Every Day I'm Shuffling...

to get everything done.  I am still getting caught up on all of the Flower Girl dress orders and I do plan on getting Lucy's dress done for Halloween.  I have also increased my number of shifts at the restaurant (which received a four star review last week!).  The major victim in my life right now, receiving less attention from me, is the laundry.  I'm hoping that soon my husband will wake up to find that he has no clean undies and will then realize that he needs to help out.  But, alas!  He has found his passion, too.

My husband has taken on his own project, which I have aptly named: Project Driveway.  He has procured a 1994 Audi Cabriolet in non working condition that he is determined to transform into working condition. I would rather he would come home from work and declare his desire to play with the kids, do a couple of loads of laundry, empty the dishwasher, etc. so I can sew, sew, sew!

I really don't know where the time goes.

But, I have managed to get my designs done to get caught up with Project Runway. And I would like to give a shout out to Lucy for letting me use her box of 96 crayons to help illustrate these designs.

Enjoy!

So, the first is the challenge where the designers had to design garments for "real people."  They met with a man who would describe a perfect outfit for his lady.  I ended up designing for the woman who wanted something girly and pink for attending a wedding in.  The actual design made for her was the losing design.  My design is a layered, tiered chiffon wrap dress.  I love it and may create it someday:

The second design in this post is for the episode where the designers had to design a garment for a member of a rock band.  Again, I took the losing designer's client and redesigned something.  My idea here was to have a snakeskin leather pant in a deep brown red color and on top a gauze (think thin linen) bottom down shirt over a brick red jersey tank.  

And last week's challenge was to create a look inspired by the seventies, but still modern.  The first look was to be done with $150 and the second with $50.  The second could not be separates.

So, I am caught up on the design challenges now.  I am currently working on a new design (new to me) for a flower girl dress that is almost complete.  I also got my new tags in the mail.  They are really sharp - embroidered silver thread on white that say: Mousebee Couture with Cincinnati, Ohio underneath.  I will do a post on my flower girl dresses soon.

Now off to bed!

Create a Print - Team Challenge

I am finally catching up a little with the show as tonight a new episode airs and I don't want to get two episodes behind.  If I had more time, and I would love to revisit this idea later, I would have actually designed my own print using the website spoonflower.com.  And I didn't have a team to work with, so I just did my own print and one design.

My idea was inspired by my love of toile.  I love looking at the different stories a toile fabric is telling.  And I love discovering new and interesting designs.  My idea was to create a toile pattern based on "Mid Summer Night's Dream."  I have included a close up of the scene where Titania, under a love spell, is in love with the mortal, Bottom, who has had the unfortunate circumstance of having his head transformed to that of an ass.  The idea of my toile would be to have various scenes from the play throughout the fabric.

I thought a simple flared sundress would be the best canvas for this design and I just love the combination of green and blue!

Artistic Inspiration Challenge

Ok, these challenges are really silly.  Why can't they just give them a lot of money and a good amount of time to make a beautiful red carpet gown.  I wish the challenges would try to be less creative and get back to fashion.  I haven't been blown away yet by any of the designers, but I am waiting.

So, Project Runway used to be my show that I would watch while my husband was not at home both for the reason that it annoyed him and for the reason that it annoyed me to have him make fun of Tim Gunn's little catch phrases.  But, for some reason I can't pinpoint, he started watching it with me this season.  Maybe it was a curiosity on his part to see what this show was all about and to see what I would hypothetically be getting myself into?

Anyway, he is enjoying it - mostly for the remarks of the judges (Michael Kors specifically) that have been cracking him up.  He was also excited to see that Kenneth Cole is a straight male designer.  And I mention this not to knock the gay male designers, but to point out that straight men can be creative and fashionable too.

And I mention this bit about my husband because it was his idea that directed my design this week.  After watching this episode, which the designers were to create a haute couture garment inspired by a piece of artwork (the artwork was created by the designer and an art student), I asked how I was going to create my own design.  Where was I going to get an original piece of artwork?  To this question, my husband pointed out that I should use one of his paintings.

So I did.

Here is one of his paintings.  All of his work is done on large canvases made by him and is based on the Golden Ratio.

And here is my design.  Normally I do "shopping" at mood fabrics.com to try to truly mimic the challenge. But I have a babysitter today and I want to get some sewing done before my "time is up."  But know that the dress would consist of stretch velvet as the basics of the dress (with black mesh at the top and down the back) and different colored pastel chiffon would be the flowing detail.

And, I am not married to the black mesh on top, but thought it might look good strapless too.  But there it is.  The green velvet horizontal stripe would actually hold some of the chiffon in as well.  And there would be a chiffon train in the back.

Come As You Are

The first episode of Project Runway Season 9 gave the compete=ing designers the challenge to create something form using the pajamas they were wearing and the white sheets on their beds.  They could use dyes to change colors and trimmings.  The designs were all over the place and I did like the winning design.  The bottom designs were ones the were poorly constructed - jersey is unforgiving.  I am especially intrigued by one designer who has just learned how to sew and has only been sewing for four months.  She is brave and it will be interesting to see how far she goes. Anyway, here is my idea:

The focus would be on the skirt.  It would be whimsical, structured, artistic, and fun to wear.  I may make this one.

Can You Feel A Brand New Day

My 15 month old son slept through the night for the second night in a row last night.  The previous night was the first time that he had slept through the night since his birth.  Only if you have had children will you understand the full implication of what this all entails.  But let's not dwell on how it got to be this way, let's just acknowledge that after two full nights of sleep, I feel good.

And I am ready to get started.  This blog will be threefold.

1. I will follow the design challenges of Project Runway Season 9.
2. I will answer questions on the application.
3. I will read and master the book from the Basics The Ava Series on Fashion Design Construction by Anette Fischer.

 I will follow the design challenges of Project Runway Season 9.  I will take the parameters given, and design my own garment by sketching it out.  I will not, at this point, make the garment due to time and money restraints.  The items I do sew together are done so at intervals, as my life is full of interruptions.   Designers on the show are given the entire day to construct the works, which to many, this may seem impossible. But to me the idea of a day completely dedicated to sewing together something sounds like heaven.  I do promise to make some designs, however, as I progress.  Maybe you can help me decide which one(s) deserve to be created.

The only application for Project Runway that I could find online was from Season 6 as the casting for the show is not currently happening.  But I wanted to have an idea of what to expect.   There are some very thoughtful and some very silly questions on this application and I don't know if the same application is used every season, but it will good practice.   I have never tried to be on any show, let alone one that your performance and talent directly effects your being cast.  I have been paying attention to the previous seasons's designers and their backgrounds, noticing that there is a diverse group of ages, design backgrounds, and experience.  I am 33, which is older than most contestants, but not all.  I have had little formal training and am mostly self taught.  But I am exploding with ideas and have often watched the show judging for myself the final designs finding myself thinking, "That is all that they could come up with?"

However, that being said, I need more training in construction.  My "expertise" is in little girls' dresses, which  from a design point of view, is very different than creating clothes for grown ups.  Little girls do not have a waist line, but a round belly, and they have to chest, meaning no darts needed in the bodice.  Just recently I have had orders for dresses for older girls, which introduced me to creating darts.  But I will need to learn and practice more areas of construction and Ms. Anette Fischer's book will be my guide.