{"id":21953,"date":"2012-04-04T22:30:57","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T02:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=21953"},"modified":"2015-01-01T00:24:59","modified_gmt":"2015-01-01T05:24:59","slug":"twas-the-night-before-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/04\/twas-the-night-before-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"“T’was the night before Easter…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"peach-Swiss-all\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m doing my absolute best to finish up my Easter sewing, but it seems that one thing and then another keep getting in the way of progress.\u00c2\u00a0 Still I plug along, hoping and expecting that everything will get\u00c2\u00a0 done, because I’ve done it before.<\/p>\n

I keep reminding myself of\u00c2\u00a0 the Easter my Rebecca was 6, 28 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 For whatever reason, I decided to abandon an almost finished smocked dress in favor of this peach Swiss batiste frock.\u00c2\u00a0 From where the inspiration came, I don’t recall.\u00c2\u00a0 But I HAD to make it!<\/p>\n

That was Maundy Thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 I had three days, mostly filled with the activities of this 6 year old child and her 10 year old brother, not to mention preparing my Sunday school lesson, fixing dinner, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 I slept very little from then until Easter, but I did complete the dress.\u00c2\u00a0 If I did it then, I can do it again, right?\u00c2\u00a0 I am 28 years older, but I don’t have a 6 and 10 yo under foot.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, surely I can do it!<\/p>\n

The fabric is what Jeannie B. calls “fairy” batiste–sheer and fine enough to clothe fairies who could not bear the weight of linen or even Nelona.\u00c2\u00a0 The major features of the dress are entredeux beading, tatting, puffing–lots of that!–a sweet Swiss handloom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"front-yoke1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sleeves are set in with entredeux, one of my favorite heirloom touches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"armscye-ent\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I finished this dress and a matching slip.\u00c2\u00a0 Okay, so it was finished very early Sunday morning, but to my delight, she wore this confection, all starched and pressed, to church Easter morning.<\/p>\n

Believing I can get Easter sewing done makes me giddy! Please excuse my slap-happy rhyming.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0T\u00e2\u20ac\u2122was the night before Easter in my sewing room.<\/em>
\n My machine speed was now set on “zoom.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The clock it was ticking, the dress not complete<\/em>
\n And I was feeling dead on my feet.<\/em><\/p>\n

The honey glazed ham was ready to bake<\/em>
\n and I’d already made the white bunny cake.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0In hiding were chocolate bunnies and peeps.<\/em>
\n And I hoped that in church I would not fall asleep.<\/em><\/p>\n

But what was I thinking, two weeks ago,<\/em>
\n when I chose to plant daisies instead of go sew?<\/em><\/p>\n

“The price of lollygagging is all of this stress<\/em>
\n I should have stayed home and sewed on this dress!”<\/em><\/p>\n

But then I focused on each entredeux hole.<\/em>
\n If all went well, I’d still meet my goal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fairy weight Swiss, pale peach like her skin~~<\/em>
\n This fairy dress was for my sweet next of kin.<\/em><\/p>\n

So I just kept on sewing, maintaining concentration,<\/em>
\n To complete the dress before the morning celebration.<\/em><\/p>\n

I finished that Easter dress. I can do it again!<\/em>
\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll stop silly rhyming, go join lace to the hem.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Becca\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As mentioned before, I’ve been very frustrated trying to finish the shadow smocked dress for my granddaughter these past few weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 My dear husband, in a caring attempt to reduce my stress, told me I should just go buy Laurel a pretty dress—she wouldn’t mind!<\/p>\n

He doesn’t understand that the heirloom and smocked dresses I stitch are not made solely for Laurel’s pleasure.\u00c2\u00a0 They are made for mine.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly she loves them and I hope she will always have loving memories of the garments I have made for her.\u00c2\u00a0 But there is a whole other component that compels me.<\/p>\n

I once heard a sermon about beauty.\u00c2\u00a0 The supply minister spoke of flowers and mountains and sunsets before he posed the question, “Why?”\u00c2\u00a0 Why did God create all this beauty for us?<\/p>\n

He related that his pregnant daughter was stitching day and night, embroidering pretty little things for her unborn child.\u00c2\u00a0 Her husband was in the military and she was living with her mother and pastor father.\u00c2\u00a0 With no household responsibilities, she stitched non-stop.<\/p>\n

All this was done for a baby who would need and want a blanket, but one who would give no thought or appreciation for the embroidery that embellished it.\u00c2\u00a0 He concluded that love drives<\/strong> us to create beauty.\u00c2\u00a0 Its only purpose is to express love.\u00c2\u00a0 And love, he declared is what drove God to create natural beauty for our pleasure.<\/p>\n

So Easter morning, when Laurel dons this dress—and it WILL be finished!!—it will probably make me happier than it makes her.\u00c2\u00a0 It is an expression of my love, one that could not be expressed adequately by a store-bought garment.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure that this is clearly explained.\u00c2\u00a0 But I must get back to the sewing room!<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00c2\u00a0 One Sunday long after Easter, Rebecca wore this dress to church.\u00c2\u00a0 When she came out of Sunday school, there was a huge black magic marker line across the skirt, just under the front yoke.\u00c2\u00a0 (NOTE:\u00c2\u00a0 What was that teacher thinking, giving Sunday-clothed children permanent marking pens for art work?!#$%^&??)<\/p>\n

My miracle worker dry cleaner got it all out, but the process somehow changed the color of the ribbon.\u00c2\u00a0 I always meant to replace it with matching peach ribbon, but it just never happened.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe now that it fits Laurel, I will get it done.\u00c2\u00a0 After Easter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I’m doing my absolute best to finish up my Easter sewing, but it seems that one thing and then another keep getting in the way of progress.\u00c2\u00a0 Still I plug along, hoping and expecting that everything will get\u00c2\u00a0 done, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,28,43],"tags":[368,135,1062],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21953"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21953"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32639,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21953\/revisions\/32639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}