The Good the Bad and the Ugly (behind the scenes)

 Project run and play is wrapping up (last chance to go vote it ends tonight) I thought it would be fun to show you the “behind the scenes” since there is a lot that goes on that doesn’t get seen during the competition. Week one I started back in December (actually the first sneak peek would have been during my “day of 12” pictures as I worked on it that day) It was one of those rare projects that literally came together exactly how I had hoped and besides the last min addition of leggings I was just tickled pink. Then we went to go shoot it, we went to my husbands work and I wanted her to just stand in the hall. It was Saturday the place was empty the lighting was perfect and Abbey? She was afraid to stand in the hall. Her dad walked her to the spot she should stand and it took her quite a while to open up. So I gave her my phone and she had a pretend phone call… then she was dancing and hamming it up for the camera and this was one of my favorite shoots of all time. If only all the sewing for the competition could have been like week one…

 Week two was one of my hardest weeks. I loved the fabric but every time I looked at it I drew a blank. I finally decided that I would give some wide leg “sailor” inspired pants a try. So I made them. (it’s ok if you like them) I hated them. They were all kinds of coo coo crazy and should probably be burned. So I decided to make a shirt dress. I mixed stripes in with the chevron and I kind of liked it (the striped leggings were not part of the look, she was just wearing them, I am not that crazy) So I didn’t hate the shirt dress but it was nothing special, and not my favorite… so I scratched it again and decided to move on to week 3.

 When I finally came back to the week 2 challenge my mind was refreshed and I was able to make the dress that I loved. Funny thing from the shoot. Abbey was LOVING the shoot. She was the best she has ever been and every picture was my new favorite. We had traveled out to an abandoned dead end road to take the pictures and everything was going great when out of nowhere this car (seen above) comes right towards us. I figured they had to be lost. They park right where we were taking pictures and then get out of the car and walk off into the woods. It was weird, and slightly annoying. So it was a good thing Abbey was being awesome or the shoot would have been ruined.

 Then there was week 3. I made the most pieces for week 3. I started with embroidery. (on the shirt in the bottom left picture) I was worried I wouldn’t get done in time or that I wouldn’t like it since finding time to embroider with 2 kids and a newborn was a little challenging so I worked up a back up plan. I made the shirt in the top left corner, which had the peter pan collar, and rows of ruffles and pleats. Then I pinned it on her (in the picture it is pinned) I was just not loving it, so I made a back up plan with this awesome sheer fabric and gold trim, sadly I didn’t measure well and as you can see it was Horrid. It did not fit at all and looked like trash but I liked the collar, so I saved it and made yet another top using the circle neckline… only it was all kinds of odd fitting… and again not quite right. (you can also see the jeans after the first die bath but before the second. So since my back up plans were bombing, I decided I better finish the embroider and I finished the top… sadly I cut the skirt on the wrong grain and I cut the back to wide and low… It was such a sad disaster. So I called my shwin. We walked through a better plan and….

 The result was just what I could have hoped for. I guess sometimes you have to go through the bad and the ugly to get to the good. The photo shoot on the other hand? I had almost no time to shoot because our sunny bright and warm weather was going away not to return so I literally finished and we hurried outside to take pictures before the rain came… and it started to rain… Abbey was mad. She kept looking up to the sky in concern, freaking out with every drop that would land on her… and getting mad and her brother who was teasing her, then she came up with some err interesting poses…

The final week was the only other week that I knew what I wanted to make from the start and it all came together pretty well. The only issue I had was that I wanted Navy gingham for Jude’s shirt, but I couldn’t find any, which actually turned out ok since I really like the mint and I was able to use the chevron tie I had planned on using during week 2. I could have actually used Jude’s whole outfit during week 2 but I wanted to save it for the formal week. The outtakes during the photo shoot which got moved inside after 2 failed attempts were pretty funny. Taking pictures of two kids proved to be a little more challenging that on the weeks with just one, mainly because they were just goofing off.

So It’s over and done and it was a lot of fun, the girls are all so great and the talent is amazing.
Remember you can still hop over to vote through tonight.