The Fashion Show

I watched The Fashion Show again last week. The challenge was to make a femme fatale outfit. I was a bit sad because sewing something mysterious and seductive is out of the question! My beautiful models are only 3 and 5 years old! I really wanted a sewing challenge so I decided to get as close to the challenge as I could. They used some 1940's clothing for part of the inspiration so I decided to sew a 1940's outfit. The only problem with that is I knew NOTHING about 40's clothing. I haven't watched a 1940's movie in a very long time (I find it hard to watch any movies with 3 young children at home). I wasted most of my weekend looking up 1940's clothes on the web. After 2 days of looking I finally found something I liked.
I thought this would be a good choice. Knee length dress, flared 6 gore skirt, large pockets, belted waist, square neck, with a matching bolero jacket.

I stayed up until 4AM Sunday night (Monday morning) to finish this...

Seriously is this super cute or is it just me??? I know it is the model that makes the dress look nice. I think all 3 year old children are so cute nobody ever notices the clothes or the stitches. It is very cold here in NE PA so I put thick red tights and fur boots with it and I love the way they look with the dress. The jacket is reversible.

I think this dress style is timeless. I doubt anyone will ever see it and think that's a 1940's outfit.



I might have to add a tie to the front of the jacket. She is very active so it might not stay on her without a tie in the front. In picture above the wind blew the one side open. I am thinking about changing the jacket to have that fold up V cuff. I wasn't crazy about the cuff but my hubby finds it interesting so I might work on that later this week. I have to take out the seam at the bottom of the pockets. I rushed them at 4 AM so I could get to bed. I want to hand stitch them so they are invisible. I will do that while watching TV tonight.
Above is a picture of the dress without a jacket. It was windy and cold so we hurried. I wish I would have taken a few more pictures.

Side picture.

And the back. I am so happy with how this turned out. I made it with some cheep fabric from Walmart (I think I bought it last year). Demi wants a dress just like it. I will have to use another print because I don't have anymore of this fabric left.

Looking back I don't think I really wasted my weekend. I think I learned a lot. I knew nothing about 40's fashions and now I have TONS of ideas for future outfits... Wartime gray shirt dresses, tailored skirts, tailored jackets, wool coats with fur trim, cute swim suit ideas, and oodles of hats. I doubt I will ever search for 40's stuff again but I think I stored a lot ideas in my head to use later on.

Now the sad news... The dress is soaking right now because Zee dripped ketchup down the front at lunch time today. It is just a play dress but I hope the ketchup comes out.

The fashion show

I LOVE Project Runway and I am so sad the season is over. Last Tues. I found a show called The Fashion Show. I was so excited to find another TV show about sewing/fashion. Last weeks challenge was the human body. It was kind of gross looking at the inside of a human body! After the show was over I started thinking how I could take on the challenge at home. The loosing team all used red for a fabric color and they all put pleats on the outfits. I already had some red corduroy material on my work table to make Thanksgiving outfits for the girls. I figured I could use that red fabric and not have to drive to the fabric store with my 3 children (if I went shopping for fabrics I would have tried to make something to go along with the winning team). I knew working with red corduroy fabric, a 5 year old model, and the inside of a human body for inspiration wasn't going to give me a high fashion runway look. I went ahead with taking on the challenge myself because I thought it would be a good way to get an outfit done before Thanksgiving morning (past years I was sewing Thanksgiving morning trying to finish up). Here is my outfit (It isn't my favorite dress but I am happy it's done).

It is a very dark rainy day her in Pa so please forgive the bad photos. I hope to snap some pictures of my daughter wearing it on Thanksgiving.

Before starting this project I thought about so many types of pleating. My first choice was lattice smocking but I didn't think that would look nice on corduroy so I decided to honeycomb smock it. I hand smocked the fabric first and then drafted and cut a pattern out around the smocking. I found that part a bit of a challenge. Trying to line up the pleats and my pattern measurements drove me crazy and took a lot longer than it should have. The dress was very easy to sew up (I know because I sewed this dress twice). It is not high fashion runway but I think it has an heirloom look and the one time of year the heirloom look can work is the holiday season (it's when you get together with all the older members of your family and share fond memories from long ago). I give myself points for doing all the hand work and teaching myself how to cut a pattern out around a pile of pleats. Mike quit the show last week and nobody was voted off so I feel that my made at home look is "good enough" for my weekly sewing challenge. I have to admit if I took this challenge today I would have made the outfit more "runway" looking. I would have gone for a child couture look (but that would have involved a trip to the fabric store for a bit of fabric to add to the corduroy fabric).

Here is the Big NO NO part of my projectWhat do you think Isaac Mizrahi would say about the tiny threads all over the back AND what about that green zipper? I picture Isaac might say what were you thinking? Did you think red corduroy with a green zipper would give it some kind of festive holiday look? Maybe he wouldn't have. I have noticed a LOT of puckered seams and pins in clothes on fashion shows without the judges saying a word. I need to let everyone know the green zipper is not going to stay. I didn't have a matching zipper so I used one I had on hand to work out the fitting on the dress. I will get a new zipper today and I will clean up all the loose threads.

I think a new episode is on tonight (I am very excited). I am thrilled knowing my 5 year old has a finished dress to wear on Thanksgiving! Thanks Fashion Show TV program for giving me a reason to finish a dress a few days early. I need to get off the computer because I still have that pile of projects out that I need to finish up this week. Please forgive the poor writing. I am fighting off a head cold so I am having a hard time keeping my thoughts in order.