Alayna's MORP Dress

Last week our granddaughter Alayna called and asked for help with a MORP dress.  I knew I was getting into something serious, but little did I know that it would mean changing the design of the dress.



I should have known.  I tend to get into these situations easily.  But who can say no to, "Grandmay, please."  Not me, apparently.  So they arrived late that evening for a fitting, giving me a couple of days to I could figure out the problem and start considering some solutions.  

The dress was just too big.  When her mom ordered the dress online, she had to measure Alayna.  Scared of getting a too-small dress, she was generous with her measurements.  

I would think it was a half-size larger than needed in the bust-line and back.  The halter straps on the bodice were much too long, but there were a couple of hooks so they could be adjusted.

I realized that the straps could be the solution if I could just figure out how to change them to regular straps that would hook in the back. So that's what I did--I moved the straps.  

Instead of a halter top, she now has a dress with straps that connect to the back.  Since the straps weren't long enough to reach the bodice back, I made slim little bands using cording and slivers of fabric stolen from one of the side seams.  Since the dress is covered in chiffon, I had no choice but to treat it with extra care.  I sewed everything before cutting and used fray check to help control the fraying on the little cords.  

I had to hand sew the cord ends onto the back, then attached it to the wider straps.  There are lots of beads on the straps, so I didn't want to fold them under and have them pinching and pricking her skin all night.  I also didn't want to cut the cord and risk messy ends sticking out.  I certainly did not want to take any stitches out!  

So I chose to hand-stitch the cord to the strap from one edge to the other. It worked very well!  To give them a finished look, I added some beading on the small corded bands.  The beads don't match exactly, but they are close enough that even Alayna thought I'd somehow found matching beads.

They returned on Thursday to pick up the dress, redesigned, finished and pressed.  A boxed ride from the manufacturer to Louisiana is pretty rough on an evening dress, so it needed a little TLC in the form of my little steamer.  Alayna seemed very pleased: for a young lady who is very quiet and shows little emotion, she was downright giddy with happiness!  Go Grandmay!  

Quick update: I saw Alayna this afternoon and asked about her dance.  Her reply, "Awesome!"  And the dress straps held up (I was a little concerned).

Linking up with lots of parties tonight!

How I managed to catch them all is beyond me.

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

 A Quarter Inch from the Edge for TGIF Friday 

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts 

My Quilt Infatuation

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: N E C K T I E S

I've begun making a quilt for a customer that incorporates neckties for a deceased family member.  The quilt is to be a gift and she had already chosen both the ties and the pattern that she wants.

When she approached me about making the quilt, I thought that it would be much easier than it is in reality.  In fact, I've restarted several times already.  I think I may have finally figured out the problem and the solution, but I won't know for a few more days. My research turned up some interesting points, however, so I thought I'd share some of those with you.

First the ties.  You may already have ties, but if not they are widely available at thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales.  Don't worry too much about the style or colors.  Anything goes!  

M & R Letter Project -- Finished!

A few weeks ago I was in a craft store and found these large wooden letters on clearance.  I considered getting a few for the library at school, but the letters that spell out READ were not available.  I started thinking about something for the studio or house.  SEW- no EW...  CRAFT- no CAF...  Well, darn.  QUILT- nothing there at all.  In fact, I realized, there were no vowels left, which meant forget spelling any word!

I was getting frustrated until I realized that there were an M and an R.  Mary and Richard.  How sweet.  A bit too much so, but I'd been wanting to decorate letters since I'd dabble with this studio organizer a couple of years ago (July 2012).  

So it was time to buy a couple of letters and have some fun.  I finally found an ampersand (&) of a different size and tossed it all into the basket.  When I told Richard that they would cost me less than $3, he gave me one of those husband looks.  You know that face?  The sure-it's-costing-only-$3-now-but-how-much-later-? looks.  Well, that's what a stash is for, am I right?  I had everything else: paint brushes, stencils, paint, gold leaf and talent.

It turns out that the talent isn't all that.  I started out by painting the letters this pretty, dark blue just because I liked the color.  I intended all along to add a little gold leaf scroll using the stencils. (I had not opened the gold leaf although its been around for ? years!)  

Gold leaf, I did not know, is difficult to paint with. I made a mess. On both pieces.  It was just, well, a mess.  So I tried to save the letters and made a bigger mess.  My theory is that anything can be saved with a bit of distress. That's the kind of distress that makes a thing look old and well-used.  So distress it was!  

I brushed gold leaf over the whole letter, wiped off some, let it dry and scraped off more, then sanded the edges just a little.  The blue shows through the gold just a little in some areas, so the untouched ampersand works with the other two pieces.  Interestingly, the little scrolls are also barely visible.  The surprise is that they don't look quite so...odd.  The letters are sitting on the kitchen window but I may move them.  Who knows?  For now I'm enjoying them every time I go to the kitchen for a snack.

Flip It ~ Pin It ~ App It Weekly #123

I had an idea after posting last week's Pin It Weekly: I use several different social media apps in my world of electronic gizmos and thought about changing Pin It Weekly to encourage readers to add links to any social media app that they use regularly.  

My DIY Flipboard magazine

I love Pinterest (but you know that); I use Flipboard almost every day (I HAVE to read daily); and I Facebook several times a week (especially to keep up with family).  So starting with this post, "Pin It Weekly" becomes "App It Weekly" (AIW).

I love Totally Tutorials Blog.

My reasoning is that you may use different apps that the rest of us don't know about.  That's no big surprise because there are so many apps available now.  I'm thinking that if everyone shares an app or two each week, we'll learn about new apps that are available, and if we visit some of them, we'll also learn a bit about what they can do. Isn't that a great way to help each other?  Wouldn't you love to learn about some of the really good apps that are available?  

My "funny, stuff" Pinterest board

So think about the apps you've been using lately, or regularly, and tell us about it.  All you have to do is click on the linky button and paste a copy of the url.  Double checking the link will insure that viewers can find your site, but that takes just a few seconds.  After that you're done!  

From my Bloglovin' feed

I can't wait to see which apps you are using and promise to visit everyone in the next few days.  If you have questions or need help, please email me at mary.marcotte@gmail.com.  I'll do what I can to assist you.

Modern Feathers: Yellow Bag

Back in September I began a new work, which I thought might become a quilt using feathers.  I found the Anna Maria Horner tutorial and played for a while, but you know I had to do my own thing!  I began playing differently and eventually figured out a few things of my own.  I wrote about how I went from the Horner tutorial to my own feathers.  See that post here.

Anna Maria Horner tutorial feathers

All's great when you're having fun, but when you get stuck...

Mary Marcotte applique feathers

And did I get stuck!  The first block looked great, but it  did not play well with the second block.  The yellow background is the same in both blocks, so obviously my colors are off in the pictures, but my real problem is that the feathers are so different I just didn't feel that they could work in the same quilt.  

I did what I generally do when I get stuck--set the blocks aside. My brain needs lots of time to process problems.  In the end the feathers sat on the edge of the work table for almost a month.  

I finally decided that I had to do something with the two blocks and chose to make a quilted book tote.  It's large enough to hold several books.  Plus, the long, durable straps can hold whatever weight I might put in and are a perfect match for the yellow fabric.  

I took these pics yesterday afternoon and used the bag today: quite happy to report that it works as well as I had hoped.  
Love yellow? Make a feather bag.

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts--go check out her half inch HST's!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration

This is one of those Sunday Quilt Inspiration posts that is a bit misleading.  


Sorry for that.  I've been reading.  Just reading.  Meaning not doing anything else.  I'm one of those readers who gets into a book, can't put it down, and reads straight through her life.  It's sad, really. 




It's sad to say that for the entire weekend, I have nothing to show for my "work" except one book. Read in its entirely, but still, it is only one book. Well, at least it's completely read.

And it was a riveting read.  I would not put it down--despite the many interruptions.   Regardless, tonight's Sunday Quilt Inspiration is just quilts.  That's all. 

Just a bunch of quilts that I hope I have not posted before.  After this many quilts, and checking out all weekend, who know?

Sort of a quilt inspiration without the inspiration.  

These 20 or so quilts all appear on my "heart, quilts" board.  Hope you enjoyed the variety!

Happy Quilting,