A Mid Starry Night

All photographs are self portraits taken by myself using a tripod and self timer.

Clothing design + styling:  Esther Boller

From my past few previous posts, you've probably noticed that I have a thing for the Shakespeare play, A MidSummer Nights Dream.  It's pure magic!  I watched it for the first time this past summer and became completely enchanted by the story.   Although, I mostly fell in love with the whimsical and gorgeous costumes and set design.  I went on a Midsummer Night's kick and watched every movie variation that I could find.  I saw the 1935s film which is by far one of my favorite versions.  I've included a few screen shots below that are just too beautiful not to share.  

That film was the inspiration for this photo shoot.  This entire shoot was about recreating a bit of the magic that I felt while watching this movie.  I made everything that I'm wearing.  The beaded blouse is made from an old beaded skirt that I bought at Goodwill on 50% off day.  I cut a wrap design from it then hand sewed the pieces together and finished off the edges by hand sewing silk bias tape. 

The headband is also made from the same Goodwill skirt that was used to make the bodice.  I cut around the floral beaded design and then ironed on a heavy interfacing to make it stable and stiff.  I later glued the pieces together to a piece of ribbon.  In an upcoming post I'll be sharing a tutorial showing how to make the headband that I wore in this shoot.  This one is pretty over the top, but I'll show a more wearable variation.  

Making this skirt was a lot of fun!  I made it over the summer as a fun side project that I could pick up and hand sew whenever I had down time from working.  Each petal was hand cut to the shape of a flower petal.  Once shaped, I took a lighter around the edges to melt the sides so that it wouldn't fray.  This was before I found out about laser cutting (which I talked about in my previous post).  Then, one by one, I hand stitched each petal to the skirt making a petal gradient.  

It's currently the last week of finals, and I'm very excited to share what I'm making!   The final is one look that includes a jacket, trousers, and a knit top.  Below is a preview photo of my jacket that I posted on instagram.

I also still have a lot of projects from the summer to share with you (I have over 64 GB worth of unedited photos from the summer still - Oops.)  I'm hoping to catch up and share more of the summer projects over spring break next week.

Thanks for keeping up with my work!