Playing along with Project Runway

Long time readers of this blog know I'm a fan of Project Runway.  This year, I discovered that a number of my Facebook friends (some art teachers, and some who are not) are also fans of the show.  Some of us decided to design along with the contestants each week, trying to come up with our own solutions to the weekly challenges (but our solutions were done by drawing, rather than sewing). I was aided by the use of a little fashion design sketchpad (with pre-drawn models in it) kindly sent to me by one of these friends.  It will be easy to tell which of these drawings were done with that sketchpad, since my people-drawing skills aren't so good on my own.

The final challenge of the season was to create a collection of 10 runway looks.  My collection incorporated the contrast of black patterned fabric with vibrant colors, using a somewhat bohemian aesthetic, with lots of bead embellishments in black and metallics.  Many of the outfits incorporated ribbons of fabrics to create movement.   By the time I was done, I realized that I had way more than ten pieces in my collection!

The judges always ask "who is your girl?", as in, who are you designing for?  I think my girl is somewhat free-spirited, not afraid of wearing bright color, with fabrics that move.  But she is also practical.  She wants clothes that are comfortable to wear.  The collection is mostly casual and party clothes.  Not really office-wear, but I wasn't designing for an office-type person, I don't think.  In my heart, I think I was designing for a taller, skinnier me. 

 I'd be  happy to wear a look like the one below for a day of teaching art, if my legs were longer and my hips were skinnier!!  All in all, this is my 12-look collection. 

 While I'm at it, I'll share some of my ideas from the challenges earlier in the season.  For example, there was a bathing suit and cover-up challenge.  I never fully realized my cover-up ideas, but I'd definitely want to wear my bathing suit design. 

There was a 'real woman' challenge where the contestants designed for their mothers or friends. I chose to design a casual and comfy outfit for a certain pantsuit-wearing former presidential candidate.  Please excuse my amateurish drawing. 

And there were challenges using non-traditional materials, too.  The outfit below (two attempts to draw the same general idea) used rope, assorted bolts, leather horse harnesses, and such.

This crazy outfit on the left below was an avant-garde design using non-traditional materials.  There were some flexible metallic tube-things shown in the challenge, that I used in my design, along with some multicolored ropes.  And the wacky design on the right?  I wish I could remember what the specific challenge was that inspired me to come up with this outfit!  

 I don't recall what the weekly challenges were that inspired either of the two drawings below, either. Both incorporate metallics - a silky silvery dress on the left, and some coppery leather on the right. 

 There was a challenge that incorporated glow-in-the-dark products that would look totally different in daylight and in the dark.  It was hard to show do this in a drawing, but I came up with the two silly designs below.

There were a couple other weekly challenges that I don't have pictured in this post, but I'll close with the drawings from one week where the challenge involved creating two companion looks.  I can't remember the theme of the challenge, but here they are.

I never specifically desired to be a fashion designer, but I spent a lot of my childhood designing clothes for paper dolls and Barbie dolls, and I have been sewing my own personal inventions now and then for years.  So maybe I'll make myself one of the outfits on this post!

Project Runway, Barbie style!

I spent much of my childhood with Annie.  From toddler-hood onward, we were inseparable.  We invented games, shared secrets, and grew up together.  We wanted to be artists when we grew up.  We loved our Barbie dolls, but we didn't play with them in the same way as many others. Our Barbie time was spent designing and making clothes for our beloved 1st generation Barbie dolls. 

Decades later, as adults, we live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  When Annie told me she would be visiting stateside, we decided we needed to have an art-making play-date.  I had shared with her a video I found on Pinterest, showing ways to make some easy Barbie clothes.  I currently own two Barbie dolls; one is an art teacher Barbie I received as a retirement gift, and the other was sent to me on my birthday a year or two ago by Annie herself!  So I suggested we spent our play-date making Barbie clothes and she instantly agreed.  So, here we are, above, loaded up with fabric scraps, hot glue, ribbon, and balloons, in the midst of creating!  (What, balloons??? Yup. On the Pinterest link, balloons were cut to create sort of a leotard, and then an easy method was used to make a tutu.  So we started with balloons.) 

 As you can see above, evidently our balloons were either a different size than the ones in the video, or we did something desperately wrong.  They should have fit like Spanx or leotards, but they did not.  We used the cut-off top of the balloon to cinch in the waists. 

You should also note the difference between the two Barbies.  On the left above, in green, is friendly smiling Art Teacher Barbie, who I have nicknamed Babs, a 2002 version of the doll.  I picture her as being a loving and competent teacher.  On the right, the blonde, is vintage 1959 Original Barbie.  She wears much harsher makeup, and wears a snooty condescending facial expression.  We decided she wanted us to call her Barbara.  I am not sure Barbara and Babs would get along.  Besides their faces, their bodies are also different.  1959 Barbie has a larger, pointier chest, wider shoulders, and a narrower waist, but 2002 Barbie has a larger bottom, wider hips, and a slightly more natural tummy.   Hmmm.   

 Annie used a different balloon, and added ribbon trim to create this adorable look below.

We both tried making tutus the way showed in the video, but it didn't work well, and Annie ended up converting hers into a sort of peplum or poof over a longer elegant skirt.  I gave up on the tutu and the balloon and created a fancy dress with a circle skirt and simple top attached, worn with a sparkly stole. 

Then we each made a second outfit - I started out making a multicolored knit skirt, but it turned into the dress on the left when I couldn't make it fit right.  Annie made an elegant golden strapless gown, reminiscent of the sparkly black gowns we got with our childhood Barbies and their black and white striped bathing suits.  

Barbara is very elegant and this sophisticated look suits her, but Babs seems more casual. So I am attempting to make her an overall style dress, below.  However, we ran out of time, and the men were getting impatient for food.  Plus, with a drive of an hour and a half through the middle of nowhere, my husband and I wanted to be on our way before dark.  So Annie and I are already planning for another day making Barbie clothes next year!!  In the meantime, I'm thinking it would be fun to do Project Runway-style challenges making clothing for Barbie.  Wanna play??

 And finally, here we are, lifelong friends, then and now.  

Consider voting for me, please?

So, my friend Cassie Stevens is having a Best Dressed Art Teacher Contest on her blog.  And I would love your vote.  Now, if you hop over and look at her post, and all the amazing candidates for this honor, you may wonder why I think I'm worthy of your vote. So here's the deal.  Many of the outfits posted are COSTUMES, for Halloween or some other event like 'dress like an artist' day or some such thing, not everyday wear.  But not me!  This tunic-dress I am wearing proudly (above, below, and in the contest post) is everyday wear, and I designed and made it myself!  It's not just a costume.  Anybody can wear a costume!!

 And it's inspirational, too.  

Let me explain.  For years, I have bought T-shirts at art conferences.  These shirts, along with some others I have picked up along the way, generally are not cut to fit a short curvy woman, so I rarely wore them, but I really like what they say.  In a Project Runway moment, rather than turning the shirts into rags, I cut them up to create something new.  I chose carefully what quotes I wanted to keep from the shirts.  So, there's a quote about creativity by Matisse, a quote about the importance of art from writer Henry Miller, a quote about imagination by Einstein, and my absolute favorite, from Maya Angelou: "If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Don't complain."  This statement hung on my classroom door, and the kids knew it was the most important rule I had.  And there's till some more pieces left, for another future Project Runway experiment!

Meanwhile take a look at the back (above).  The large quote piece is from a T-shirt that is probably 20 years old, I swear.  It came from a shirt I received when I renewed a subscription for School Arts Magazine!  The advice on it  is as valid today as it was then.  (And by the way, the winner of Cassie's contest will be featured in School Arts!  Wouldn't it be perfect to have this dress, and this story featured in the magazine??)  So vote for me!!

But if you like seeing costumes, hey, I can give you a couple of them too, though some of my favorite costumes never were photographed.  Here's one - can you guess who I was?

My students were studying Vincent Van Gogh that autumn, so I came dressed as you can see in the photo above.  The kids had learned how he would put candles on his hat so he could paint outside in the dark.  Between the candles, and the bandaged ear, the kids obviously all knew who I was..

And below is a bonus photo, taken at a party given by an art teacher friend, yikes, more than 20 years ago.  My son's babysitter had to take him to her house (he was a preschooler), because we knew he'd freak out if he saw us. (He was young and sensitive.)  There was a costume contest at the party, with the theme 'movies', and my husband was an exceptionally good sport.  He isn't usually a costume sort of guy, but he agreed to do it for me.  (Thanks, honey.)  We decided if he was going to go so far outside his comfort zone and wear a costume, we'd better try our hardest to win the contest.  And we did!  He let me put thick makeup stuff on his face, engraving the scar.  And he found silver marker caps from old-fashioned Magic Markers, and taped them willingly to his neck. I wish I had a side view photo of my hair, with it's lightening bolt silver streak.  And I wish I had a photo where we aren't smiling.  Oh well...

By the way, when we arrived at our friends' house for the party, their young son took one look at us walking up their front sidewalk and went crying to his bedroom.  He didn't come out again the whole night.  Success!! ;)

So, hop on over to Cassie's blog and vote! I'd love it if you vote for me, but I know the choices are all terrific, so mostly, please just go and vote and celebrate all these wonderful, imaginative women - and one terrific man, too!  And thanks, Cassie, for giving us the
opportunity to share our fun art teacher outfits!! 

What was I thinking?

I was in JoAnn's buying a piece of fabric for a project I had planned , when I got sidetracked and fell dangerously in love, with this:

I mean, how could I help myself?!?  I was smitten with the saturated colors; there was vivid red, bold orange, rich turquoise, brilliant yellow, deep blue, and vibrant green.  Oh, and some lovely violet, too.  All reason went out the window when I saw this stuff.  I've been sewing most of my life, but I absolutely DESPISE sewing on either stretchy or slippery shiny fabric. And this stuff is of the ridiculously slippery and shiny variety.  I took it to the cutting counter thinking "maybe I'll make a summer dress" totally forgetting my distaste for working with this type of fabric, and also not thinking about my casual summer lifestyle.  I'm usually in shirts and t-shirts in the summer; and I don't even own (or desire) the proper shoes for a shiny dress, so why would I make one?

When I got the gorgeous fabric home, I decided to be more practical and make a summery bathrobe, kind of shaped like a boxer's robe.  Easy construction.  I took an old summer robe, traced the simple shapes to make a pattern, cut my fabric, and started to sew.  And then I remembered why I don't usually buy this stuff.  Slipping and sliding, it was a nightmare to sew, even for an easy construction, and my simple one-afternoon project became a major enterprise.  Then, I discovered this:

Can you see it? A pull in the fabric. They are everywhere.  Simply pinning a seam causes pulls like this.  And a cat who likes to keep me company when I sew did not help the situation either.  "Good thing it's just a bathrobe" I thought.  And if you make a sewing mistake on this fabric?  It is next to impossible to take out a seam without damaging the fabric.  So every time something didn't go as planned, my solution was to cut it off. Hemming the sleeves was a disaster.  The hems twisted and looked so awful that I cut them off; I actually cut them off THREE times, leaving the sleeves too short and still unhemmed, and in the end I made a fake cuff out of a piece of blue fabric I had intended to use for a different project. And I found a piece of red to use to make a tie belt, since I hadn't bought enough of the patterned fabric for the belt.  I also used the red for some invisible on-seam pockets. (Gotta have pockets!).  I think the red belt makes it look like gift-wrapping.  I do not like it, and may still come up with some other belt.

I finally finished it today, working on it for so long that I never did anything else I had planned this afternoon.  And my realization is this: the final product is not worth the amount of time spent sewing. The fabric frays terribly, and I don't think will hold up well at all for many wearings. I expect it will quickly tear around the belt loops and the pockets.  And it is so slippery, it won't easily stay in place when worn anyhow.  I picture myself on Project Runway, with the judges mocking my sloppy construction, and Tim Gunn telling me it's time to go clean up my workspace because Heidi says I am OUT.  My love affair with the fabric is over.  

Meet Violetta, my new twin

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know I'm a Project Runway fan.  And you probably also know that I sew.  While I have sewn all sorts of things, my favorite (and most frequent) sewing projects are clothes.  But when I sew a clothing item, I'm forever having to get undressed, try the item on for fit, get dressed, repeat.  It's time consuming and a pain in the neck, and I'm not particularly patient.  I currently  have a sewing project in the beginning stages that I am struggling to figure out because I am not working with a pattern, and just can't figure out how to fit it to my body.

Violetta, dressed in pearls

So, after watching Project Runway last week, I decided that I needed a dressmaker's dummy.  I went online and started shopping and immediately recognized a bigt problem: my size.  I discovered that I could find adjustable-size mannequins in small, medium, large, extra-large, and petite.  As I am under 5' tall, with a short torso and short legs, I consider myself petite.  But, there were no options for sizing in petite dummies; they were just 'petite', and their adjustable measurements were decidedly small.  Mine are not.  So my choice was: get a petite dummy that did not expand to my dimensions, or get a medium dummy whose torso would not be short like mine.  Neither choice was acceptable, since clothing I built on them would not fit me accurately.  Darn.

That's when I started discovering all the online tutorials for Duct Tape dressmaker's mannequins!!  Eureka!!   I enlisted my husband (I'm doing a sewing project for him, making seat covers for his vintage car, so I figured he owed me a couple of hours of time) and I went to the store for supplies.  I reviewed dozens of tutorials, and explained to hubby what he was about to do.  And being a man, he listened to... some of it.  And of course, he was sure he had a better way.  We took lots of process photos but they all kept inserting sideways, so I'll only share those that are aiming the right way.

Right here, I'd better say, this is NOT a tutorial.  As a matter of fact, I don't even recommend you try to follow the tutorials you might find.  Because, you see, they might indicate that it is EASY to build a duct tape mannequin, and I'm here to tell you, they are LYING.  It is a serious challenge and you might not be too thrilled with the results.

Instructions say to start with a tight firm wrap around the waist (over a slim fit garment; I was wearing a thin knit), which my husband did, but then he began to deviate from my direction.  As a result, it was not as snug as it should be, as you  can see below.

 

 And honestly, while I greatly appreciate my husband's willingness to do this silly project with me, and while he was a great sport about it, I'd strongly recommend, if you do try to make a duct tape dummy, to enlist another female to do the taping rather than your spouse.  My husband just didn't understand the bra shape construction, and was more concerned about getting the tape smooth, so, well, let's just say my dummy's boobage is not exactly shaped properly.  (Lift and separate, please, honey?)

 Anyhow, here I am, all taped up with a layer of silver Duck tape.  The red collar was cut off of an old turtleneck to protect my neck from the tape.  By they way, if you have long hair and a low hairline like mine, think about how to keep it out of the tape.  I had mine tied up, but I wish I had put on a shower cap or had it tucked in to a hat.  My husband repeatedly caught my hair in the tape, and then pulled it off, breaking much of  the hair at my hairline on the back of my neck.  It was painful, and now I have a bunch of hair in the back that won't stay in my pony tail. 

 Isis was very curious abou the crazy ongoings in our living room.  

 I had some red tape that we were using to mark the center and the shoulders.  If it looks off-center to you, you'd be correct.  I have some spine curvature, which results in me having a slightly crooked body - one hip and shoulder a little highter than the other, and a sloped back. 

 In the photo below you can see that my left shoulder is lower than the right .

 When it was all done, my husband cut it up through the back so I could remove it.  It came off very easily.  You can see that he didn't exactly complete the arms.  By that point, he had had enough of my trying to tell him what do do, I think!

Then, the next job was to tape it back together.  This might have been the most challenging part of the whole project, but not one of the tutorials mentioned that!  At that point, I sat the dummy in a chair and found something else to do.  I was tired of Duck tape.

 But it started to get squished in the rocking chair, so I inserted a hanger inside the shoulders and hung it from a light fixture until I'd have time to finish it.  My bum looks a little squished, no?

My husband, wonderful man that he is (no kidding) cut a 2x2 piece of wood that I had bought, and build a support for the body that you will see in the photos below.  I cut cardboard for the ends of the arms and neck, inserted them and sealed them with Duck tape.  I also cut a piece for inside the waist, and for the bottom of the body. 

The tutorials mostly said to stuff the dummy with pillow stuffing (though a few used wads of newspaper and a couple actually used spray foam).  I bought a big 10 pound box so that I could stuff it tightly.  Big mistake.  Stuffing it tightly makes it stretch, and stretching in places caused wrinkling in others.  It was bad.  I know I'm not skinny, but it started to bulge uncomfortably.  In the end, I took most of the stuffing out, leaving in the barest minimum to hold the shape.  And honestly, I think it turned out somewhat OK, though not quite what I anticipated.  I'd still like a real dressmaker's mannequin, if I can ever find one that  has my proportions.  Anyhow, Violetta (my mannequin) now is in my art studio room, where I also sew, and she has been trying on some of  my clothes, such as this former sewing project:

She's been trying on scarves, jewelry, and sweaters, and seems to fit in my clothes fairly well, all things considered.

Sideways, I know, but here I am with my new twin!