Profess your love for the Summer's before it's Over!

Photography by Andrew Chris

Photography by Raymond Diaz

The Birth of Venus Dress, Technicolor Sea Cruise

 

  

The Birth of Venus Dress!

I. Love. The. Way. This. Shot. Came. Out.
Flaw. Less.

Gilligan's Island - Skipper Sexy

So let us return to Gilligan's Island. Last season, I did the girls. (Ha, who ever thought they'd hear me say THAT?!) But who says that my ladies can't emulate the males of the island?

Maybe it's the current hot days, maybe it's that I have a lot of stretch material and just found a new website that teaches stretch pattern making, but I decided to do a small collection of swimwear, just for the fun and experience of it!

I have had this blue striped material for a while now (I've used it as the "underwear" in my mens' faire pants because it's hidden, but comfy and sturdy enough to be a good base under the pumpkin puffiness). Anyway, I think the stripes just scream, "Nautical!" So I made a bandeau variation bikini top and the female Skipper was born.

For the rest, I wanted an airy, sea-cruise type of feel, so I used some light lacy stretch white cotton to make a tiered cave-front peasant skirt, perfect for walking up the steps and short ladders on a yacht without tripping while still catching the sea breeze beautifully.

The top, of course inspired by The Skipper's blue polo shirt, is (gasp!) ultra drapy! I wanted to make her have a more "round" shape on the top to echo Skipper's chubbiness without making her actually look fat. I think I did a good job at that concept!

Oh, by the way, I did look for a Skipper hat to go with this outfit, but it ended up making Raine look so Jennifer Lopez-as-Selena. It just didnt' look right, so I didn't use it.  AS for the rest of the ensemble, I am quite happy with it!  It's cool and comfy and ready for more than a three hour tour!

Gilligan's Island: Profess This!

I was excited to make something for The Professor.  Along with the Skipper, he was always one of my favorites.  I used his white shirt and khaki pants combination as inspiration for this combo.

As I mentioned last post, I am doing an exercise in swimwear since finding a great site on how to draft patterns for stretch fabrics.  I'm quickly becoming a fan!

I knew I wanted to try to make a one-piece suit that looked like she was also wearing a very professorial vest.  The small problem was, how would I do that without making the waist look bulky with the extra layer of horizontal-laying fabric on it?  The answer was to do a twisty, high placed ditty withangular lines running through it.  I love the way it turned out!  

In addition to making the otherwise simple-ish suit look more interesting, notice how the placement of the bands on the side sections also add cleavage-creating bra-like support.

And of course, I couldn't simply make a one-piece and let it stand alone, so I made a flowy (yes, a flowy, unstructured top!  Can you believe my boldness to explore the unfamiliar?!) blouse as a cover-up.  While it doesn't really cover anything, it sure would look great billowing in the sea breeze.  I was not only taking from the Professor's white shirt, but also was inspired by coconut "fuzz" and the the palm frond thatched huts, which is why I added the detail of the frayed edge ribbon I created from the shirt fabric.

Gilligan's Island: Howell Madness!

Okay, maybe not "Madness!" but it is a little bit unusual, don't you think?

For my final swimwear exercise, I tried a "standard" string bikini with a stringy twist.  You know, I kind of felt strange using such a little amount of fabric to cover up Trina's girly bits.  I mean, if a regular piece of paper represented the amount of material I usually use to make a garment, this outfit would be represented by a postage stamp.

The hat was essential, and I chose the plaid print to echo a Mr. Howell sports jacket, of course.  It usually would be used for trousers or something, but it is actually stretchy, so I thought it would be a good choice for this character.

Always not wanting to keep things simple, I wanted to also add something extra and unusual, so inspired by the idea of a scuba-diving outfit, I made a string-embellished raglan sleeve shrug that is almost off the shoulder and buttons off center.  I think it adds a nice fashion touch, even if it would make for a strange tan pattern after a day at the beach.

Just to point out as well, check out the awesome backside to this bikini bottom!  I used an inward curved center back seam to "lift and separate" which also prevents the fabric from riding up and in while the girl is walking.  I will use this technique again!

Gilligan's Island: Ginger Twist

That is not an optical illusion or special staging just for the photo, the skirt of this dress was drafted to make the pleats twist around Ginger's hips.  It was a lot more mathematically involved to achieve this effect than it looks.  Nonetheless, I like the way it turned out, even if the dress looks more simple in pictures than it does in real life.

I remember that Ginger had two standard outfits on the show, her pearly white dress, and the cheetah print dress that could be repurposed as a swimsuit.  I remember seeing at least once that she had a tight cocktail dress made from sail canvas with "S.S. Minnow" printed on the thigh, which I thought was genius on the costumer's part.

It was kind of hard to find a good picture of her in the cheetah dress, although the picture of Mary Ann wearing it while suffering from a case of amnesia (which made her think she was Ginger) were plentiful.  Go figure.

The black top is criss-cross seamed to match the seams of her pearl dress, but it's hard to see, which reinforces my preference to not use black in my designs.  In this case, though, the black was necessary because there was no way that I could make the entire outfit out of the cheetah material, it would just be "too much" and no other color than black would pair well with the print, so black it is. Still, the bodice fits her like a glove, which I love and is something you can't hide, regardless of the dark color.  I also placed some hand sewn flowers trimmed in black sequins on the shoulder to add more interest.


The long mermaid skirt is removable for extra versatility!  While I can totally see a starlet walking onto a tour boat wearing the long dress and thinking it's a perfectly fine dress for sailing, if you get stuck on a deserted island, a shorter cocktail dress is better just for convenience sake.  And, oh, it looks good in real life and I can see some people liking this version better as it looks a little more youthful.

Oh!  And!  It's my Birthday!

Gilligan's Island: MaryAnn's First Boat Trip

First of all, those of you who know the personalities of my girls should not find it surprising that it took a lot of convincing to talk Raine into portraying innocent and happy MaryAnn.  She wanted to play Ginger.  But when I showed her that my MaryAnn outfit was going to be edgy and the wig she would wear would be one of my human hair ones, she relented and promised to try and smile in the pictures.  She still looks moody in some of them, but she works the outfit, and I can see an excited modern Mary Ann wearing this on a boat!

This outfit is a little MaryAnn/Gilligan combo.  As you can see,  it's inspired by Gilligan's color scheme with the white full-leg pants and red top, and MaryAnn's gingham print tied crop-top blouse.

(Edit: For the life of me, for all of the various costume pictures that I found with Mary Ann's checkered blouse being the signature choice, I could not  find one single picture of Dawn Wells wearing it!  The closest I found was a combination of this and this.)

I experimented with the waistband of the pants by making it quite high with a flare-out at the top, which ended up looking quite nice!  I thought there was a good chance that it would make the wearer's waist look bigger, but I think it might do the opposite by giving the impression that the lady's waist is so small that, Look!  It doesn't even touch the waistband!  As long as the shirt underneath is tight enough, I think I could make an even more pronounced flair next time if I try this look again.

The top utilizes my "bishop sleeves coming out of a short sleeved jacket" look that I am trying to make one of my signatures.  This time it works, thank goodness!  Sometimes it doesn't, and I am still trying to figure out exactly why it looks good with some combinations and other times, it looks just wrong.  Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

I wanted to keep Maryann's belly-baring crop top but cover her up more.  Doing a half shirt would be just too obvious, so I made an extra-short cropped jacket instead out of the same material as the undershirt, all of wich were made from less than one and a half  yards of fabric.

As a Bonus, I've put up the scene from "Gilligan's Island" featuring the 3 ladies singing as "The HoneyBees".  I've had this song stuck in my head since I started this outfit, and now, it will be stuck on yours!

My favorite lyric:
"You need me
Like a baby needs it's toy,

Like Hawaiians need their Poi."

Gilligan's Island Collection: Mrs. Howell Loves Her Accessories

Mrs. Howell is ready for the cold island weather in her new green plaid coat over a simple belted lime green shift dress.  Doesn't the fresh infusion of color make her look years and years younger?                            On the shawl collar, she has placed a priceless diamond brooch and has topped off the outfit with a white fur Q-Tip hat with pink tips made from stray imitation rabbits that were found roaming about the island.

This coat was cut wide all around the bottom for a little extra drama and fullness.  I also added some extra interest by putting in welt pockets on the side fronts and next to the lapel.  Welt pockets are easiest to do on plaid because the outline of the pocket is built in to the fabric, and as I have said before, when it comes to using plaid, it is best to let the pattern on the fabric work for you and not against you.

You may remember I have used this material before.  I bought the whole bolt when I got it because it it's SO very hideousgorgorgeous 60's, I couldn't resist.  It was also very cheap, so that didn't hurt, either.

This coat can also be worn belted, as you can see here, for a more fitted look.  (You have no idea how difficult it was for me mentally to make something without a well-defined waistline!)