This semester has been quite the challenge. Anyone who has done hand tailoring knows that hair canvas, silk organza, and twill tape is tons of fun (LOL) to sew with, especially in a coat. This semester we had seven weeks to hand tailor a wool coat and coordinating dress to create a full ensemble. Last semester we designed our coats and dresses and presented them to a critic. After the critic chose which one we would make, we draped and patterned our garments and had all of our fittings.

It seemed to take forever to find the right fabrics for the garments. The wool coating was the real challenge. I found an awesome chocolate brown wool coating from the East Coast online for $50/ yard. I thought that was a little bit pricy for my budget, so I waited and decided to look in NYC’s fashion district. I ended up finding my wool coating for $6/ yard in a “hole in the wall” in the garment district and……..BONUS….the fabric was on sale because the store was going out of business. I was so excited to nab this find! I originally wanted to make my dress out of a solid color but the critic wanted a stripe or print with chocolate brown and blue in it to match the wool coating. It was really difficult to find a silk charmeuse print with these specific colors. After lots of poking around the internet, I finally found a great print through Thai Silks.

So, after a lot of hand sewing and countless late nights I got it done! My boyfriend (patiently) watched me needle punch all the wool roving in the seam allowances, hand sew hair canvas in, and press (more like beat to death) my coat with lots of steam and my wooden tailor’s clapper. It definitely wasn’t the easiest project that I’ve worked on, but I’m especially pleased with the dress, it turned out even better than I pictured. And, in order to tie in all the colors, I decided to color blocked the inside lining of the coat. I think the colors will really help this outfit pop on the runway.

Now I’m working up all the designs and production patterns for my Senior Collection. I’ll check in with more on that later.

Allyce

Wow. I have been just engulfed by design projects from the moment I stepped back in the door at Stephens. This is my senior year, and boy do they have us off and running! I just completed this Rejectamenta project, and thought you would like to take a peek. The challenge is to make a garment from all recycled materials, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. Our garments will be judged by a jury and some will go on display at the Komen Foundation annual conference.

My theme is “Don’t gamble with your life….get regular mammograms”. Unfortunately the pic does not do it justice, it looks way cooler on a model with the headpiece, necklace and train that makes it all come together. When we get some professional model pics done I’ll be sure to post one.

For now I’m onto finishing a tailored and lined wool coat, and matching dress that is due shortly, sketching hundreds of illustrations for my upcoming Senior Collection, and sewing my heart out at every turn. I’ll try to come up for air once in a while to give everyone a quick up date, but for now just send me lots of positive energy………it’s going to be one challenging and exciting year in fashion design school!

Allyce