When the Wedding Dress goes wrong!

Every girl DREAMS of that perfect wedding dress. Yearns for it, searches for it. Eats, sleeps and pines and plunders for it!

When Mr Pirate and I started planning our wedding, I did just that. We had the venue, we had the theme, we knew many of the "little details" we wanted to have. I, like any other Lass, started the search for the PERFECT gown. And I had found it!  and for a STEAL of a price! I mean, $150 for my wedding dress?!?!?!?! There must be a catch, right?

Right.

The catch, was that it was a direct order from mainland China. After talking with the seller, regarding the make and measurements of the dress, I went ahead and placed the order. OHMYGOD! Are you insane?! Have you let your Jolly Roger fly too freely??? No. That order was placed with a good amount of knowledge and timing. I deal directly with manufacturing in mainland China every single day for my "day job" (hey, a Pirate has to have a way to finance her ship, ya' know!). So I knew the risks I was taking. But for that price, I was willing to try, and had left myself MORE than plenty time to find something else.... just in case.

So, what did I order? Let me show you!

Gorgeous, ain't she? And yes, I realize that those photos show a couple different sleeve options.  no biggie.

Flash forward about 2 months, and I get the package in the mail! I get home that night, and am DESPERATE for Mr Pirate to hurry up and leave for work!! JUST LEAVE WILL YA'?!?!?!?!

He finally leaves, The Powder Monkey is content watching cartoons for a spell, and I get to open the package! The moment has arrived, it is here!!! I gently, but urgently (and carefully) open the package....


and pull it out

and promptly say "WTF"

Yup. What I opened, and what I ordered, were no where in the same Ocean, let alone in the same ball park (for those of you who need a different analogy)

Let me show you just how different it was

oh yeah. Big difference. Not to mention all the small issues that were wrong with it. The zipper was crooked, flowers were falling off, and what the heck was up with those GIANT ugly flowers just tacked on on there?!?!?! The balloon hem was, well, not anything like the photos.

 You can see the disdain on my face here: seriously- what the hell is going on?!


So, I went "professional" on that thing. Sent the seller the following technical comments:

 Raw edges that were never serged, and should have been finished

 yes, those are straight pins that arrived still inside the dress. I didn't add those!

 Zipper sewn in crooked

 Flowers falling off

Seriously- this thing was a HOT MESS.

And some back and forth with the seller, that I also showed them where they STOLE the original photos from. I got all but $20 of my money back.

I now had a good amount of parts and fabric to work with, and a LOT of work ahead of me. I had to quickly decide how this was going to go down. Would I buy a new dress? Would I try and fix this one?

Fortunately, I had the help of another Lady Pirate whom is near and dear to my cold black heart to talk some sense into me, and help come up with a plan.

I immediately started tearing that thing apart, and she started working on the top. We sliced and diced, and butchered, and pillaged and plundered that thing.

After about a month of work, this is the final product:

Well, almost final. We decided in the long run to NOT have straps on My dress. And I'm so happy we made that choice (although I am still working on making them detachable so I can add then for future events)


Want to see how it all turned out??  OF COURSE YOU DO!!!!!!!

Photo Credit to : Fotos By Fudd

The hat was also made by Me, and I'll do a separate post on that, because it looks nothing like how it started.

I'd say, it turned out to be a DAMN FINE garment. And I'll be able to use for other events. As a matter of fact, I plan to use the corset (possibly with detachable straps) for an event coming up later this year.

Thankful for all the sewing skills I picked up over the years or crafting at home, as well as in my professional life. Those skills saved my rutting arse!

Back at it, and how I built my cutting table

As we all know, life happens. Sometimes, it happens quiet and mysteriously, other times, it's like a freight train running into the side of  a cruise ship, and everything is now sinking down into the water.

That was the consensus for many people over the last year, and while I had my own hiccups, my year in comparison, was busy, but not as bad as some people.

I spent 7 months rehabbing a completely dislocated elbow from a horseback riding injury, then I had to completely remake my wedding dress (that will be a separate post) since what I ordered and what I received were two totally different things, followed by getting married, and then finding out the property we were renting, was being sold, and scrambling to find our own homestead. WHEW!

All in all, things ended up as they should have! And we can all get back to our way of life!

Since we are only 2 months into the new homestead, I thought you all would like to see some of the projects we do, as we do them!

The first thing on the list, was building my cutting table for the sewing room. Well, and getting the rest of the room in order. It's currently full of boxes, and pieces, and trims, and bolts, and, and, and, well... you get the idea.


After scouring the internet, stalking my Dear Friend Casey's sewing room, and eyeballing my space and the things I wanted, this is what was settled on:

For the base, I used three of these 9 cube organizers. You will need to adjust for your needs based on the size of your room:
9 Cube Organizer

Mr Pirate was pretty awesome, and put these together for me while I was at the office during the day. The Powder Monkey was so proud of her daddy, that when I got home she dragged me by the hand with closed eyes to show me! So sweet!

Here's what they look like together, and how I configured them:

I set them this way, with the intent that I could easily get to the plug, and still be able to have some storage underneath the table. I have not yet put the backing on the shelves, as I'm not sure I want it there.

After leaving them set up for a few days, and making sure that's what I still wanted for the final product, I took length and width measurements. 77"X 36" is what was needed.

Saturday morning, I left Mr Pirate at home with the Powder Monkey, and headed over to Home Depot to get my MDF cut. 
MDF is "Medium Density Fiberboard".  Don't let the name fool you, this stuff weighs a TON. It's heavy.  This is the size board I had to buy and I had the guys at Home Depot cut it for me. They cut for free, and you get to keep all the pieces!

And I have to be honest. This bad boy ALMOST didn't fit in the back of my Pilot. Almost. Had to move both from seats forward, and had two very nice contractors in the parking lot help me load the pieces into my SUV. THANK YOU FOR THAT!!!!! When I got them home, Mr Pirate helped me unload, and the Powder Monkey helped by holding open doors.

Here's what it looks like unpainted:

The next thing to do, was to paint that bad boy. It just so happens, that when we bought the homestead, the contractors who painted EVERY SINGLE WALL flat white, left their giant contractor sized bucket of paint. So, rather than buying more, I just used that. It took three coats total, since the MDF was soaking the paint up very quickly and eagerly.

Here it is after two coats: 

Here it is after three coats: (Not sure that you can really tell in the photos, but I assure you, there are three coats of paint:

While I waited for the paint to dry, I packed up Mr Pirate and the Powder Monkey, and we headed over to Joann Fabric.

I picked up 2 1/2 Yards of 4guage Vinyl, and two of the biggest size cutting mats that they had. Be sure to look for coupons people! I got a $5 rebate from Ibotta as well as the cutting mats were on sale, and I had more coupons from the Joann Fabric app.

Here's a pic of the vinyl going on, as well as it applied and the table top in place:

And then last thing I did, was to lay the Cutting Mats up there:

And there she is! The final product!!!!!!!!

The only other thing that I have planned to do now, is to mount some heavy duty brackets to the wall above it and add a dowel rod. That way, when I am pulling fabric off of a roll, it won't roll off the table.  I'll have to add a picture of that once I find bracket that I really like!

I also plan to decorate the organizers themselves, and will most likely use the new vinyl decals you can get. This way, when I get bored, I can peel them off and put up new ones with little effort.

The next project, is to get my fabrics organized and into those cubbies!

So, all in all:
(3) Nine Cube Organizers $100
(1) Sheet MDF: $30
(1) 2 1/2 yards of 4 guage Vinyl $9
(2) 24" X 36" cutting mats: $80
Paint: I had paint on hand, but have been told that a sample size of paint worked well for someone else.

Total: $219  (this price is what it would have cost me without coupons, rebates, and a $40 gift card!)



Easy to do, and can be done in a weekend, or even a day if you are organized!!!
If you  try this one, let me know! I'd love to see your variation of it!