hand vs. machine...

see this dress:

isn't it GORGEOUS!?!?!?!?

I found it in this book, which I got at the library, while looking for girls fashion.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress! love the embroidery, love the sash, love the zipper front, love ALL of it.

but it's vintage, and in a book, so, clearly, I can't have it.

...unless I MAKE it!

of course, if I'm going to make it, I'm going to make it perfect for ME, and that means, given my 2 young children, that it can NOT be white. So I found some red stretch poplin at Joanns (thanks for the 40% off coupon, LA Times!), and grabbed a variety of vintage patterns to draft from (and enlisted My Awesome Grandmother to help fit me!), and set to work!

I have been stitching/pattern-drafting away, all week.

I have 1 side totally done, and the other side about 1/2 way done... and I have all the patterns made and tested, although not cut out of the real fabric yet...

I'm having soooooo much fun with just stem stitch and satin stitch!

I realized, however, that while I can finish the two bodice embroideries in time to wear the dress next weekend, I definitely do NOT have time to do the skirt embroidery.... at least not by hand.

Luckily, however, (or, rather, thanks to my AWESOME husband), I have an embroidery machine and the software to design my own stuff.... so here's the design I digitized tonight for the skirt:

(it'll be turned horizontally, obvi)

hopefully this weekend I'll have time to cut the skirt out and start the embroidery process....

we leave on friday.....