Pins and Needles

I had my first dress fitting today. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy it because I had a migraine but I made it through it. My seamstress, Mina, was very nice and understanding. Everything went more smoothly than I expected. Because my dresses are the perfect length and didn’t need any hemming, my alterations are very reasonable in cost.

I wasn’t very prepared for this appointment. I went in to the local David’s Bridal yesterday to inquire about alterations and they offered me an appointment for today. I wanted to share with you the few things I picked up to make an alteration appointment go smoothly.

1. Have your undergarments purchased and with you. Since I was expecting to have a couple of weeks before the first appointment, I had not yet ordered mine, but David’s will let you borrow units for the appointment. Now that I have a pickup date, I have a defined deadline for getting these on order.
2. Bring the jewelry and accessories you plan to wear that day. I have two custom sets made for me by Jill Zaleski. I was able to try them both on with my dresses to determine what to wear when and decide if any changes need to be made. This also goes for veils and shoes.
3. Style your hair as close as possible to what you will do on the wedding day. I will be doing a pin-up style for the wedding so when I go back for the second fitting, I will have an up-do.
4. Take someone with you. It helps to have an extra pair of hands to help dress you and to take pictures. And in my case, I was not feeling well and it would have helped so much to have someone to drive. Having my Mommie Dearest in tow would have been delightful. She hasn’t gotten to see me in my dress yet, outside of pictures and I don’t think I’ll be able to handle her tears on the wedding day.

No tips outside of what most wedding sites will tell you, but I have tired of the wedding sites and hope to provide a little info for those of you that feel the same way.

The Vendors-Jewelry

Even though I am determined to have a simple wedding, I do want there to be a little bit of drama here and there. I’m talking drama that makes you memorable for a good reason, not the reality show drama so many of us have become accustomed to. Jewelry and accessories are a good way to get that little bit of drama. A friend referred me to an amazing jewelry designer, Jill Zaleski. I met Jill yesterday and I was blown away by her and by seeing her pieces in person. I had been keeping an eye on her through Facebook since I heard about her. She recently posted pictures of her newest collection and I fell in love with several pieces. I was happy to walk away from her with this one to add to my own jewelry collection.



It’s a lariat style necklace and the details are simple but dramatic. She packaged the piece up while we were talking and her packaging matches her personality and style perfectly. I was happy to get home and unwrap this little gift to myself. I can not wait to see what she comes up with for the wedding. I’m sure she will provide pieces that become treasured for years to come.



I will definitely be treasuring this lariat. Isn’t it pretty.

More Unfinished Business

Since I’ve been tackling a few unfinished projects this month, I decided to add one more to the list. It’s actually a few in one but they are all the same. I am not a big jewelry wearer but I do enjoy wearing earrings. Whenever I leave the house without them, I can hear my grandmother’s voice in my head telling me she always feels naked if she doesn’t have earrings on. Once I learned how to make jewelry, I immediately set about making my own earrings. Most of the earrings I wear now are made by me. That way I get the exact colors I want and the exact sizes I want. But I do tend to start them and not finish them. Case in point…

It’s ridiculous that I have this many pair that are unfinished. So today’s goal was to complete as many as possible. I had a feeling I had more finished dangles than I did earring lever backs. And this was the case. In the end I was able to finish eleven pair. I tried to finish at least one out of every color range that I had, but I always lean towards more browns and blacks and of course my recent obsession with purple.

I always store my earrings linked together like this so I lessen the chance of loosing one of the pair. Since I travel quite a bit, I have found that a recycled Altoids tin is the best storage device. I’ve tried many ways of carrying them, but this has turned out to be the best as it can fit in any spare space in a suitcase or in a pair of shoes without damaging the contents.

Okay…back to finishing those socks. Too bad they don’t go as quickly as these earrings. Hope you all are having a crafty weekend.

Take care!