Finished Cotton Swing Dress and update

 So I know I have not been doing any proper blog posts for the past 2 months really, but I had a great excuse! ;) I had been studying really hard for my piano playing exam which was today and I feel like I did really well! I also played a worship concert with my mom for a friends womens ministry event, and we had another reenactment and I have been getting ready for another exam friday which is my vocal examination. I also had a music theory exam 2 weeks ago and I am getting ready to do the Sue Gregg Cookbook booth at the local homeschool again. I have also been sewing a lot and crocheting granny squares for a friends project to send afgans to the needy in Romania. But I must admit I have also been fretting, I have been worrying, I have been giving into Satans temptation to wallow in self pity and sin.

 The past few weeks I have gone from joyful in the Lord one day to the next day fretting like it says not to do in Psalm 37, because fretting tends only to evil! But the Lord has helped me through this and I have felt closer to him the past two months through the feelings of lonliness and pain. Praise the Lord He can use trials for our good right?! I say yes Amen! He has drawn me even closer to Him and in this time I have been memorizing the WORD and loving Him more and more through the not so great days. Praise the Lord!

 For my 21st birthday last month I went to see my sister while she was studying with the midwife she assists and there is a picture above of the two of us that day. She also took my two friends and I to see October Baby the movie for my birthday and made a great feast and a cake. She is so good to me! The movie was so amazing we all were balling in our seats one minute and laughing the next!  I would highly recommend it to anyone male or female, single or married who is over 13 years old with their parents permission. If you have not seen it yet go support this great christian film!

 For my 21st birthday my parents blessed me with a new yamaha arius keyboard from the guitar center! I still cannot believe I am so blessed with this great instrument in my room. I can practice when I need to and when I have song inspiration I can go pick it on the keyboard even in the middle of the night since it has headphones. In the picture above we were putting those great plastic stilts I guess you would call them under my bedframe legs to raise it up for more storage under my bed. It was a funny experience. ;) I thought the picture was too funny not to put up. :) I sort of got stuck and had to wriggle out of behind there very gracefully. lol

 At the end of April I was able to finish my second 1940s style swing dress which I have made before using Jennie Chancey's Swing dress pattern. You can see the two posts I posted last summer of my experience making my first black with pink flowers swing dress here and here.

 This dress was not a breeze to make either, my first swing dress took forever it seemed as my sewing skills were very basic, but this time around it took less time once I got the notion to pursue the end product. We had a "sewing weekend" as we call it in April where a whole bunch of our friends came over and sewed projects for the weekend and helped each other with sewing projects for reenacting and daily life. I was the 2nd person making a "modern" garment, the rest were making civil war garments. It was a lot of fun and helped me to get it done as I was motivated by all the help and inspired by everyone else working on projects as well.

 I used cotton fabric as opposed to polyester, rayon, or wool which the pattern called for as I wanted a cool summer frock. It turned out well even though cotton was not recommended and I know was not used much in the 40's, I needed a practical dress for the summer in 2012; so this lavender small dot printed cotton worked well. Believe it or not I bought this fabric over 4 years ago and it sat for a while and finally this past fall I cut it out and finally got around to finishing it in April. I wore it today for the 3rd time for my piano exam and going out to lunch with my dear mother to celebrate finishing my exam well. It was a lot of fun and nice to go out with just my mom and I. We had not done that in what seemed forever!

 I felt like while wearing it I was not happy with the fit of the bodice, but looking in pictures the small flaws make it unique and show that I can improve in the 3rd dress I am currently making using this pattern. You all probably don't notice the mistakes right?! ;) I think the fabric only cost me around $12.00 for the 3 years at the most, probably way less even. It was from walmart in West VA when we went for vacation. Our walmart unfortunately does not have fabric anymore. Wish they would bring it back! I also got the lace from our stash in the sewing room and thought hey I like it although I think it gives it more of a prarie feel, but I like it a lot. I think my hair and the lace makes it seem more 30s, but hey I love it!

 In this last photo I am holding my new favorite pair of shoes. I had not gotten a new pair of shoes in a long time and decided 2 weeks ago to take the plunge in looking for a pair of dressy summer shoes. These are from the website called TOMS and their shoes are so cute and comfy and you give a new pair of shoes to a child in need when you buy a pair of shoes. To see more about what they do go here. This pair of shoes is really cute and comfy! I have another pair of jean slate grey toms on the way too. Can't wait till they arrive!

Are any of you buying new summer sandals/shoes or contemplating doing so? What styles do you like? I also bought a new pair of sandals and will have to post pictures soon from my local shoe store. I will try and post pictures of my progress on the 3rd swing dress I am currently sewing tomorrow. I plan to have it done by Saturday for a friends wedding to wear to. I am helping with the gift and guest book table, so hopefully I can get this new dress done for the occasion!

Oh and do check out the video I posted in the previous post to see how I did my hair. I love this style and its stayed in all day! I will be putting my hair up more often I think! Its so nice and cool compared to having it down especially since summer is almost here. Thank you Casey over at
Elegant Musings for the great tutorial! It was a breeze! So easy!!
God bless,
Rebecca