Sew Thus is Life...

So this weekend I coerced my sister and her friend to model dresses I've made with the promise of more dresses... Here are a few of the raw unedited photos. About halfway through I noticed these weird smudge/flare spots. Gonna be more work to get them gone but the rest of the photo itself is fine so I pretty much say screw it. I'll try to fix the lens before doing my second shoot this week.  this does not even look like my neighborhood... but it is. felled trees for drama I suppose?  that dress fit her more beautifully than the original fit model or anyone else who wore it.  shoulder details see smudge? ew. hand beading detail photos taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR

So I resolved my issue with FedEx. Tonight I'm planning on sewing my dress, I feel an all nighter because I probably won't have jack to do at work and I can sleep on the way home. I'm a little upset because while cutting my overskirt I goofed and forgot to check my patterns, so I don't have enough to do the second color, without piecing... and I don't want to piece. On the other hand, I did master a 1/8 inch French seam and it was beautiful. I'll have  to get a pic of that. Plus the fabric is VERY open weave and less overall sheer so I don't think nixing that one layer will devoid it of the color aspect I was shooting for. I'm also trying to hurry up and do mad sketching this week for my portfolio. I don't draw full illustrations when I design, and I have to fully illustrate 5 collections. I think I'm only going to do 3 each. I dont have time. The final for Problem Solving asks for 10. So I have 22 illustrations to do by Dec 5/6. fun times ahea...

I'm currently embroiled in a package war with PhilaU and FedEx. Currently highly dislike both parties. They are keeping me from fully cutting out my wedding dress. Ticked off. Anyway I promised my new Problem Solving creation so here goes.  This was inspired by 1960 and 70's fashion and the textiles of Zandra Rhodes. The challenge was stripes  while utilizing high or low contrast. I created "stripes" from recycled vintage polyester and painted chipboard. The underdress is poly taffeta and plastic. fun times.

...but I thought this would be a nice time to see what I'm doing in Problem Solving since I wont be posting any more pictures of anything wedding related till the dress is done. Selfish? Yes. If the groom shouldn't see the dress till the day of why should you? (j/k) Anyway for those not in the know of PhilaU classes, Problem Solving is the class that is like those random Project Runway challenges (make a dress out of dog food! or and old coat! or streamers! I figured it'd be a nice interlude to keep you entertained for a while. So here we go. This project was to study  deconstruction and reconstruction. The challenge was to buy a coat from the thrift store, take it apart and re-work it into a garment or other body adornment. The body emphasis was the shoulder. My base inspiration was Junya Watanabe, a Japanese designer; and Nicki Minaj. This is the resulting "romper". The top is the shell, the shorts are the lining and batting cut out of the jacket. The knit wai...

My phone was on the fritz and I couldn't get the pictures off. But here's my masterpiece slip. in progress finished! I also finished my muslin and will be able to cut final fabrics on Tuesday!! Excited much. 

Steelers lost :-(. So I took out my frustrations on some tulle and cotton poly and finished the crinoline! (kinda). Its functional right now, but super itchy because I haven't actually lined the tiers or edged the hems of the layers. There's 3 layers and each layer is 3 tiers totaling 14" long. The full circumference is 288 inches and is made from three yards of 72" wide. I'll post pictures either tonight or tomorrow.

As soon as most parents hear this, parents thought processes go two ways. Mom: aww I can dress her, and take her shopping and mani- pedis with venti mochas and... le gasp! Her Wedding!*gushes and cuddles* Dads: great, now I have to pay for a pony.... oh crap, and a wedding. *awkwardly smiles at wife*. Fast forward about.... let's say 27 years. Meet Leslie.   Believe it or not, Leslie is the dress, not the model, or the gorgeous baby girl. Its Badgley Mischka my favvve I always found it interesting that designers named their gowns, especially in bridal. Theres Leslie, Katia, Tasha, Katherine, Amanda etc. If you had a girl, there's a 99% chance there is a dress with her name on it. LITERALLY. Example? Here's me, the Whitney: Making this wedding gown has gotten me attached, like most of my work, but the fact it has purpose makes it mean so much more. Some woman could walk down the aisle and say "I do" to the man of her dreams IN MY GOWN [or not: enter Kim K., I d...