Sew Thus is Life...

I won't waste too much time explaining my collection, as you can read all the background here . But for recap's sake this is the final incarnation of my final senior collection/ capstone project at PhilaU. It's titled "Grandstand Diva" and is supposed to invoke the feeling of a day at the races, namely the Triple Crown. All the constructed dresses were named after one of the tracks, and the accessories created in my elective course reflect the horse than won a race there. I now present "Grandstand Diva" The Collection Pimlico- Pimlico (named for the Preakness Stakes) is a 3/4 sleeve peplum cocktail dress featuring a low scoop back, ruched side skirt and an exposed zipper back. Dress front with belt Side; with skirt ruching detail Dress Back with back ruching and zipper Exposed zipper detail Churchill Downs-  Churchill Downs, home to the famous Kentucky Derby, served at the inspiration for this fitted sweetheart neckline sheath...

Dying the ground color of my fabric. The sateen was stark white and my professor wasn't super excited about the shade. So I coffee dyed it, 3 pots and a million and a half grounds later I got a shade I like but unfortunately I followed ill advice (durn internet) and put the grounds in with the dye solution, so it could continue to "steep" or "brew" if you will. Bad, BAD idea. I had to put the fabric in the washing machine and hope the spin cycle can toss the few straggling grains out of the fabric. I'm a little concerned too now that the finish wasn't quite strong enough and since I hadn't dried (aka heat set) it yet the color will continue to leech out. That's the problem with using homemade and natural dyes. I'll post pictures of the painting process as I go through it tomorrow. You can see the color (before the 4th wash) below. WELL. That was sometime last week. FAIL . However, I made up for lost posting time by being super productive. ...

So the whole premise behind my collection is African wax prints. So in doing my fabric and color research I stumbled on a few textile trade shows showcasing the seasons upcoming fabric trends. One of them were the wildly graphic styles that I'm using in Collection. Below are the prints I'm tentatively using, we'll find out for sure tomorrow... blue/lime/orange Orange/ turquoise wax dynamic orange/blue/lime So that's my side. Stylesight, my fashion trend crack, have posted some good inspiration shots, some blatantly African-feeling or tribal. Maybe later I'll post more of the shows but for now enjoy these lil tidbits. Thanks to Stylesight for helping me stay inspired and making my life a lot easier, Brush Tribal Ok. Going to bed so i can "make it werk" tomorrow. Peace babydolls. P.S. as of 6:00 i got confirmation my lil African hookup has my fabric in stock and i should have it by Tuesday!