Sketching Class: Kate Spade Spring 2014 Collection

For my sketching class we designed sixteen pieces for next year's spring collection for a designer or a store of our choice.  I picked Kate Spade.  We did a little trend forecasting (thanks Pinterest!) and made a merchandising plan.

I looked through a ton of Kate Spade's old collections and tried really hard to design a collection that she would actually design.  It was really intense and a lot of work but so much fun.

I am a little embarrassed by the wrinkled paper and various stains.  I carried these drawings around with me for two weeks and they got a little gross.

These are the colors I decided to work with:

I was also inspired by this print by Girl Charlee and used it throughout my collection and as my theme board:

Here's a page from my merchandising plan:

And here are all of the posed croquis for my collection:

The dresses:

 The separates:

I spent so much time planning out this collection.  I even made a poster board to organize my thoughts:

And here is a walkthrough of my collection:

• First Look: High-waisted gingham cropped pants with contrast polka dot back pockets and cuffs
• Second Look: Melon color-blocked shift dress with a scalloped hem

• First Look: Dress with gathered skirt; purple cardigan with bow pockets (from my Alison Esther Spring 2013 RTW Collection)
• Second Look: Dress with circle skirt (the chevron print is engineered to still look like chevron and not get all wonky and weird); polka dot cardigan with contrasting black ruffle and button band
• Third Look: Halter shirt dress with gathered skirt and contrasting polka dot collar and band around the hem

• First Look: Pink A-line dress with contrasting black and white polka dot bow and band around the hem
• Second Look: Melon gingham button down shirt with contrasting polka dot collar, pocket, and sleeve cuffs; polka dot gathered skirt

• First Look: Coral polka dot tie blouse; coral scalloped hem pencil skirt (also borrowed from my Alison Esther Spring 2013 RTW Collection)
• Second Look: Black and white polka dot Peter Pan collar top with contrasting collar and button band; pleated skirt

And here is a picture of Sox sitting in a box of fabric under my bed because he is my inspiration and my muse:

Turquoise Polka Dot Dress

This is the dress from the Alison Esther Spring 2013 RTW Collection I designed for my sketching class!

I used Butterick #5748, a reissued vintage pattern from 1960.

The fabric is a Quilter's Showcase quilting cotton from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Total Cost: $8.42

• Fabric: $5.98
• Bias Tape: $1.19
• Zipper: $1.25

This dress is also my entry into I Heart Fabric's Copy Cat Challenge. It was inspired by both of these dresses I found on Pinterest:

 

I made a few changes to the original pattern.  I added gathered sleeves from Simplicity #1650 because I'm all about making dresses with sleeves right now and I adore gathered ones.

Instead of lining the whole dress I used bias tape to finish my edges.

Another mismatched zipper...

The pattern calls for a side zipper but I couldn't get the dress on so I had to move it to the back.  This caused problems with the bow.  I could only sew it to one side of the zipper and this made it all floppy.  So, in a moment of genius (if I do say so myself) I came up with a solution:

Ignore the terrible #pinterestfail manicure.

I also shortened the skirt by like a foot. 

AND I hand-hemmed the whole skirt.  I thought it would take days but it really didn't take very long.  I even made sure to avoid sewing over the white dots to make my hem invisible.

Sox was wicked helpful during the construction of this dress:

In Lieu of Me-Made-May...

...I have created a Look Book! As of today I have 8 looks.

For anyone who doesn't know, Me-Made-May is when all the sewing bloggers vow to wear something handmade every day for the month of May.

I don't have quite enough handmade things, but I figured I would keep track of the outfits I wear in May, both handmade and store bought. And that way, no one will feel spammed with my weekly outfit blog posts.

This Look Book thing makes me feel like a real fashion blogger...

Black High-Waisted Shorts 2

I made a pair of black high-waisted shorts this past August, but I decided that I didn't like them any more, so I drafted another pair in my Advanced Apparel Construction class.

I used one yard of stretch denim from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Total Cost: $6.36

I love these shorts.  Look at how cute they make my butt look!

I have a drawer full of zippers but I forgot to bring one into class so I used a leftover purple zipper for the fly front.  For some reason I never have the right zipper color for my projects, so I guess mismatched zippers are kind of my thing.

I actually used a real camera instead of my MacBook camera for this post.  And I discovered a new photo shoot location on my back deck.  Stoked.

Gingham Peplum Halter Top

I made a halter top in an unsuccessful attempt to bring summer to Massachusetts.  It was a gift to the sewing gods; if I gave them a halter they would give me halter weather.  I suspect Mass is going to give spring and summer a pass and continue on with winter.  I am suffering from seasonal depression.  In April.  I am wicked sick of the east coast. 

My mother picked me up a bunch of vintage patterns at a thrift store when she was visiting my grandmother in Kansas.  She did pretty well.  This pattern is from 1974.  It's funny that a pattern from almost 30 years ago is on-trend now.

I used leftover fabric from my Gingham Button Down Shirt and some buttons I bought over a year ago for a project I never actually made.  Stash busting like woah.

I love the back!  I think the buttons are such a cute detail.

I don't have much to say about this project except it was quick and easy.  I'm really happy with my finished top.  Maybe it will get warm enough sometime in 2013 for me to wear it.

And I forgot to thank Sally of The Quirky Peach for nominating me for a Liebster Blog Award!  I have already been nominated and my post is here.  I am feeling the love for sure.

Sally is my Renfrew twin! Aren't we cute?

Knitted Lambie Tablet Case

I knitted myself a  cute little case for my cute little tablet using some left over yarn in my stash. I got the pattern for free on Ravelry.

I worked on this between classes in the library for a few weeks.  It came together really quickly.

I especially love the textured grass.  It makes me happy.

My old tablet case.  A hospital sock.  Social suicide.

Look at the cute button!

Sketching Class: Alison Esther Spring 2013 RTW Collection

Posed Croquis

 So for my Fashion Sketching class I had to design a collection of clothing. We had to make a mood board, draw technical flats of all the individual pieces, draw technical flats of the pieces layered on top of each other, and draw posed croquis.  (I don't know if the plural of "croquis" is "croquis," but I'm just going with it.)

My mood board

We didn't use color for this assignment, but my collection was heavily influenced by color and print.  (Turquoise, light pink, and florals if you couldn't tell.)  I was also inspired by 1940s and 1950s fashion, the whole shabby chic thing, and bows.  

The technical flats

I wanted to play with the idea of bows being part of the garment instead of just being stuck on as an afterthought.  Besides being really into bows, I'm into scallops and ruffles in a big way.

Look #1

Cardigan with bow pockets, bow tank top, and a circle skirt with a scalloped waistband.

Look #2

Cropped bomber jacket with a rib knit collar, halter top with a bow back, and a high-low skirt.

Look #3

Low-back dress with cap sleeves and a circle skirt.

Look #4

Peter Pan collared tank top with rick rack trim and a pencil skirt with a scalloped hem.

Look #5

Peter Pan collared blouse with gathered sleeves, a back pleat, and a bow pocket and a pencil skirt with a bow waistband.

Look #6

Romper with a ruffle, a bow, cuffed shorts, and tie straps.

This was my first time designing anything and I had a lot of fun doing it.  I'm very happy with my collection.  Sox is pretty stoked on it too.  I wanted to design fanny packs so you can carry your cat around with you, but my mother nixed the idea. Someday I'll design a line of clothes around cat fanny packs.  The world just isn't ready for it yet.