A Place for Everything, and Everything Under My Skirt

Like many brides, I believe that the key to a smoothly-run wedding is found in meticulous planning and coordination before the event. Of course, not everything can be controlled (witness Mrs. Bubblegum's power outage or Mrs. Hummingbirds mudfest 2008), and that's where a sense of purpose (hello, you're getting married!) and a willingness to grin and bear it comes in handy.

I've told as much to my mother, much to her poorly-concealed delight. Apparently, she has little faith that I have within me the physiological and emotional resources to be a "Zen bride" on my wedding day, should anything go wrong. Hopefully, neither one of us will have to occasion to say "I told you so," but just in case, I have created an emergency pocket to hide inside my hoop skirt!

You all have probably noticed that I love DIY-ing, so when my post-Brown Owl- mental flash of preparedness appeared, I quickly set to work. Note: This will only work if you're wearing a hoop skirt - not a petticoat, not a crinoline (well maybe, but I'm not sure about sewing onto horsehair), and definitely not a slip or the underside of your wedding dress! A hoop skirt works best because it has structure, and keeps everything away from your body - like your own private office (or party) under your skirt!

(vintage buttons, how I heart thee!)

NECESSARY MATERIALS:

• 4 pieces of felt ( 2 pieces cut to be 5" X 8" and 2 pieces cut to be 5"X6")
• scraps of ribbon, buttons, felt, lace, etc (for decoration)
• needles (and a pincushion or something soft to stick them in when you're changing thread)
• embroidery floss
• sewing machine (optional, for sewing it into your hoop skirt)
• Velcro (or a button) for closing the top

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the felt to size
2. Prepare and plan your decorations
3. Sew decorations onto ONE of the 5"X6" felt pieces
4. Sew all four felt pieces together, around three sides only, leaving an opening at the top
5. Attach a button to the top 5"X6" felt piece, sew a loop of thread to the inner 5"X8" felt piece. This makes a button and loop closure. Alternately, you could sew Velcro onto the same areas. (My button and loop are hidden in the pink heart)
6. Use your sewing machine to sew the edges of your pocket to the inner wall of your hoop skirt. Take out the flexible hoops first! You can also sew your pocket on by hand if the hoops aren't removable or you don't have a sewing machine.
7. Put in your in-case-of-emergency necessities.
8. Show off your mad skills!

You can also personalize your pocket-of-preparedness by stitching your wedding date and initials. Birds/strangely shaped arrows (thanks sister shortcake :p ) are strictly optional.

I'll be using my surprisingly sturdy pocket to store an extra copy of our uber-important "moment" songs (wedding march, first dance, father-daughter, etc) so that in case of the no-blues-blues, we'll be prepared (Mrs. Tulip and Mrs. Penguin, I bow down to your keeping-it-real-ness). I'll also keep extra copies of other things in there, of what I'm not so sure of yet....

My mom suggests Ritalin.

:p

How are you preparing yourself for possible wedding-day mishaps?