No restrictions

I had gotten the latest email blast from Coletterie and I just had to smirk a bit. Not that it was bad or I was being especially snotty or anything but it was about a little trip to NYC and different fabric stores. One of which was Mood. Then they described this draping class that was being taught there and this beautiful piece was made.

This is what made me smirk. Of course it is gorgeous but also how many yards of fabric do you think it took to make this? My rough estimate with those wide pleats would be somewhere between 15-20 yards. That is also not muslin which makes a large difference as well. Even muslin at Mood prices for that much yardage it would be about $120. It just amazes me how unrealistic some of these things are that they present to people as options. I guess they can get away with that in NYC but you would find yourself hard pressed to get someone in Columbus to shell out the class price with an additional couple hundred in just draping supplies.  I would know, I teach draping in the summer at CCAD.

I dream of the day when I have copious amounts of money or means to drape amazing unrestricted garments but alas, I must work with what I have and be conservative with each piece. Once upon a time in college I was able to do this regardless of cost, not because I had the money but because I was an oblivious youth with big dreams and very supportive parents. The last time I gave myself unrestricted allowance for fabric was my wedding dress. That took about 8 yards of silk organza because of all the pleats.

 Well anyways that was just my little two cents on that post from Coletterie and their trip to NYC and Mood. It is hard to be a designer without any support and income and especially harder if you are an adult with an interest in it and looking to take classes. Fashion design is not cheap nor is it easy. I try to be as sympathetic as possible to my students pocket books but I feel their pain between the creative expression and the reality of the situation you live in.

Best of luck my friends and don't be discouraged by your resources. Continue to create and learn and be happy in what you are doing for yourself.
Cheers!

Sew what a week!

This week I got much done in terms of sewing for the dresses.  I NEARLY have the wedding dress done.  I need to make up some pleats for a top embellishment and figure out a place to attach my extra adornments from Korea that one of my Bestie's sent me.  Now for my photo stream and captions.

I started out finishing the embroidery for the dress.  

It is a piece for the front layover

Then after tearing away what I could with my hands for the stabilizer I had to go back and pick out all the little spaces between the petals. I did this with a combination of tweezers, and embroidery scissors because I want it to be perfect

Putting the pieces together visually. 

Then I can think about my next step.

 Pinning my pleats for the top of the skirt to connect to the bodice.  I chose 1" box pleats.  Each box pleat takes 6 inches of fabric to make so that was easy to take it from 120" down to 36".

I took a break from that dress and got in the last of the fabric I needed for making the Singer's Dress in the Band.  

These are the pieces laid out on my work table right before I get to putting it together.

After it is sewn and now I just need to Hem it.

What the heck Let's HEM!

 

My favorite foot for doing a top stitch hem.

The dress is basically done, I need one more final fitting with Bethany and then I can add the zipper.

Back to the wedding dress, It is pinned and prepped but I'm still taking a break because I need to figure out the perfect execution of how to go about sewing it in with elastics and other support since this will be strapless.

It really is coming together!  We've been getting in Wedding presents almost daily now and we are about 23 days out from the wedding!

Over the Weekend

My Social Suicide has officially commenced.  I had to decline going to more events then I could shake a stick at this weekend for the sole purpose of getting a chunk of my wedding dress figured out.  I spent about 12 hours on the dress this weekend.  Most of that time was spent at the ironing board getting the final pleats done.  I re-evaluated my previous measurements while breaking in my reception shoes. The difficult thing with this is I know what I want the exterior to look like but before that I need to figure out how the interior is going to work.  With the dress being strapless I need to make sure it will stay up.  Also since it is empire waist that leaves not room for any supportive boning so I need to make sure that everything is tight and stays in place without it looking like the fabric is pulling or strained.  I also do not want it to be all the way to the floor since I have some fabulous shoes that need to see the daylight.

 My main work station this weekend, netflix on the laptop, connected to the speaker, bottle of water, sewing machine (Brother Innovis 80) and Serger on hand.  My narrow hem foot has been my best friend in finishing all my hems for this silk organza extravaganza.

 

The one night I went out was to a friend's 30th Birthday Party which was just a house party with a bonfire & pinata.   I wore mostly casual but most importantly I got to break out my new Dr. Scholl's (yes I will wear old lady shoes) flat wooden sandal and you can see my natural hair color. 

Allison Rose "Love your Librarian" T-shirt

Gold hoop and Gold Panther Choker from Express

Pink skirt from TJ Maxx

Baby Blue Swatch

Silver Metallic Dr. Scholl's Sandals

Finally my hair color as it was Saturday.  I plan to put some baby blue into it and get more of that blondish yellow out of it.but overall keeping to a green/turquoise coloring.