Matron of Honor

I've got a funny story for all you Funny Story Lovers out there.

As we all know, my baby sister Katie is getting married this weekend. I am the only sister that lives on the East Coast; the rest of my family resides in California. My mom is an excellent seamstress, and made the bridesmaids dresses for all the sisters except me and Ann. Ann made her own, as she lives in Northern California and doesn't go home every 10 minutes like Beebe does. As I type this, I bet Ann is finishing up the zipper.

Quite a long time ago, Mom asked if I could sew my own, and I said "Sure!" My dear friends and family, in my life I have sewn a bathrobe with the collar inside out and a skirt that was way too small. Nevertheless, Mom sent me the fabric, thread, zipper and "easy" pattern. Well, I cut it out. Then I procrastinated. I borrowed a sewing machine and sewing accessories from Ali, but they sat idle. Then, a week before we were to leave, I decided to crack down. I emailed out a desperate letter to the Relief Society explaining the situation and offering electrical work or money in exchange. Cynthia responded.

Prior to her email, I had never heard of this girl. She showed up at my house with enthusiasm and a love and skill for sewing that I was never more grateful to see. First, she helped me to thread the bobbin, which I knew the term for myself, but had unsuccessfully been trying to do for the last 20 minutes. Then we took a look at what I had accomplished so far. It turns out that through the years, pattern sizing has stayed consistent. Store sizes have not, though, because someone who used to wear an 8 in a 6!? I'll buy that! A few years later a 4!? Yee-haw! Sign me up for the store credit card! Since I am expecting, I did cut it out a size bigger than I usually wear to be safe. Little did I know, I needed to cut it out FOUR sizes bigger. We measured. I began to panic.

Sweet Cynthia calmed me down. We decided to salvage what we could of this fabric, taking the bigger pieces and cutting the smaller ones out of it (sleeves out of skirt pieces and such). Cynthia then instructed me to go to Joann Fabric the next day and buy enough to finish.

As it would turn out, this is an unusual shade of green. Joann didn't carry it. I called Mom. She informed me that she had to special order it and there was no way that a re-order would show up in time. So I called Elizabeth Mikkelsen, and we decided to shop. Friends, the mall has a lot of fun bright apple green. It does not have the right shade.

I found a lovely dress of similar style that is white, yellow, and green flowers. The green is just about right. I bought it, then I called my sister the bride. I informed her I was now the matron of honor, since my dress coordinated but was markedly different from my sisters the regular bridesmaids. She took the news well.

The end.