Angie: 1940's+1980's= 2020's? The World May Not Be Ready.

I LOVED the show, "Angie."  I know I usually start with the lead character, but Raine and Nora are fighting over who gets to play Angie.  Nora says she looks better in the red hair, and Raine says she'd do a better job wearing the clothes.  Guess who won.

On a quick sidenote, can I just say how AWESOME the theme song is to this show?  If you haven't watched the video I posted, please do so now.  It's my favorite TV opening theme song next to Love, American style.  I think I have a thing for song containing background singers that Ooh and Aah in an ascending scale, which is another reason why I can listen to "Could it be Magic" for hours on end.  Can anyone think of other songs that do this?  Let me know!

So, with the other two models fighting, Trina was more than ready to step into the fashionable shoes of uptight Joyce, played be the delightfully upright Sharon Spelman.

Joyce was very proper and often wore big, slanted hats and long pencil skirts, very 40's, so I decided to try to mix the 40's with the 80's and came up with something that is interesting, but I think I forgot to add in "the 2010's," because it kind of looks too 40's and 80's!

Still there are lessons to be learned and there are some cool things about this.  I've been waiting to use this fabric.  It reminds me of chocolate mint ice cream.  And I continue to perfect my shoulder pad techniques.  Yes, shoulder pads are back in, thank you Lady Gaga.  But unlike the 80's, the pads now start further out and go up to a point, as opposed to starting close to the neck and covering the entire shoulder.  So there should be no fear of the football player look coming back...

Villains and Vixens Collection Entry II - Jeannie's Sister Jeannie

As many of you know, "I Dream of Jeannie" is one of my all-time retro TV favorites. I have always Loved the character of Jeannie's Sister Jeannie. The fact that they have the same name, hairstyle, and (to an extent) costume? Genius.

Today, I have made Jeannie's Sister Jeannie a bad-girl club chick. According to her history, she had had 48 husbands and was going for #49, so it's not far-fetched for me to think that she would love the meat-market club scene.With this outfit, I definitely knew I wanted to start with the signature gathered bra of the original Jeannie, and build from there. I also mimicked the shape of the yoke from her skirt a bit in the top of the pants.



I know it's ON THE VERGE of being "costumey," but I think considering what the hardcore club girls do wear, this one would be quite appropriate.

The material from this outfit came from (I hope you don't kill me, Sara!) this bridesmaid's dress that was donated to me. It was part of a designer's "couture collection" and the fabric was VERY high quality. Believe me, I used just about every bit of the material. Notice the jeweled band at the waist of the dress. I re-used it as edging on the collar of the new outfit's top.



I chose to go with pants for a few reasons. First, I didn't want the outcome to look like a literal translation of the TV version or too similar to a previous outfit I made. Second, practice making pants is always good. Third, combining a see-through lace open-front floor-length skirt into the yoke of green satin jean-fit flared trousers is so insane, it's AWESOME!



Also, as a note, it appears that Raine might like this outfit... Are there hints of an actual SMILE in some of the photos? (Or perhaps it just might be her face being pulled by the two wigs, braided extension hair piece and three necklaces that I used to create this hairstyle...)

Coco Beach Spring Party, Day 3

Finally, Raine's dress is complete and Jeannie can serve the Mai Tais!

This dress is made of linen-esque blue fabric with light and dark threads woven in, giving it a canvas-like look. It is really three separate peices; a halter vest with an extended waist, gathered mini-skirt, and short capelet.

I think this may be my least favorite of the three, but is also the most unconventional, so the design risk was a nice challenge to face. Raine is a bit difficult to design for because she has scoliosis, just like me! Her spine is "S" shaped, her left shoulder is higher than the right, one arm is one inch shorter than the other, and her hip sticks out to the left. All this makes for a sexy-looking pose in certain outfits, but it also means that she is limited to garments that are not incredibly structured. No corsets for you, girl!

Still, I love her and she remains my "edgy girl" that can pull off the unsusal outfits.








I did not originally design the dress to have a capelet, but I am glad that I added it. I think it gives it another layer of interest. I think the capelet should make a comeback! Look for them to pop up at least a few more times in the near future!

Show and Tell

I have to admit that Raine's Beach Party capelet has a function other than looking lovely draping off her shoulders. It also conceals mistakes!

One Day Coco beach Party Dress 2

Okay, so technically this dress was started and finished over the span of two days, but it was done in less than the course of 24 hours, so I am rationalizing that it still counts as a one-day dress!

Trina is wearing an avocado green faux-linen-canvas sleeveless dress accessorized with a matching bolero mini-jacket.

She says it is "Simply Adorable."

(You may also notice that the quality of these new photos are significantly different than my previous ones. I finally broke down and got a new camera, and OH is there a difference when I use it. Just like when you get a new car and put it next to your old one, I didn't realize how much I NEEDED a new camera until I used it the first time.)






Dress without jacket.

1 Day Dress Week

The Palm Springs Ren Faire is coming up the week of the 20th and I am going to be making at least one new nice noble garment for which I am budgeting 2 weeks of work.

So I decided that I am going to challenge myself this last free week before I start that project to make three "one day" dresses that will take less than 24 hours each to design, construct, and photograph from start to finish. Making something on the fly is a weakness of mine that I definitely have to work on, for obvious reasons, if you know what I mean.

The speed excercise for me means simplifying the design of the garment (no sleeves, no complicated mathematics, straight hem skirts) while still hopefully making something good-looking that stays within my style.

This first dress I made I really like. I caught an episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" the other day in which Maj. Nelson threw a dinner party. (Jeannie's sister, Jeannie, arrived and chaos ensued, of course) All the guests were wearing really groovy clothes like this one, so this collection is going to follow a "Coco Beach Spring House Party" theme.

The material in this dress that Leonora is modeling is vintage 60's from a garage sale and I think may have originally been meant as uphostery fabric. It is double-sided, blue on one side and small-checker on the other.