Dress Stress ">_<"

So I've started sewing a wedding dress for November. Working on the bodice at the present. It's all going well so far. Although at every new step I stress that somehow I will screw up without even knowing, and then I will go to fit it to her, and it suddenly won't fit anymore.....STRESSFUL



This is what hard work looks like....I swear

I guess I have to just build up some confidence and tell myself that I've done enough toiles and fittings that nothing (or only a tiny bit) can go wrong!



Coutil layer of corsetted bodice:
Boning, good... No Boning, badddddd
Need to add more anyway

The thing that I'm actually thinking a lot about is MY dress. I finally have a chance to make myself a beautiful garment, to wear to a botanical garden wedding! Could I be any more excited?
The problem is though.....what do I make? I mean, how often does a 21yr old do I get to wear a truly gorgeous dress? Never, pretty much. And I already have a few at home which have never seen the light of day.

I want to make something a bit more elegant and feminine than my normal style. Most dresses I make have full skirts that I guess are quite girly, but I think I want to go for a more draped elegant style.
But now the problem is what style and pattern? Well making one that is, because I really don't think I can be bothered buying patterns anymore and then fitting them to myself.
But what design? What features? What colour? What fabric?

I'm finding this dilemma very comparable to say, eating out somewhere expensive? As with someone my age, how often do I get to eat out and dine on something truly delectable? Close to never, as I am yet to find a gentleman with enough schmooze and cash to do so.

So of course, being a rarity, I don't want to go and sit down and order something sub-par, or something that doesn't fill my every fine dining desire. Normally I sit there for a very long time, seriously stressing thinking, 'What if I order the wrong thing?'
It has happened a few times when I used to go out with my boyfriend, and he would somehow always order the better dish, and I'd always be punching myself on the inside, thinking 'WHY, OH WHY DID I MAKE THE WRONG DECISION! WHEN WILL I EVER EAT LIKE THIS AGAIN?!' *Sigh* 


I want it to look elegant, but not overly simplistic, I want to be able to use a technique I've never gotten to use before, I want to make it out of a gorgeous fabric, and I want to be able to stand there and get to say 'Why yes, I did make Samantha's Wedding dress. Oh! And I also made my own.' Mwahahaha ^__^




I figured these Melissa's I already have will be perfect to wear to an outdoor garden wedding! No heal sinking issues, and no issues with them getting dirty! Win!

Essentially I'll be a walking advertisement for my work, and seeing as it will be a first, I don't want to get anything wrong.

 

There are a couple of dress's I've found online by some lovely sewers that have caught my eye.



The main on being 'The Dress' made by madalynne who has a very wonderful blog, and probably has my dream job! Her dress was based on this BHLDN gown. Seriously have a look through their website, some quite incredible dresses.

The Dress - madalynne

This colour combo looks great on us 'fair' types. I generally cant wear black because it's just far to harsh on me with my light hair as well.

After a lot of thinking, this is the dress design IIthink I'm going to go with, and a similar colour scheme. She choose great colours to match her (and my) fair complextion. I even went through a huge swatch card of colours, and I still came out with almost the same picks!

madalynne was even nice enough to send me through an email with some specs on how she made this lovely dress, and said that I could post her beautiful photo's on my blog ^__^

All I did was post a comment and she sent me an email directly!

 

Similarly she made this dress to attend a friends wedding.

I'm so glad I got into this blogging business, otherwise who knows if I would have come across her amazing blog! She has a huge catalogue of pattern making information with a lot of tips that you would probably never find anywhere else. Guess that's the advantage of being a technical designer, you know all the insiders tricks ;-)

 

 The Dress - madalynne

Below are some other designs that deserve a particular mention, as both have had some cconsiderable though put towards them.

So Sew Lovely posted her flip turn dress based on the pattern magic book about two weeks ago. She really gave life to this dress. I wasn't overly drawn the pattern by the pictures in Pattern Magic, so it's great to see it made up so wonderfully! Its a very versatille dress pattern now that I see it, and I think it could be done up really chic in a medium weight silk. I'd probably add a bit more fullness to the 'flip' area, so a few more folds fell through, and then maybe some length to the end that comes through.





Pattern Magic Flip turn Dress

Lastly, found this is a magazine a fair while back and really liked some of the feature's. Others are not quite to my taste, but essentially from the waist down, pretty stunning, reminds me of the shape dresses from the early 1900's created.

I really like the pleated zig zag feature, It would be a lot of work to get it right, but its gorgeous and screams couture!

I'm thinking I'll treat myself to some (very well researched and priced) 4 ply silk.



Two colours I think Ill use. Probably more the second, with highlights or accents of the first to match my shoes. However this fabric is $60 per YARD! Eeep! and without postage You can see above that I love the colour combination madalynne has used!

I've found another website which sells 4 ply silk for $35 per meter, but the colours aren't as nice from what I can tell, because it's a bit of a dodgy picture of a sample card! Oh oh wait I just found on Mood fabric it is $40 per yard and has a great colour range! ^__^ YAY....too bad they don't have an international postage option on their page!

Although I am very in love with the grey/purple above, I can't go anything more purple or lighter than that, as the bridesmaids are wearing lavender, and I don't want to come off as a bridesmaid wanna be! Oh gosh :/

Please leave your opinions/thoughts/ideas! I'd love to hear them! Or if you know a good fabric store on line for buying some beautiful 4 ply silk, hit us up!!

Also, just a general thing.....does anyone else find formatting their blog posts an absolutely b***!!?!?! Or maybe it's just the computers I use.... Also, anyone find it funny that in spell check, 'Blog' isn't considered a word....? hehe



An inspiring workplace

Laura Laine for  MUSE MAGAZINE

There are pro's and con's to the job I currently have. The con's being that I don't really find it interesting at all, that I'm pretty much constantly bored, even when i'm busy because all the work is just so dull, and worst of all, when I have clients in, it can actually be ridiculously stressful. Oh and the fact that there is never a thank you or any recognition because I sit alone all day and know one has any idea of what I do.

BUT. The upside. When there isn't anything to do. I can get a lot of personal stuff done....but you didn't hear this from me....

Examples of productive personal things I've accomplished:

- Printing and reading pretty much all of Suan Khalje's Bridal Couture and my order of assembly for my current wedding dress project

- Beading lace for one of my millinery projects

- Completeing units for my Advanced Diploma of Management

-Loads of online shopping.... *oops*

But the best bit is......drum roll please....

 

Blogging and reading blogs!!!

(=^-ω-^=)

  

Next week however I will be moving into the 'reworked' role of mine, which means I will be moving out of my iscolated office (yay) and moving to reception where I probably won't ever be able to cruise the interwebz (boo)

 

So I thought I would just share something I stumbled upon this morning, as I might not get many other chances to do so!

 

Laura Laine is a Helsinki based illustrator.

She has studied fashion design at University of Art and Design Helsinki, but during her studies focused on fashion illustration. After completing her studies she has been working full-time as a freelance illustrator and is also teaching fashion illustration at the university.

          

Her recent clients include Vogue Nippon, GAP, I.T. store, Elle, Zara, Telegraph, Rad Hourani, The New York Times T magazine, Tommy Hilfiger, Muse magazine, The Guardian, I.T. Post magazine, Iben Hoej, and Daniel Palillo. She has also exhibited in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

 

 

KITSUNE NOIR

  

WTF MAGAZINE

HIDE&CHIC

WUNDER 2 

 

 MELBOURNE’S GPO

 

I would seriously consider all of these for tattoos if I was ever game enough to really get one.

I especially enjoy the hair and all the individually drawn strands of hair. I'm pretty much a sucker for any well drawn girlies wearing pretty clothing in a whimsical style, but the attention to detail and the contrast Laura uses is pretty incredible. Oh the great things I find while im at work!

Also, id say that one of my favorite mediums is  monochromatic pen and pencil, so really her work just hits the spot for me.

How did I miss this amazing installation in Melbournes GPO??

Oh right....that's because I don't live there :(

 

  

On a completely related note. How can postage for one book cost $41.00 on Amazon? Whatever I'll just buy it from bookdepositry mwahahah

 



Super Saturday (=^-ω-^=) this is super long...

Last Saturday was SUPER! Hope yours was just as grand!

Started off heading to the GAD for a talk on sustainable fashion at 'Fashionably Early'

 

'Fashionably Early Designing Australian Fashion Futures brings together educators, graduates and students from six design schools, in a vibrant discussion about the challenges that will inspire the next generation of Australian fashion designers. The exhibition presents two design briefs that look beyond the fashion image: A Fashion System for Tomorrow and Consider What You Wear'

 

Below are some pics from the exhibition. There were two sections, 'A Fashion System For Tomorrow', and 'Consider What You Wear'. The first being all about graduates exploring different ways in which we may approach sustainable fashion in the furture, putting forward ideas and concepts (some quite resolved, some not so much) which challange our thinking and what the future of fashion holds. 

 A common theme was 'zero waste' and the picture below shows my favorite of the lot. Lauren Boyle used a really interesting method of pattern making which looked incredible in her lay (shown in the picture below). There was a huge number of pieces, put into what she called a 'Couture Men's Jacket to Fit most sizes'.

It wasquite amazing. Zippers along the shoulders adjusted the shoulder width, and the rest of the jacket had a great drape and tailoring techniques which all worked together in contrast brilliantly. 

When asked about the pattern making, she breifly responded that she used a basic jacket block and created shapes and lines which naturally drew off the blocks lines to create the rest of the pattern. I'm sure there was a lot more too it, and I would have really enjoyed listening! 

Lauren mainly does men's wear, but said she usually doesn't work in this method, and probably wouldn't again. I found this somewhat disappointing, as I looked at the pattern she used and was in total and complete awe of it all!

 Some of the others.....

Consider what you wear.....

 

It was very interactive, with half the gallery being dedicated to 'Consider what you wear' where you could try things on and play with them in many different ways.

Canberra looked beautiful by the lake....too bad it was so windy walking back to my car the froth on my coffe blew off and into my hair/face/jacket. Humf

Next I headed over to another gallery space....but on the way I went past an op shop.....and couldn't help but stop and pop in. Below are pictures of all the amazing things I scored there, and at another one. all for a totaly of under $50 bucks!

Coat $10, Sweet as framed ship print $4, blue suit jacket $10

Ponte type fabric dress with sweetheard panelling and belt $7

Vintage Laura Ashley dress $12

Some 18th kinda fabric $2

NEXT!!!!!!

I finally got around to going to....

 Needless to say, I had the best time rocking out on my own checking out figurines and reading about japanese Otaku history

'Whether you are a dedicated fan, a curious visitor, or just in for a nostalgic journey, Japan: Kingdom of Characters will take you through Japan’s most popular characters that have triggered worldwide crazes from the 1950s to the present. On tour from Japan is a decade-by-decade showcase of manga (comic) and anime (animation) characters, popular in Japan and an integral part of daily life for adults and children. The exhibition, which includes life sized figures and anime footage, aims to introduce the world of characters from manga and anime in a broader sense and examine their impact on society'

Old man with pokemon mug ^_^

Picture with the caption below, finally someone understands me

Bunny Girl Vol 7 by Bome -I plan on buying her next pay.  I have a few of his others ^_^

I uploaded this onto facebook and I think alot of people genuinely think it is my bed room :/

 

Thanks if you read this haha. Epicly long, but I just had to share the amazing day I had....

Phosphorescence

Christine Atkins, Refraction IV, 2012, Glass LED and tint, variable dimensions, photographed by Greg Piper

'The interaction between light, glass and water is the basis for much of Atkins’ exploratory work. She is interested in highlighting the phenomena created during the interactions between these materials while echoing phenomena found in nature. Her work is created from the interplay of her chosen materials and ideas.'



Image taken from front on

On the weekend, when I went to see the 'Japan:Kingdom of Characters' Exhibition, I also stumbled across another amazing installation piece.
In a small room, coming off the main exhibition room, was an installation piece by Christine Atkins

As I walked into a black room, all I could see glass rectangles floating in the middle of the room. At first I thought these were projected images, and I stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out where they were being projected from. The images were slowly swaying independently from each other.



Side on image

As I kept walking in a got closer, I realised that these images were not being projected, once you looked at the installation from a side on view, you could see that there were a cluster of many different glass bubbles, being suspended by strange, with tiny light fixtures shining through them.

It was a truly amazing atmosphere it created, incredibly relaxing and beautiful, very much unlike anything else I had ever seen or experience.

Image of an individual glass ball and attached yellowish light.

I'd say installation art has always been a style I always enjoy the most. I love being able to interact with a piece, and see if from many dimensions. I like being able to touch and further investigate. And what I liked the most about this one was, that it tricked me into thinking it was something else. Purely just because I had never experienced anything quite like it.

It was a unique experience, made all the better by the fact that it was something that I unintentionally stumbled upon. The shadows it projected, as well as the movement and the contrast between dark and light all interacted wonderfully and created were truly an experience like no other.

I would have loved to take this whole room home and just have a sweet black room lie around in, it would be so calming and tranquil.

In Photos: My Second Week as a Blogger

So, it's come to a close....my second week as a real life (or perhaps a real online) blogger. And boy, has it been a busy one! And in fact Ive been so busy (minus the time I've taken to upload posts at work....*hum*)

So here's a summary of my exciting week (mainly) in pictures!

Completly covered in ice all over my face :/!

I went on a Hyatt Social Club Ski trip on Monday to Perisher. Second time skiing, I think I did a very good job considering! I wore my mums bright red skiing jumpsuit which she took over to the Calgary 1988 Winter olympics. So it has all these olympics patches. People seem to think I'm good because of it....haha


Millinery - Thursday Night - Hat made by my teacher by blocking foundation and draping fabric

$5 dinner

Been eating way too many of these melts.....and I think I'll be eating a lot more $5 Margarita pizza's from Dominos, as my parents have gone away for a month to South America

The mound she was sewing behind

One of Canberra's Theatre companys is putting on a production of Hairspray, and I went over to the costume ladies place to help her out a bit. This is her workshop! She say's its only this crazy during big shows. When I first walked up I couldn't tell she was in there because her machine is behind the huge mound....

Hand sewn button holes

I've been doing a series of 17th century workshops, I started my stay last weekend and am still working on it. I've been mainly hand sewing the lacing holes throughout the week while watching films.

My very time consuming hand sewn button holes. Blergh!

Someone bought a camera to soccer this weekend. We lost, we are now the bottom of the ladder.

soccer is hard work

half time

thats me!

 
Someone lovely sent me flowers at work. No one's ever done that before! It was a pleasant surprise!

They are looking even moe lovely now that they've bloome


I've enjoyed the blogging experience so far, it's good to have some place to share things with, even if not that many people read it, it's still a great outlet that makes you feel like communicating your ideas/thoughts with someone/something.

I haven't gotten over being camera shy about photographing everything I find interesting yet....and I don't like saying, 'Oh, you know, I'm just taking photo's so I can upload them onto my ultra super cool and hip blog...'

Anywho, it's been a good week and a bit

Peace out
(ケ¬◟¬)ケ