PWC Gala

Feb. 2, Ground Hogs day.  Apparently the ground hog did not see his shadow so it will be an early spring. As anyone who lives up north I'm sure would agree - I hope that's true.  I am so sick of the cold and grey days.
Well work has begun on my Gala dress.  I've finished the initial muslin.  There are a few challenges that I need to figure out.
1) The hood drape.  In order to expose the back when the hood is down it needs to be really long and I was having a hard time making it look right when the hood was up.  Now will it ever be worn with the hood up?  Probably only on a runway to make a statement.  It has a real 1930's feel to it.  Maybe I will wear it hood up.  Its the only kind of hat I look good in.

As I pondered this dilemma the thought struck me.  What about exposing the back when the hood is up as well.  This created another set of issues, but once I removed some of the excess fabric that would normally fit around the back neck it really began to fall into place and I think looks really cool either with the hood up or down.

2) The question of under-structure is always an issue when you have a garment that is low cut in the front and in the back.  As of this date I'm still trying to figure this one out.

and lastly - what to do with the skirt.  Do I make it a wrap, faux-wrap or just an normal skirt with a side front slit.

That will have to wait a few more days to figure out.

March 7
Well a month has gone by and I am just getting back to writing about this.  The Gala was last weekend and it was a really fun night.  And yes, I did get my dress done.  Just a few hours before the Gala started - but it was done.  Before I show you the final results, let me fill you in a little more on the process.

I did figure out how to make the back open with both the hood up and down.  I treated it as if there were a back neckline, but the back hood was not attached.  I had to scoop the neckline portion of the hood so that when it was down the back was exposed.  I ended up attaching the hood front as if it was a label, so that the hood extended from the front bodice at the bust-line all the way up.

With both the front and the back being a V-neck I decided to add elastic across the back in several places to keep the shoulders up.  Because I wanted to still be able to wear a bra it gave me another reason for adding a strap across the back.  There were several reasons for wanting to wear a bra with the garment.  1) I'm just more comfortable. 2) I need any help I can get creating a bust.  3) I needed the use of the straps to help to hold up the fabric on the shoulders.

I really labored over the bra situation.  That may seem funny, but the undergarments can greatly impact the rest of the garment.  I tried various bras and corset combinations.  Trying to make them myself by using existing items and connecting them.  None seemed to be accomplishing what I needed.  Finally I found an existing bra that is made for plunging necklines.  It wasn't the right size so I copied what they did and made it with an existing bra, lace and under wires that I had bought for swimwear years ago.  It worked out great and gave the dress the necessary support in the shoulders.  With the hood there was a lot of fabric and weight that needed to be kept in place, the bra straps and bra-strap tamers (available at stores) accomplished that need.



My final dilemma was the skirt.  I really loved the way that the top turned out and the hood.  But I couldn't figure out what to do with the skirt.  When I put the dress on and did a wrap skirt, I felt that the dress was beginning to wear me and it was making me look frumpy.  Too much fabric on a short person can be very overpowering.  I began to play with different ideas and drapes.  Finally I landed on making an underskirt that was mid thigh and an over skirt that opened at side front cascading down into a full length skirt.

The one reason that I love to actually wear the things I make is because that's when you learn if your idea really worked.  There were things that worked great about this design and things that need to be redone.  The shoulders, back and hood worked wonderfully.  I had added details at the waist in the form of belting.  This accomplished 2 things - it  tied the front into the back (This is one of my pet peeves - when the front and the back don't relate.) and it helped to make the waist look thinner - always a plus.  But the draw back was that this.  Because the whole garment is stretch fabric I didn't need to put a zipper in.  I used decorative elastic for the straps and the belting, but I didn't want to attach the belting all the way around.  When I sat down for the first time one of the tacks snapped and the bottom belting came loose.  All night long I was fiddling with the belting trying to keep it in the right place.  And lastly the thing that was the most annoying.  I made the underskirt about 2 inches too short.  All night long I was pulling down on it and having to be really careful when I sat down.  Thank God for napkins they helped to cover my legs when my dress crept up too high.  It was also dark and I could use the long skirt to cover up as well.

Note - I'm not a model and don't like being the model.  My daughter Shiloh wants me to make her my model for the next few projects.  We'll see.

All in all I felt good about the design and I did get several compliments.
Let me know what you think

Next - Project Runway projects.

Time is Life

I recently heard Pastor Mike Bickle say, "Money is power, but time is life."  How true that is.
I have been fighting with life as of late.  Its funny to me that the things you do that bring you life tend to get pushed to the bottom of the list.  Thus the progress of this blog.


I realized yesterday that I was avoiding my studio because of the mess that it was in.  It tends to be the area of the basement that Steve, my husband, pushes all the things he doesn't know what to do with.  Add on top of that, I really haven't been in my studio since making my nieces wedding dress this summer.  So the first order of business - get my studio in order.  Today I put together my new cutting table, cleaned and rearranged.  I think its ready to go now.

There are a couple of other reasons that I haven't gotten to my project - kids and snow days.  Even though my kids are teens, they still take a lot of my time once home from school.  And if they don't have school - all bets are off.

And the last reason for not being in my studio, I had a job interview last week.   The store is called "creativities" and I will be teaching beginning sewing and design.  They offer all kinds of creative classes, with sewing, design and fiber arts being just one area.  They are only about a year old and there's lots of potential for growth. I'm excited about it.  You can check them out at artsandcreativities.com

And lastly, My dress form.  I have this old dress form that I bought right after college.  It was literally falling apart.  The plastic under-form was cracking and the cover was falling off.  The worst however, was when I would put a pin into the form it would come out covered with a sticky residue.  Not good  when you try to put the pins into fabric.  The easiest solution was to buy another one.  So I did.  The problem, which I soon discovered, was that the new dress form is 4 inches larger under the arms than the old one.  This meant that nothing I made would fit me correctly.  Fortunately, I had not thrown out the broken one and have been spending the last few days recovering the old one.

Taking off the old covering was nasty.  Sticky dust was falling all over the floor and a residue was left on the under-form.  Once I got all that cleaned up I was ready to refinish.

To refinish the dress form I adjusted it to my measurements and used "gorilla" duct tape to fix the form and hold it together.  I then bought cotton batting that has a fusible substance on both sides.  I fused muslin to both sides and put it on the form marking all the darts and side seams.  I sewed the darts, half way up the sides, and a casing in bottom on the machine.  I ran a ribbon through the casing.

Next I pulled the cover onto the form and then began to sew all other darts and tucks and side seams by hand.  As you can see by the photo I have a few more seams to go.



PWC Gala Dress
Now its onto more fun projects - The PWC Gala dress. (see sketch)

I found this gorgeous grey and blue stretch velvet, with burnout design in it while in Chicago last spring. I want to use this for my gala dress.  It has such a great drape I don't want  to totally confine it.

To utilize the drape, I want to make it with a hood, that when put down falls into a beautiful cowl in the back.  Having a deep V in the front and in the back I will need to keep the dress up.  I will use something across the bra-line area for the bust and then probably use a clear elastic at the shoulder line or flesh-toned ribbon.
I haven't decided yet whether to use frogs or lacing on the corseted waist.  I also need to decide whether it is a wrap dress or faux-wrap.
I wanted to create the feel of a "dressing coat"; warm and comfortable.

I will start the draping next.

What this blog is all about

The purpose of this blog 
After 17 years of being at home raising my kids I feel its time to start designing again. I need to challenge my design ideas and rediscover who I am as a designer, and I need others around me to encourage me and hold me accountable.

The saying goes "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." So here goes the flattery.  I am going to take the next few months and do the challenges presented on Project Runway.    I've often thought to myself "I would love to do the show." But since this is out of my realm of possibility at this time in my life, I will be doing it myself and ( here comes the second form of flattery) like "Julie & Julia", I'm inviting you along for the journey in the form of this blog.

Anyone who would like to do more than just observe my journey is welcome to do the projects with me.  We can post our creations and ask whoever may read this blog to comment. I also need and want real honest feedback.  If the designs I do are only liked by me, that's fine, but that also tells me a lot;  it tells me I either need to change to make my designs more marketable or I need to just design for me and be happy with that.

The Rules
Time  - on the show the designers are given a certain amount of time to do each project. Since I am a mom and have family commitments I won't be able to strictly abide by the time limitations that are on the show.  However I will keep track of my hours and attempt to complete them in the same amount of work hours contestants are given.
Money - Again I'll do my best to stick within the budget.  I have yards of fabric at home so I will try to use that as well.
Resources - My understanding is that on the show they are not allowed to look at magazines etc. while doing the show. I don't think that I will be able to do that since I live in the real world and I am in stores where fashion magazines are constantly in front of me, but I will do my best to make the designs original.
Group challenges - Since I will be working by myself I obviously will not be working in groups, but I will increase the time allotment by the number of people that are on their teams.

The Set-Up
Before each project I will watch the show and here what the challenge is. I will complete the challenge before watching the shows results.

About Me
Ok now that the premise of The Fashion Project blog is set up, let me tell you a little about me.

I graduated from the University of Cincinnati in Fashion Design.  UC is a great school and has had a number of graduates do quite well.  David Meister has made it in evening wear with a lot of Celebes wearing his dresses.  For you Project Runway groupies, Althea Harper from season 7 is also a UC grad.  I feel privilege to be from this same school as these designers.

Since graduation I made the decision to be a "stay-at-home mom".  Any moms out there can tell you that this is such a huge misnomer, moms don't stay at home.  To say that they "work outside the home" is also a misnomer, moms work hard all the time.  There are just those amazing women who will work for someone else and get paid for it and manage to raise their children and keep their home too.  I am not one of those women.

Now saying all that makes it sound like I really haven't done much besides raise my kids.  But when I look at what I have done outside of my kids and with my kids I realize that I really have done a lot.  During the course of this 17 years I have started different home businesses, helped to start and run a non-prophet, written a book, home schooled my kids and several other things.

But now, as I stated earlier, I feel the desire to design again.  Last spring I spent a few days in Chicago searching for fabrics.  Cincinnati has very little to offer right now in the way of choices.  So Chicago seemed to be the closest place that I could go.  I did find a lot of great fabrics and hope to be using those in the weeks to come.

Before I begin
Before I can fully start of the projects presented in season 1, I have a project that I need to complete first. You can join me for this project as well.  On Feb. 27, my husband, Steve and I will be attending the PWC Oscar Gala.  PWC, short for People Working Cooperatively, is a non- profit that provides thousands of low-income, elderly, and disabled homeowners with higher quality of living. ... with critical home repairs, energy conservation and weatherization, mobility modifications, and maintenance services. (For more info on PWC go to www.pwchomerepairs.org)


The Oscar night is their main fundraiser of the year. PWC’s annual Oscar Night event is part of Oscar Night® America (ONA). The event is one of only 52 official parties sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held across the country on Oscar Night.

PWC is the only organization to bring the real Academy Awards® to Cincinnati, live on a big screen. 

So my first project will be to create a evening gown suitable for a night at the Oscars.

stay posted for my sketches and project pictures.