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!

Water-Casting Fun!

For my birthday, my parents bought me a Groupon to take an art class at the Saw Dust Festival in Laguna Beach.  It was actually my idea so I asked for it :)

I finally used it this weekend to take a Water-Casting jewelry class. Basically, you melt down metals (silver, copper, gold if you are lucky) in a crucible using a very, very hot torch.  Once the metal is molten you dump it into a pot of water.  That is it!  I got to dump it into a can of water and broomsticks.  Yes, broomsticks.  It created some really rad shapes.  Here is a basic tutorial I found online.

I volunteered to go first because the rest of the class was scared. It was a really big torch (That's what she said! --OFFICE JOKE, can't help myself).  I've had some experience with metal-smithing and water casting so I thought I could go first.  My first attempt went well and this is what I got:

This pieces is a 50/50 combination of sterling silver and copper.

On my second attempt, I got this:

This piece has more copper in it, about a 40/60 combination.  I added a pearl on this one too.

If I access to a torch again,  I would totally make more.  It was a lot of fun and really easy.