Tag: brides

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Origin Story

Every superhero has an origin story, and, even though I don’t wear a cape (usually), folks are very curious about the origins of The Singing Seamstress.

I’ve been sewing since I was a young girl and performing since high school. The two did not come together in a meaningful way until I was past my opera phase.

My opera career consisted of mostly singing, dancing, and reacting to scenery. I played everything from a nun to a lady of the night to a peasant and everything in between. Because I am a tall woman—a presence with which to be reckoned, if you will–a lot of costumes didn’t fit quite right. Even after the costumer had her way with things, I would often come in behind her and fix things myself.

I got tired of being in the background, so I switched to musical theatre after five years in opera and started getting juicy lead and supporting roles. Now that I was out in front, I didn’t want to settle for just any old costume, so I started making them myself.

People started to take notice. Other actors began asking me to make their costumes as well. It went from two to four to half the cast and then full productions rather quickly. (Costuming a full production is a LOT of work by the way, and it’s a mostly thankless job, unfortunately.)

Somewhere in all of this, a fellow actor asked me to make him a Santa suit. Compared to my more recent creations, it’s a very simple affair–washable but sturdily made. Eight years later, it’s still in use and still looks like the day I delivered it to him.

He was so impressed that he got me in contact with the Lone Star Santas, the largest regional Santa group in the nation. I went to their annual shindig to hawk my wares and received quite a few suit orders. These folks were so impressed that they got me an invite to the largest Christmas performer group on Facebook (over 10k members). From there, I just posted pictures of the things I created. Between this and word of mouth, my Santa business grew by leaps and bounds.

Sometime after the Santa suit, another actor friend contacted me to help her BFF with his daughter’s wedding gown. They had originally taken it to “a lady at church,” and the gown needed a lot of work still. I had never worked on a wedding gown (unless you count the gown I found at Goodwill and modified to be my Halloween costume as the Bride of Frankenstein). Though nervous, I figured it couldn’t be all that complicated.

Well, I was both right and wrong about the last bit. All the fundamental parts were there, but the only garment more constructed than a bridal gown is a man’s blazer and some cosplay costumes. So, it was a steep learning curve–and I only had a week and a half to sort it out.

I managed to get everything in the right places, but, to this day, I still hate strapless mermaids. I also think I consumed a whole bottle of wine on my own to calm my nerves. After recovering, I realized that I could really make a go of this and decided to start networking in the local bridal industry.

I have since won six industry awards for my bridal work and am in The Knot’s hall of fame. It’s super cool to be recognized for my work when I love it so much.

I am more than blessed to love my life’s work. It has taken me a long time to get here, but the journey has certainly been illuminating. I eagerly look forward to all the new suits, all the new dresses, and all the new friends I will be making in the future.

Until next time, dear reader. May your bobbins be full and your seams straight!

Heather

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The Tale of Two Sisters

It is very common in my line of work to perform alterations for several members of one family. Usually, it’s for the same event, but I will often see sisters from one family, for instance, for their wedding gown alterations a year or so apart from one another. What isn’t as common is doing alterations for two sisters’ weddings in the same year.

This particular set of sisters were only a couple years apart in age, but I could tell that there was a bitter rivalry between them even though there were other sisters in the family. Their mother joined them for many of their fittings. Though she didn’t say much when it came to her daughters’ relationship, I could tell that it had been a family issue since day one. For this telling, I will call them Monica and Terri*.

Monica was the older of the two in question, athletically built but not without curves, medium brown hair of medium length, sparkling eyes full of mischief, and a very bohemian outlook on life. Her wedding was first and she was getting married on the beach in Mexico wearing a strapless A-line gown with a crocheted lace overlay. Like I said, VERY bohemian.

Terri, the younger of the two, was very slightly built, no curves, long blonde hair, and steely grey eyes. Her dress was a lot more traditional–sweetheart neckline with a plain illusion bodice and a satin ballgown skirt. She was the more conservative of the two, getting married in a church and planning a very reserved reception.

Of course, they were both bridesmaids in one another’s weddings, albeit grudgingly. Monica let her bridesmaids choose their gowns to suit their body types with three stipulations: color (soft shades evoking the beach in Mexico), easy flowing style, and mid-calf length for comfort. Terri chose satin column dresses with a high jewel neckline in a dark burgundy for her bridesmaids. Are we seeing a pattern yet?

Monica’s wedding came and went, and I saw both afterwards for the dress alterations for Terri’s wedding. The story of Monica’s wedding from Monica’s point of view and Terri’s were night and day.

The first thing that was brought up was the fact that their parents had relatively recently divorced and neither daughter really wanted the new girlfriend there for their mother’s sake. At least their father adhered to that request. The second thing was the massive bachelor/bachelorette party that happened the night before the nuptials. If you’ve seen the movie Hangover, you get the idea–lots of drinking and debauchery, the groom arrested and bailed out, taken to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning to get fixed up so he was in reasonable condition for the wedding in a few hours’ time. The bride was no better apparently. She managed to dislocate her shoulder in all the chaos and silliness and ALSO had to be taken to the emergency room to get fixed up.

Of course, Monica was giggling during the entire telling, sprinkling crazy anecdotes all throughout. It was quite clear she viewed the whole trip as a massive success.

Terri, on the other hand, was thoroughly embarrassed by everyone’s behavior and clearly thought her sister should be thrown in wedding jail for the mockery she made of such a solemn institution.

Being the reverently irreverent person I am, I found Monica’s rendition of the story far more entertaining and had a hard time relating to Terri’s feelings of shock and horror.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear about Terri’s wedding from either sister. I can only imagine that Monica was bored out of her mind and might have been intent on mischief just to lighten the mood, much to the chagrin of Terri. As I have a sister myself, I can completely imagine both reactions to the inevitable chaos of the day. I just hope they are still speaking to one another. LOL

Throughout my career, I’ve seen hundreds of brides and hundreds of dresses. I’ve heard hundreds of “how we met” stories and been sent hundreds of wedding photos. The one thing I’m certain of is that no one configuration of this ritual will satisfy everyone. This ritual for this immensely important rite of passage is intensely personal and SHOULD be a reflection of the two people making this solemn promise to one another. It’s not for me or anyone else, especially a sister, to judge what makes this ritual meaningful to any one person.

What made your special day meaningful to you? Please share … I love a good story. J

Until next time dear reader!

Heather

*All names have been changed to protect the innocent or extremely crabby.

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Happily Ever After

One of the joys of my job is being part of some very romantic stories. I always ask my brides where they met their sweeties, and a lot of the answers involve college, online dating services, friends, etc. Once in a while, I find a real princess story, and quite a few of those gems happen with, what we call in the industry, encore brides. A lot of these women are older and have grown families, but that’s part of what makes their stories so compelling.

Case in point…I will call her Marilyn. Marilyn’s fiancé is someone she had a very serious crush on in high school. Unfortunately, she was the shy type back then and never did anything about it. They still ran in the same friend circles peripherally in college, so they actually did have one date during that time. However, nothing came of it. After college, they went their separate ways, got married to different people, had children, and those children grew up and had children of their own. Eventually, both marriages came to an end: his wife died, and she divorced her husband.

Thirty years or so go by for Marilyn and her sweetie. One day while she was surfing Facebook, the thought of him invaded her mind, and she did a search for him. There were a lot of profiles with his name, but she managed to find and confirm his. She took a deep breath and friended him. Much to her surprise, his confirmation came back almost immediately, and he messaged her. They began a conversation that led quickly to dating, his admitting that he had a crush on her too way back when, and ended six months later with a marriage proposal.

Since he eloped with his first wife, they are doing the big white wedding this time for him. She chose a dress with a bohemian style yet elegant flare (they are both “aging hippies,” in her words) and will wear a floral headband in her long hair. All their children and grandchildren will be bridesmaids and groomsmen, flower girls and ring bearers in tones beginning with lilac for the youngest grandbabies and graduating up to dark purple for the eldest of their children. This is one family photo I can’t wait to see.

The best part of this story is them realizing that they had to go through all those years of life lessons to be ready for the happiness they would have with one another. Neither regrets their first marriage, but both are grateful that they’ve found one another again.

My takeaway? It’s never too late to begin again. It’s never too late for a happily ever after.

Until next time Dear Readers, may all your bobbins be full and all your seams be straight.

Heather

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12 Things I Love About You

November is the month of Thanksgiving in the United States, but with all that’s been going on in 2020 one might wonder what there is to be thankful for. As a global community, we are dealing with a pandemic the likes of which we haven’t seen in 100 years. We are all tired of the restrictions and want our “normal” lives back. The US is dealing with a highly charged political environment that rivals the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. With just about everything being politicized, it literally has come down to brother versus brother, not unlike the Civil War. Many people have lost friends and family members to the pandemic or to politics. Many more people have lost jobs and homes to the pandemic recession.

It’s too easy to let the negatives overwhelm us and to cave into the pressure. Sometimes, when the going gets tough, the tough get apathetic. Or aggressive. Or depressed. At times like this, it’s good to hear a little positivity. So, in light of all the bad things I listed above, here are some wonderful things I’m thankful for below:

  1. I am thankful for the folks on the front lines – the doctors and nurses, the law enforcement, paramedics and firefighters, the grocery store clerks and the clean-up crews. Without you, we’d be adrift. Thank you for all you do!
  2. I am thankful for the quarantine. It was a scary thing, but it brought into focus a number of things that were eye-opening. Like how much we humans have impacted our home, planet Earth. It helped grow the friendship between myself and my mother – we spoke on the phone nearly every day the lockdown months. It helped blossom the relationship with my husband, and we truly got to see that we have one another’s back.
  3. I am thankful for the quilt shop owner in League City who opened her shop to me during the quarantine so I could get nearly 300 yards of cotton that I used to make two-thousand masks for first responders in those early days when PPE was disorganized and scarce. When you’re shopping, consider Park Avenue Yarns!
  4. I am thankful that my husband remained employed. He works for a pharmaceutical company and lost his overtime, but we still have healthcare.
  5. I am thankful for my brides. In spite of the craziness, you showed hope for the future and gratitude that I opened my doors to you and greeted you with masked-and-gloved enthusiasm.
  6. I am thankful for my Santas and Mrs. Clauses. You are still out there in whatever way you feel safe because you know we need you.
  7. I am thankful for my friends who gently reminded me that I don’t suck when I start to get in my own head and get overwhelmed.
  8. I am thankful for my Mom. We grew a lot together this year.
  9. I am thankful for the seven years I got with my mother-in-law and grateful that she didn’t have to witness 2020 (see my previous blog “Remembering Jayne”).
  10. I am thankful for my husband. During this stressful time, he has risen to the occasion – not to become my knight in shining armor, but to be a warrior by my side.
  11. I am thankful for women’s suffrage. I’m still incensed that we had to fight for it, but eternally grateful to those who literally put their bodies on the line to get the 19th Amendment on the books. I exercise my right with pride as often as I am presented opportunities.
  12. I am thankful for all my friends from a different background than I am. I am grateful for all their lessons and am constantly amazed that with all those different perspectives that we can even communicate at all. It gives me hope – a hope that there is a life beyond fear, if we find our commonalities and appreciate the differences that bring spice to life.

Finally, I am thankful for you, dear reader. As we go into a very different holiday season this year, more than anything, I wish you serenity. May you and your family stay safe.

But enough from me; what are you thankful for?

Until next time, much love and virtual hugs,

Heather