A whole lot of celebrating (and sewing!)

Birthday Girl #1!

Birthday girl #2!

Upcoming birthday boy, and little sis (my only autumn baby)! 

Man oh man, a lot of work goes into celebrating!  Two posts ago we were entering Great Lent, and now it's two weeks past Pascha (Easter).  I hope your celebration was truly blessed and full Light and Life!  Christ is Risen!  Christos Anesti!

Getting ready for the Pascha picnic

 Against better judgment (and some heavy sighs from DH), I did manage to crank out some Pascha dresses for the little girls in my life... or at least, some of them :)  I made three baby dresses for my 2 goddaughters and Masha, and then a dress for Vasi (she's wearing it in the photo above, but you can't see it well).  Susy's godmother is a a very talented seamstress, and she offered to make an adorable dress for Susy (worn here, over the... polo shirt?  Ok ;D).   Joe looked spiffy in a 2nd-hand striped button-up. 

Two Pascha dress for my goddaughters, and a purple spring dress for Masha.

 

The day AFTER Pascha, I kid you not, was Vasi's birthday.  Since her school observes Bright Monday, she had the day off!  So she was able to invite friends over for a birthday party.  It was lovely, except I'm slowly realizing that "go with the flow" is no longer an effective approach to parties for young ladies.  I'm realizing all of those organized and seemingly petty party games are REALLY a method for keeping a gaggle of 8-9 years olds from killing eachother in a battle of emotions and drama.  HOLY COW.  What happened to cute toddlers running around in the grass, eating cupcakes?  Okay... No, it wasn't that terrible.  And I must clarify, most of the drama stemmed from the birthday girl herself.  Thank goodness for DVDs (Frozen!) and rubber band looms-- they saved the day in terms of providing good distractions.

The Travel Bag!

Bright Tuesday?  I dove into a collaborative art project for Vasi's class (above).  I had the students design and draw a travel-themed patch, which I then appliqued to a handmade messenger bag (the Colette Cooper).  I filled it with travel-themed items, and it was all donated to the school's silent auction.  It was a really fun project, and I was so pleased with the end-result.  It took me all week to make-- phew!  The kids really did a great job with their badge designs-- I was very impressed!

Filled with goodies!

As soon as the bag was completed and turned in, I started to make my dress for the aforementioned silent auction/ Gala fundraiser for the school.  Well, no, I didn't "start" the dress.  I started researching dresses, which almost took more time than sewing the dress itself.  Since the gala theme was the "1920s", I googled and stared at pictures of dresses from that era until my eyes were crossed and my brain was complete mush.

I would then look through all of my patterns and evaluate which ones had potential to alter or augment, because I was DETERMINED to use patterns and fabric from my own stash, and to not spend a penny on new materials/ patterns/ notions.  I sketched out lots of ideas, but kept coming back to this color-blocked, art nouveau-ish "gown."
  
Although a simple flapper-esque shift could have been so much easier, I didn't really want anything too short.  And those dropped-waisted dresses are very "in" right now, but I didn't want anything that looked too costume-ey or boxy.  So I merged two patterns together, and came out with this:

Gatsby-inspired Gabriola merge... "Gabs-by"?

The bodice is from See & Sew B5794 (View B), and the skirt is Sewaholic Gabriola Skirt.

I converted the skirt's waistband into a 6-inch midriff section, which joined the bodice and skirt together.  Using contrasting black fabric helped me economize older fancy-ish scraps from my stash, and the skirt was... well... a thrifted gray cotton sheet.

Getting ready to do the Charlston

Although I knew I was taking on a lot when I settled on this design, not to mentioned squeezing it out in 4 days time, my excitement fueled my focus and really drove me to get'er done.  You know what they say on Project Runway; just go with your gut.   

This skirt pattern is so lovely and swishy.  No one has ever accused me of being a "girly-girl," but I will say this skirt has a very princessy-feel to it.  I think it stands alone beautifully as a skirt, but I could also see myself attaching it to a variety of different bodices to create a variety of dresses.  

My handsome guy and I.  Behind us?  The Portland Timbers soccer field!  How random!

The evening itself was a whole lot of fun, and most importantly, some money was raised for our beloved school!   Job looked very handsome in his black dress-shirt that I found at Value Village the day before (I also found my gold necklace and black t-strap shoes there!  It was a pretty awesome trip to Village of Value). 

You thought the fun ended there, didn't you?  No!  There's more!  Today (the day after the Gala) was Susy's birthday!  Right after church, we came home and had a small party for her.  She had three guests, and although there was a bit of drama initially, they all ended up having a great time together.  Even if I did have to pull out the nail polish and eye shadow to keep the girls busy :)  Happy Birthday to my sweet Susy!  It's so hard to believe that my little girls are really growing up!    

Wow.  What a start to spring!  Pascha, two birthdays down, another one later this month (go Joseph!), and a lot of manic sewing in between (not to mention a spring virus or two, making life extra fun).  I'm already beat!  I hope you are well, and enjoying the Paschal season, spring weather, your family and loved ones!  I'm off to bed!