LaFittes parade

One of many interesting groups passing by...and I'm proud to say I got many people to stand up and dance to Daft Punk's Get Lucky tonight - who can resist?!

Blue - Rated X!

Should be self-explanatory...

In a box

If you watch SNL you surely get the reference. Not sure how Star Wars is related...

House Tour

Weirdly, a guy named Choppy who said he's been in Scary Movie 3 and NCIS or some TV show gave us a tour of the house next to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. 3 stories of history all renovated, and he even took a pic for me. Available for rent, of course...

Alabama Chanin Beaded Mardi Gras Dress - The Pictorial

The front.


The back.


Haven't quite finished beading and trimming the very bottom...


Swingy skirt...


with plenty of walkability.





And finally, an attempt at an AC-style photo. Didn't go barefooted, though.


Oh yeah, the fabulous photography didn't quite happen because the nice camera save the pics in a file we couldn't open, so these are with my iPhone - bleh. At least they're in focus - the probability of getting a nice photo in the Superdome that's in focus is low...very low.

Ivanka's Going with Me!

Just a taste of a beautiful shoe! Nine West has an equally beautiful purple suede heel, but they were sold out of my size. I LOVE Ivanka Trump shoes, though, so this was the perfect excuse to get some! The color matches exactly the paint on the dress....too bad I trimmed most of that off. I'm thinking of leaving the very bottom unbeaded to show it...or not.


I'm trimming the train tonight (God bless Lucas for lying on the floor of my closet and pinning the back - he'll make a good tailor!), have a hair appointment tomorrow, and will do the photo shoot with Drew after school - woohoo!

Shhh - Did You Hear That?

MoooooOOOOOOO! The cow came to help me today, and it was MAD! I've been shocked and amazed that during the 3 months of constructing this dress, nothing major has gone wrong. I haven't cut through the fabric when trimming painted sections, and I haven't sewn an entire section together the wrong way like I did my AC shirt. Until today....but it was minor, thank goodness. Somehow, I didn't quite figure out front and back before I stitched the shoulder seams together. I mean, I THOUGHT I had front and back right, until I held the dress up. DOH - I sewed the right front shoulder to the left front shoulder, and same for the back. (Lost about 30 minutes doing that and fixing it - not a big deal...and I thought about leaving it to make a Halter dress - ha!)


I also have enjoyed beading the neck binding, to my surprise. It's a lot easier than I thought, kind of mindless work. Oops - beaded the wrong side apparently. I'll leave it for posterity, just like that other one at the bottom of the dress.


Oh, and I'll get back to the armholes, but I wanted to show you what I had in mind for the shoe. There aren't any strappy gunmetal gray shoes I like in Mobile, and this one at DSW wasn't available in my size, so I found a similar one at Zappo's.


That will arrive tomorrow, so hopefully the photo shoot will be posted by Tuesday, God willing and the creek don't rise!

And Now a Word of Gratitude...

Well, more of a song of gratitude to my family for putting up with this obsession for the past couple of months. This tune was one of my favorites growing up in the Presbyterian church, and I prefer the old dreary Doxology that was in my alto range to the hopped-up, bouncy version the local church sings. (If you've been around here a few years, you know I make up lyrics to songs, or Psalms, as the case may be.)

GLO-ry be to my HUSband...and TO...my SONS and TO my MOM and JIM.
If he DIDn't COOK our DINners,
I COULD not FINish this dress.
DEAN...is the BEST.
Hus..band..in the world.

The actual original version went like this:

GLO-ry be to the COTton....and TO..the BEADS, and TO the AIR-brush KIT.
As it was on AC's website,
Is NOW in MY own CLOSET.
Made...by my HANDS.
Aaa-men...aaa-men.

Alabama Chanin Beaded Mardi Gras Dress - The Back!

Yesterday I re-beaded the back bodice sections where I left the knots on the outside. It wasn't that hard, but trying to stitch without puckering after the shape's already cut out was a little nerve-wracking. See the shape near the center top where I removed the beads? Now stitch that without stretching it - yikes! This is the first time I felt that the dress was very fragile. I started having nightmares of things ripping when I sit down.


And here she is - minus beading at the bottom where I'll have to cut off the train - boo.


This pattern would make a gorgeous dress for a wedding or something where no one's going to step on the train...or spill vodka on it.


All that's left is to fell the seam (better get the pliers and leather thimble), sew the side seams, and bind the neckline and armholes.


What would you use for binding - the darker fabric, or the lighter? I'm leaning towards the darker, but I'm open to suggestions....and I've been thinking about beading options on the binding - may have to check out the Craftsy projects and Bianca's blog to get some ideas.

A Little Bit of Lagniappe

Sorry for the radio silence, but I've been a slave to the beads. I calculated my total beadage so far: 9 ounces of beads from Ely's, plus 12 ounces of beads from Alabama Chanin so far, and she estimates 2,020 per 3 ounce bag, so that's a grand total of 14,140 beads so far. And then I remembered I bought some seed beads that wouldn't fit on my original needle, but they DO fit on the current itty bitty needle - voila! (And P.S. I hate these little tulip-y flowers!)


I may try and use them on the neck and armhole bindings with the bugle beads - what do you think? And a word to the wise (or sick): beadng first thing in the morning after 50 mg of Benadryl at midnight for your cold symptoms results in some interesting choices:


I remember knotting my thread, loading a bead, then starting a new shape. I came up from the wrong side of the fabric and thought, "Wait, did I just put a bead on here? Nah." It wasn't till I finished the shape and knotted off that I saw what I did. I'm leaving it for posterity - but it's at the bottom of the dress, so it's not for MY posterity. (Get it?) Maybe I should take a nap now...

Weekend Update

Well, I finished the 3rd panel...mostly. I forgot that I left some outside knots on the back pieces (above the waist), but apparently my technique was also different for beading and trimming.


These beads are all CLOSE and I didn't trim much, so the purple is DARK. I think I'll finish the last panel before I go back and fix this so I'm sure to have a dress to wear.


And look at the bonanza I found at a local outlet-type store - lots of XL and XXL cotton T-shirts in different colors for sale cheap! I bought 3 of each color to cut up for Alabama Chanin-style garments. I even thought about making a cape or poncho out of the purple for Mardi Gras, but I'm pretty sure I don't have time for that.


Now I shall relax with an adult beverage, and can I give a shout-out to Robbie - drink a coconut punch for me, sister!

We Pause for a Musical Interlude

Sorry, I have to jump up and dance to this. I'm working on perfecting that move he does on the chorus with the knees alternating directions while the right hand slaps down and to the left - I can do that!



Now, if you missed Justin Timberlake's Suit and Tie on SNL last year, I'm the brunette on the left...well, maybe after a lot of practice.



And not to forget my favorite artist, Florence! You just have to jump up and down for this one. (Also, excellent use of the harp and words ending in -tion.)



And now beading will resume.

Alabama Chanin Beaded Mardi Gras Dress - The Front!

Ooh, here's a little teaser of my untrimmed fabric. The beads are actually gunmetal gray.


It just begs to be framed and hung on a wall.


And here are 30 pictures of the dress in different light. I've sewn the center front together and just started felling the seam at the bottom.


Then I noticed that the seam pulls to the right from the knees down - gotta undo that and fix it.


Ignore the royal blue dress form covering - I gotta do something about that, too.


And I finally got my sewing machine back from the shop after breaking a needle attaching Dean's cuffs to his Kwik Sew fleece jacket, so I finished that today too.


The pics are really lightened up to show the details.


So I really think I can get this dress finished in time for Mardi Gras one month from today. Off to straighten a seam!