Thanksgiving special: Earthtone Warmness!

Okay, so I know it's been FOR EVA since I posted something new.  It hasn't been that I haven't been sewing anything.  It's just been that I haven't been sewing anything that I LIKE.  (To see my recent Phails, click here and here.  It's not that they are without merit, they are just not worthy of being on the front page of my blog.)

This interesting half-pilgrim/half-Indian combination is a simple tube dress with a demi-corset attached to a gauzey sleeved top.  It's just matchy enough for the three textiles to work together harmoniously and not be so obvious that they are so different in nature.

And this also goes to support my previous thought that Raine is the most racially ambiguous of my girls.  One day, she can look American Indian, but just a while ago, she was the All American Girl, and then before that. she looked Japanese.  That's taLENT...

Halloween Special: The Wild West Saloon Girl

For my next installment of re-imagining overused Halloween costumes, I choose "The Saloon/Can-Can Girl".

Can-Can chic never really got off the ground as some expected with the release of Moulin Rouge in the early 2000's, but people have been dressing as the Saloon Girl for ages before that on Halloween.  I can imagine the allure is surely the fun of wearing a LOT of makeup, feathers in your hair, and of course, the one socially acceptable excuse to lift your skirt over your head over and over again throughout the evening.

 

Trina is wearing a (perhaps unnecessarily full) double-plus circle skirt (I wanted to play with fold and waves, but it came out a little too wavy), with a halter top that gathers into the choker neckband with pleats, and a cropped faux double-breasted bolero with invisible shoulder pads.  See how complicated and impressive I made it sound?

Do notice as well that each flower was pressed onto the cloth individually.  I don't know how many flowers there are on there, but undoubtedly this would have been a very expensive project just because of that if those flowers weren't a surprise find at the bottom of a box of fabric that I bought from a garage sale.  I think I still I have around 250 to 300 of them left!

Halloween Special: The Cosby Show, Olivia's clown oufit is too bright and scary!

In honor of Halloween coming up, I am taking three tired, overused costume concepts and doing a little experimenting to try an make them fashionable.

The first is the clown outfit.  I remember on "The Cosby Show,"  they put Olivia in these strange "clown outfits."  Granted, adding her character to the show was a mistake, but why did they dress her so strangely in her early appearances?

So my re-working involved lengths of shirring to make all the fabric gather into the waistline while hopefully not making Leonora look fat.  This fabric is majorly thin.  If it mere more lightweight, it would be see through, and it still added a lot of bulk.  Maybe I gathered too much in, but I still think the look is kind of interesting, even if it is not necessarily my favorite thing I have ever made..

The Addam's Family: IT's Granny!

Okay, so with Hollyween swiftly approaching, I felt the Addams Family calling to me once again.  Previously, I made a Morticia/Gomez combo, and a Fester/Pugsley one (Wednesday stood alone, as always...), so I thought about a Granny/Cousin It mix-up, and the result is a coat that I know at least one of my fans will no longer be my friend if I don't give it to her.

This outfit is not so much fashion forward as it is fun and stylish to play with.  I mean, we've seen fur-collared coats before, but the overall look and story is exactly what I was going for.

I don't remember what Granny wore on the Addams family.  I think it was some dusty layered dress, but when I think of gothic grannies, I think of old-ladies that hit their prime in the 1920's, so they sill wear their flimsy flapper dresses under dusty black velvet and fur coats and put of every piece of jewelry they own. 

And of course, Cousin It can't be forgotten for what he was, so I made the coat extra... hairy, with oversized fur cuffs that can be pulled down to be used as a muff and a collar that can be popped up for extra warmth around the face or folded down and out of the way.

And, of course, Raine loved getting to look like a dark freak again, so it was difficult to get her to hide her smile and look sufficiently creepy!

The Facts of Life: Okay, Natalie!

Alright, I think I tortured the spirit of Natalie long enough by ignoring her and making an extra Blair outfit.  I suppose fat girls need love, too.

What an awful thing to say!  I know.  But you know how much I love fat people, so it's okay for me to go there.

So this overcoat is completely irrational, with it being sleeveless and all.  Why would someone wear a heavy wool coat to keep them warm, but have their arms totally exposed?!  Because that's fashion, baby, and sometimes it just doesn't have to be practical as long as it looks good.

Yes, the concept is a little unusual, but why does it kinda not look so wrong?  I think has to be the accessories.  This outfit would not be the same without those gloves or the collegiate knee socks that match the sweater underneath.

I did make a little miniskirt to go under the coat, just because I felt she shouldn't go bottomless, even if it would not be seen.  Leonora took it off though.  That's why she has that, "I have a secret" look on her face in the last photo...

The Facts of Life: Blair stole Jo's Jacket!

Blair is back, but this time, she has a beautiful story behind the look!



                                                                                                       I very recently acquired a very large amount of fabric from the caretaker of a lady that just passed away.  I am so excited to use it all.  While I was organizing all the bags and bolts, I came across an unfinished project that I am guessing the lady had started sometime in the mid-to-late 80's, judging from the number printed on the tissue pattern that was pinned to fabric.

I thought, "How beautiful would it be to finish the project that she no longer can, but in my own style?"

So the result is this ultra-80's inspired unusual jacket dress that I can't tell if I like or not.  I like that I made ruffles out of plaid, you never really see that, but I think that the ruffles are a little bit of overkill considering that there is pleating involved as well.  But you must agree that the look is not something that you see every day!

"The Double Agent" - Vintage Futuristic Military

On the classic military shows that featured a mainly male cast, there seemed to be the regular occurrence of a beautiful female with an accent that secretly was on the side of the "good guys." Because, after all, if you are pretty, you have to be one of the goodies, right?

First of all, I love the pants, but the rest, I'm not thrilled with. I went through three different tops before deciding to use a simple blouse that I made for a previous outfit to make the pants stand on their own.

These pants and their chicken leg effect would have been absolutely disgusting to see a few years ago, but the "small on the bottom, big on the top" is in, and for some reason, as long as you pair this type of pant with boots, it is visually appealing today and I love the unusual look.

And as a fun extra, anyone who can tell me what other gun-wielder this outfit (the all brown version) is greatly inspired by gets huge bonus points!

CTW, Ready to Romp: Not-So-Juvenille Hipster

I hesitate to say, "Romper Room," because in the service industry, that is the term used when there are too many families with children in the restaurant.  So I'm just going to bundle any juvenile educational programming inspirations into "Children's Television Workshop."


I wanted to make a dress quick quick quick.  I have a record of making a lot of separate pieces.  Even the gown that I did most recently was a two-piece, and wanted to challenge myself to do something speedy and easily constructed without being too simple-looking or boring.

So sleeves and pants were out, and a halter neckline and a skirt was in.   I can't say that this romper dress is Simple.  I can't just put out a potato sack with a belt!  But the whole thing, including designing, drafting, and mocking, took less than 12 hours, which is really fast even considering I also re-drafted and mocked the skirt after a first failed attempt.

I have learned in the past that adding too many extras, like pockets and buttons, to a garment made with fabric that has a busy print on it, the details disappear, so I found a way to make this busy print work for me rather than against me.  See how the pleating has made the stripes look like they are changing direction?  That's because I used my new fascination with drafted pleating to give the printed pattern a new dynamic without having to cut and sew on a new piece of fabric.

The Love Boat: Julie McCoy Announcing Fun and Fabulousness on the Lido Deck

I don't know why I didn't make something like this until now. I've had in the back of my mind doing a dress for Julie McCoy inspired by not only her blue and white uniform, but also by the famous Pacific Princes logo.  Throw a little bit of Charo in, and I love it!

As many of you know, evening dresses aren't always my strength, which is surprising because I do like making things that are really fitted, and evening gowns are exactly that, just long.  Of course, I couldn't make it easy on myself and do a one-piece...

The bodice is supposed to look like her uniform jacket, with the opening of the "collar" exposing the "shirt" underneath.  I really like this effect and it's was kind of difficult to accomplish, which makes me extra grateful that it turned out well!

The super-wavy double skirt took a LOT of fabric, but looks amazing in motion, I wish I could show you how Trina twirled sashayed around the room during the fittings. 

By the way, did you play the video of the Love Boat Theme Song I posted?  Needless to say, there was more than one selection to choose from when I searched for the opening credits, but the one I posted was the very first one I played.  Halston, Bob Mackie, Gloria Vanderbilt?  All in one?!  I didn't need to search for ANY other choice in video to post.

Sushi Ra - Obi Insanity!

I told you that Raine's Alter ego, Sushi Ra, was going to be seen again someday!  And this time, she's wearing two wigs and a hairpiece. Because everyone knows, Big Hair plus Big Shoulders makes everything else look smaller.

      

          I had to find a way to use the rest of this cool sushi satin, so I decided to make a roundabout kimono.  I designed at first a more literal kimono because I like the two layered effect of the "collar" and thought it would make for a good change for a cool color combination, but in the end thought that making an actual kimono would not only be obvious, but not original, so instead I changed it to something else.

This blouse's insane sleeves are definitely the standout of this outfit, don't you think?  They are inspired by that big pillow thing on the back of the kimono belt, called the Obi, or more specifically, the Obi Jime.

The shorts again employ my newly discovered excitement for "drafted draping."  Yes, it looks a little diaper-ish, but the baggy pleated look is in right now and I finally figured out how to do it while not ruining the shape of the backside.  The secret is that it's not baggy because it's loose, it's baggy because I chose where it was going to stand away from the body.

Wild Kingdom: The Earth Goddess Makes a Grand Entrance

I call this a Grand Entrance jacket, meaning it only gets worn when making a bold statement upon entering a party, or walking on the red carpet and getting your picture taken, but you want to take it off before even thinking about sitting down.  It's not that the jacket's not comfortable, it's that the pleating is so deliberate, it will be ruined if crushed, and you can't iron it.

 There is something jungle-y and natural about the choice of fabric.  The jacket's crinkly nature and tiny pinstripes remind me of tall, dry Serengeti grass, and the simple dress underneath is beige with a shiny tiger stripe print, so, yes, the design came first, then the TV inspiration focused it.

When you first see this outfit, one might think, "Oh, noes.  He has gone over to the drapy dark side..." but this outfit is drafted drapy, meaning I didn't just throw a piece of fabric on a dressform and fold and hope for the best.  I actually made a pattern and mathematically controlled the angles that each pleat would fall and therefore created a symmetrical and evenly balanced garment that never would have been possible if I had just pleated fabric haphazardly.  I am very happy with the result and even looking at this picture of final flat pattern makes me happy!  Would you think that something like that ends up looking like something like this?