All the Puzzle Pieces
A continuation of my last post, this is the (surprisingly long) dress diary of the up-cycled dress I am making for the Discarded to Divine Charity auction as part of a Special Project class I am enrolled in. All of the proceeds of the auction benefit the St Vincent De Paul Society of San Francisco.
http://www.svdp-sf.org/DISCARDED/
How it works: Designers go to the Society head quarters and pick out donated garments they want to up/recycle into new clothing. Completed garments are then turned in to the juries, with most ending up in the silent auction, and a select few in a live runway show. Designers are allowed to use up to 50% new fabric to supplement the garments they pick out (although, when I was there they also had fabric that had been donated you could pick)
These are the garments I picked out that ended up making their way into the final version of the dress. They include two wool jackets and a Silk/Lycra satin prom dress.
Before we cut into anything my teacher gave us a little rundown on our "client". To paraphrase: Fall, Neiman Marcus, natural fibers. These garments sell at a low of $150 and a high of $1,500, they have to look very rich. He (and the Society) strongly suggested dress jacket combos, they sell well at the auctions, and are easy to fit/alter to more women without being tried on pre-bidding.
My homework for that week was to sketch 30 dress/jacket combos. I eventually choose this one:
Draping:
Look Horrifically messy? That is because I literally did this in the last ten minutes of class. I still wasn't really sure at that point if the whole >cross over straps with cowl thing would work so I just went for it hoping to bang out a mock-up by next class...And it kinda worked.
Mock-up:
This is the second mock-up (After a face-lift) the first mock-up kind of looks like a beige alien baby so you don't get to see it...
The Real Deal:
As is inevitable in these kinda of projects, certain bits of the design could not fit on the pre-existing pieces of the garments I dissembled. I made things fit where I could, but decided to invest in some new fabric for a few key areas.
I bought some new wool to make the skirt flounce, and the center front panel. Because the Front panel was to wide to fit on the old jackets, It would have had to have had a seam CF and I didn't want that. Unfortunately I could not get an exact color match, but this will have to do! For the bodice, I found that the lycra in the charmeuse actually interfered with the bias drape, so I sought out and Actually had some new charmeuse donated to me.
Thank you Suzie of Apparel Arts: http://www.apparel-arts.com/
This is the Front bodice/facing all in one. I love how this pattern piece looks and works, its just so bizarre. Much weirder to me than the stuff I did in creative draping:
http://izodiea.livejournal.com/17237.html
http://izodiea.livejournal.com/17951.html
The armholes on the facing side are interfaced with the most lightweight knit interfacing I could find. When I was at the store and taking it to be cut the Lady gave me a look and asked what it was for (Read Do you know what you are doing?) I told her it was for the armholes of a charmeuse cowl neck dress and she just said, "Oh".
OH MY GOD those bodice dart/seam things were a Pain in the ass to sew! I pinned them, I basted them (by hand) then stitched and fray checked and clipped, and ironed, and ironed and then magically after what felt like two days I had achieved a result my inner perfectionist could live with. That was honestly the hardest part of the whole dress, and I do not want to do it again for a long time. Some nice random rich lady better bid on my dress, and she better bid a lot!
The Break down: The wool outside of the dress is a mix of two old jackets plus the new wool to supplement for the flounce and center front. The bodice is entirely new. The lining is the old Lycra silk dress. I think this puts me withing the 50% range, especially since for the jacket (Smaller pieces) I won't need to buy as much new fabric. I plan to have the whole outfit dry cleaned before I hand it over.
I still have to put in the zipper and hem it, but the dress is essentially now done. I have started to focus more on the jacket now, since getting a workable pattern seems more important.
This is the Original Sketch that I showed to my teacher, it is a little different now, but the silhouette is essentially the same. It is a Faux 17th century bolero, complete with cartridge pleated sleeves. Or at least that is the plan- time permitting. I have the first draft done, and a first mock-up cut out and basted together. I am planning on playing with it on a mannequin on Tuesday before thanksgiving break starts and they lock down campus.
And now bed, It has been a productive weekend, and I feel accomplished!
http://www.svdp-sf.org/DISCARDED/
How it works: Designers go to the Society head quarters and pick out donated garments they want to up/recycle into new clothing. Completed garments are then turned in to the juries, with most ending up in the silent auction, and a select few in a live runway show. Designers are allowed to use up to 50% new fabric to supplement the garments they pick out (although, when I was there they also had fabric that had been donated you could pick)
These are the garments I picked out that ended up making their way into the final version of the dress. They include two wool jackets and a Silk/Lycra satin prom dress.
Before we cut into anything my teacher gave us a little rundown on our "client". To paraphrase: Fall, Neiman Marcus, natural fibers. These garments sell at a low of $150 and a high of $1,500, they have to look very rich. He (and the Society) strongly suggested dress jacket combos, they sell well at the auctions, and are easy to fit/alter to more women without being tried on pre-bidding.
My homework for that week was to sketch 30 dress/jacket combos. I eventually choose this one:
Draping:
Look Horrifically messy? That is because I literally did this in the last ten minutes of class. I still wasn't really sure at that point if the whole >cross over straps with cowl thing would work so I just went for it hoping to bang out a mock-up by next class...And it kinda worked.
Mock-up:
This is the second mock-up (After a face-lift) the first mock-up kind of looks like a beige alien baby so you don't get to see it...
The Real Deal:
As is inevitable in these kinda of projects, certain bits of the design could not fit on the pre-existing pieces of the garments I dissembled. I made things fit where I could, but decided to invest in some new fabric for a few key areas.
I bought some new wool to make the skirt flounce, and the center front panel. Because the Front panel was to wide to fit on the old jackets, It would have had to have had a seam CF and I didn't want that. Unfortunately I could not get an exact color match, but this will have to do! For the bodice, I found that the lycra in the charmeuse actually interfered with the bias drape, so I sought out and Actually had some new charmeuse donated to me.
Thank you Suzie of Apparel Arts: http://www.apparel-arts.com/
This is the Front bodice/facing all in one. I love how this pattern piece looks and works, its just so bizarre. Much weirder to me than the stuff I did in creative draping:
http://izodiea.livejournal.com/17237.html
http://izodiea.livejournal.com/17951.html
The armholes on the facing side are interfaced with the most lightweight knit interfacing I could find. When I was at the store and taking it to be cut the Lady gave me a look and asked what it was for (Read Do you know what you are doing?) I told her it was for the armholes of a charmeuse cowl neck dress and she just said, "Oh".
OH MY GOD those bodice dart/seam things were a Pain in the ass to sew! I pinned them, I basted them (by hand) then stitched and fray checked and clipped, and ironed, and ironed and then magically after what felt like two days I had achieved a result my inner perfectionist could live with. That was honestly the hardest part of the whole dress, and I do not want to do it again for a long time. Some nice random rich lady better bid on my dress, and she better bid a lot!
The Break down: The wool outside of the dress is a mix of two old jackets plus the new wool to supplement for the flounce and center front. The bodice is entirely new. The lining is the old Lycra silk dress. I think this puts me withing the 50% range, especially since for the jacket (Smaller pieces) I won't need to buy as much new fabric. I plan to have the whole outfit dry cleaned before I hand it over.
I still have to put in the zipper and hem it, but the dress is essentially now done. I have started to focus more on the jacket now, since getting a workable pattern seems more important.
This is the Original Sketch that I showed to my teacher, it is a little different now, but the silhouette is essentially the same. It is a Faux 17th century bolero, complete with cartridge pleated sleeves. Or at least that is the plan- time permitting. I have the first draft done, and a first mock-up cut out and basted together. I am planning on playing with it on a mannequin on Tuesday before thanksgiving break starts and they lock down campus.
And now bed, It has been a productive weekend, and I feel accomplished!