First Commission!

I'm very excited that I've received my first commission for Marlena! I was contacted by an old friend to construct a beautiful wedding pajama set. The couple is going for a non-traditional pajama themed wedding. The underdress will be a princess seamed slip dress with a sheer overlay that is longer. The color story will be ivory and pink.

Here's her inspiration pics:

Under dress

Over dress

 

Corsetry Part 2

I'm finally finished with my first corset! Truly a labor of love. This custom pattern required at least 4 separate fittings and many adjustments along the way. I learned a lot about my body, pattern making, grading, fitting, and handling power tools. As Dr. Whaley, Provost of the New York Fashion Academy says "making a corset is part sewing and part metalwork." I also learned you need a lot of hand strength to make a corset...from cutting coutil to setting the grommets to cutting the boning oh and hand sewing through 6 layers of coutil while trying to keep dotted material nice and even, I realized I need to work on my hand strength. Anyone have any exercises?

 My corset has a gentle sweetheart neckline and a v-shaped lower silhouette. Red and black tapestry patterned coutil make up the outer part of this lined corset. The lining is red polka dots on a black back ground. The corset has a 7 closure (extra long) busk in the front and laces in the back with metal tipped polyester lacing. I believe there are 22 grommets on each side. The edges of the corset are bound with the polka dot coutil. The over the bust bones are spiral and the rest are medium weight steel bones. If you want any other details just ask!

Without further ado, here's my beautiful corset. Want to see the progression? Check out the in progress pics in part 1. Professional pictures coming soon, so stayed tuned.

Front of corset

Back of corset

Line and proportion

Line and proportion are two topics that aren't talked about as much as they should imho. The line or silhouette of the clothing can make you look taller, thinner, or shorter and stumpier. Think of your favorite piece of clothing or outfit. How does it fit you? How does it make you feel? Now take a closer look. I want you to look at the design lines of the garment. Look at the seams. Which way do they go? Do they visually lengthen you? Do they add curves where you need them and skim/smooth those that need them? Does the garment flow or is it tight?

Some general concepts about lines:

-Vertical lines make you look taller and usually thinner. These lines help the eye visually lengthen as you look up and down. However if strong vertical lines are very far apart they start to look wider.

-Horizontal lines move side to side and visually increase your width. The more contrast there is the wider you will look also (think of a black and white horizontal, striped shirt).

-Diagonals are a bit in between horizontal and vertical. Depending on how much they tip one way or the other they can either be slimming or thickening.

-Curved lines add softness and femininity. You rarely see heavily curved design lines on mens' wear for this reason.

-Straight lines are seen as more formal.Often straight lines are seen in tailored garments. Straight lines can also counteract the natural curves of the body.

Proportion is how pieces make up the whole. For example, how does your jacket and skirt relate to each as part of the whole outfit? Its a type of relationship of your garment(s). Is your outfit pleasing to the eye? Or is it so off balanced that it just looks silly...perhaps a skimpy crop top paired with a full ball gown style skirt would not have a balanced proportion to your eye. With that being said, designers (and nature) often group things in odd numbers. Like 1, 3, or 5 buttons on a blazer or jacket. Odd numbers and odd proportions (1/3 vs 1/2) are often more visually interesting than a completely balanced outfit.

So next time you are putting together an outfit or sketching a new design, take a pause to think about your style lines and the proportion of the garment.