Shaloch Manos Tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial on doing a shrink wrapped shaloch manos that looks like you bought it at the store. Its a very clean presentation and is a fraction of the cost of buying prepared. This Shaloch Manos cost me just under $8 apiece. You can use whichever ingredients and container are in your budget and have it look neat and professional with this method.  Since there was a learning curve involved in figuring out the packaging I though I'de share with you my way to save you some frustration if you are trying this for the first time.  

Have a happy Purim!

Project wedding - Post 15

Sorry to my dear readers if you're still around. It's been a loooong time hasn't it? Right after the wedding was the holiday of Purim and then I got swept into the frenzy of preparing for Passover. Now that that's behind us I have a teeny bit of time to update you on how this project turned out. Well it really went down to the wire but I expected as much. On the way out of the house to drive 7 hours to the wedding I realized the sash I cut was an inch too short around!!!! In a major rush I went ahead and cut out another one without doubling the height so when I sewed it up it was a ribbon!! Oh believe me there was major panic here especially when I pulled out the last scrap of silk and wasn't convinced there was enough left! Thanks to the One above I was just just able to squeeze it out and we were on my way.

There are going to be a few pictures.....ok ......a ton of pictures....

I didn't sew the sash on until the morning of the wedding, here I am finishing it up as my niece is getting her hair and makeup done.

And here is the beautiful bride all dressed and ready to go!!

  

Here are some of my pictures from the synagogue where the ceremony took place.

I know you can't see the dress here but it's one of my favorite pictures. My niece and my big brother (her dad) right after the ceremony.

Here are some of the shots from the photographer. I love her style. Here is a link to her blog entry on this wedding, you can click on any picture to see more pics in a musical slideshow White Rose Kallah

Here are pics of the girl's gowns I sewed.

I throw in a closeup of me and my older daughter who's a budding sewer herself.

 

Here are my three oldest kids (I left the babies at home with my inlaws) I'm very happy with how coordinated the dresses came out even though they were in different colors. (My older one insisted they not be exactly matching)

 

 Here's my little niece I sewed matching gown for. I also made her an adorable matching headband but she kept it on for a whole of 5 minutes. 

Project Wedding - Post 14

Argh! Down to that time. Only a couple of sewing days left and I really wanted to get good headway yesterday on this but didn't get much done. 


THIS is my least favorite past of sewing............ The finishing work......


Anyone else?


The procrastinating must stop today because I just dont have any time left! 


Here is my list of stuff to do, I really need it done by Wednesday night when I go to sleep. 


I'll check back and cross it out as I get it done. Maybe that'll help motivate me a bit more.


Baby dress
1. Hem sleeves
2. Hem skirt
3. Neaten and tack down top of zipper area (hand sewing)
4. Finish sewing on beaded trim (hs)
5. Fuse neckline to lining


Little E's dress
1. Hem Sleeves
2. Hem skirt
3. Neaten and tack down top of zipper area (hs)
4. Sew on blue pleated trim
5. Sew on beaded trim (hs)
6. Fuse neckline to lining


Big E's Dress
1.Draft and sew in sleeves. 
2. Hem skirt
3. Neaten and tack down top of zipper area (hs)
4.Sew on blue pleated trim
5. Sew on beaded trim (hs)
6. Fill out Petticoat (If she lets)
7. Remove and re-sew in crooked zipper
8. Fuse neckline to lining


Bride's Gown
1. Hem and attach lace to left sleeve (hs)


GULP, Seeing this is not making me feel any better right now. Hopefully as today and tomorrow progress and more and more gets crossed out I'll start feeling better :-/

Project Wedding - Post 13

Yesterday I spent about 6 hours in my sewing studio. The baby's dress and my 5 year old's dress now have sleeves and zippers. I also added to an existing petticoat I had for under my 5 year old's dress. On later of black tulle on the bottom and a bit more around the first and second tiers. When she came home from school she flipped out and wouldn't even get out of her school clothes (not like I would have had the patience anyways:) she took a couple of twirls in the petticoat before I could pop the dress on her. She loved it so much she even smiled and posed on her own which is huge deal for her.

Today hopefully I'll get the baby's petticoat done and maybe the sleeves and zipper on my 8 year old's dress. When the kids saw the dress my 8 year old was hoping this was hers so she cant wait to see how her dress comes out. 

Project Wedding Post 12 - Final fitting!

So we are almost at the end of this sewing journey but not quite yet. The bride had her final fitting and I was planning on sending the gown home with her but decided to add some hand beading around the neckline and sash so I kept the dress and she took home her shoes, veil and headpiece.

I am sooooooo tired from 18 hours of working on this for the past two days that I don't think I have energy to write a blogpost that is too interesting besides for the pictures which I'm sure you'll want to see if you're following my progress.

Next pictures will be from the wedding, unless I post a picture of the beadwork when I'm done with it.

Here are the Tom's she ordered from their bridal collection (see last post for before picture) I applied matching lace to her dress and will post a tutorial with pictures on the blog but that will have to wait until after the wedding.

Here is the label I put in it. It made me so happy to see the way my niece lit up when she saw it :)

Do you think this girl looks like she's happy with her gown? I think so! She ended up talking us into doing the 3/4 length sleeves after all and I'm glad we did because it really looks great. 

Last but not least, I must make a shout out to my very good friend Rifka. I could have done this without her BUT not like this. Rifka used to be a professional seamstress and gave me so much encouragement, help and time from when I first took on the project. I learned so much about garment construction and alterations from her and most of all learned what a devoted and selfless person she is. We didn't record the amount of time that we spent on the dress but Im guessing she's spent at least 30 hours helping me, 16 hours in the past two days alone!! She agonized over every 1/16 of an inch and it made such a huge difference in the fitting. Sure this gown would have looked beautiful if I had done it on my own but her input totally pushed it over the top into a whole other category of incredible. 

Keep in mind these are cell phone pictures in my basement. Keep posted for the professional pics from the wedding.

TTFN

Project wedding - Post 11

Ok, so I finally have an update. I haven't been sewing for a bit because after my last push with the gown I got sick for the first time this winter. I think I just wore myself down a bit too much. Thankfully by late yesterday I was starting to really feel like myself again and made up my mind to get a lot done today.

This morning I had a bunch of meetings that ended up running later than I had hoped and I didn't get down to my sewing room until I got home at 1:30! Earlier in the day when I realized I was going to be getting much later of a start than I was comfortable with I called a friend who knows how to sew (she's actually also giving my girls and a couple of their friends sewing lessons on Sundays) and asked her if she could come over and help me with the girls dresses. I'm so glad she came over, it helped so much. I drafted the sleeves for the two blue dresses and she sewed one set on and hemmed the cuffs. She'll be back on Monday to help me finish with the other ones and to help me make the petticoats. 

Meanwhile I was able to make the veil and sew the lace trim to the edge of the back of the dress. I know, it sounds easy but it's time consuming, meticulous work. They both also had to come out perfect because there was no way I would be able to remove these stitches once they went in!

I don't think I mentioned this before, but the bride is wearing Toms for the wedding shoes. When she told me, I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at the idea but she was very sure it's what she wanted so I ordered them and they arrived today. These are from their "bridal collection"imagine that! When I opened the box I was very surprised at how pretty they are. What I'm going to be doing is applying the lace from the dress onto them so they will match. I think I'm going to have to hand stitch it on.
 Here are the shoes before...........

 Here I'm sewing the lace onto the veil (when my niece was here for her last fitting I had her trim out the lace for the veil while I was working on her dress. SO helpful!)

 

Sewn up, picture is sideways. 

 

 Pinning the trim to the hem of the gown

Really sweating here. This HAS to be perfect or else!!!

 I look calmer than I feel :)

 Here are the sleeves attached to the smallest blue dress. I love the way they came out. All thats left for this piece is to hem, hem the lining (see how long it is?), install the zipper and apply the trim on the waist.

And the most important pics of all so far..............

What's left for the gown? My niece is coming for her final fitting this coming Monday. My sewing fairy (my good friend Rivka) is coming over to help me so we can finish up in a few hours so I can send it home with the bride. I'm really ready to be done with it! so.......

1. Do final fitting adjustments

2. install zipper

3. hem sleeves cuffs after we (possibly) take the sleeves in a bit more

4. Hem skirt lining

Can that possibly be it? AHAHAHAHAHAH I think so!!!!!

Oh I may make her a petticoat but we'll see...........

I am TIRED!!!!! 

TTFN <3