Past Work - Fabric Inspiration Look

This was the last outfit I made in my sophomore year. The assignment was to use plaid fabric to create an look of our choice.

I found this amazing diamondy, argyle-ish plaid at Urban Outfitters. They sell basically bolts of fabric for about $5o (I got this one on sale for about $20) and call them tapestries. I guess they're mean to be hung on your wall in your dorm room. I didn't do that, of course.

The look consists of a yellow crepe trapeze (or triangle) top, cuffed short shorts and matching jacket with duchess satin plaid trim. Modeling this plaid explosion is Lily at the Sophomore/Junior Fashion show.

Past Work - Band Aid Dress

This is one of my favorite creations.

I created this dress in my sophomore year. The assignment was to design a dress using any "non-textile" material. This means no fabric.

I created the dress using bandaids and only bandaids.

To construct the dress I stuck the bandages together with the adhesive stickyside to stickyside.

It took me a month to make it and I used over 3,000 Johnson & Johnson sheer breathable bandaids. I even made a little handbag out of the bandaid boxes to go with it.

Here you can see a close up of the back of the dress (including the zipper I hand sewed into it), me standing next to my work on the dressform during my critique, and Fumilaya modeling it in the Sophomore/Junior fashion show.

Corset - The glass work begins

Spent almost three hours tonight wrapping city class in tulle. Took forever and I don't have enough glass! I'll have to go hunting again tomorrow.

The corset is due in 2 days, so I'll have to finish it all up by tomorrow night. I'm really excited and I'm so looking forward to seeing it completed.

Corset in progress...

I've started to cut and sew! I'm on my way...

It's very difficult to test fit on Eddie (my mannequin) because corsets are so fitted. A persons' body is so much softer than a dressforms'. There's no way to tighten a mannequins waist with a corset in the same way that a human waist would respond. I guess I'll have to find a victim to cinch into this thing to see if it works!

Now I have the press all the seams and make channels to insert boning. Pleather doesn't usually like heat so wish me luck in applying an iron to my corset.

Couch Cover!

I spent most of today making this couch cover. I got the fabric at Urban Outfitters. It was a twinXL duvet cover designed Alexander Girard. He's a cool graphic designer whose work was really popular in the 1970s. I guess UO is doing some reproductions of his work as he has been dead for 17 years... Hm?

Buying textiles at places other than traditional fabric stores can yield some very exciting results! Often you'll find better prints in better quality fabrics for cheaper. I got this duvet cover for $20 and I think I got a least 6 yards. I don't know that I could have found such a soft cotton with this cool of a design at a fabric store for less than $4 a yard.

I'm starting to feel a bit more satisfied with my apartment. I don't want to feel like I'm living in a "college" apartment with cheap ikea furniture and thrift store finds. Hopefully this custom couch cover will spice up "the room."

Corset Prototype

Here's a prototype (or muslin) of my corset design modeled Eddie.

Sorry for the blurry quality. I'm not mature enough to own a real camera.

In any case, I'm starting to work with the fashion fabric (the actual fabric I will use for this design -- for prototypes we just use muslin) for this design. It's white pleather. It's got a great shine and it looks really clean. I'm hoping the brightness of the white will be a good blank slate to offset the colors of the broken glass and pearls. The glass has a slightly blue/green color to it and the pearls will be pink, brown, purple, orange, and of course, white.

This assignment is due this Wednesday! Ahh! Wish me luck with all the handwork. Hope I don't cut myself or break my hands.

And the corset design is...

I decided to go with a more "1800s look" as my prof, John put it. Adding things like bows, ruffles, and lots of decorative details isn't necessarily my style, but since the assignment calls for a Marie Antoinette reference, that's what I'm gonna do! I'll probably "decorate" the dressing gown element a bit more to make it more decadent, but for now I think I'm pretty much set for the corset design. Bring on the glass!

The class presented our corset prototypes today. I had to do two because the first one turned about a bit lumpy, and just... wrong. John seemed pleased with it, though he went on one of his classic tangents about bathing suits from the 1950s and women with "like these negative A cups" on the beach. I guess you need to have "bodacious tatas" to fill out a vintage suit. Thanks for the tip, John.

Hope you guys like what I came up with!