because it makes me feel like a professional...

i can't even tell you how excited i am about this sleeve. who would have known... it just worked.

AND not only is it more modest for a little girl who is growing up WAY too fast, but just look at what a soft, feminine touch it adds to the stark edge that used to exist.

i used the back of the trim around the hem... it was doubled, now it's just rolled and stitched...

i've made a little girl's sleeve for a dress before...ONCE... about 6 or 7 months ago... at an enrichment activity... with a pattern, and it turned out O.K.

i guess that's my blessing and dilemma with sewing, i always forget the possibility of using a pattern. 95% of the time, i just make it.

i was just tickled to death that the hem turned out okay and the dress wasn't ruined when i got the hem back on last night around midnight after two evenings and about 5 hours of work. i thought,

"well, at least i'm back to where i started, and i have some fabric to try a sleeve... but if the sleeve doesn't work out, i'm not any worse off than where i started...nothing lost."

i completed the sleeve last night as well.... and i LOVED the way it turned out... but i wanted to wait until Catherine tried it on this morning to be sure it looked okay on her.

it did.

it does.

success.

(perma-grin)

it makes me feel like a professional!

o.k.

o.k.

i can't take all the credit.

thanks to my mother-in-law for the idea of using the back half of the hem rather than making a new hem from a different fabric. AND a big thank you to her for suggesting to line the back of the sleeve the way i did... i'm almost POSITIVE i wouldn't have thought of that myself, and that would have been disastrous!

thanks to my darling friend who kept her aching pregnant body awake into the late night hours as she tickled my not-so-creative spunk and we laughed at how absurd it all seemed as i spent hours ripping out the perfectly beautiful hem on the dress. AND definitely more THANKS for her raw honesty about how she definitely would not attempt what i was trying to do. she would have just put a little shirt under the dress and called it good. it was just enough temptation for my stubborn determination to take over with the added blessing of absolutely NO expectation for the end result. hence, my delight in the outcome.

AND

thanks to my tried and true husband who not-even-the-slightest-bit-resentfully snoozed on the couch to keep me company into the wee hours of the morning. i love you.

and, yes. i plan on making the other sleeve.