Intro to Fashion Design: Class Final

Photography:  Esther Boller (myself).

Model: Carly Starnes

I had my first fashion class during my spring quarter at school, and the class was Intro to Fashion Design.  For our final project we had to design and make a garment inspired by an abstract painting.  The goal was to create a garment that reflected the shape, color percentage, and overall mood of the painting that we chose.  I chose the below painting by Clive Watts.

 Once we had decided on a painting we had to draw 10 croquis designs of the front, side, and back view.  We were encouraged to think and draw like a sculptural artist, because our professor wanted the class to think about volume and each angel of the design.  We were given the option to make our garment out of non-conventional materials, but after going through the whole school year without any sewing assignments I was longing to get back on a sewing machine so I chose to work with fabric.

Once my design and materials were chosen, I started the construction.   This was the hardest part of the project, because I had never sewn anything like this before.  Drafting this garment took quite a bit of problem solving.  At first it was going to be one dress, but after thinking about how I was going to line it, I decided that it would be easier to make it into two separate pieces.  So it became a skirt and a blouse which made drafting a lot simpler!

In my class for The Sewing Party I will be teaching how to draft and sew these circular panels.  If it's something that you'd like to learn you can sign up here!

To get the volume that I needed in the circular panels of the skirt, I used a really cool material called Pellon!   It's basically an incredibly stiff iron-on-interfacing.   It keeps its shape so well, and was exactly what I needed to create the volume of the circular panels in the skirt.

The last part of our project was to do a photo shoot of someone wearing our garment to add to our portfolio book.  I took these photos and my lovely friend Carly modeled for me.  Overall this was such a refreshing and fun project for me!  I'm not sure how many hours went into this project from start to finish, but I basically lived in the Fashion Building for the last two-three weeks of school. 

I have about another week before my sophomore year starts.  I'll be taking Apparel 1, Fashion Sketching, and Art History 2.  The Apparel class will be my first sewing class so I'm really looking forward to this upcoming quarter!  I'll try to keep up with sharing my projects with you as they're assigned to me.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Exploring: Crestwoods Frame Shop and Gallery

All photographs are self portraits taken by myself.

One of my favorite spots to explore is Crestwoods Frame Shop and Gallery which is located near my home town in Indiana.  It's such a cool space!  It's one big open room with a wall dividing it down the center.  On one side is a gallery and there are new artists showing every month.  On the other side is their frame shop.  

I've always enjoyed looking at frames, because it reminds me of when I was little and I would run errands to various frame shops with my mom when she would go to get her work framed.  I came here a to check out the gallery a few days before I left for school, and I was reminded of what wonderful natural light this space has! My inner photographer loved the light so I asked to do a photo shoot, which Ann, the owner was so sweet to let me do.  

This mixed media artist, Larry Agnello, was my favorite showing in the gallery this past month.  His work is really playful and fun!  Looking at his work, brings me back to my steam punk obsession days in middle school when that was all I looked at.  Here's a link to his showcase if you'd like to check out more of his work!

Outfit: 

Top:  JollyChic

Skirt:  Style Moi

Shoes: JC Pennies

My sketchbook journal
 

My next post is going to be my final project for my fashion class with past year!  I'm so excited to finally share it with you!

Summer Sewing: Painted Circle Skirt

All photographs are self portraits taken by myself.

I designed and made my skirt as a part of my final project for my first fashion class this year at school.  The class was Intro to Fashion Design and for our final we had to design and create a full garment that was inspired by an abstract painting.   I chose this painting by Clive Watts:

I loved all of the circular movement in the painting so I tried to mimic the shape of the swirls in the actual sewing of the design.  My design has five circular panels that were drafted and sewn as a part of the design.  I will actually be teaching this technique during my class at The Sewing Party in November if you'd like to make a skirt like this yourself!  I hope that you'll join, it's going to be a lot of fun!  After my pieces were cut out I took watered down white acrylic gauche and painted the swirls into the fabric.

The actual design that I made is very stiff because I fused a heavy interfacing to the fabric.  At first I was going to sew an organza overlay ontop of the interfacing fabric, but during the painting portion the grain line of the organza became warped and did not match up correctly.  I decided that I would be much happier if I left the overlay out, because it wouldn't have looked as polished if I had included it. Instead I kept the overlay piece that I sewed and turned it into a separate skirt that I'm wearing here!

 

 

Outfit:  

Sunglasses:  ZeroUV These make me feel like I've been transported to the 50s - so much fun!
Top: Goodwill
Skirt:  Esther Boller - myself

Handbag:  Style Moi
Shoes:  Target, clearance section

I will be posting my actual final project not long from now!  I just have a few more photos to edit and then I'll be able to share more in full detail.  Until then, here's a sneak peek of what it looks like!

^I also have a few process photos on my Instagram account here!

Lightning Bugs

 Lightning bugs are one of my favorite parts about living in the country during the summer.  They always remind me of childhood and running out barefoot with old Mason jars and trying to catch as many flickering lights as possible.  Of course, once they were brought inside the magic somehow disappeared.  The 20 glowing lights, became 20 gross bugs crawling everywhere and it wasn't quite the same.  But somehow the memory of the time catching them became even more special. 

What's one of your favorite magical parts about summer evenings?

Summer Sewing: DIY Scarf Skirt and Afternoon Reading

All photographs are self portraits taken by myself.

Indiana summer days are perfect for outside reading.  Being home has given me the time to catch up on all of the reading that I have missed out on this past year.  One of my favorite books that I've been flipping back to for inspiration this summer is Fashion Illustrations by Fashion Designers.  It's a collection of fashion sketches by different designers, and it's so cool to view all the different styles of drawing.  I might scan a few of my favorite pages and share them in a later post if I have the time!

Outfit:

Scarf Skirt:  DIY Esther Boller

Swimsuit:  Style Moi (I adore this swimsuit, but it comes a tad small.  I would recommend the next size up if you see one you like!)

Sunglasses:  ZeroUV 

Belt:  Thrifted

Shoes:  Aldo

I made the skirt that I'm wearing out of a scarf that I found in the dollar bin at Goodwill.  Scarf skirts are so inexpensive and easy to make!  First you'll need a scarf that's big enough, or you can even merge two scarves together instead.  Next sew the scarf together so it's one tube piece.   From there all you have to do shirr around the end that you want your waistband to be.  

If you're not sure what shirring is, here's a great simple tutorial on shirring and I learned so much for them when I first started sewing. 

After you've made the amount of shirr lines that you like - tada!  You have yourself a fun, colorful skirt to wear out and it only takes around 30minutes to make! 

If you make a skirt let me know, I'd love to see it!  Also, thank you to everyone who shared a bit of their moving out experience with me in my previous post.  I loved reading about everyone's different experiences! 

Photography: Pow Pow!

 All photos are self portraits taken by myself.

It's been really enjoyable to have the summer to expand and explore with photography.  Because my major is fashion design, during the school year most of my time goes into design projects, and I don't have a lot of time for photography.  It's been so much fun for me to enjoy the summer and have the freedom to still explore and play with photography.  I've been experimenting even more with this ink-splatter technique, which I like the way that it adds a different texture to photographs.

Outfit

Green jumpsuit (stellar jumpsuit, feel in love at first sight) - Sheinside

Jewelry - Forever21

I have about a week in Indiana left before I head back down to Savannah for the new school year.  Right now it looks like this is going to be my last full summer home, which is so strange to think about.  My next summer I'd like to start the internship/apprenticeship process, and I'm not sure what city that will lead me to.  I've started packing my room up with only the necessities, and throwing everything else out so that my family can turn my room into something useful for them.  I don't know where I'll be next summer, which is exciting, but nostalgic at the same time.

What was your moving-out experience like?  Were you happy, sad, nostalgic?  Tell me what this stage of life was like for you!  And if you haven't gone through it yet - what do you think it'll be like?