Preparing for / the Big Night! (Sat.)

So the big day finally arrived. I think I forgot to mention in all of this posting, that we had a group of kids from Fairhaven Baptist College coming to help host this event. They were going to sing, serve, and entertain. I was going to have the girls stay at my house from Sat. to Sun. and due to so much craziness, my house was not spotless and bright for them, the way I wanted it to be. Instead I had a cluttered kitchen table, sewing paraphanalia (sp?) ALL over, and dishes in my sink! :( *sniff*

I had a hair appointment in the morning, so I figured I'd burn my trash first, then jump in the shower so I wouldn't smell like smoke at the banquet, so I did that. Then I did get a "little" cleaning done, and then it was off to get my hair done. I didn't get home until after 2 and then I seriously had to finish the jackets. I was sewing so fast I thought my machine was just going to explode. Of course I was very thankful when that didn't happen! :) It was making noises as if to say it had never worked that hard before in its life which did scare me a little.

I finally finished Jordyn's with a few Jessica tweekisms and then I had to get started on mine. I am telling you, anything and everything that could go wrong - did! For instance, when I was sewing a sleeve onto the jacket - which is already stressful when you're in a rush b/c it's a tight squeeze and it's circular - my material was stretchy and it's hard not to stretch material of anykind when your working on a sleeve. In fact, if I remember correctly, when I made sleeves, my mom always said, "Pull it tight!" Well, I get all the way around and it didn't feel right, and I didn't know why! I lifted the foot and found out why. Shortly after starting the sleeve I ran out of bobbin and didn't realize it, so there were only 3 stitches at the top and that was it. I was a mess. After screaming, I pulled myself together before I started to cry. I thought, I don't have time to make another bobbin - so I quickly found a light blue bobbin I had laying around and loaded that in. I figured no one would see it anyways. I stitched the same sleeve on for the 2nd time now and when I was all done the entire sleeve was gethered up tighter than I don't know what and I didn't know what to do. I tried stretching the stitching and *Riiiiiip* I heard a seam go, and just like that I could see that the sleeve really was no longer connected to the jacket. It hadn't fallen apart so I quickly threw it back under the foot and started stitching for yet the 3rd time. I thought I don't want my sleeve to all of a sudden fall off in the middle of my dinner.

Just so you can feel a little of my stress, at the moment this was happening I had appx. 30 minutes before I was suppose to be walking out the door. :O I finally took the time to whip up a white bobbin b/c I figured I hadn't had any problems when I was using white. That must have been the trick b/c after that everything was fine.

My hands were shaking soooooo bad, and my heart was beating out of my chest, and I had no clue what the outcome was going to be. I mean this wasn't like typing up a paper for school 2 hours before it's due. If I didn't have this jacket I didn't know if I had a back-up dress or sweater or anything that would look good.

I did finish it 10 minutes before I had to leave the house. I also stitched the questionable sleeve a 4th time (with the white bobbin thread) just for my own peace of mind. Jordyn drove, and I put my make-up on in the car on the way to the banquet.

My car is a very no-frills model of the HHR and I don't have lights on the viser mirrors, so I turned on the map light under the rearview mirror and that's it -- that's all I had to go on. To make matters even more interesting, the wind was throwing snow all over the place and it looked a little phsycadelic which was freaking Jordyn out. So she's driving 55 mph, but lookin' like a granny voicing frustration, I'm sharpening my eyeliner, and applying foundation and everything else praying I don't look cheap by the time we get there. We arrived only to have the parking lot filled forcing us to walk around the back in bitter, bitter, bitter cold temperatures.

All that to say - I have no pictures for you! :( *Sniff*

I wanted to chronicle the whole banquet - the preparation, night of, and aftermath - and I was so rushed, I ran out of my house leaving my camera on the table!! *sniff - again*

I will be getting pictures from friends though, so as soon as I have some, I will post.

The evening overall was just wonderful. I really never looked in a mirror to see how I looked, but no one's eyes got large so I figured I mustn't look too awful. All I can say is I'm glad I had my hair done, b/c otherwise I probably would have attended in a ponytail!

And what took 2 days of working 'til 11 at night, to put up, only took an hour and a half to take down.

Would I do it again? - definitely
Would I learn from my mistakes? - hopefully
Will I ever sew for an elegant event in the future? - don't hold your breath