Thought for a lifetime

Einstein made the very important observation that " Imagination is more important than knowledge ".

Saturday, May 5, 2012

2012 Saddleback College Fashion Show

Once upon a time a class of college students decided to use a somewhat dark fairy tale theme for the annual fashion show. 

The idea was Twisted...

and fabulous.




Guests were fabulously fashionable,


Students were fabulously talented,


The food was just fabulous.


Members of the fabulous Fashion Club 


And basket after basket filled with fabulous goodies to be raffled off...

at the fabulous Twisted Fashion Show at Saddleback College

Let the Twisted Fashion Show Begin!


The Twisted Fashion Show stage was set and the Saddleback students transported the audience to a place  dreamt up in their imaginations and created by hours and hours of hard work.
Once the lighting and music started it really felt like a scene out of some bizarre twisted fairy tale.


There were easily 50+ fashions in the show. I tried to photograph them all but, lots were blurry or I snapped an awkward pose. So the pics that follow are the best photos of some of the best fashions.

ALL student work. 

Actually great student work.








Fantasy at the Twisted Fashion Show

Next the Twisted Fashion Show got really wild with the Fantasy garments that were made from anything BUT fabric...

( Hum the captions to the tune of  'These are a Few of my Favorite Things' )


Napkins and cardboard...


and Palm fronds and plastic...


Black bags for garbage...


and sixteen shower curtains of white...


Feathers, a birdcage skirt made out of paper,

these are a few of the Fantasy things.

After a great show I congratulated a few of my students that won prizes for their garments...


and Lisa and I got lucky in the basket raffle drawing.


At the end of the evening I opened my raffle basket and lived happily ever after.

It was a fabulous evening!!


THE END

Friday, May 4, 2012

Update for Spring with Lace


Spring and summer fashions are featuring a lot of bits and pieces of lace.

Lace is great to incorporate into any design because it won't fray and can be used in so many different ways. 

I do like when lace is used for part of the garment ( ie., yoke, sleeve, collar,  etc. ).

 I also like when lace is an overlay for the entire garment.

But, my favorite is the lace insert surprise! 


So I decided to update my tired old black knit cardigan. It had ribbing at the bottom and the end of the sleeves that made the silhouette quite bulbous.

I cut off the unfashionable ribbing and since it was a good quality knit I did not have to worry about any unraveling.  I simply machine hemmed the bottom and sleeves.

Free of the ribbing the sweater had a new, much nicer boxy shape.


Good looking lace is hard to find and I don't remember where I found these bits of lace, but I really liked the lace pattern.

I wish I had purchased more than two...however working with just two bits of lace I placed one high on left side ( where I normally would wear a brooch ) and the other low on my right side wrapping from front to back.

Hopefully the placement makes it more edgy and not too old lady...

A quick hand basting will hold the lace in place MUCH better than pins ( the pin is marking where the machine stitching began ). Using a small zigzag stitch carefully stitch around the outside edges of the lace piece. 
** It is a good idea to have a piece of interfacing on the inside of the sweater. The interfacing adds very important stability to the stitches 


After completing the stitching flip sweater to inside and CAREFULLY cut away the sweater inside the stitching outline.  Next trim only the interfacing outside of the stitching outline. 
DO NOT cut the lace, however if you do it is easily mended with hand stitching.


This is how the inside of the sweater looks when completed.

And this is the right side of the sweater.

...and now my dated cardigan has a more modern silhouette with 3/4 length sleeves, a relaxed fit, and a bit of trendy, popular lace.

Love it!