My Year in Review

I've tried to write this post a couple times now, but how do you sum up a year like the one I just had? Do I start at the beginning, or begin with the end and move backward?

I suppose I'll start by saying that the fashion show Facade —Shadows of Illusion was a big success. (Although I think my friend Cherylene stole the show with her Steampunk Circus collection!)

Cherylene's Steampunk Circus — you don't see the Strongman, the Lion-Tamer, or "Big Top" here, but it was all pretty amazing! Cherylene is an incredible costume-designer and a very talented seamstress.

But now, back to me:

So, it all started in August of 2013 when I went back to school for fall semester and my final year in school. (Yaaayyy!!) I had signed up for the Collections class knowing full-well that I'd be assigned a theme and required to make seven outfits (looks) to show in the student show, Raw Couture, at the end of the year. What a surprise to discover that this year we got to choose our own themes and we had to make ten looks!
Well back in August I figured I could easily sew ten outfits in nine months, but having the theme wide, wide open made things a little difficult—how, amongst all the thousands of cool things in the world, do you choose one inspiration for your line?

After three weeks of drawing different designs and researching ideas from flowers to stained glass, I decided to base my line on an old illustration of mine; the dress I've called my "piano dress." Once that was decided, the name of my line just popped right up: Pianoforte. (The original name of the piano; it means soft-strong. ) Now I just had to come up with ten designs. I got the first six or seven sketched out in about a week; the last ones took a little more thought. Here are the original designs that I quick-sketched and then colored on the computer:

The first six designs; piano-harps and keyboards. :-)

And the last four sketches.

Once I had my designs in mind I had to start making patterns. My goal (my very ambitious goal) was to have all the patterns drafted before we went on our fabric-buying trip to L.A. on October 19. That way I could measure patterns and know exactly how much fabric to buy. I didn't even get close. So I just bought yards and yards of anything I thought I could use. (I still have lots of black taffeta and satin left.)

I used my mathematical prowess ;-) to make these paper-dolls so I could decide just how full to make those black and white pleated skirts. I decided on the 3/8-circle.

When I got back from L.A. I got right back to making patterns and sewing muslin mock-ups so I could test the patterns for errors and for fit.The whole idea of fitting was a nightmare for me. I knew I could get the gowns to fit the dress-form; I knew I could get them to fit my models too. But I didn't have my models, and was guaranteed not to have them until the end of March. There was a good chance my muslins that fit the dressform perfectly would not translate into gowns that fit the models perfectly. That was a stressful thought. Nevertheless, I had eight patterns made and six muslins complete, and three more muslins close to finished before Christmas. (And by then I was sick to death of muslin!)

This is the very first muslin I made for my collection. The pins show where I need to adjust the pattern for fit. If you look carefully you can see lines that I penciled in to show where I wanted to piece together the different colors.

Here is the same pattern, remade in muslin and the remains of a blue sheet. On the top right the line of pins shows an adjustment I wanted to make on that line.

More muslins; more marking for color-blocking. I don't know if you can see it, but the top left dress is pinned on the front right seam (your right). That is where I intended to put the zipper. I was a little leery of putting a zipper on the princess seam because of all the curves I'd need to work around, but the idea was to put an exposed gold zipper (something else I'd never done before) on that seamline to mimic the look of a piano hinge.

The last dress I worked on before Christmas underwent major changes. I made the pattern and the muslin, but I couldn't figure out how to put in the darts for a fabulous fit without destroying the look of the dress. So it went from this:

the original drawing that started it all

to this

this was an immediate change—I wanted to go more formal/elegant, and I really like the fullness at the hem

to this.

I had this on the dress form so I could drape the straps, so you get to see an actual photo! . 

See? There's the strap, all draped and ready to pattern.

Now, this looks like I just kept working on like a steady little bee. But, you may recall, we had some major home construction over the Christmas break, so everything just sat in my school bags for nearly eight weeks before I could get back to it. There just wasn't any space—certainly no clean space—for sewing. By the time my house was my own again I had practically forgotten what all my pinnings and markings meant and had to take everything back to school, back to the dressforms, and figure out what I was doing all over again.

It wasn't until late January that I started sewing in earnest, and working like a steady little bee. (So those last pictures of the gold and white dress actually didn't get taken until late February.)

Ooooh! Red! Not muslin!

I've posted this picture before–either here or on facebook. If you paid attention you might have seen a sneak preview of my designs.

As I finished each dress I also did a final illustration of it. So here are my illustrations:

Aria

Allemande

Valse Brilliante

Prelude

Rondeau

Intermezzo

Polonaise

Sonata

Nocturne

Sarabande

OK. They were named completely after the fact—just now, to be honest. But all of the names are names—or forms, actually—of classical music. And that is all I am writing on this post because it's getting really long, and it's already a week later than I wanted it to be. So stay tuned to hear all about getting ready for the big show!