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 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!

Taxi: Simka and The Price Of Tea In China

I'm trying out a new style: Boho Punk!

Simca on Taxi, was a freak.  That is what made her adorable.  She was foreign (from a "European Country" that they never specified), didn't have a lot of money, wasn't always that intelligent, and also wasn't always that nice. Bohemian Punk!

I built everything off of this unusual skirt.  It's a tiered gathered skirt (Boho) held together with zippers that are open in areas, giving it an unkempt, jagged industrial look (Punk).  I also did a treatment that gives some panels a permanently wrinkled look by scrunching the fabric and pressing it on top of iron-on interfacing, so the wrinkles will never release.  The skirt is terribly impractical and would probably scrape your legs up, but I think it looks very cool.

And much like a European story, the rest of the tale is not such a happy one.  I made a gathered crop top to use as an undershirt for a Boho Punk jacket, but the jacket turned out too clean, which is what I am used to making.  I put on exposed zippers for the pockets and made the collar normal-sized on one side and large on the other, and even added a bullet-holder thing on the shoulder, but it still looked too flat!  Maybe a different fabric choice would have been the key, but I knew I liked the blouse underneath, so I removed the jacket and went with a new concept.

I took the top and added long kimono sleeves appropriate for the very sheer fabric.  I like this better.  It's dramatic even though it is soft and flowy, the amount of exposure adds a hard edge that goes along with the hard/softness of the skirt.

Square Pegs: Around the Corner

It would probably be overdramatic to tell you how I agonized and agonized over this outfit.  I made three different tops before settling on this one.  The others were either too old lady, too unflattering, to just too wrong.  This cardigan-like sweater is a little on the simple side, but I actually can see a high school/college age girl wearing it.

The reason why I had such a hard time was that I started with the fabric with no TV inspiration!  I was totally lost before I noticed the squares in the pattern and the pegged pants.  Square Pegs!  That's it!  There's no particular character this would fit.  It's not dorky enough for the nerdy girls and not uppity enough for Muffy.  So let's just say that Trina would be playing an extra on the show.

Speaking of Trina.  Raine is quite upset right now because Trina is using her body.  Well, namely her torso.  I needed a pose that was a little less upright to make the look work.

The Addams Family: "Morticia, have I made you very Unhappy?" "Oh, yes, My Darling, Completely."

Part two of my mini-collection of darkness is Morticia Addams.  This suit is one of the main reinforcements of why I don't like to design in black.  This is the most complicated jacket that I have ever drafted.  It has three collars going all different directions, one and a half peplums, tiny pinstripes angled every which way, and hard-to-make sharp-cornered seams.  And you can barely see any of the work!  The unfortunate outcome is that Tish looks like a dominatrix 50's airline stewardess.

In the end, I kind of knew that I wasn't going to like this one.  After all, it's not really my style, but I really wanted to do a black collection so I could get over it and "come out of the darkness and back into the light."  Corny, yes?  But whatever!  You don't know me!

But for those of you who want to know, "What was he thinking?!" I can point a few cool things out.  First of all, I do know that the original Morticia costumes, both the Carolyn and Angelica versions, put the actresses in dresses so tight at the knees they could barely walk.  Making a fishtail gown, though, would be too obvious, so I started by making very tight pants with huge flares at the bottom with a corset at the top.  Then I realized that flared pants are SO not in style anymore, so I scrapped it and started over by making an uncomfortably tight jacket with padded shoulders and a strange, spider-like collar treatment with an attached choker that makes her decollete' look like a heart.

I even made a pair of impossibly tight ankle pants as an option to try and make it look less stewardessy.  I like the pants, but I think I'll leave the jacket/tight pants combo to another designer who likes to use black and make similar combo outfits.

So this was a good excercise, but soon will be put into the phail file!  I should have taken a picture of what a mess my sewing room was after all this.  Black fabric trimmings all over the place makes it look really creepy!

Do Not Like!

I got an inspiration to make a bodice that looked like a hot air balloon.  It ended up looking like Trina had really big boobs that were abnormally high... Even the mock-up looked better than this!

But I had already used some of my special Vintage fabric to make it, so I tapered down the fullness by making crescent shaped pintucks and made a TOTAL throwaway skirt.  The outcome is something that I think looks like a project that a teenager from the 60's would have made for a home-sewing lesson.  Humph!  To be filed in the Phail archives!

Dynasty: Hello, Krystle Carrington. I hate you!

Okay, people, don't expect to see this post up front for long.  I hate this one!

Combine creating an outfit for a Krystle Carrington, a character that I never really connected with, simply because I felt it necessary to create a pair for Alexis, and giving myself less than 12 hours to create it, plus making several stupid mistakes, equals Phail!

Okay, I like the skirt.  I'll probably use it again sometime with a different outfit.  But the top makes me so disgusted.  I thought about making something with immense shoulder pads, but then twisted it by instead creating volume in a collar instead.  It would have turned out better except I committed the ultimate cardinal sin when it comes to making ruffles.  I IRONED it.  The ruffles as well as the supporting collar stand underneath were leaning in instead of out, so stupidly, I ironed the base of the collar to make it lay outwardst, and in turn, irreversibly ruined a rich ruffle effect in exchange for a forever flat looking raggedy mess around her neck.  I know better, but I still did it!

But in addition to the iron travesty, there are also other flaws that I can't even bring myself to point out that I will NEVER do again.

So, enjoy the pictures while you can, because very soon, I am hiding Krystle away where she belongs!

Brady Bunch - Cindy's Baby Doll Trench Coat

This outfit kind of evolved... Originally, Leonora was supposed to be playing a different character altogether, but since I noticed that this coat was steering to more of a "precious" direction with the pink and the frills at the bottom, I thought it would be much more appropriate for a Brady collection.  I still want to run with the "other" character sometime soon, so you'll just have to wait and see!

The material that I used for this is from my friend, Dana Louise.  She just adopted a baby girl (congratulations!) and was considering using this pink satin for the crib, but I stole it as the baby was sleeping.  Perhaps that is why the coat somewhat morphed its own design into a babydoll theme.

I ALMOST didn't complete this outfit.  Like I said before, I had a different concept in mind originally.  It was going to be more of a sporty look, but I think that the sophistication of the satin paired with my meticulous tailoring made it more "proper".  I am excited, though, that I even thought to attempt a cross between a trench coat and a babydoll dress.

One thing that I was really scared of, though, was the pleating at the bottom.  See, I just bought a special attachment for my sewing machine that automatically makes uniformly deep pin tucks at specified intervals, which saves literally hours of time because you don't have to sit there and measure and mark and fold and pin.  It's nothing short of a miracle.  However, it only pleats in one direction (at least as far as I can tell so far), so I'm still playing with around with it.  Something that I didn't realize (but should have!), was that by adding all that pleating and therefore creating multiple layers of fabric, I added bulk and puffiness to the hips.  The ONE place that a woman would not want extra fullness!  What was I thinking?!  It would have been better to pleat the top seam and let the bottom frill out naturally, like a little skirt attached to the outside of the jacket.  Oh, well.  Lesson learned!

Is it a Phail?  Not completely, but I'm still calling it one because it's not what I wanted.  Jezz, I'm tough on myself!  But I'm not bashing my head in over it.  It's still kinda cute.

In other news, I am FINALLY going fabric shopping on Sunday with my friend, Paula.  I'm sure there are many people out there who are tired of hearing me complain about how I don't have any fabric! I don't have any fabric!  Well, hopefully, I won't be able to use that excuse and if I make something awful, it's my own... fault...

...Oh, wait...

Challenge 2 - Potato Sack Party Party

Oh, my.  I've not had ANY time to make anything this week!  This challenge was technically a One Day challenge, but unfortunately, I only had time to work on this dress in three-hour spurts, and it unfortunately shows!

Well, disclaimer aside, for those of you who don't know, this week, the designers were given the task to make cocktail party outfits out of burlap sacks.  It was very interesting that I did indeed have burlap in my stash of fabrics!  I got it as part of a lot that I bought for very cheap at a garage sale.  It was already this red color, I didn't dye it.  I just KNEW this burlap would come in handy some day, and it did!

First of all, I wanted to make sure that I used the stiffness of burlap to my advantage and not fight against its nature and pretend it was a giving fabric.  That is why I knew I wanted to make something that defied gravity.  Those of you that know me well are probably aware that I often curse gravity, especially when it makes things fall just to torment me.  So I was more than willing to make something that said, "HA!  Take That, gravity!"  I think that the collar is an exciting feat of engineering.  Not everyone can figure out how to make a big stand-up collar that, much less one that is part of the bodice (not attached as a separate piece).

But what was I was most excited about when designing this dress is something that you may not have noticed yet.  On one side, it's a bolero jacket, but on the other side, Oh!  It's part of the dress!  It's only a jacket on ONE SIDE!  That's INSANE!!! No one has ever done that before and it's AWESOME!  Forget that this particular dress isn't all that wonderful, if I did an idea like this half jacket again with a real fabric with a different design for the rest of the dress (most likely something simpler without the huge stand-up collar, but with a longer, more elegant skirt), I could have a serious genius moment!  Do It!

So, yeah, I was pretty frustrated making this thing.  The outcome is "okay".  Definitely not something that I am going feel the need to keep in the already-full closet.  But it's also a reminder that when it comes to the TV challenges, I must follow the formula.  As this is only the second episode, I only needed to make something pleasant and well-made to stay in the game (note many of the safe designers as well as the challenge winner made either simple fitted sleeveless shift dresses or plain bodices with dirndl skirts).  Pushing too hard and getting too artsy puts you in danger of being placed into the "strange/misunderstood" position, and those are the ones that get sent away early in the game.  Only get bold and edgy when the judges start to complain that the designs are boring.

Oh, by the way, though.  Raine was very happy that she got to go to the industry party this time around, as she lost out last season to Leonora.  See how happy she is?  Well, she's not smiling, but that's only because burlap is itchy...

Battle Me: A Phuturistic Phail

It's not that it's ugly, it's just too... patterned.

Ever since I saw this fabric, I thought about making a cool futuristic pantsuit all made out of this busily-patterned material.

And it gives me a headache!

This would look I think much better with a pair of jeans, and the jacket is not completely horrid, but still, I sent to the hidden phail philes because I am not proud of it enough to feature it on the front page.

Halloween Phail Special: Ghostly Hatred!

Raine is so upset at this boring outfit that she is crying...

So as usual, when I don't like I an outfit, I just have fun with photoshop with the images.

This outfit was originally made to be worn with jeans and boots, but the top ended up looking so Spring/Summer that the seasons didn't fit together, so I reused a flowy white skirt from another outfit.

I still hate it...

And so does Raine....

Jetson Collection I: Judy Jetson is Ready for Blast Off

Eeep! I'm re-using a wig so soon again! But how could I make a Judy Jetson and not have her with white blonde hair? Would have been simply erroneous!!! Erroneous!

I designed this outfit for a popular high-school/college age girl that everyone likes. She dresses nicely and neatly for school (remember when people used to do that? One can only hope that the trend will return before 2062, the year in which The Jetsons is set) and takes care of her clothing and hair.









I didn't necessarily want to go with Judy's Hot Pink/Mauve color scheme, but I did want to make sure I nodded at her triangular collar, which was pretty much a standard with the female characters on the show (the male characters, even the male dog, usually had circular-plate shaped collars).

I could have made a more standard collar, but as we all know, really big collars automatically makes things high fashion and impressive! (The secret is, though, big collars like that are not only just as easy to make as normal-sized collars, but they also can hide flaws that might be underneath! Don't tell anyone!)



This outfit was almost trashed. My original plan was to build another signature sleeve example to add to my portfolio. As you know, I love the look that I make with the large bishop sleeves sticking out of a short sleeved jacket. It's not something that I see around, although I do see a lot girls doing double layering of long sleeved tee shirts worn under short-sleeved tees.

Anyway, the jacket came out looking costumey (or cartooney? ha!) and did not look like it was meant to go with the blouse. It also did not look like something that I could see a girl wanting want to wear to school or even to walk down the street, so I called PHAIL!

But after I came to my senses and saw how I could not just ignore such a cute skirt, I told myself that I could use some practice making tailored jackets, and since I had plenty of this great fabric left, I went for it.





So first I replaced the blouse with another mock turtleneck. They are in fashion again, you know....

















And did a quick misses' tailored jacket which ended up looking clean and well-made! Excitement! I like when things go from Phail to Phabulous!