Good news for me, bad news for you

I am happy to announce I am expecting a baby the end of March. Unfortunately this isn't good news for all of my clients and potential customers. I skip by all of the morning sickness and other symptoms in the beginning of pregnancy but I get hit by Pregnancy Induced Hypertension in the latter half of my pregnancies. 

I have been placed on bed rest with 2 of my 3 girls and I expect to face similar challenges with this baby as well. It was a very hard decision to make but I will not be taking any more orders for the foreseeable future. I will be finishing up the orders I have on my list and then I will be closed for an extended maternity leave. 

While I am away from Once Upon A Costume no one has my permission to sell under my name or use my specific designs. I have not decided when I will reopen as I am going to have a huge adjustment getting used to having a baby again, my youngest now is 7. I hope to return to work once the baby is 6 months old, the end of next summer but only time will tell if this is actually going to be realistic.

I am very sorry that I will be unable to help you out with your costumes for now but I need to take care of myself and my family for the next while. I will definitely miss my sewing machine and making all of you look beautiful!!

Thank you for your understanding and I hope be able to sew for all of you again in the future.

The last 3 weeks in reveiw.

This Rapunzel went out today. It was designed closer to the movie dress so I changed the patterned part to just as a panel as opposed to a whole under skirt. The pink stripes on the sleeves are thinner and the lace is on the slip instead of on the actual skirt (which I think is really super cute)

 

This was last week's Rapunzel. It was a pretty straight forward dress but it took a back seat to my life for a few days. It only went out a day late and I always appreciate when client's are understanding about my circumstances.

The Arabian Princess went out 2 weeks ago, it's been busy at my house! I'm still looking around for a fancier fabric to use on this outfit. I'm hoping to find a sequined lace overlay that will work. This Arabian Princess was designed to sit high on the waist to cover the belly button.

 

Fin Mermaid

Half of this is going to New York, the other half to San Diego.

The Mermaid outfit is the only item I sell in pieces.There are so many shell / fin combinations that are possible that I don't worry about the colors or styles matching or what really worries me, NOT matching!

Cinderella and Beauty

These two are headed to Texas to join Rapunzel and Snow White.

I think the four of them make a very nice Princess selection to start with.

Snow White and Rapunzel

Fancy Snow White

was sent with her friend Fancy Rapunzel

to their new home in Texas. This client is new to the Princess business and has also ordered Cinderella and Beauty.What was the best advice you got when you started your business? Which character do you get the most requests for?

Fin Mermaid

Another Fin Mermaid with a few little changes. She asked that the waist be raised a few inches, she sent the fabric for the skirt, and the starfish is peachy orange.

Squeezing things in.

I got a phone call last Wednesday from a client in New York who needed a Rapunzel costume, this weekend! Luckily my schedule had an opening, I was using my "free time" to work on costumes for the school play. I fit them in and the dress went out today, overnight to make sure it arrives on time. I used a different set of fabrics on this dress and I even dyed part of them so they would be just what I wanted.

I need to figure out how to use my camera better, or maybe get a better camera! The first picture is with flash, the second without but neither shows just how great it looks in person.

On a sad note I had a client send me a bodice that needed a zipper insert, also for this weekend, and it hasn't arrived. I'm not sure where to begin looking for a lost package and I feel terrible we don't know where it is!

Repurposing special memories

I had the (sweaty palm, nerve wracking) opportunity to take apart a wedding dress and remake it in a smaller size for my project this week.

I dismantled mine years ago to remake it into a baptism dress for my girls. I also made a blessing and baptism dress for my niece out of my sister in law's wedding dress. Those dresses were "scary" to take apart because that isn't fabric I can replace, but this dress was even more scary to dismantle because I'm not related to the original owner so she doesn't have to like me and her grandmother made her dress. YIKES!!

I already used part of the dress to make a blessing outfit a few years. That was also pretty scary. 

This time I used the rest of the dress and made a mini version. I had to make the front of the bodice out of new fabric, and I put in a new zipper but everything else is part of the original dress. Doesn't she look too precious?

Sleeping Beauty

This project was unique in several ways. First of all the fabric was hand delivered, all the way from the east coast! The client was headed into town and I got to meet her and talk about what she wanted for this costume in person. It was a lot of fun and two of my girls got to see there really are people on the other side of the computer, sometimes I think they wonder. 

She brought me this dress, that she really loves, even though I didn't make it ;)

It needed a little TLC and now it looks like this.It also has a new zipper and all of the exposed seams are serged. It was very well made and hopefully the changes will keep it looking great for a few more years.

The fabric she brought was to make another top just like it. I LOVE my local independent fabric store but I'm plotting a trip to Newark to go visit hers, it has some fabulous stuff!

There was also a crown and necklace to go with it.

 

I had to ask for an extra day on this project, which I hate to do, because my 10 yr old broke her foot! Sometimes life just can't be avoided. 

Something amazing for post 100!

100 posts means, 100 dresses, that's a lot of dresses, I should know, I made them :)

This dress definitely deserves to be #100.  It tried my patience which in turn means the client also had to be extra patient, and she was, she's been more patient than I've been!

She asked for a layered over skirt, I think it weighs 10 lbs all by its self. It's beautiful but it took two and a half days to complete, I never imagined it would take that long.

It's also a very large dress, the first 2 boxes I got to send it in weren't big enough!
 
I can't wait to send it off to where it belongs and see it on the Princess!

A Mermaid and A Mistake

Here is the latest mermaid in my collection. It is headed to the same place as last weeks mermaid. It is one of the few outfits that really isn't very size adjustable, so she ordered 2.

This one is smaller and shorter and I wasn't able to find the exact same bra, I looked at 3 different Targets and none of them had it. I did find another one with removable straps but it was so well padded I was afraid the girls would be fighting wardrobe malfunctions left and right so I chose a bra that has permanent straps. I went ahead with the project but didn't check with the customer because she had said in an email she wanted the top to be worn with straps. So I figured, no big deal. I sent the email with the pictures to her and when I hadn't heard from her by the next morning I went ahead and sent the dress figuring it was the same as last time, no big deal.

Yesterday afternoon I heard from the client and I found out it was a big deal. I really do try my best to make things uniform but sometimes I can't get the same items. I'm just not a big enough company to order in high volume. I apologized to the customer and agreed that she was right, I should have told her the bra would be different, I just didn't realize it would make such a difference. I also let her know that when it arrives if she totally hates it I will pay for it to be sent back and I will remake the top. This seems to be an okay solution for now, we'll see what happens once it gets to it's destination.

I am just one person and I do make mistakes. I try to fix them as fast as I can and to the best of my ability. I really appreciate the patience and understanding of clients when a problem arises.

Fin Mermaid

 

A while back I revamped my Mermaid skirt design, at the request of a client, and it is looks really great. For this project I decided to tackle the shell bra. It has been said in the past that the top looked like a sparkly tube top, and it really kind of did. I did some trial and error and I like how it turned out. It has some dimension to it and that is way better than before!

This is another outfit where the client supplied the fabric, this time just for the tail portion. I used to be able to get sequined stretch from my favorite independent fabric store but she can't get the right color anymore.

Rapunzel

For this project the client sent the fabric, I love making the vision of my Princesses come to life! In addition to providing her own fabric she asked for different sleeves and metal eyelets down the front.

 

This princess is off on an adventure this Saturday, so she was shipped Express to New Jersey. Do you know how much express shipping is? I didn't either, but I do now! Yikes!!

Cinderella Remodel

This bodice predates me! It mas made by my friend the original owner of the company so I'm not totally sure how old it is, more than 4 years old. I changed the satin in the sleeves and replaced the over skirt. It was quite the project and it turned out really cute!

Something a Little Different

Another top I made 4 years ago is in need of being replaced, I'm sensing a trend here ...

She requested that the dress have no satin on it. She works for charity only and wanted cotton type fabrics. I found the fabrics for the bodice, skirt and collar. She found the fabric for the sleeves and peplum. She also requested the peplum be attached to the bodice, I was uncertain how it would work out but it did, and pretty easily too.

I love the fabric I found for the bodice and can't wait to see it combined with other fabrics in the future.