It's just less than two weeks before the big day and thus far, I am seeing a huge improvement on the dress I've been making. I must say, this dress has put me on a roller coaster of emotions and learnings. It's been a long time running, but with just a few more twists and turns, the dress is almost done. It was slow progress but I am glad I took the time, the dress is coming up beautifully. I don't have a mannequin but I have a very cute and willing model who is also excited to see the finished product. I also just hang the skirt on a hanger with clothespins to hold it when I'm not working on it yet. Momma's gotta rest too.
So from the last update I posted a little over two weeks ago, I was almost finished with the crochet skirt. Right now, the crochet skirt is completely done. My sister (my client) is satisfied with the length already. It ended up looking like a cheerleader skirt which I thought fits my niece's personality very much. She likes dancing and jumping and all those acrobatic stunts. And she's really very active so I guess her character really showed in the skirt I made for her. Like what I planned, this skirt will be under the tulle material and will also be her sorta-kinda afterparty attire. After eating all those candies and sweets during the party I'm sure she'll be one hyper kiddo, this skirt will be perfect for her.
Then for the tulle, it felt flat if I don't add anything on it but the ruffles so I decided to unstitch the ruffles I originally made and then made a few rounds of double crochets on the hem before I made the ruffles. I may have overstocked a little bit on the canary yellow and gold yellow yarns (I may still be able to make another dress with the yarns I bought for this project) so I was really feeling good about these crocheted hemlines. I used the stitch markers to mark where I'll make the ruffles. As always, I send photo updates to my sister for every change I make and I'm just glad to see favorable reactions from her.
Of course, Belle wouldn't be complete without her roses. It's a good thing I learned how to make crochet rose last year, I was able to create roses now without any trouble. Actually, all I needed to figure out was how many stitches I need to create so that the rose won't have too many petals and that all the petals I make would look like they're blooming beautifully. Right now, I am in the process of putting those finishing touches on the dress. I'll have to go back to the off-shoulder top to attach some rose applique as well.
Who knew I'll be injured while crocheting. In the past, I had some blisters because I crochet too tightly that's why I learned to loosen the grip a little bit. But this project, aside from the other MTOs I made last month proved that I have been crocheting longer than I have ever had because I needed to plaster some pain relief patches on my fingers. I used to do a little bit of muay Thai and boxing before but this is the first time I experienced any pain in my hands and fingers. I'm just thankful that my husband helped out with the house chores while I was experiencing these pains. I looked up some hand and finger exercises to help relieve the pain. More about that some other time.
I have heard some of my acquaintances IRL saying that crocheting is a simple and boring hobby suitable for old ladies. I just let that go back then because "forgive them for they know not what they say" but if any one of them ever says that again after the pains and all the sleepless nights I spent on the projects I worked on, well, I'll just make sure that they're on the naughty list on this year's Christmas list. LOL. No, really. Crocheting is seriously a cool and fun hobby, full of excitement, disappointments, triumphs, and learnings. It's not for the weak of heart (and fingers) and mind.
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