And We're Back

Summer is done and Sunday brought the reopening of Angela’s House of Alterations.

Homecoming is next weekend, so I had to adjust some straps on my next door neighbor’s dress and my BFF’s eldest son needed his dress pants tailored and hemmed.

Plus, my buddy Carley and I started on her big project, a bridesmaid’s dress.

Let’s start with the dress pants. I am unapologetically against skinny jeans. Especially on guys. I think it looks dumb. But, the boy wants his pants tapered a bit, so I’ll do it.

So there’s these black pants, which I had him put on inside out so I could mark them, and he said he wanted them shortened. Looking at his navy blue Nikes, I said, “I’d rather you have you put the shoes that you’re actually going to wear on,” to which he replied, “these are the shoes I’m going to wear.”

Facepalm.

Sitting on the floor, I looked up at him and said, “you’re going to wear navy blue shoes with black pants?”

“Yes,” he said. No hint of recognition that this might be a fashion faux pas.

He then proceeded to inform me that he has a navy blue bowtie and suspenders to complete his ensemble. I asked him if his mother approved this and he said it was her idea. So, we called mom on speakerphone to confirm. Mom had a different story. Whatever, not my kid. Fortunately he brought along his girlfriend, so I asked her what color her dress was, hoping that perhaps this was all in the spirit of complimenting her dress color. Her dress is black. SMH.

So, for today, I pulled out the hem and marked his pants to taper a bit and I advised him that I’m not doing full on skinny pants because he’ll look ridiculous.

Carley and I began work on her bridesmaid’s dress she’ll be wearing at the end of October. The bride did the whole “here’s a color to match, do whatever kind of dress you like, but don’t be skanky” approach, which is great.

The color is a deep red, and Carley picked out a pattern that she liked (McCall’s M7090) - something that will flatter her figure. This particular pattern is one that is easily customizable with the various pattern pieces to come up with the look you want.

The basic form of the dress is in a heavy satin. The bodice has a lace overlay and the yoke is just lace to give it a sheer effect. We chose to do the facing for the neckline and the arms in the satin, to give it a finished look. It will have a gathered long skirt and a zipper in the back.

Carley is doing the sewing (except for any tricky parts) herself, so the hope is that it turns out well and will be something she can be proud of! Stay tuned for completion of this project.