Americana Gown

A couple of months ago I held a contest with my NWH Modeling students. The students were asked to submit a creative photo idea along with a location idea. The top ideas were granted an hour and a half photo shoot using their idea.

Lily, 18 years old, submitted an idea to do a fantasy shoot that was theatrically inspired. As soon as I read her description it screamed Phantom of the Opera to me.  My own creative thoughts started swirling around in my head and not only did Lily win her photo shoot but I also arranged for the Majesty institute (a local hair and esthetics school) to do her hair and make-up and I once again designed a custom gown for her to wear. This shoot actually required two outfits. The first look, or the beauty look as I called it, Lily worn a dress that was completely custom-made for her.

I nicknamed this gown my Americana Gown. So named for its splash of red, white and blue. Red satin with lace overlay on the top, White satin mermaid bottom with blue tulle hidden under the skirt.

Retro Marvel Comics Handbag

One of my new years resolutions this year was to wear my geek heart out on my sleeve for everyone to see and be proud of who I am. This creation is just one more way that I am doing that. I found this wonderful licensed Retro Marvel Comic Hero printed cotton at my local fabric store and loved it so much that I bought the whole bolt of it. I made two things so far from this fabric this handbag and a skirt that will be featured at a later date.

Rachel from NWH modeling showing off my new Marvel Handbag.

I did not have a pattern and have never made a complex handbag before so I did what I love to do best, up-cycled an old purse to blend together with the new fabric and make this great bag.

The purse that I started with was a red leatherette with ruffles on the front. I started by taking my seam ripper and taking apart each piece and figuring out which pieces would be used simply as pattern templates and which parts would be reused in the new bag. I decided to reuse only the zippers, the strap loops and the inner facing with the magnet snaps.

I then cut out a lining in a great royal blue and made the inner pockets out of the same fabric as the outside of the bag.

There is also a zippered pocket inside as well.

For just a little bit more organized storage and a quick access pocket there is one more zippered pocket on the outside of the bag. It is a great place to keep my bus pass and my badge for work.

Overall this is a great purse with lots of space and is colourful enough to go with every outfit as well as my personal geeky style.

A little Bit Vintage

Found this great fabric on the remnant wall at Fabricville for a couple of dollars per meter.  I have been wanting to do a vintage style dress and thought that this was a perfect fit. This is probably one of the most comfortable dresses I have ever made. The fabric is a soft jersey knit with a flannel back to it and it the stretch in the fabric allows the dress to be zipper and button free.  The tie belt is sewn in place and then tied in a bow.

My hair in this picture was done by Donnie Coholan at Salon Circa as a demo for Saint John Spring Fashion Forward night. I thought it went well with my dress.

White Swan

This past week I have been working on a dress to be used in a photo shoot. The concept of the shoot was inspired by Black Swan. For this shoot I made both the dress and the veil/headpiece.

Ruffle Pencil Skirt

I have been a bit tardy posting this new skirt. I actually finished it 2 weeks ago. I wanted a skirt that was a little bit pin-up and a little bit Victorian/steampunk inspired. This skirt is made from grey pinstriped stretch cotton suiting. It has a simple side zipper and pencil skirt styling.
I was originally inspired by this high waisted pencil skirt with ruffled hem and mini train which I found pinned on pinterest.

I didn’t care for the mini train so I omitted it in my version.

I was also able to make this from remnant fabric that I had bought for $3.00 per meter so in total the skirt cost me approximately $7.00 to make versus $130 plus shipping to purchase. That alone is one of my favorite reasons to make my own clothing. Another reason that I love making my own skirts is that I am able to fit them perfectly for me. This skirt is exactly the length and comfortable fit that I wanted. It makes a great dressy skirt for the office or any more formal event that I need to attend.

As always thanks to my husband Ken for taking these pictures.

Taffeta and Velvet

With a large picture window sometimes it is difficult to find really nice drapes that don’t cost a fortune. The previous curtains that I had on this window were dull, did not keep out light, and cost $20 a pannel (with 8 pannels it was way to expensive for the cheap look they gave). Luckily when fabricville was having their managers special this year this wonderful black Taffeta and Velvet was on for $2 per meter. That’s right I said $2 per meter! I was also able to get black out fabric to line these curtains with for $1 per meter.

Using my new serger to complete this entire project I set to work sewing the pieces together. As I was first working on this project I began to have second thought about the richness of the black taffeta and velvet in my living room. The black was starting to intimidate me and I worried that they would be too overbearing in my living room. However fears aside I continued on as Ken really loved the fabric (he was actually the one who bought it for me to make curtains out of).

Several hours laters here is the result. I think that they actually worked out very well.

Get Assimilated

The second skirt in my corporate friendly geekery. This skirt is a cute little jersery knit skirt with a tie belt and a nice splash of colour with either a black or white shirt.

The geeky part comes from a small bit of applique on the lower right side of the skirt. Here we find a little Borg, very much in the style in of Hello Kitty with a large animated head and a block of text which says Get Assimilated.

This little borg holds special significance for me. A few years back Ken and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon and we went to the Star Trek Experience before it closed down. While there I bought this little t-shirt which I loved however after having my son and gaining a bit of motherly weight the t-shirt no longer fit me. It had survived the clothing purge many times just because I loved this little borg so much. So I decided to do something other than throw the t-shirt back in a drawer. I cut the little borg out, tossed the rest of the ill fitting garment and designed this comfy skirt to feature it.

Next I will be tackling Marvel Superheros.