What Adventures May Come...

My inspiration for this photo shoot was of a Barbie that I saw way back when I was probably 8 or 9 years old.  You're probably thinking, "How in the world does a Barbie inspire a photo shoot?"  

Well the Barbie that I saw was the Princess of Ireland Barbie and it was her illustration that I remembered from all these years ago.  It was a water color illustration and it had her standing with her hair blowing in the wind and there was a castle behind her.  I just remembered thinking that it looked like she was about to set on an adventure.   For some reason while I was working on the idea for this photo shoot I had that illustration stuck in my head and the idea of going off on an adventure.  It's funny that the image of the illustration has stayed with me in my head for all these years. 

The illustration below is not the exact one that I saw, but it's the only illustration that I could find of this Barbie today. 

      As for my dress, I designed and hand drafted the pattern of this dress using my own measurements. The dress was made from a printed linen fabric.  The fabric was pre-printed for a circle skirt, but I thought the pattern would make a unique dress. Each pattern piece was specifically placed on the patterned fabric.  Because the print on the fabric is so detailed I wanted to keep the dress design simple, focusing primarily on placement of the pattern and the fit of the garment.   The skirt is pleated with 2.5 inch pleats all the way round the skirt. There is an invisible zipper in the back with a placket of fabric covered buttons on top of it.  

How about you?  Do you have any childhood inspirations that you still remember?  

P.S.  The first photograph at the top was featured in my local newspaper along with the names of all the regional Scholastic Art and Writing Award winners.  

I'm now on Instagram 

Here Comes the Sun...

This is a photo shoot that I did of my lovely friend Tatum over Christmas break. Tatum and I took Latin together last year and she always made that class so much fun. This was one of the most enjoyable photo shoots that I've done all year and she made taking photos so easy. She's wearing my Vintage Inspired Yellow Coat that I made a few years back. I'm working on another coat similar to this one, but with some changes to the fit and coloring.

Special thank you to Tatum for going out in the freezing cold in a dress!

I've been sewing like a mad woman who's finally free from college applications. I have a backlog of projects and photos that I'm very excited to finally post.

Lately I've been thinking of showing a lot more of my work in progress photos. I always try to take as many as I can, because most of the time the outside of the garment is just half of the overall look. So much detail goes into creating the inside and so I always love it when people post work in progress and behind-the-scenes photos. So here are some behind-the-scene images of a dress that I'm working on right now.

^Technical starting out sketch

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend!

The Life of a Dreamer

Hello! You're probably all wondering where I've disappeared to. I'm afraid I went away into the time consuming world of college applications. It took over so much of my life, but I finished my last application about two weeks ago and it feels good to finally be done now! So far I've been accepted into The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Parsons the New School for Design. I'm still waiting to hear back from The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York University, and Pratt Institute of Art and Design.

Ok enough college talk, this is a photo shoot of my lovely childhood friend Katie. Katie is absolutely beautiful and I had so much fun taking pictures and hanging out with her that day! It also felt really nice not having to set up my tripod for once. Lately I've really been inspired by anything that has to do with sailing. This may have something to do with watching Master and Commander and constantly looking at Arthur Rackham beach illustrations. I've been thinking of what a woman sailor would look like and how one could transfer that same nautical/sailor theme mixed with a soft feminine look. I've been playing with this idea a lot and you'll probably see many more dresses from me expanding with this same theme.

^the epaulets are made from using a hot glue gun, felt, tassels and other designed trims.

I made the dress that she's modeling from Vogue's Rebecca Taylor 1152 pattern with my own minor design adjustments. I've used this pattern multiple times and I really love how easy of a dress it is and yet it still looks really intricate. I normally draft my own sleeves for this pattern, so I don't know how the directions are when it comes to describing the sleeves, but everything else is well instructed.

I looked at other sewing reviews for this dress and most of them said that it was an intermediate in skill level. Personally, I think that you could still make this dress even if you're a beginner. Just go slow and take the steps one at a time. The thing my mom taught me when I first started sewing was that an apron (easy) pattern is no different than a jacket (more advanced) pattern. There are just more steps to a jacket than there is an apron so you might have to take it slower. Overall I'd definitely recommend this pattern if anyone has been thinking about using it.

If you've used this pattern before let me know what you thought of it and if you have photos up somewhere post a link! I'd love to check out your wonderful sewing skills!