Dress Stress

Ever notice that no matter how much you plan, organize, itemize, or prioritize…sometimes it just all goes to hell in a hand-basket in the blink of an eye?

Case in point, it's prom season (once again) and, once again, I am designing and sewing the “perfect dress” for my very sweet-but-opinionated, fashion-conscious DD’s senior prom. My goal was to have said dress done in a day or two so I could get on with other pressing matters. “Shouldn’t take more than a day or so” I thought, since this dress is a fairly simple design…won’t require a lot of fit adjustments…minimal embellishment, etc.…. Piece ‘o cake, right?

HA.

So I get it all cut out, have the bodice all basted together, all the straps sewn up and am starting to sew up the front skirt panels (mind you, it is floor-length) when, to my horror, I spot (again, pardon the pun) a very noticeable, glaring WHITE BLOTCH on the fabric where apparently the dye machine must have had a seizure or something. And where does this blindingly-white splotch land? RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SKIRT FRONT! ….. 3 letters…..OMG! [followed by a string of VERY colorful expletives which I won’t repeat here….just use your imagination.]

Now I bought this fabric about a month & a half ago which is good reason to panic. That…..and the fact that the prom is only two weeks away and my DD will be home any minute expecting her first “fitting” in the “dream dress”. Hell hath no fury like a teenage girl without a prom dress. EEGAD! Sooo....I'm running around my studio in a complete panic experiencing the “flight or fight” response first-hand. I’m pulling out ink, dye, paint, heck....even a box of Crayola’s to find the right shade thinking maybe...just maybe… I could camouflage it....

HA.

After the cruel reality sunk in that there is NO WAY I could do that and not have it look like a big-white-splotch-in-camoflage, I grabbed my car keys and went speeding off back to the fabric store. “There’s no way….there’s just no way” my head kept chanting, “it’s been too long…they’ll be sold out…..there’s no way….” So I park the car, sprint across the parking lot, fling open the door and race through the store looking like a mad woman who just escaped from a secure mental facility. Of course, it didn’t help that I ran out of the house so fast, I forgot I was wearing my slippers. Yup. Fuzzy ones. I was just about to collapse into a sobbing heap on the floor when suddenly…I looked up….could it be?....omigosh…could it be?

YES! I found it! And lo and behold, there was about 2 yards left on the bolt and I only needed one and a half. THANK YOU LORD! Now, I do NOT have a history of being this lucky but I do believe that my panicked prayers were certainly answered. I came home, cut out two new skirt panels and all is well in the world of prom-dom.

For now.