Silk Day

The day has come. I ordered silk today!! I'm so excited, but of course there is that little voice saying "What if it's all wrong and you have 10 yards of silk?!" It's always scary spending a chunk of money on something you can't see or touch at the moment. And as we know I'm an instant-gratification type of girl, so the next two weeks of waiting are sure to be full of nail-biting and hair-pulling. But since I'm already going grey (Thanks, Sandy!) I'll be sure to pull out the pesky white hairs only!

I ordered several samples and compared weights, and colors, and stiffness and let it marinate for about a month and a half. I was kind of worried about getting the most expensive option, at $25/yd, and thought maybe I should go with the $15/yd option. Then I realized that putting "cheaper" anything next to my sassy lace would be like wearing acid-wash jorts with a pair of $700 Christian Luboutins. It just isn't done. And the last thing I have time for is being smited by the fashion gods. I went with the Oyster color because the Ivory and Cream samples were a little to wheat colored.

Excuse my wrinkles, but I mean am I right??

Don't you love the Oyster?!

I HATED the cheaper samples. The "Ivory" is straight up white if you ask me and as Mandy Bagwell would say, "I just can't work with that!"  The "Blush" immediately forced me to say allowed in my best Southern drawl, "My collas are blush and bashful." "Your collas are pank and pank!"  (It's from Steel Magnolias. And if you aren't aware of this you should be ashamed of yourself.) And the "Cream" would be gorgeous on Naomi Campell, but on this ScIrish lady? Not so much.

Told ya.

Also, I ordered my shoes!! I really wanted to do some cranberry shoes, but Sandy was VERY against the notion, and I just couldn't stop thinking about these. They're made by Pour La Victoire and have blue soles for my "something blue"! I love love love them! The crystals have a tendency to catch on the lace, but tough cookies. Sacrifices must be made.




Now I'll give you a small taste of the sample in its almost-complete condition. These pictures are from my phone and not the best quality. I know I said I wasn't going to do this but I'm too excited!! I can't help myself.

It's missing lace scallops on the neckline and hem but other than that it's perfect.

St. Patrick, I salute you.

Whew!! This really has been a busy month. We haven't gotten much done on the dress, but a lot of other stuff has happened! I had exams for the spring semester, decided to change jobs, had my birthday (Charlie got me the best bike EVER and threw me a surprise party!), we celebrated Teddy's first birthday, and now started back to school for my last semester. But as of yesterday some exciting things have happened on operation "spin some gold".

A few months ago Charlie and I went to New Orleans to visit my favorite Cajun, Jennie Boudloche. Jennie's from Houma, which is "down on da buuyyy-a" as they say.We had so much with all of her friends from home that took us to the St. Patty's day parade--these people definitely know how to have a good time. I made tutus for Jennie and me to wear, and a hat for Charlie. I can't find a picture of Jennie in her tutu.. Our looks were completed with shamrock tattoos, mine on my face and Charlie and Jennie's on their respective "guns". I also added a little Irish barbed wire. It was a blast!

And, yes, there is a point to this long prelude. Mom and I were brainstorming how we should make a petticoat to make the skirt of my dress stick out more and I had a brilliant idea! We used my St. Patty's tutu to see how it worked, and it did very well! So St Patty, we salute you!

Also yesterday the lace came in the mail!!! It's AMAZING!! This is what one month's pay from Francesca's looks like in lace.....

While I do reeeeally love the lace, the fact that this is worth an entire month's pay may be one of the reasons Franny and I didn't work out. Hopefully I'll make a decision on the silk soon so we can really get started!!