Picnic Print Top + Pants

 

before Tim and I met, eloped, and hit the road, I spent years and years dedicated to fashion design and making my own clothes. I've tried to continue over these last fist-fulls of years, but with living in tiny apartments and moving so often, I was never able to have another permanent sewing space. then when we moved to Maine and started cheer, I broke both my sewing machine and serger altering cheer uniforms. that was about two years ago. then, this last Christmas, Tim surprised me with a new Brother sawing machine, and he had the idea that I could turn the sunroom (my favorite room in the house!!) into a sewing room. I'm so excited! and today, I spent the last few weeks building the space 😊.

 I am so excited to get started again and teach Evelyn along the way. Yesterday, we went to the fabric store and picked out fabrics and patterns. Shes been really into wide collars and long-sleeve tees lately, and she really loves the sailor pants I always wear and has been asking for her own. 

Today was the inaugural sewing project day, and I made Evelyn a pink and white picnic check boat neck top with long sleeves. I definitely felt a little rusty (esp bc i was learning a new sewing machine at the same time), but it was also a super instinctual and fun project (though little kid sizes are tough to sew on machines). 

Making clothes is so fun because you get to figure out better ways to do things as you go. After I finish making the pants, I am going to start on a vintage-pattern dress. I have an idea to find all the vintage patterns I can and make all the clothes (just on the sewing machine and no serger), so I can learn all the techniques. It'll be fun to hunt down vintage patterns too. (Do you remember the nonfiction book about the woman who learned to cook by making every recipe in The Joy of Cooking?).

reading at Connect (in a dress I made)

my costume is in the gallery

the costume I'm submitting to the FaSTa art exhibition

This is a Marie Antoinette costume I designed, and my mom and I made together a few years ago. A good bit of the detail got destroyed, so I've sort ten hours already changing it. There was a bit of pink taffeta, which I've replaced with black because I what it to look more modern, and I want the print, which reminds of of Warhol's flowers, to pop more. I changed the lace edging on the sleeves and neck, all of the stripping detail. I also made some cool taffeta black bows that I want to bead an stitch onto the striping.

I also have to press and starch the whole thing and sew it to the dress dummy so it has more of a physical shape for the exhibition.

I have until Friday.

Then, I need to find some sheerling for my next project, and I need to make our Halloween costumes.

neon pink net dress / neon pink dress 60. / 30.

this dress is in the same set as the cerulean net dress & white dress. 
http://phantomsandthespaceprogram.blogspot.com/2012/05/cerulean-net-dress-white-dress-60-30_31.html
i just alternate the layers.

slowly coming together.

 

i need one of those mini irons so i do not smash the piping.

working on my love.

 

i have absolutely dedicated my summer to writing and design and all of the labor that goes along with each. and all of this falls between my usual summer work, so my lunch hours are generally spent eating carrots and hummus, drinking black coffee, and hand stitching zippers and corsets and boning and anything else i do not trust a machine to do terribly thoughtfully. it may be very funny to see a young woman hand stitching clothes in a welding shop while she is still wearing steel toed work boots. ce la vie.

i finished the chambray pencil skirt that i was working on and now i am in the stages of developing a corset that, at first, was going to be attached to a pencil skirt, but now i have decided to make separates. i like separates. often i can wear at least one of the pieces to the university, which makes my spring and fall work wardrobe (i work as an adjunct professor) a little larger and more withstanding. 

this is my current project:

this is the outer shell of the corset. each piece is the outer fabric, stabilizer, and lining, which are all stitched together. then each piece has to be hand stitched together because i am using piping in the seams instead of top stitching. 

then i have to stitch in the boning, make the inner lining, do the finish work, then make the knee length pencil skirt, which will look awesome. i am stoked on this design. it has this modern vintage beach look, which is the direction i am definitely going into. xo.

cerulean net dress / white dress : 60. / 30.

 

pink neon dress / 50.

so i pretty much love every single summer slip dress i have made in the past few weeks, even on their own without the net dresses over the top. ian and i are going to adventure island for his company picnic today, so especially at places where it can be uncool to wear a string bikini in front of a boyfriend's boss, these dresses are pretty much perfect.

this one is made with hot pink (slightly metallic) double stretch spandex and it fits my body perfectly. and it covers my chest, which is very unlike how the dresses look on my dress dummy. for some reason a dress dummy for my size does not come equipped with boobs.

and it is mid upper thigh, so it is not too short and because of the kind of fabric it is, it will not fade in the washing machine (i do not use dryers on anything but cotton tee shirts). now that i am finished with this series, i am working on some killer chambray pencil skirts.

alright, time to put on some sunblock and go ride some rides. we are going to adventure island next saturday too because this ticket is good for another free day within the next seven! free fun for all! xo.

picnic top / 45.

these are all from today; so no long hair. and aside from the new things i am working on and this killer dynasty looking emerald mermaid bikini i made, i am pretty much caught up. most everyone knows i make clothes because i love beautiful clothes but cannot afford the ones i want. so i buy none unless it is something i need (like this black pencil skirt is guess by marciano and i pretty much live in it). last spring marc jacobs had this killer picnic check top. so i decided to make my own. it is light cotton, three button, roll sleeves. okay. now i have to go administer my last final exam for the semester. xo.

blondie sailor dress / 75.

i love this dress so so so so much. i could not sell it because i found the photo and made the fabric patch myself and definitely own no rights to it. the dress pattern i made. i love the way it fits and have used the same template to make the under dresses for the neon net dress series i am working on (3 done, 2 more to go).

dega ballerina costume / 1000.

my mom made the silk corset and hand beaded the front when i was in high school. it was for the first formal i had ever been to with my first boyfriend. i love this corset.

she also helped me make the gigantic tutu, which was far more difficult than it looks. even the youtube explanations were all very different and some terribly awful and non had the body i wanted. so we pretty much came up with our own method. 

we also made the slippers. and this is the only photo i have of them.  

lumberjack vest / 75.

this is a red and black flannel riding vest i made out of fabric that my mom had used to make my brother a flannel shirt when he was six years old. it has a black frog clasp closure. i am making a dress to wear with it and will photo better shots when the dress is finished.

cornflower blouse / 45.

i wear this top alot but mostly with ralph lauren navy slacks and a white cardigan (to work) because the top is light weight and slightly sheer.

black bow neck top / ruffle collar pencil dress : 40. / 150.

this is one of my favorite outfits i have made.

japanese silk bubble skirt / 120.

lined silk skirt. poof and pleated at waist. falls into slim fit. mid thigh length.

neon neon

so far i have finished 2 of the neon net dresses. 

neon net dress series

i am currently working on a series of three stretch neon net dresses (in hot pink, cerulean and lime) that double as bathing suit cover ups. along with these three neon net dresses i am making three light weight double knit slip dresses (in coordinating neons and white) than can be worn beneath any of the three neon net dresses. so a total of six dresses extremely body con dresses.

i started this project with the idea of going away for a long weekend to the beach (which will be happening a lot in my life this summer) without having to pack more than a duffle bag (on all trips i travel as light as possible &always always take a wardrobe i can interchange. if i cannot wear something at least 2 ways, i leave it at home). along with hunting around for neon surf bikinis, i really wanted to make interchangeable bright fun fitted sexy dresses that could be worn all day and then all night and still keep their fitted, pretty shape.

and let me say, stretch net is no easy fabric to work with! but taking my time and reinforcing my seams and hand stitching gathers, this dress is coming out perfect. and it is only the template for the other 5. i am super stoked on this. i should finish this one today after i return from the university. progress so far:

(this dress covers the chest, my dummy is just a little short in the torso)

houndstooth knit dress / 150.

 houndstooth is a difficult thing to make special; it is special enough because it is always cool, but nothing ever looks super unique. black and white houndstooth is an easy fall back and any clothes i have seen that do look different don't look special in a smart way. so i am not going to go on about this one. 

 i just dig the really really really fat collar, which is hand stitched to the bodice

and the dress is actually in four pieces but i lined it up as well as i could (considering sea allowances) to make it look like a solid piece.

so the front

and the back

and the end.

ps. i have a tendency to look like queen bitch in sunglasses. that is just a tendency not a truth :)