Finally, the post about Secret Project no. 3

Dragon Wear
The third garment for the Fashion Sans Frontieres show at the Festival of Quilts was to be Wearable Art. As you might have guessed, I thought...Something a Dragon might wear!

When I was looking for lining for the other garments, I found this net which already would give the look I had thought I would need to do by machine.

I also had an old faded red velvet curtain that a friend had given me ages ago. I hadn't realised how faded and it was quite a puzzle to cut out a long skirt. But with the net over some of the sections where the fading could have been noticed, it was fine.

Next I used patterns from my machine to stitch a grid over the surface. The washed surface fabrics were stitched to unwashed loomstate calico. Then I washed it all and the resulting shrinking of the calico caused the puckering texture I wanted. This is my version of a technique from a Threads magazine a long time ago. I call it shrink texturing.

Fabric after being shrunk

I will pause to tell you another problem encountered...while sewing the patterns across the skirt, my machine began to get confused. In the middle of doing herringbone stitch it started doing serpentine! When I had given it a rest, it still was misbehaving. Even going straight it would suddenly reverse. So, it was time for a doctor. My dealer is very good and was able to replace the board which controls stitches and also the other main board on the warranty (which if taken by the letter of the law had expired last year...even though it is only 3 years old). However, I didn't get it back til the weekend before the show. I was able to use a Pfaff 7570 that my friend has loaned me for a backup machine. So, I did all the rest of the work on the garments with it.

The skirt

and back to the Dragon Wear gown. I had red satin to use for the bodice. It was a more orange red while the curtain velvet for the skirt was a more blue red. But with the net over it, the difference wasn't so clashing. I also fused net to red synthetic organza using black Misty Fuse. I made wing like shapes which I attached in various places on the bodice and skirt.
Bodice front

bodice back

Close up of the details on the garment.

I was going to do a cape, but ran out of time in the end.
But here is the Dragon Wear outfit on display

Secret Project no. 2 - Small Talk

Here is a bit about the design process for the Evening Wear category.

I think I mentioned previously how successful the dyed silk twill turned out. The next step was to create the appliques I wanted to add. I decided to use fused paper. I had rescued a French/Japanese dictionary and also had a few pages of a French/English dictionary. I thought this would make a fun connection with the Fashion Sans Frontieres aspect of the show. But also, in the story (most of my pieces start with a story or senario, this helps me to have direction in the choices for the design.) I imagined standing around at an evening event making small talk and someone would notice 1-that your flowers on your gown were actually made of paper, and 2 - that it had words on it. This, in theory, would lead to more interesting conversations than usually develop in those situations.

So, to make the papers the colour I had decided would go with the blue.

I used the inside of the small 'shed' for spraying the pages.

Papers sprayed

Papers pinned to ivy leaves to dry while I sprayed more!

Oh but a breeze comes up.

never mind, I have other interesting papers for some future use.

Dried collected papers

torn up in pieces so as to get a random scattering of the variations on the paper.

arranged on a layer of Misty Fuse, then fused to silk organza for strength for stitching, then a layer of Misty Fuse on top to keep all the overlapping edges down. It does not remain sticky as it is not actually a glue adhesive. It will help the paper to wear better. (I do not plan to wash this, only wipe with a damp cloth. I do plan to do more experiments about what type of seal can be done to make paper on a garment hold up to a hand wash though!)

Tracing and cutting loads of petals and then positioning them on the skirt and bodice.

The skirt had been underlined with dress tulle. This has served well to keep it from creasing during transport and then subsequently during storage in the wardrobe.

one of the smaller flowers

one of the medium flowers

one of the large flowers. Each type had a slightly different arrangement depending how much space there was around the centre of the flowers.

Here is the full circle skirt

and here is the bodice

As I worked with the flowers, I realised the colour would be picked up very well with the addition of a plummy brown silk organza. I had purchased this fabric when I did the first Bernina garment. The swatch looked like it matched. The fabric did not when it came. So, it had been living in the cupboard all this time! Just right.
I made tubes of the fabric and gathered them and then caught it down onto the top of the bodice and the straps.

And then with the rest I made a sort of stole/shrug with cuffs of the blue at the ends.

and there you are! Secret Project no. 2.
Here is the blurb for it.

Evening Wear – ‘Small Talk’ - bodice and full circle skirt of cornflower blue silk twill with stitched blossoms of fused painted paper from foreign language dictionaries, and a stole to pick up the colours of the blossoms.

Secret Project no. 1 - Spring Showers

I showed a glimpse of Secret Project no.1 with me on the catwalk.
Here are a few photos of trying to make it and then on display at the show.

options for embellishing the hem.

I liked that, but wanted the flowers spread along the front and back. I also had to consider how to support the springs.

So, by arranging them on the turned to the front facing, I had more support than on the body of the dress.

final results - bunched so you can see the ones on either side seam

and the neckline to draw the whole piece together

Attempts to sew the shower curtain for seams for the raincoat.
Paperclip the seams? No, they just popped off

Bulldog clips worked best in the end. just remove them as they get to the sewing machine bed.

The finished raincoat

How it fastens - I had these 'aiglets' or points from ages ago when I was doing historical costumes. They are the sort of thing used to tie portions of garments together, like holding men's 'hose' up. But they work well to fit through the holes from the portion for hanging the shower curtain. I sewed it along the front, as cuffs and on the flap of the bag.

The finished dress

I had enough time before the show to make a bag to hold the raincoat...and then of course, there was the hat!

I didn't have enough time to 'make' a hat from scratch. So, I covered a felt hat with fabric from the dress. At that point (the monday before the show) I was working right out straight, so didn't get in progress photos.

I had no idea how I was going to hold the shower hose on without lots of ugly stitching, but then I realise that the decorative springs are 'springy'. Duh. So, I used the last 3 in that colour to hold it down.

Here is the blurb I sent about the garment. When you are up there you don't hear a word of what they are saying, so I am not sure just what they read out.

Daywear - ‘Spring Showers’ - turquoise and fuchsia dress embellished with spring flowers made of actual springs,  accessorised by a bag containing a raincoat made from a shower curtain and a hat adorned with a spring-look shower hose.

Shapeless on a hanger photo.

TV offcuts June meeting

some of the busy things which happened on the last Saturday in June
sorry some are a bit fuzzy

Anne K - upcycling a plain gown

Claire - pjs

Elaine - patchwork

Gill C - sun hat prototype

Gill G - puzzling over her pattern making

but time for a grin

Juliette - mending

Lyn - working with a knit

Mavis - all hand sewn and quilted!

Sheila - making fabric flowers

result

how-to kit

et moi with the raincoat from Secret Project no. 1 - made from a shower curtain

photo Lyn Duffus

Here I am again!

Well, the blip of not posting was rather too long I think! It wasn't that I hadn't anything to post, but all the extra time I had was taken up with sewing, making, thinking about the garments for the Fashion Sans Frontieres show at the Festival of Quilts. If you hadn't worked it out, that was what Secret Project 1, 2 and 3 were about. I am waiting for some official photos, although I do have a few that my DH took. over 100 to be honest! (yes! He actually went to see the show!)

Spring Showers

Small Talk

Dragon Wear

In the meanwhile, I have ...
- photos from 2 of the TVOffcuts sewing meetings - June and July.
- a few in progress photos of the garments being made.
-photos of events at Reading Arts week. I demoed at the Big Art Picnic again.
- photos of the work done by C+G students and displayed for the External Verifier near the beginning of July.
- photos of the Fashion show put on by all the students/tutors in the Fashion department
- photos of a few different places we have been through the summer with a Dutch student who was staying here, such as Art in Action
and then last week going to see THE Wedding Dress at Buckingham Palace.

I think I will make a few posts about the various things as I get the photos sorted, just for my own record as much as anything. And now that I have had a little break last week from sewing (reading; tidying the studio so I can find things!) and our student has gone home, I can start back in with photos of what I am currently doing. I want to play around with a few ideas for "just because" before I get back into preparing for college.