Up to My Ankles

Just an update on what's been going on with me.

You're probably thinking, "She's two episodes behind!" I know, I know.  I plan on getting caught up soon with the show.  I have my designs in mind, I just need to draw them out.  Maybe I'll do that tonight at work on my server notepad before the dining room gets busy. I'll mention this, though: my husband was geared up by last night's challenge which featured the designers creating men's wear.  He asked me if I could do that which I replied "Why not?"  He wants me to make him some jeans - so I'll put that on my list of things to do.

This morning I finished up and shipped off four flower girl dresses which were cotton eyelet with Autumnal colored taffeta sashes.  When I am all caught up with all my orders of these flower girl dresses, I will post pictures of them.  This weekend I will be changing the sash on an existing dress and shipping it off to Australia for a November wedding, then I will be making a new pattern for a dress made like a current J Crew design that a buyer could not get shipped in time for her wedding from the J Crew website.  New patterns and designs are always fun for me.  I won't feature the design on my Etsy shop, though, because it is not my original design.  Then I have two silk and lace dresses going to Miami, Florida for a wedding.

I hope to get Lucy's (my three year old) princess dress done for Halloween.  She helped to pick out her own fabrics and I'm excited for the beautiful Cerulean Blue and silver Brocade fabric that I'll use on the bodice.  The dress will even have a literal silver lining!

And then, I will finally get to make my first junior bridesmaid dress for a friend's wedding at the end of November.  I am also making a flower girl dress for her too.

So I am still busy with dress orders to the point where I had to stop taking orders until mid-late November.  BUT I will get those Project Runway designs done before the next episode airs.

I promise!

By the way, my Etsy shop link is: www.etsy.com/shop/mousebeecouture

I don't know if I've mentioned that before?!

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!

Up to my knees...

Dear blog friends, just a mention that I have been up to my knees in Flower Girl dress orders. Therefore, I have been away from the blog for longer than I would like. But I will get caught up soon. This is a good problem to have as I am making some cash. But don't feel neglected, or at least, don't feel alone. The laundry is the true victim here. It has been piling up all week. Oh the irony: I love to make clothes, but I hate to clean them.

Until we meet again...

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.

Project Runway Application Question(s) #2:

Have you ever worked or do you currently work for a designer or manufacturer? If yes, please list any and all positions you have held working for a designer or manufacturer to date (include your responsibilities and if it was a staff or intern position):
Nope


Please describe your job history outside the fields of fashion and design:
I have been in the service industry (as a waitress and bar tender) part time since I was 16. 
 I was also a high school English teacher and Drama director.  I was an actress in a local theater company for one show (Miss Saigon) that ran for 8 weeks.  Then I was a Realtor, followed by a Leasing Agent for a Property Management company.  Then I had a baby and was a stay at home mom.  I went back to waitressing part time when the baby was four months old and did that until I had my second baby.  I stayed home for 11 months with both kids and then went back to part time bar tending and waitressing which is what I do now.


Have you attended a fashion design school or a fashion program? If yes, what was the school and program you attended? Did you graduate?  If you graduated, what was the type of degree earned? If not, why did you leave the program?
Nope

If you answered "No" to the above question, what is your fashion/design background?
As a hobby, I taught myself how to sew together pillows as gifts for friends.  When I was a drama director, I had to piece some costumes together.  But the driving force of my designing of fashion was the birth of my daughter.  I found a woman in town who gave private lessons and she taught me over the course of one year (about once or twice a month) how to sew from commercial patterns.  I started experimenting after that  and was refashioning adult clothes into infant clothes (which I actually got to teach others to do at my sewing mentor's studio).  When I was pregnant with my son, I met a girl who was a fashion design student at The University of Cincinnati's Design, Art, and Architecture Program.  She was waitressing with me and  was searching for an internship position.  She couldn't afford to move to a big city yet, but wasn't getting any local offers either.  About that time, I had come up with a brand name and was making toddler dresses to sell.  I offered to have her come work with me and my start up company.  One month before my son was born, my intern came to work with me five days a week, 20 hours a week, for three months.  I couldn't afford to pay her, but provided her with lunch every day and a great experience to add to her portfolio.  She still worked at the restaurant in the evenings, so she could get by with not being paid by me.  She designed a website for me (currently not being used, however) and helped me get my Etsy shop up and running.  She also helped me build my inventory.  What I got from the experience was another sewing mentor.  She helped me to polish up my sewing, especially with linings and hand stitches.  She also taught me the basics of pattern drafting.


Do you know how to:
   - Cut?
   - Sew?
   -Sketch?
   - Make your own patterns?

Yes to all of the above.

Please describe your design philosophy/point of view:

I had the opportunity to make a surprise visit to see my grandfather who was ill.  My grandmother had him get up out of bed and get dressed.  He wondered what the big deal was, only to understand by my arrival that he was getting a visitor.  He said to me as he realized this, "It does feel good to be dressed nice."  


My grandfather passed away months later, but that simple thought stuck with me.  Those days when I would stay at home with my kids, I would find inspiration from him to get out of my pajamas.  And those rare occasions that got me out of the house, requiring to dress up, did make me feel good.


So, I think fashion is supposed to transform our emotions.  It makes us feel confident, or strong, or sexy, or mysterious, or fun, or dangerous, or important, etc.


I  want the clothes I design to evoke feelings of confidence in beauty.  


I think that's all I can say on the subject for now.  I want to revisit this later as I gain more experience.  Then I can articulate better my design style and philosophy.

New Balance

This challenge was hard for me because I don't wear sneakers or denim.  But I thought that if I did, I'd want them to be comfortable and stylish.  I designed a dark blue denim jean/legging and a beige suede bodice with a jersey cardigan with features two bold and bright colors.  It would be very loose and flowy which is not truly demonstrated in my sketch.  But I think it would be pretty awesome.  This week's challenge had them creating three designs in teams of three with $300.  So I created one look under $100.

Nina Challenge

I finally had time to sketch my ideas this morning after working all weekend.  Work is going to be a definite hindrance to this project, but it is suppling finances.  In fact, my French curve ruler set arrived on Saturday.  Hooray!

I also started to piece my black skirt together.

But, back to the show.  This week's challenge was to create a look for Nina.  The budget was $200.  I do have to say that I did like Kimberley's winning design.  However, there were a lot of designs that weren't so great.

So, I have brought two designs to the table as the designers were given a chance to sit down with Nina and get her thoughts.  My first design idea is separates.  The top would have this fabulous tweed between an almost white fake leather.  The pants would be a satin charcoal/platinum fabric.

This is a close up of the tweed fabrics:

And the satin pants:

My second design idea would be to make a simple mod long sleeved white dress, but paint a cool design on it with acrylic fabric paint:

Well, I have to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday this week and I will be beginning to create four flower girl dresses for a bride in New York, so I will be plenty busy.  But I still hope to get the skirt done this week and I want to get some more application questions done, too.  Until then!