And the worst blogger award goes to...

This girl!

Sorry folks for being MIA.  Last quarter was rough. It wasn't all that difficult.  Actually, I had relatively little work and very little to show.

I've been avoiding blogging because I've been too P.O.'ed about the Red Dress experience and have nothing to show except my sketch and some pictures of the half finished dress.  I was so angry the last day that I didn't even bring a camera to take pictures.  We were told there would be pictures taken of the dress though so I'll have to follow up on that.

I'll talk about my other classes briefly, then the Red Dress class. I only took 3 classes:

The Red Dress Special Project Class

Creative Design Analysis and Collection Development (CDACD)

Computer Pattern I


I enjoyed Computer Pattern making.  We use the Gerber Technology AccuMark pattern making software, and I think it is kind of fun.  The system is a little wonky and not intuitive at all. Nothing like Photoshop of Illustrator. I enjoy it though because to me it's like solving a puzzle.

CDACD was a fun class because we designed 2 bigger collections with little to no restrictions.  My teacher was very nice and informative if you asked the right questions.  I really wish there had been more structured and organized lectures.  The syllabus was not followed at all and I feel we lost a lot of valuable information.

Oh the Red Dress class.....I think I had a hard time this quarter blogging because the only thing I could really show you was my progress on the dress and I was not in love with my design, the fabrics, and most of all, the instructors.  I absolutely regret this class and wish I could get my money back and take Industry Pattern instead.  I can honestly say that I only learned 3 new things this entire quarter and all were explained to me in hindsight...after my dress was done.

1)  DRAPE AND FIT IN A FABRIC SIMILAR TO THE FINAL GARMENT! Yes, I know I've read this before and even fit my own garments this way, but my instructor insisted that draping, patterning, and fitting my bias skirt in muslin would not be a problem.  Only on week 10, the last week of the class, did she mention doing test fits in a similar fabric.  My dress didn't fit the form even though it fit in muslin.  

2) When cutting out bias pieces, hang the bias pieces unassembled overnight in the direction they will hang on the body.  Then place the pattern pieces over the "stretched" pieces and adjust the hem that undoubtedly became distorted.

3)  Sometimes, on a bias garment, the CB needs to be raised a bit to adjust and balance the side seams from swinging backward.

I should have dropped the class in week 4 like I intended, but I was assured the class would get better, and I would learn something.  All the demos were haphazardly planned it seemed, unorganized and usually postponed to following week...and the following week....and the following week until there was not enough time.  There were too many students and not enough working machines and work space was limited.  All the special feet were only available to us when the sewing machine repair man? was available to come in to class and bring them to us.  The first week he came, we hadn't even made our patterns yet.  He didn't come to every class so there was no way of knowing what equipment would be available to us.

I truly believe every student in the class felt the same way I did about the instruction and the way the class was run.  I know some students enjoyed the class because they believed in their design and liked making their dress, regardless of the lack of organization, space and instruction.  I am really glad that some people were able to make the best of the class.  

Okay, and now for some pictures, and what you've all been waiting for:


The first 3 sketches:

I chose sketch #1 because I thought it would be fun to flat pattern.  I ended up draping almost the entire dress...oh, well.  One day I will make sketch # 2.  I love this dress and would love to see it made up in silk velvet.

I first drafted a pattern and made a muslin (but don't have any pictures).  The skirt was way too Sleeping Beauty and the insets were so-so.  My instructors suggested I change the triangle insets to flaps.  I had to redraft the entire skirt portion, change it to princess seams, and I also changed the godets to inserted, inverted pleats.  (Say that 5x fast!)
Here is my second muslin with some fabric pinched out where it needs it:

  And delerious me "piecing" together my 3rd muslin.  I'm so glad I took a quilting class a few years ago because it saved my sanity making this dress:

Muslin # 3 on me.  Unfortunately, the dress was way too big for me:

The final sketch:

And some images of the almost final dress:  

I actually really liked the fabric in the end.  It was a heavy silk charmeuse.  The dress looks awful IMO though....

Back close-up:

I love the beading.  I ended up ripping out these beads and replacing them with darker narrow bugle beads.  They were much better.  I beaded the back collar and the triangle front flaps with scallops and evenly spaced the beads about 1/2" apart along the front of the neckline (not pictured).

Bodice close up:

Maybe one day I'll have better pictures....

Thanks to the followers that were concerned about my absence.  I'll try to keep up the blogging.  

  

Ugg, the "Motif" Dress

My last draping assignment was something called a "motif dress."  We had to pick a shape and drape around and into it.  The shape had to be inspired by a picture of a place that we've been to or would like to go to.  I was inspired by this picture:

I didn't take this picture, but this is how I remember Big Ben from my study abroad trip to London.  I saw it at night the first time and it was so pretty.  I think there was even some sort of crew working just like in the picture.  

I wanted my dress to have a circle as its motif and I wanted to keep the dress kind of columnar, but have some flare.   By the way, I hate it, and polyester georgette is EVIL!  Sewing wasn't all that bad, but cutting was a nightmare.  Especially with humongous circle skirt panels!  Sewing pleats into a circle was no picnic either.  

Here's the dress.

It had to be hand hemmed.  I didn't do it and didn't get knocked down because my teacher didn't even check!  I did a chiffon hem instead and it worked out pretty well.  I merrow hemmed the lining.  There is an invisible zipper too.  I wish the back straps were made out of the gold fabric, but I didn't have time to make pattern pieces for them. I used this awful, flimsy vintage ribbon I found in my stash.  It kept shredding as I worked with it. 

I was up all night working on this and then had to do more homework for my Creative Design Applications class.  I was also sick, so I'm not really proud of the dress.  I hope to be able to make things that I want.  I'm tired of making crappy garments that I am not proud of.  

Excuses, excuses, excuses.  ^

About 30 hrs of pleating and sewing and pleating and sewing and...

My bustier is done and I'm pretty happy with it.  So much hand sewing went into it!  So you saw what I started with:

I decided it would be easier to pre-pleat the fabric, then cut out the pattern pieces using the same foundation pattern pieces.  So I made a muslin of pleated fabric and was like,

           "What the hell am I doing? I need to get started on the shantung!"  So I went to pleating the shantung, only after one muslin panel.  And I pleated and pleated and pleated the rest of the day.   I went home and hand sewed and hand sewed and hand sewed those pleats down.  (just tacked them down using the blind slip stitch).  Then I realized, 

          "What the hell am I doing?  I need to cut out the pieces and then tack down the pleats.  I'm wasting my time!"  So I  traced the pattern onto the pleats, took the fabric to my sewing machine and basted down the pleats around the sew line perimeter to hold them in place.  I then cut out the pieces and hand sewed and hand sewed and hand sewed some more.  Once again I started to hyperventilate and thought,

         "What the hell and I doing?  I need to get this thing put together.  It's only the first drape I need to turn in, not the final!"  I sewed the panels together, basted it to foundation and was done!  I turned it in, got a good review and used the rest of the week to finish tacking down the pleats, adding a pleated trim along the neckline, and inserting the lining.  I didn't want to add anything else, because I was tired, didn't want to make a separate pattern piece, and I like things simple.  I added a Judith Lieber pin I was trying to sell on Ebay.  Perfect!  If Valentino can add a pin and call it "done," then so can I.  

Here it is in all its glory, ie. pleating and hand sewing:

The front

The back and the lining..

Close-up of the pleats!

Another close-up.  a little blurry.

'

Don't worry about the fit in the back.  It is supposed to fit like this.  The dressform has no "squish" like a real body...On a size 8 person, this would fit properly.   

I'm applying for  FIDM special project class and turned this in as an example of my work.  I hope I get in!

Valentino-Inspired Bustier

For the next draping project, I have to create a Valentino-inspired bustier.  I learned that the difference between a bustier and a corset is the amt. of shaping that occurs. A bustier shapes slightly and goes with the curves of the body.  A corset completely transforms the shape of the body and molds it into another shape completely.

I have to be inspired by Valentino, so I chose his simple, pleated details:

interesting pleated?  textile on bodice

love the pleats, hate everything else :)

two above from 2001.

This is what I've got pictures of so far.  Just draping in muslin.   I actually didn't end up using this drape.   I have pleated the heck out of my fabric and have attached it to the foundation, but I forgot to take pictures today.  I spent all day Monday pleating, and all day Tuesday hand sewing the pleats and making the outer layer of the bustier.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos again.  My phone is not smart, nor does it take good photos.  I need an upgrade.  

Here are the fabrics I am using for the design:

A gorgeous purple dupioni silk shantung. A generous gift from another student who acquired it from a friend.  He said a relative? of his friend willed the fabric to a fashion design student and he got a whole lot of beautiful fabrics.  

And, gasp! a polyester charmeuse lining.  This is a $1.50/yd purchase.  The colors go so well together and it will be perfect lining fabric.  Floral, feminine, and sort of Valentino.  Mixing silk and poly is just wrong, but I refuse to spend a lot of money on a school project that I can't even wear!  

And while I'm at it, here are other recent fabric acquisitions:

Grey Silk Gabardine from the FIDM scholarship store of all places.  $2.00/yd.

Brown/purple-y Wool/spandex blend suiting from FIDM scholarship store.  $2.00/yd.

shiny black Cotton/Spandex sateen from FIDM scholarship store.  $2.00/yd.  It looks grey in the pictures because its so shiny.  I'm using this for a dress (that I have to sew tonight!) for my pattern drafting class. 

Unknown cotton like plain-weave prints from swapmeet  $1.50/yd. 

Livebird, winner of the "name the dress" giveaway, please email me your info so I can send you the pattern! You have until Friday!


More to come this weekend when I have more time to blog.  I have to get back to drafting a shirt sloper and then sew that dress!

Macrame-d in HELL! Giveaway...

Did you ever watch In Living Color?

This was just one of those projects... When you sew for yourself, you can just decide the project you are working on is a wadder and give up.  Or start over.  I couldn't do that no matter how much I wanted to (well I could have and taken an F, but I'm not that kind of person).  I did my best with the time that I had and made it work.  I really hate my dress.  I didn't like designing it (I'm not proud).  I didn't like redesigning it (still not proud).  Making the pattern was torture (only because I didn't like what I was making the pattern for).  I hated the macrame and I really hated sewing the damn thing.  I really despise sewing something I'm not proud of.  The fabric was surprisingly easy to work with.  My sewing machine didn't even have a problem with the knit.

My in-class critique went better than expected, but I don't think I'm going to get a good grade (which means I'll probably get a "B."  A "B" is a bad grade in my book....don't hate me).  I got decent comments from the teacher and the students which was really weird to me because other than being a different color, the dress is basically the same as the first one I turned in, but with ugly hemp macrame attached to it.

I'm really excited for the next draping project though, a bustier inspired by Valentino.

So here are pictures of "Macrame-d in Hell" Oh, they are on my mom's dress form, so the fit is a little off.   I was too upset in class to take a picture of the dress on the Alva form.  The dress hung (sp?) a little better on the school form so it wasn't a complete mess:

Imagine the macrame being tacked down across the back at a diagonal to the back neckline.
I had to do that by hand in class. 

My mom came up with the name "Macrame-made in Heaven (or Hell)"  I changed it to what you see on the title of this post.

I also came up with:

• Poop Brown Hippy Couture (Hippies, do not be offended. I love hippies.)
• Poopalicious

Don't judge, I'm tired....


My challenge for you readers is to come up with a better or equally good name (I kind of like "Macrame-d in Hell").  Any name.  Clever/Funny is good.  It doesn't haaave to be negative....

The best name will get this pattern that was never claimed in the follower giveaway I hosted a while back:

Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can enter, International too.  Just leave a comment with a name for my dress (don't worry, I won't be offended).
2. Contest ends Friday August 12th at 6pm PST. 
3. I will choose (with the help of the Boyfriend and my family) my favorite name suggestion....so make them good.  
4. The winner will have 4 days from the announcement to claim their prize.  I will pick another winner, if they do not claim the pattern.  
5. If it's waaay offensive (yes, I know I said I won't be offended) I will delete the comment.  
6. Also, only comment if you really, really want the pattern for yourself (please don't resell). :(  If you don't want the pattern, but want to name the dress, just say so. I will not pick you as the pattern winner.  

FIDM Frustration: #3 The I Don't Give A Damn Drape

I HATE DRAPING!  I'm such a rules person, so not having any is a big problem for me.  I always have questions that my teacher does not want to answer.  Like, am I allowed to go off-grain?  Who knows.  Our assignment is to drape a knit dress using this awful polyester interlock using Bonsai trees as our inspiration.  I didn't just want to throw sh*t on the form like some students did, so I tried to keep it simple and my teacher hated it.   Honestly, I hate it too.  She told me its not couture enough.  Adding a bunch of volume and fluff to a dress does not mean couture.  Hand sewing is couture.

Dress when I turned it in.  Horribly basted together, and the edges not finished.  This was the first drape.  Its not supposed to be polished and done.

 And after it was verbally ripped apart,  I added this macrame garbage to it that I learned in a workshop the day before.  This was about 5 min. of me adding crap! The front has potential, the back still is really ugly.

I have until Wed. to fix the drape, make the pattern for it and cut it out of a chocolate brown interlock I got for a $1/yd at the scholarship store because I didn't have enough of the white to make it again.  Also, I refuse to spend a lot of money on this class.

We'll see how it all turns out....

FIDM Frustration: #2 The "I Don't Give A Damn" Dress

I stayed up to 3am working last night and only got 2.5 hrs of sleep so apparently I do give a damn, but toward the end I wasn't trying as hard.  I started getting loopy that night and started humming really odd things like the William Tell Overture and quoting Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind.  I was tired (and still am).

I had a week to drape a sheath dress, pattern it out with an all in one facing and sew it with zipper and kick pleat.  Doesn't sound so bad, but there's just one problem...I don't know how to drape.  It just doesn't come naturally to me.  Last Friday I worked for 5 hours draping and then working out the pattern pieces only to realize that the pattern was total crap! It was awful! Nothing balanced! The fronts and backs didn't match at all and it wasn't fixable.  I broke down and gave up.  I was a devastating day.

Monday I tried again with much better results.  6 hours later I had a draped design, and most of a pattern.  It seemed to fit the dress form pretty well too.  Whew!  I finished it last night (made patterns for the facings, interfacings and figured out the kick pleat).  Then I sewed.  On top of that I had to finish 20 concept sketches, 3 flats of Theory outfits, and a research paper.  I was done with my dress except hand stitching down the facing to the zipper tape.

The drape was frustrating and so was sewing the damn thing.  It was going really smoothly until I got to the facing.  My instructor told me I could install the zipper first in the CB. Bad idea!  I ended up with mobius strip from hell and had to rip out part of the facing and sew it the home sewing way.  I sewed the shoulder seams of the fashion fabric then tucked the facing shoulder seams in and hand-stitched.  Not perfect and I thought it looked gross, but my teacher didn't notice.

It was one of the better dresses in the class.

Here's a cruddy cell phone picture from class:

Wow!  It's interesting to see just how bad a photo makes my dress look!  I hate this muslin too.  You press it, and it wrinkles again in 5 seconds.  

I have so much homework this week, but the Boyfriend is moving in, so that will be nice.  Just hectic.  I don't know how I'm going to fit everything in!