I have been away too long - back to the clothes!

A lot has been happening with me and i have not been good about getting here to post things. Lets get back to the clothes!

Here are a few  more things that were made for Babes in Toyland. Mistress Mary I wanted to have a pretty "girly" dress as she is out ingenue. The girl cast was not a very feminine so I felt she needed as much help as possible!

The dress turned out pretty cute. I am very pleased with how it came out!

In the course of the play she runs away from home and I decided that she should have a cloak to wear when running away from home.  Still in the girly pink, the cape is a beautiful tweed with lace details. 

Halloween that never was

Heather has kept me on my toes for years now. Back in 1998 when we were but children in High School - Shakespeare in Love was released and Heather fell in love with the clothes. I mean can you blame her!  Just look at them!

So for Halloween, which we plan for WAY in advance every year, and still do to this day, Heather decided she wanted something like the ball gown in the picture above. If you know her, you know that she is pale and thus would not look good in peach or antique gold.

We decided to go toward a jewel tone and found a great emerald brocade with gold fleur-de-lis on it.  We paired the overskirt and bodice with a gold satin for the underskirt, and a dual layer of organza in green and gold for the sleeve puffs. Antique gold satin was used for pipping the edges and - in a bold move at that time -  I lined the WHOLE thing. It turned out pretty well I thought.

Here is a close up of the bodice: I have come along way my construction skills and can now see all the short cuts i gook in making this dress. But we all get better with time right?

So the dress was made, fit, and finished and hung up...and sadly that is where the story ends! The dress has not been worn yet. Now 10+ years later the dress has been outgrown and mostly forgotten until i was home recently for Babes in Toyland. I think I will take the dress and donate it to TDF costume collection. I have donated a few other things in the past and can use the credit when I design in the future.

I LOVE THIS DRESS

So I had this red linen left over from Babes in Toyland, it was used for Little Red Ridding Hoods cape. I didnt know quite what to do with it until I found the pattern for this dress.  The reason being two fold: I had enough yardage for it, and the example on the pattern sleeve was a wool tweed dress.

You might not be able to see it, but this is a very open weave and kind of rough linen in a bright cherry red.  it has a boat neck and deep V back.  Double darts in the high waisted skirt that has a slight A line gives the dress a little swing.  The bodice has an over drape gathered down int he center (I added the brooch where they suggested another bow - that was too much even for me).

What I love so much about this dress is the way it hugs the form! even without fitting it it hugs my size 8 dress form like they were made to go together.  I I am putting this dress on my etsy account today and hope it goes to a good home.

MAD MEN

            The first new dress that I made for my Etsy shop is inspired by the hit show "Mad Men"

The clothes  for this show are so detailed and period specific. This show is really responsible for changing the way many women look at work clothes. There has been a huge return to "dressing" for work. Following on this trend I wanted to create something to pay homage to the beautiful costumes created by Janie Bryant.  Within my extensive pattern collection I have found a number of dresses that remind me of these clothes. So here is the first one I have created:

  

It is a tan cotton stretch, with a faint teal stripe.  I accented this with a great teal linen I found at a store here in the fashion district. The dress itself is a beautiful high waisted pencil skirt with a short sleeve louse on top, gathered over the bust and a deep keyhole  opening tied by a large bow. the back of the skirt has a hidden

kick pleat. For whatever reason the kick pleat was the hardest decision for me to make.
          My initial idea was to use the teal linen for this, as a splash of color when you walk.  But after I did this I was a little concerned it was to "costume" and not real enough. But my partner Richard convinced me the detail was cute and since the fabric was dark it would be a good way to brighten it. So I stuck with my plan and think it turned out rather cute!

     This is the first dress I made for my etsy shop, and hope that it is a good way to kick things off!

1950's Day Dress

I have been kicking around the fabric for awhile now. It is left over from a production of The Music Man i did many years ago and had bought to much of it. finally knew what I had to do with it when i cam across the patter for a beautiful 1954 day dress.

It is a rayon burnout of swirls, that I layed over white bridal satin. I played with other colors, but thought the white made it pop the most. The dress featured doleman sleeves, with a contrasting cuff. The skirt is the best part however, it has a slim fitting top with a circle bottom flounce. I just know my teacher would have been proud of this - i felled the seams and everything to keep the overlayer from fraying.

The satin collar and cuff i embroidered with a simple stitch on my new machine. . The back of the dress is a great detail: a series of matching buttons that run the length of the back. it really adds a nice period detail i think.

With enough materials left over, I will most likely be making more from this fabric. but we shall see! I am setting up a shop on Etsy.com where i am going to make dresses out of all these great patterns I have and sell them! This dress like the others has been donated to the TDF Costume Collection.

Tommy III

So the last dress I have to share today is the final dancer. Now this girl posed a challenge for me. She was a LOT taller, and bigger then the other girls. While not a BIG girl, she was the sort that obviously played sports. She was BUILT, almost 6 feet tall and very muscular. Not the typical dancer body I am used to dealing with.

I solved this body problem by creating a two piece ensemble that she could move it. Using the same fabric as the other dresses, i created the garment here. The blouse features a basque, and a top gathered over the breasts. The CF buttons are functioning, as well as a side zipper. I thought that would give her enough room to get it over her head, without messing up her hair/makeup

With this I made an A-Line skirt that moved very beautifully on stage. While being tall, I think it served her and the show well.

Sadly I could not get my hands on an appropriate sized dress form, so it looks a little odd here on a size 4...forgive me!

The Who's Tommy - II

Here is the second dress in the set. As told in my previous post, these dresses were constructed for a local HS in the spring of '09. I chose to make them of a matching Poly satin in different colors. Only 3 of the four survived the run, one barely made it to closing night....stupid girl...

This second dress is the orange one. It featured a "wrap around" bodice and skirt that features a cascade down one side. While the dress was made for a dancer, it and the others were all made from vintage patterns of the period. I have collected patterns for years, and love the chance to use a real source material when doing a period show.

Teens Dress

This is based on a dress that was given me by the TDF Costume Collection here in NYC. It was too bad of repair for them to rent anymore, so I took it. knowing that it was once beautiful and I really liked the silhouette.

Here is a pic of the before dress. It WAS once a very lovely orange patterned silk, with an overlay of organza. The blouse was an overlay of organza on pale peach poly taffeta. To me the coat is the most impressive part of the dress - it has a very Funny Girl feeling to me.

The fabric I chose for my remake of it is left over from a wedding I did a few months ago. I have collected so much fabric over the years that I am trying to use it up and not spend any money - except for zippers and things like that.

The body of the remake is Tiffany Blue double-sided Duchess Satin (say that three times fast) and the blouse is pale blue taffeta. I decided for dramatic flare to accent it with black jet trim. (i have been collecting trim bits for years - and I dont want to move them any more!)

Here is where it stands so far - just about done! Ill post a pic of what it looks like with a body inside soon....