I made my own wedding dress in 1975. Since the wedding was between Christmas and New Year's I took advantage of the seasonal colors and decorations. Just last year, I gave the dress to a young lady who had very little money for her dream day. It looked like it had been tailor made for her. In 1993, I started sewing wedding dresses for friends and family. As a gift to my niece, I created her dress, six bridesmaid dresses, and usher and flower girl dresses as well. For each dress, I started with a picture of what my niece wanted and created from their. The girls in her wedding party ranged from size 6 to size 22. That heavens for dress forms; I live 1,000 miles from my niece so I worked off of measurements only. Three months before the wedding,I traveled to Wisconsin and did a fitting of all the dresses. I had only minor adjustments to make when I arrived five days before the wedding. The day was wonderful, the dresses were beautiful and I don't want to see periwinkle satin for a long time. Three of the bridesmaids had me rework their dresses into cocktail dresses after the wedding. For their first Christmas, I took all the scrap fabric and made a quilt for the newlyweds.

I also have been sewing since I was in grade school. Although I have never taken a sewing lesson, I have mastered sewing. When I travel, I like to collect fabric that is native to the country I am visiting. I have collected some extraordinary fabrics over the years. While many women spend their time in department stores, I head for the fabric stores. Paris still ranks as my all time favorite city for fabrics. An entire section of the city is one fabulous fabric store after another. They are divided into separate types of fabrics; one will be all drapery and upholstery while the next one is all bridal. One hundred twenty inch fabric is rare here but I found buildings full of it in Paris. The beaded fabric from Saudi Arabia blew me away. Completely beaded silk fabric was priced the same as denim here in the states. With two jobs that keep me wound up, sewing is my outlet to relax. I figure, since I have to alter every store bought item, I might was well start from scratch and make my garments original and the perfect fit.