Ah, well - it's only ridiculous because you can make it yourself - possibly even out of the stash you have at home. If the shop is selling them for $160-$200, let's work out where the $$ are going... Usual markup for retail is 2.5 times, so the store bought it from the knitter for around $64-$80. Artists' rule of thumb is to mark up materials by 3, so materials could have cost around $21-27. If the ribbon was actual silk, and the beads swarovski, then that could be about right. Depends on whether they got wholesale or not. Or used Michael's coupons or whatever. Plus you'd want to count something for shopping time. And either gas or shipping to get materials. That leaves $43-$53 for the actual labor. If it takes an afternoon to do one, say 4 hours, then the artist gets $10.75 - $13.25 per hour for their work. (And delivery to the shop is free, with no allowance to pay for parking, gas or time required to get there.) Of course, that $10.75 - $13.25 per hour is gross, so take out 25% for taxes and the artist's take home is $8.06-$9.94 per hour. Where I live that ain't raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money. As consumers, we just get used to seeing Asian labor prices on everything. Unique handmade designs are expensive. We knitters are lucky that we can DIY.

At the end, it appears ... ... that one could just go in one's birthday suit ... ... and avoid the expense/inconvenience/frustration/unsightliness of the suit. One can find beaches where sensible people have arranged such, I hear. o j

Thanks for the comments, they will be helpful. Research results: I found the following resources helpful as I have been planning my approach, mainly for bustling and hemming: 1. Singer "Sewing for Special Occasions" which has photos and excellent guides for the bustling. 2. The "Sew News" website library had a great description of bustling a wedding gown at this page: http://www.sewnews.com/library/sewnews/qa/aaqa0300a.htm 3. Another website which explains bustles including the Austrian, French [inverted] and over bustle. I learned a lot at the following: http://www.rencentral.com/oct_nov_fo11/bustles.shtml 4. A slim book from the library with no photos and only a few sketches, but titled: "How to Alter a Bridal Gown" by Susan Ormond. This book has a chapter on hems. The important point she makes is to follow the manufacturer's method of construction when you reconstruct. 5. Google search. It brought me back to the forum which I had not used for sewing. Good Laugh for all of you who work with brides: Use a search engine on the words bustle or bustling a wedding gown. You will locate the U-Tube video of bridesmaids searching for ribbons to underbustle the bride. Finally, the bride lays face down, with petticoats exposed while bridesmaids consider the mystery of all those ribbons! Bustle comments: The comment about a 2-point take-up--I understood as take the center back up in two parts, then do side bustles. There's no place to put a button part-way up the back, so a simple 3-point seems to look fine with pins. I will use the suggestion to fasten a small button on the wrong side of the fabric to support the fabric and weight. I may try a 5-point to see if it looks better. My daughter did not like the looks of the underbustle. I thought the Austrian could maybe be used to get the heavy satin pulled up [done like a balloon shade with loops sew to the inside seam allowance and ribbons pulled through to gather up the skirt, or scrunch it up]. Then the beautiful organza could be pulled up on top in the overbustle and attached to the waist area to emphasize the delicacy of the fabric and show off the beading and silver threads of sewn flowers. I did notice how I need to take the front hem around just a bit to the back for this bustle to work, so thanks for the comment about pinning the bustle, then mark the hem. Sleeves. These are totally decorative, the bodice and the nifty inside waist piece hold the dress perfectly in place. I will use the suggestion of shortening the caps at the junction with the gown. It seems the organza will allow me to fold it a bit and I could tack the edge a bit to keep the crescent shape coming to a point and not have to rip stitches in the organza. For the $20 most shops offered on this, they certainly weren't ripping many stitches! I found nothing on this small alteration in any resource I checked, so this forum was great! Research is done . . . I am nearly ready. I mailed the check for the cake today and finished a 4th revision of the seating chart for our sit-down dinner. The bride has calculated the meals and other charges at the reception site and we had to spend more! They have a minimum, so we added some appetizers for those arriving at the reception site early. The bride has her program ready to get printed and has finalized the flower order. The bridesmaids are wearing tea-length dresses and need no alterations! The bride chose these to avoid the usual $100 hem charge on simple dresses. Time to dig in! I am not scheduled for any meetings for two weeks. I am a local elected official. I have no one home expecting a meal today. The Elna was taken from her cabinet and is on the seldom used dining table. Thanks for that tip about a big table! I have a black lab to avoid and she dislikes her feet on wood floors. If I have time, I'll give a progress report.

For the existing aprons you have already made, make a Seam right down the middle of the front, 2" or more, whatever makes it fit. Then add some decorative binding around the neck, over that front seam, and along the bottom, so it looks like you intended it that way. It's not that the neck size is cut too wide, it's that the entire top is too wide. You need to fix that pattern by making the entire bodice part narrower. Then sew on the straps. Marti in Mexico