracker Barrel for lunch, which was really too short, but better than nothing. Their baby, Adena, is the cutest ever and very content. Matt's breakfast was served on about six plates and the description on the menu said you would have to loosen your belt. Seriously!

Matt was behind on his Harry Potter reading as law school seems to be the priority so I was given the task of reading Harry Potter #5 out loud during the drive. My voices definitely improved during the trip as you can imagine considering how thick those books are.

In Pensacola we stayed with Matt's friend from VMI, Chuck, and his wife, Marjorie. We had a blast hanging out with them, and Marjorie let me help her break in her new fancy sewing machine which I am totally jealous of... still. They took us to a Polish friend's party for New Year's Eve which was awesome. Not everyone there spoke English, but Matt and I danced the Greek umpa and the chicken dance and had a great time. Chuck drove which was so good of him as I know how miserable it can be driving on nights when the chicken dance is played. We will always remember Pensacola New Year's Eve 2008 for more reasons than the chicken dance though.

After Pensacola, we drove over to Tampa for Sam and Jackie's wedding. We attended their rehearsal dinner Friday night at Jackie's parents' place which is lovely. The food was great, and it was so nice to meet both of their families. Saturday was the wedding. They had a full Catholic mass and ceremony and the reception was on the 41st floor of a high rise in Tampa. As you can imagine the views were amazing. Overall it was a beautiful wedding and reception. They did a great job planning it all. I told Jackie's Mom I was just going to use all Jackie's ideas and save on having to come up with my own. I will just change the names and date on the invite and we are set. Genius!

We left Tampa after the reception and started driving back to D.C. as Matt had class Monday at 8am. I read Harry Potter #6 the whole way. We made it back to Alexandria early enough that we could get settled before Monday hit.

Now I have been working from Alexandria all week, and Matt has been enjoying dinners consisting of something other than cereal. We are getting spoiled. I leave Tuesday morning for Los Angeles. That will be a sad day, but it will also mark us being together in each others' presence for an entire month. Our very first. I'm a lucky girl. We get along so well.