Beading

I am working on Gioia's baptism dress, which needs to be finished by the time we board a plane on September 20. I bought a Country Bumpkin kit to make the Princess Isabella dress in AS&E Issue 86. If figured the hailspot voile would be nearly impossible to find, so a kit seemed like a practicaly way to get all the materials I needed. I ordered the kit in March, though, and I only got a partial shipment in July. Then they sent me an email two weeks ago saying the final items were still on back order. After I sent a strongly worded email with the words "baptism dress" and "please hurry," they sent some substitute trims to complete the kit.

I finished the beaded smocking today. It was difficult, as half of the beads were too small for the beading needle sent with the kit. I finally dug up a smaller needle in my stash, so it all worked out. What is the point of a kit, though, if the materials do not work together?

Now on to blocking and construction...