Why buy when you can copy…

If I could afford the Comme des Garcons trench (FW/09) I would buy it.  I would buy one in every color and style.  This coat makes me want to cry.

OK, I’m a bit over dramatic but what the hell.  So of course on my student/designer for hire/can I shorten some pants for you salary, I could never afford a coat that would cost more than what I paid for my car. So I headed out to my favorite thrift in search of clothing that could be turned into something resembling the coveted trench.

I lucked out big time.  First I found a short mens trench that was a great color and weight but also had the most amazing brass buttons.  In the women’s section I found a long red and black wool blanket skirt.

I had to take the jacket body and sleeves in quite a bit because they were both really wide. Then I chopped off about 12″ of the length and removed all the buttons, pockets and plackets.  I reattached about 5″ of the length including the original hem to form a really straight, thigh length coat.

Then I draped the skirt around and under the coat until I had an idea about how to cut it.  I used the waste band of the skirt as a scarf around the collar and the fringe from the front of the skirt to trim the lapel and left front.  I trimmed up the rest of the skirt into a rectangle and then cut a square from the center of the cut edge, basically making a horse shoe shape out of it.  Then I took the horse shoe shape by the inside corners and stretched it out so that it formed a straight line at the top with the corners of the original rectangle hanging down all pointy and uneven.  Get it?  Kind of tricky to explain, but it worked!   I sewed the pockets and buttons back on, reattached the lining and tried it on.

I’m happy with it.  It’s not quite as amazing as the original but it is definitely my style, I think it looks like something I would make and wear — it’s more me than the Comme version.  I am tempted to get into my feelings about copying other designers work, which are mixed.  But I’m just not in the mood, I just want to enjoy my new coat and this snowy day.

(Comme pics from Style dot com)

Muslin update

Muslins are ugly, they just are.  So bland and colorless.  When I make one I can appreciate the beauty in it, well, because I made it.  But it takes a lot of imagination to see the final garment in a beige mass of unbleached cotton.  For example, here is a snap shot of a muslin, a sketch of the same coat and swatches of the fabric that the final coat will be made from.

I think seeing the sketch and fabric makes things a little clearer, no?

With all of that said here are some more snap shots of muslins on the models from our recent critique.

This shirt dress has a row of buttons and button holes on each side so that it can be buttoned right over left or left over right. Sewing in sleeves is a real pain, especially when you know you are going to have to do it many, many times.  That is why some of these shirts only have one sleeve. My sleeves also have a lot of detail in them so I tend to only make one in the muslin.

This hat is actually in final fabric, it’s the first hat of hopefully many.

What’s in a Muslin?

Since every minute of my free time and some of my not so free time is spent worrying, doodleing, and actually working on my senior thesis, I have no time for crafting. So, I thought maybe you would like to see exactly what goes into designing a small collection.  I say small because we are required to design and build between 4 and 8 complete looks.  Of course I have a lot to say so I’m doing 8.  That’s 8 fully dressed models and I am hoping to make hords of accessories like hats, shoes, bags and jewelry.

The first step is to develop a concept which can really be anything that inspires you.  In my studio we have designers who are inspired by the senses, under water creatures, Michael Jackson, synaesthesia, medieval music, and garments as musical instruments, just to name a few.

My concept is based on a Terry Gilliam movie called Tideland about a little girl who is utterly inocent to the point of makeing viewers uncomfortable.  She is left all alone with her friends the bodyless doll heads that she talks to, the firefly ‘fairies’, and the squirles in the attic.

I love her fearlessness, imagination, ability to make me uncomfortable, and her ability to defy death by ignoring it.

Once you have established your concept, you just start sketching, and sketching, and sketching… I find myself doodling constantly.  At some point you are supposed to have an ah-ha moment when you stop sketching, you pick your final designs and move on.  I never seem to reach this point.  Oh, I move on but the thinking and sketching just never stops and this can become confusing because now I have to start to making things…

Next, the patterns.  Lots of paper, lots of tape, pencil smudges all over my face; this is my favorite part.  Without a good pattern you will not have a good garment.

This is my wall of patterns so far:

Probably only 1/4 of the patterns I will end up making.  These are priceless.  Well, to me anyway.

Once you have a pattern that you think is going to do what you want it to, you make a muslin.  A muslin is a garment that is made from very simple fabric, usually unbleached cotton or something that resembles what your final fabric will be.

You fit this muslin on your model and make corrections by pinning or drawing right on it.  Then you transfer those changes to the pattern and yup, make ANOTHER muslin.  It isn’t unusual to make 3-5 muslins of one garment.  How many garments am I making again?

The things that don’t fit into this time line that you just have to squeeze in there between sketching, muslins and awful sociology classes, are the fabric research and shopping, fittings with models, critiques, eating, sleeping…

So, this is where I’m at so far and what has been occupying my time for the past 7 weeks.  I’m making some patterns and some muslins, and soon I will make the jump to final fabric.  Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it.

Dominating Knitting

I finally made a project from the knitting book domiknitrix (that I “borrowed” from my friend Anna).  This book is part eye candy, part beautiful projects.  It may not be for beginners as some of these projects are complex and require quite an investment of time and money.  While I have day dreamed about making many of the projects here in, I just could not commit.

Then I found this amazing acid green yarn from Lion Brand and just bought one skein with a vague idea of making a scarf out of it.  It is too bright for anything big, I just wanted a little splash of that electric color for fall.  This bubble scarf was the perfect project so I gave it a go. The first couple of bubbles were tricky and I didn’t really understand the authors instructions on her type of increases and decreases ( I ended up just using my own tried and true method) , but once I got going it was fairly fast and easy. I actually like knitting on DPNs!

New Issue of Kiki

The fall issue of Kiki is out!  This is the second DIY project I have done for this great magazine. If you’re new to Kiki, this is a truely well done magazine for pre-teen and early teen girls that  comes out seasonally.  It focuses on style, individuality and substance.  I strongly believe that teaching girls to make things, and then their completing a project, gives them a feeling of pride and a sense of control over their own lives.

This latest project focused on recycling vintage clothes, this time menswear and t-shirts, into new garments.

New stuff for my Etsy shop

I have been cutting up old men’s wear and reusing it to make some fall scarves and other goodies.  Here’s a sneak peak of the scarves I finished today.  Look for them in the shop soon!

This Is What I Do For Fun Because I’m an Idiot

After months of collecting things, building things, tinkering with things…  I have finally added a few items to my Etsy store.  (cutandsewn dot etsy dot com)

Hat Sewing Today

Finished 2 more samples today for the prospective “hat making book”. I guess I have 7 finished patterns/samples now. I need to finish a few more samples, then I need to grade the patterns, take photos, write prospectus and send this thing out to publishers. Making these patterns has been so time consuming. Each pattern is drafted, tested in muslin, corrected, then tested in muslin AGAIN. After all of that I can make the sample from the final fabric while writing down every single step it takes to make the hat.

I am definitely feeling some relief at seeing the little collection of finished patterns and samples here.  Of course next is the tricky writing part.  Writing introductions and descriptions may take as long as the patterns took!

skully

I crocheted these little tiny skulls a year or so ago and I’m still trying to pin down what I want to do with them.  I would like to see them on a necklace but just haven’t come up with perfect method or materials.  Maybe a patchwork vintage chain. I need to figure out a way to stiffen them.  I am going to try the good old water and glue method which is why I wanted to photograph them before I ruin them!

Scrumble Me

I have been interested in trying some ‘Scrumbling’, or free form knitting and crochet, for some time but had not come up with a project that wouldn’t come out too artsy.  Recently I was inspired by my amazingly talented friend Milan ( I will try to add a link to her work)  to try this right on the knitting machine.  So I started with a small section of hand work, then cast this directly onto the machine and just knit a little bit and then turn it, fold it, add another color or what ever I feel like.  I also plan on adding some hand worked crochet.

When the piece gets larger I will start to drape it on the form to see what shape it takes.  My goal is a wearable sweater made from as few parts as possible. I love the holes and bits of yarn hanging everywhere, I hope I can find a way to incorporate these.

I needed some light weights that were easy to move around and fit into odd spots, after scrounging around the studio I came up with these.  I used some duct tape to attach large washers to clothes pins.  They aren’t pretty but they work very well.