Project Selvedge Challenge 3

                        

AYIYIY!! Ok so this post is a little late, mostly because it took a few solid days to recover from this challenge, and also because the coming challenge(yes, I am still in the competition!) we have an extra week for which allowed me to push this out of my mind for a little longer.

 THIS WAS SO SO HARD!

I worked my butt off like never before, losing sleep, losing sanity, and WISHING I could lose feeling in my fingers which by friday night were red and raw from pinning this dang garment so many times.

Reflecting on this challenge, and the ones before, I come to the conclusion that I have no problem imagining a great design in my mind, but making it is another story. I always come up with great ideas, but my lack of sewing experience causes me to have no clue how to asses the difficulty of the design, especially given time, money, and help constraints.

Assignment

ANYWAYS 

the challenge was this; each designer is assigned a color, and a decade. They must be inspired by something from the decade, and use the color given them predominantly. Budget is $35.

I was given 80s and Orange

Inspiration/Sketches

So below is my sketch(bringing back the chevron idea) and my inspirations;

strong shouldered suit, shoulder pads, peplums, bright colors, prints, etc

                          

Fabric

so I went and got fabric to create a rainbow of orange; adding yellow and pink into the palette

and then I tried to use this beautiful pattern that my mom helped me with. HOWEVER(and this was the first of many unfortunate setbacks that made me want to tear my hair out) we were inaccurate in the striped chevron idea. I laid out most of my rainbow fabric for the chevrons and cut them into strips, all on the same angle, and sewed them together, and cut them down the center so each side could be a part of the V......and then they only went one direction(as seen below) unless I flipped half of them inside out.

        

fortunately I was able to scrap some scraps together to make the other half of the chevron panel, seen below, getting stitched together, and pinned on the dress

oh, and those chevrons took 6 hours to get only as far as that upper left photo.

Below is another setback; the shoulder pads were looking horrendous and I could not find any way to avoid making Janyssa look like a football player:( 

ugh it was just awful

To just give a glimpse into the frantic chaos of that week, My wednesday was supposed to be for the bulk of my work, and that was when the difficulty of what I was doing set in; when I ended up spending the ENTIRE day piecing together chevrons. Thursday I worked, and then got home at 4 to sew. I ended up being up until 1am, in a state of panic because the shoulder pads weren't looking good, i had to start a new top with the few pieces of fabric i had left, and Janyssa wouldn't be home until 4 the next day(i wanted to be done by 5 to give myself prep time for the show that day). So I woke up at 7:30, skipped breakfast and went straight to sewing, stopped at 10am to meet Janyssa on campus and fit something to her, in a 30 minute window she had between classes, went to the fabric store to pick up part of the sewing machine they lent me, got home and managed to scarf down a leftover pastry and coffee, and literally sewed until 5:30pm. 

I BARELY managed to make it in time to iron the outfit at the sewing store, and then I put Janyssa in her dress and the zipper comes apart. After desperately trying to get help from the other designers to put the invisible zipper back together, I finally got help from someone who worked there to sew her into the dress. 

This challenge literally almost killed me. I am utterly amazed that it ended up being finished and in one piece because there were a few moments on friday when so stressed out, and shaking, and emotional about the state of my design, that I didn't even want to present it. 

So glad it looked as good as it did!

and here's a video that gives a little insight to project selvedge;

and oooh! here is another blog documentation of the competition(done by my competitor Lauren who is very talented and charming) check it out! http://lifebythethreads.com/2013/03/design-contest/

(top middle photo was taken by Susman Media)

Project Selvedge Challenge 2

The End Result

The Process;

assignment: Today your challenge is about the leisurely life.  Here in Montana we have a number of luxury resorts (that most of us can’t afford to visit).  Resort wear should be elegant and effortless – ready for duck hunt or cocktails and gourmet dinners.  For this challenge you will be dressing a client on his/her way to a stay in the lap of luxury, however, in light of current events,  you will be making luxurious resort wear on a sequestered budget.  You each can choose 2 fabrics from the Selvedge  stash – and you will have a mere $15 in the shop to complete your garment. 

FABRIC

I first chose a pale pastel colored pink heavy weave fabric, because I liked the color, and then a creamy white jersey type of fabric. 

I had a lot of initial ideas, but many were effected by my choices in fabric, so I had to commit to tweaking my ideas to fit my material. Initially i wanted to do a pant with the pink, and a drapy boat neck top with the cream, and possibly incorporate a chevron patchwork of the fabrics. I was really inspired by 1920s loose fitting draped clothing with drop waists etc. 

but playing around with my fabric led to me working with the pretty draping grecian nature of it, which resulted in the silhouette below, a 1930s inspired shape with a Greek or Roman look.

DRAPING

SKETCH # 1

I new I wanted this as a base so this was where I started. 

(also if you want to check out my pinterest board with all my digital imagery inspiration, click here)

and then I found this 1920s dress that I loved so much and really wanted to borrow from

which led to the following sketch

SKETCH # 2

The above was the first time I fit the dress to Janyssa, and started trying to tack on the chevrons. But the first issue was that there seemed to be bad proportions of fabric. With so much skirt, I decided to bring the neckline down. Also the chevrons weren't looking the way i'd hoped.

Then I put Janyssa in some western boots and a chunky leather belt to style her up. I played around with the look and ultimately decided the pink chevrons weren't working.

FITTING AND CHANGES

 

That was on wednesday night. On thursday I went to work, and got out at 3:00, and felt pressure to go get something from Selvedge since it would likely be my last chance. It was just so hard because I didn't know what to look for and buy. I had been mulling over it the night before(DREAMING about it) and at work, and had been wearing a blouse that resulted in me to get inspired by lace and buttons and a western bohemian look. I left the bead shop(where I work) that thursday, and made a beeline towards Bernice's Bakery where I plopped myself down and slowly drew out of myself the ideas for this design

SKETCH # 3

I liked this direction because it fit the idea of a western Montana resort. It's whimsical and a little country, but with a bohemian delicate touch which is very much my style. 

I did have a concern that the draping back wouldn't match the front of the dress, but I ended up liking it. It was as if I'd combined a grecian dress with a bohemian/western/vintage slip.

So I promptly went to explore the fabric store. I found some gorgeous vintage lace, and bought all the teeny brown buttons I could afford, bolted home, and wound up doing this;

FINISHING DETAILS

I kind of loved it. I tied for third, which felt great after seeing my tough competition for this week; challenge 2 winner

photo cred: Susman media

side note; I did have to spend the half hour leading up to the runway show frantically re-stitching the buttons. They were continually falling off, i think due to the thread i'd used to sew them on(the knots would just slip right out!). Just ask Janyssa, I was near to tears and panicking. I ended up losing 2 or three of them, but fortunately was able to conceal it, and with many fingers crossed, none popped off during the show. 

And now, to work I go on challenge 3; something inspired by the 80s, in the prominent color orange!

.yikes.

Project Selvedge Challenge 1

The End Result

The Process;

assignment: Make anything you want out of 2 yards of white linen, and 2 yards stretch jersey-type lavender fabric. You can use one, or both, and are allowed to alter your fabric, but all extra embellishments must be bought at Selvedge studio with your 5 dollars for notions. You can also use Betty's Divine(the hip retail store next door) to accessorize.

Fabric

So I ditched the jersey, and decided I'd solely use the linen. I just could not, no matter what I tried, come up with a design I liked that incorporated both fabrics. I think it was the textures that for me just didn't mix. 

I sketched quite a few things and ultimately decided on this design;(painted in coffee and water colors btw)

SKETCHES

This is a total Tiffany dress; something I would without a doubt wear/have in my closet, and I felt like this would be a great garment to show my style/ aesthetics. 

I didn't have much fabric to work with, and basically had to half-hazardly trace the assumed design on the linen before cutting it out, knowing I could waste no fabric and wanting to make sure it was do-able before I start to cut and sew

I started by making a ball-park pattern on newsprint and assembling it. This was just to get a visual and stuff. I then started cutting the skirt, and pinned it, trying to make it as much on the bias as possible(a difficult feat but it's what gives the fabric those curves).            

THE START

Piece by piece is how it goes. And then comes fitting, which really can throw a curveball at you. Fortunately I have a bombshell model; Janyssa Overturf, who doubles as my roommate, and is just plain awesome. However, when you take fabric off a dress form and put it on a body, you see all kinds of problems, and in this case had to re-work parts of my bodice design to make it more flattering for Janyssa's figure.

PINNING AND FITTING

Above is of the first time I fit the fabric to Janyssa and started messing with my idea for the top of the dress

Feeling distraught about the bodice, I woke up the next morning and watched some sewing tutorials on youtube, and found a great one on how to sew a sweetheart top. Then I went and got a zipper at the fabric store and realized I could get ribbon as a notion too. Knowing this I took some burlap looking ribbon scraps I had and played with it to see what it would look like as a shoulder strap/ back cowl. I then decided I really needed to get that ribbon. And went back. And bought all I could afford within my budget; 35 inches.

Oh and did i mention I'm sewing on a machine from the 30s? and that it only does one stitch? and that it repeatedly quits on me? Hey at least it looks cool.

DYE JOB #1

SO. above is my first dye job. I dipped it fully in a dark brown Dylon dye, let it rinse out to leave a light brown, and then dipped the bottom of the garment into it for a few minutes allowing it to get dark, and then hung it, letting the water fade it into an ombre. The end result was a bit light(it always dries way lighter!) and less of a warm brown I wanted. 

So I dyed it again. Below is a few cups worth of wonderfully aromatic coffee, which I dipped the dress into, to get a warmer golden brown hue. The next photo is the color when it was still wet; so rich and warm!

DYE JOB #2 (COFFEE)

BUT it dried light again. So I dipped it one final time in a VERY concentrated dark brown iDye, which eventually ended in the final colors;  

AFTER DYE JOB #3

This turned out pretty good(I got second place!) but I had many mini heart attacks in the process. Starting with my sewing machine suddenly not working(It's the only one i have, what would I DO?!), and then trying it on Janyssa and realizing that not only are my seams completely crooked, but that the top I want doesn't work, and also I had no idea how to attach the bodice to the skirt while keeping it straight.

but nothing beats the moment of the third dye job, when I realized i'd gotten a dark brown splotch on the left cup of the bodice, as well as on the back of the waist, and I completely panicked and tried rinsing/scrubbing/rinsing/ soaping and scrubbing to get it to come out and it wouldn't. MIRACULOUSLY when it dried.....they faded enough to go unnoticed!

so the goal for this coming sewing challenge; don't stress out, just have fun.