Look What I Made...

This is my friend Liz and she LOVES animal prints. She is always doing little acts of kindness to me so I decided to surprise her with this zebra print top.

I used McCalls M5890 for the simple princess seams and just guessed the size. The fabric is really wonderful, it has little clear square sequins all over it so the design just shimmers but, is totally wearable during the daytime.

However this wonderful fabric was HORRIBLE to sew... skipped stitches, could not be pressed, etc. So it was not an option to fold under the neckline and armholes to top stitch because it would have looked awful. Instead I used black hem tape and folded it over the edge and stitched.

The hem tape is lacy so it's really a pretty finish and Liz LOVED the top.

Of course she already had the zebra shoes that matched :)

Faces Forward!

These are the 6 inch dancing flowers that inspired the director to order 2 ft tall ones!!

I FINALLY finished sculpting the 20 faces and NOW I must paint them all. I really, truly love making faces and I just wish I had time to pause and enjoy the experience BUT the marionettes are already 7 days late and the play opens on July 29...aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

What Does This Mean?!?

This image is from the August issue of Harper's Bazaar...Smurfette modeling a $1,230 bag and $940 boots by Louis Vuitton!! Is this targeting the little kids that watch Smurfs, the young adult who remembers Smurfs from growing up or the patriotic amongst us that respond to her being red, white and blue. Or is it just fundamentally weird to make Smurfette look like a hooker?

I have been so busy with so much stuff that isn't fun I decided to run off to LA and see the Little Black Dress exhibit at FIDM ( Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising ). Well, it's a little exhibit of little black dresses, only 12 dresses total! None of the dresses left me awestruck but, it's always interesting to look at original designer garments from earlier decades. The exhibit had a 1936 silk crepe dress by Madeleine Vionnet, a 1947 Valentina wool crepe dress, a 1949 Christian Dior silk satin dress, and a 1985 Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. The Chanel dress was easily the most disappointing ( it's the solo dress in the photos ). The dress was a combination of wool, knit, leather and gold foil. The chains were like appliqued gold metallic fabric and the dress just looked kinda cheap to me.

I know these were dresses and not gowns but, really none were inspiring. But maybe that's why LBDs ( little black dress ) are so timeless and popular- the dress doesn't overwhelm the wearer.

There were also some LBDs from movies and TV. The dress with the sheer sleeves was worn by Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. And the other dress was made of latex ( ! ) and worn by Kristin Bauer Van Straten on season 3, episode 1 of True Blood. Since I have absolutely no idea who or what that show is about I couldn't fully appreciate how the dress related to the character.

A great project the FIDM students completed in relation to the LBD exhibit was their interpretation of a modern LBD. Most of the students also selected a current actress ( to play the Audry Hepburn part in Breakfast at Tiffanys ) and dressed the actress in their modern LBD interpretation. The actress selected really helped determine the attitude of their LBD rendering.

One of my favorites was the rendering with Zoe Saldana as Holly Golightly. This student is really talented!

No Fabric Heaven

On the recommendation of a student I visited Angel Textiles at 846 Maple, Los Angeles. It is a small narrow store with fabric literally stacked from the floor to the ceiling! It is so densely packed that it really prohibits seeing the fabrics. The store stocks a lot of lace and leather but, it is very difficult to browse.

I didn't see any prices attached or posted and when I inquired the answer was $2 a yard and some fabrics were $5 a yard.

So even though the price may be tempting, the inability to easily access the fabrics was a turn off for me :(