The Sewing Elves

Last month, I posted a picture of Butterfly in my brother's wedding wearing her flower-girl dress made in my very own home by sewing elves.  Here is the rest of the story:

My brother asked us last year if Butterfly could be a flower-girl in his beach wedding in May.  At the time, I thought to myself, "Maybe I could make her a flow-y little dress.  That would be fun!"

Fast-forward to the week before our trip:  I had not made a dress nor did I have had any plans whatsoever for her attire.  Then I got sick with some kind of feverish cold that lasted days and days.  It is not pleasant to have a fever for six days straight.  

We had plans to leave on a Sunday, and when Thursday rolled around, I suddenly remembered the dress, or rather the lack thereof.  I couldn't just go out and buy one for a variety of reasons, most involving the lack of disposable income for beach flower-girl dresses and the desire to not inflict those feverish germs onto the unsuspecting public.

I remembered my plan to make a dress and then remembered that I didn't have anything like a pattern or fabric.  So I looked around at what I did have.

I had the leftovers from a fabulous vintage chenille pillow sham I got at my grandmother's house (and had previously used for the skirt at the bottom of this post).  I had an old linen slip that was unwearable due to a huge rip across the back.  I had several white cotton sheets just begging to be turned into something.  And finally, I had a little package of various shell buttons I got for about 25 cents when a fabric store was going out of business last year.

A while ago, I saw this top online and thought it looked easy to reproduce, so I looked at it again.  I measured Butterfly and got to work.  The pillow sham became a bodice and straps, the linen slip became the skirt, and the sheet became the lining.  (Yes, I said lining.  Aren't you impressed?)

Now, lest you think I am some kind of amazing seamstress, I want you to know that I have not followed a pattern since I was in fifth grade and my mother made me enter the 4-H apron contest.  It was such a trying experience that I refused to get near a sewing machine until my daughter was born 27 years later!  Since then, I had basically only sewn straight lines to put blankets and burp cloths together.

This is what the elves taught me to do:  I used the existing hems on everything.  I also used the zig-zag stitch on my machine (that I had never noticed before) to make the button holes.  I could not figure out how to put the button hole maker onto my machine, much less how to work it.  If you look carefully at this picture, you can tell these are my first buttonholes! 

Here's a full length view of the finished dress in the wedding:

Necessity really IS the mother of invention.  And inspiration, I guess!