Breaking the Silence

I know I have been strangely silent for a while. It's because I have been super busy. Super busy!

In my intimate apparel class so far I have made a pair of granny panties:

Yep, tummy-hugging, granny panties and, yes, these are the ones I made. Pretty great, huh?

a pair of "boy shorts" with a matching camisole:

There's money in underwear! You might pay $30 for a matching set like this (more if it's custom-fit, which it is), but it only cost about $7 to $10 to make.

and a swimsuit:

This is a shapely suit—I had to add foam cups in its construction. ;-)

Now I am making a bra. I'm pretty excited about the bra, actually. If I can make one that fits right and looks good you can bet I will never go bra-shopping again. Never!

But I spend most of my time working on Collections. I finally did sketch out my ten designs—in fact, I came up with twelve! But I have my ten favorites and I've been working madly on them. Every day that I'm home I spend three to five hours drafting patterns. I'm making them to fit a size eight dress form which translates to a size six person, and which is a little nerve-wracking because I'll need them to fit unseen, unknown models whose measurements supposedly are the same as the dress forms (except they are lots taller). Hopefully the alterations will be few.

Anyway I draw the patterns all week long, cut them from muslin, take them to school on Friday and try them on the dress forms. Then I pin in any alterations the patterns might need, go home and revise those patterns over the week, make more patterns, cut them from muslin, take them to school on Friday...

So far I have one complete pattern, one almost finished, and six more that need to be altered and finished. I'm trying to get them all drafted and fitted before the Christmas break because I don't have a dress form to work with. I think I'll make it, but I am working madly. Then, once the patterns are all finished, I can start sewing in my fashion fabrics. I think I have some awesome designs, and I'm excited to see them come to life.

Once I have my dresses—or at least once the patterns are all made—I'll start drawing some good illustrations. :-) But I still don't know if I'll post them before the fashion show. What do you think?