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A formal prom dress. The ultimate achievement for a girl in 4-H sewing. Especially in my county, it seems to be a tradition for a 4-H girl in sewing to sew her prom dress for her senior year. I'll say our county isn't very "big" in sewing, but there is always fierce competition in the Formal division.

So I took a deep breath and strode up to the counter with determination. It hadn't taken me long to decide on the pattern I needed or the fabric I wanted. But once the scissors met the fabric, there was no turning back. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to buy my materials during a store closing, and let me tell you there is no greater joy for a sewer, than a sale on fabric. Everything was on sale and the only thing I wasn't able to buy was an invisible zipper to match my dress. No biggie right? Read on.

I had admired the sky blue material, with sparkles ingrained in it, which perfectly brought out my blue eyes. Mentally checking through the necessary items, I bought overlay that matched the material, enough for the skirt and the matching jacket. Thread, yes; eye and hook, yes. I was ready, or was I?

After washing and drying the material, I set to work. First I ironed, then I pinned my size of the pattern to the fabric. Steadily I cut, careful to cut straight and cut out the right pieces. When I had finished, I began to sew. Of course all this did not happen in one day; I figured I spent about 100 hours on my dress.

What!?!? A hundred hours?!?! Surely I am kidding, but no...the first time I tried it on, it was extremely large on me. What had happened? I carefully chose the size because of my measurements. What's this on the pattern envelope? Finished size is an inch and a half larger than the measurements! Well no wonder.

Well, there wasn't enough to start all over again, and I wasn't about to lose all that good material. I though myself a decent hand at sewing, so I simply decided to make the seams larger...much larger. Well, it worked, and the funny thing is, it fit me all the better and showed off my figure much better than the model's dress on the pattern envelope.

Finally I came to the part where I needed the invisible zipper. Here was the beginning of the end. No store had the right color available. I would have to order off the Internet. Three orders and nine zippers later -of course they could only be ordered in orders of three- I found one that matched. It was sky blue! I now have eight other zippers lying around that are waiting to be used.

But that

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