The Tie Dress

Finally, here are photos of the completed Tie Dress that I made for the One fashion Event (train repaired).
The top is a stole crafted from 15 silk ties with a silk lining. I scavenged the skirt from a recycled full length formal gown and modified it by making it short in front, reduced its original fullness and then attached it to the new silk corset waist. I think the overall resulting piece is quite dramatic. Since I only made it as a show piece, it's not particularly practical. Practical is boring.
The tie stole was inspired by my favorite Trashionista's blog Oustapop.

Weekends are for Projects

I finally got some housework done on Saturday. I decided to reorganize my closet to see why I never have anything to wear. I discovered that more than half my wardrobe is vintage. Much of it collectible pieces dating back to the 20's and beyond. Some pieces are seasonal or occasional dresses and most is just stuff I really don't like to give a lot of wear and tear to because I want to preserve it as long as humanly possible. So I spent part of the day making minor repairs to a few pieces and I came upon a dress my friend had made from a circa 40's pattern. I love the dress but I thought it was a bit long so I cut it shorter leaving me with about 8 inches of the groovy scull and crossbones fabric from the dress. So I gathered up some other remnant pieces and made this cute little ruffle skirt. I'm really in a girlish, ruffly mood these days.


Today, I was enjoying my newly cleaned sewing room and rummaging through my fabric piles when I came upon this really sweet piece of vintage Mexican theme heavy cotton. Although the fabric is most likely circa 50's. It made me think of those 40's pin-up girls. I was immediately inspired and began working on this dress:


The skirt isn't quite as full as I would like but it was a pretty small piece a fabric so this will just have to do.

Dress of the Day

I was planning to go to the Drag Ball tomorrow night, since I have this totally rad vintage jumper that just screams for an occasion, but I kinda got involved in making this dress today and missed my opportunity to buy a ticket in advance. The price doubles day of the show and my current budget didn't really allow for an advance ticket as it was.
Fortunately for me, I got some sewing therapy in by creating this little piece. It was an old 50's day dress this morning, pretty frumpy and well worn. Its been sitting among a pile of vintage fabrics awaiting their new destiny for quite some time. I guess I'm getting tired of the snow and need to feel some Spring energy. Of course it could be the result of that nagging internal voice reminding me (like I need a reminder) that I really, really need to clean my house.
Anyway, a chop chop here, ruffle there and several stitches later, this is the end result. I decided to make an apron as the embellishment, in honor of the original time period. (or I still really, really do need to clean my house). Damn I wish that little voice would shut the hell up and just clean the house while I sew!!!!
One can dream can we not?

homework

This week I was assigned a homework project for my business class. Bring something to class that symbolizes your vision of success. So here is my symbol, a dress, reconstructed from a bunch of otherwise worthless t shirts. To see the population wearing clothing that utilizes recycled materials and is made here in our own country for a change, that would be success!
So now I'm off to working on more projects. Cheers,
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