When it rains, it pours!

As usual, I have more work than hours in the day.  I've had to put my condom couture dress aside to do some work for a paying client.  The fun part of being a freelance fashion designer and couture embroidery service is that every project is completely different from the last.  I get to learn something new.  The bad part of the job is that the distance between paying jobs can be a little longer than I'd like so I take jobs that can give me good contacts lead to future jobs or challenge me in a new way.  The "tools" above have been occupying my time lately.  It's a couture embroidery job for a mother of the bride dress.  It's really quite stunning but has been an astounding amount of work.  In the past week, I've probably had a grand total of 12 hours of sleep.  Yesterday, I was so exhausted that I managed to sleep through the incredible volume of the Blue Angels, flying over head while a crew ground up and repaved the road in front of my house!  I have about another week or so of this sheer exhaustion before I can finally get back to some semblance of sanity.

I've taken lots of pictures of my work and will post them after the wedding.  Meanwhile, I'm catching up on old movies (currently watching Breakfast at Tiffany's for the umpteenth time.  Wow she had the most amazing wardrobe of any movie I can remember) as I work.

Sexy Shoes!

I've been searching for shoes for an upcoming runway show for weeks now.  I needed evening sandals, but of course this is the wrong time of year for that.  I finally found these on sale at Bloomingdales!  Originally $250, these Badgley Mischka shoes were $80!  I'm only sad that they're not for me.  The heel is about 4 1/2 inches and the sole is very thin so all the weight goes on the front part of the ball of the foot, making for a very painful evening.  My model had them on for about five minutes (after drooling over them) and then decided she'd have to put them on just before she walked onto the runway.  Badgley Mischka's shoes are known to run small so I had ordered a half size larger for her.  When I got home, I decided to try them on even though I'm a size and a half smaller than the model.  They were only slightly large on me but I doubt that I could wear them for an entire evening.  I think I'll keep them for future runway shows or photo shoots though.  They're just about the sexiest shoes I've ever seen.  The picture doesn't really do them justice.

Condom Couture

I've been trying to finish up the toile for my evening gown for the Project Inform, Evening of Hope 2011 event.  The condoms are cut and painted and the toile is almost done.  The straps will be hand beaded (using the tambour technique of course).  The rest of the dress will be covered with these circles which were cut out of condoms.  It took me a while to figure out how to cut the condoms into shapes but I finally came up with a way to cut six or eight at a time, drastically speeding the process up.  After I cut them out, I used a watered down acrylic paint and a dry brush to just give a tiny hint of shine to the condoms.  The goal is to get lots of publicity for the dress when I send my model down the runway.

Midnight in Paris

Hubby and I just got back from the new Woody Allen movie, Midnight In Paris.  It's a really good movie with lots of laughs.  It's very clear what Woody Allen thinks of Tea Partiers, stupid Americans and pedants (don't worry that'll all make sense when you've seen the movie).

I absolutely loved the fashion in this movie and predict an Oscar nomination for the costume designer, Sonia Grande.  In particular, every one of Marion Cottillard's costumes were absolutely beautiful.   They were apparently sourced from antique shops all over the world to ensure the authenticity of the time period.  Hubby was grousing over Owen Wilson's apparent inability to tie his tie correctly.  It was always too short through the entire movie but I think is was appropriate for his rumpled novelist wannabe character.

Go see the movie, even if you're not a Woody Allen fan.  This is probably the least neurotic of his films.  He does follow his standard format of man caught between more than one woman, questioning his identity, wondering if something better is out there.  I was a little irritated that he still includes that stupid Hollywood rule that a woman who follows the same path must be punished because, well she's a woman and she should never be with more than one man.  That was really the only flaw I found with this movie.  Well, that and everyone's insistence on referring to "Adrianna", Marion Cotillard's character as a "costume designer" when she introduced herself to everyone as a student of fashion design.  There is a difference between costume and fashion design.  Sometimes the two mix but usually there are distinctly different ways these careers are practiced.

When I first saw this dress, I thought it was embroidered in thread and thought it was so cute.  It wasn't until a different camera angle caught a glint of light that I realized that the red embroidery is all beadwork.  Even more stunning.  It's so delicate and would be a perfect summer dress today!


I was so enamored of this gorgeous flapper dress.  The hair and makeup were perfect and the multi-directional beaded embroidery was just stunning from every angle of this dress.

I haven't been able to find a better front view of this dress (this picture just doesn't do it justice) but it was probably my favorite one of her costumes.  She wore it in the first scene she appeared in.  The butterfly at the neck is a sheer embroidered piece set into the dress in a reverse applique.  The simplicity of the single wide strip of beads (or sequins) down the center front and back and along the hem made what would have been a simple black dress, just stunning.  The more you look at the dress, the more you like it.

Condom Couture

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been busy working on a couple of projects.  One is a sweater which I'll post pics of in a couple of days.  The other is an evening gown for a fundraiser fashion show called Project Inform's, Evening of Hope.  I did this show last year and had a blast so I decided to create something even more challenging this year.

So far, I'm finishing up the muslin and have cut up the condoms and hand painted them (2000 condoms!). Next week, I plan to FINALLY start beading the straps and bodice.  Here's a sneak peak.

I cut up the condoms into three sizes of circles and then hand painted them with a sheer wash of watered down silver acrylic paint.  I also made a set of blue circles in three sizes.  These are all going to be used as giant sequins on my dress. Normally, I don't like a lot of sparkle but since this dress is for a runway show, it needs to be more dramatic.  

This is the dress I made last year.




I had a lot less time to work last year and was literally still hand sewing an hour before the dress hit the runway.  I learned several valuable lessons from that experience.  First, pull the all-nighters at least a week before the event so that you don't feel as stressed out the evening of the event.  Second, never assume that the photographs and written instructions you put together for hair and makeup will be followed by the stylists at the show.  I was furious when my instructions for dewey skin and smokey eyes were interpreted into a chalky, black-eyed model who somehow looked ten years older.  She's a gorgeous girl and we were both shocked when she came out of hair and makeup looking like Disco Barbie.  For all future runway presentations, I learned to make sure that I'm present during hair and makeup so that there are no mis-interpretations ; ).  Finally, in my stressed out frenzy to get out the door that night, I forgot my camera and had to rely on photos from my cell phone and the official photographs taken at the show.  The photographer managed to find all the least flattering angles for my model!  This year, I WILL bring my own camera and get good photos.

Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit

I'm not lucky enough to live anywhere near New York and unfortunately was unable to see the exhibit of Alexander McQueen's work at the Met.  Many of my friends have seen it and they've all raved about how amazing it was.  Not surprising.  Like many fashion designers, I consider McQueen to be one of the true geniuses of the fashion industry.  I was devastated when he died because I know there was so much amazing work still left in him.  He was one of the few designers who told a story with each collection.  You never knew what that story might be but you always knew it would be awe inspiring.  I loved the way he referenced historical techniques and tailoring but used them in a modern context.  If you were unable to get to New York, you may appreciate this brief tour of the exhibit narrated by Andrew Bolton.  Enjoy!

crocheted bobble stitch

I posted a video a couple of days ago about a knitwear designer who made a collection by hand using the crocheted bobble stitch.  I've just finished knitting a cardigan and had some leftover yarn.  It's such a beautiful color and yarn that I decided to use the leftovers to make myself a cowl scarf.  YouTube as always, was a great source and I found this  very clear and easy to follow demo of how to do the bobble stitch in crochet.  I have done plenty of bobbles in knitting but I find it a huge pain to knit bobbles because you have to keep turning your work back and forth as you work the bobble in rows of knit/purl/knit, etc. (because I never do just normal small bobbles, I have to make everything extra dramatic and big).  I will of course, have to put my own spin on this as I get more comfortable with the stitch and I'll post pictures of my work as I go along.  Enjoy.