A Chance to Create

As usual, I had a plan for my week.  Being married to a very structured man has influenced me to lose almost all of my spontaneity.  Not that I think it is a bad thing; I accomplish much more under the influence of my organized companion.  As I was saying, I did have a creative plan for my week, until granddaughter Allegra approached me with a request.  It seems that she was asked to the Mormon Prom, which happened yesterday, and needed a dress.  There was no time and not enough money to shop online for already made dresses, so we hit the discount stores to see if we could find something.  No luck.  So, the remaining solution was to make one...in less than a week.

Guess who that challenge fell to?!  It seems that I'm the only one close by who can sew something of such magnitude.  So we went fabric shopping and, for $50, found several patterns and fabric that could make Allegra's vision of what she wanted come true.  In addition, another girl in the ward did find a dress in the discount stores, but only a strapless one.  So, under the suggestion of Allegra, she asked if I could add something to the top of the dress to make it more modest.  So....my week was filled with prom dresses.

Adding to the ready-made dress turned out to be easy.  I just added wide straps and some matching lace.  Allegra's friend loved it.  But I was worried about making Allegra's dress.  The thing is, with sewing, you never know if you'll like it in the end or not; not until you have invested in the fabric, made the dress and tried it on.  I decided that this dress was worth praying over.  So that is what I did.  And I fitted the dress to her body every step of the way.  It went much smoother than I anticipated.  And she liked it!  I finished it by Thursday, to her satisfaction.  It took the blending of three patterns and some additions of my own to make it work.  With all that effort leading to a successful conclusion I feel good about my efforts.

I accomplished almost nothing else this week and saw almost no one else.  This project reminds me of my love for doing creative things and how fun it is to be able to do something with no interruptions:  to start and hang with a project until it is finished.  That is the absolutely best way to do something, it seems to me, and almost never happens.  Interruptions sometimes actually help, I am willing to admit.  Those distractions give the mind a chance to incubate and, sometimes, come up with a better way to accomplish the task.  Either way, creating original stuff is fun.

Allegra was asked to the Prom via this bouquet, which
tells her to pop the balloons in her room until she finds
a message (the invitation).

Here's the message.

Allegra accepted the invitation with this cake.  So...she and her
date, Blake, never actually spoke before the arrangements were all made!

In spite of being side-ways, have you ever seen such hair as
grows on the head of Allegra?  It is even almost red!

Here is Allegra in the custom dress with her date, Blake.

Now I wonder if Allegra had fun at the Prom.