Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class #2 - Threadwork Embellishment

Our second assignment for Lorraine's class was threadwork.  Since I knew I was going to be on the road for a few days I decided to do handwork on a vintage kimono that I had stenciled on in the past. 
I  used buttonhole thread and mother-of-pearl buttons to decorate the front bands of the kimono and accented a few other spots. 

 

 

 

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class #3 - Garment Featuring a Panel

For this project I added a panel of ikat knit fabric to a knit tshirt.  Since the ikat fabric was much thinner than the tshirt knit, I fused it to some Easy Knit to give it more body and to help it hold
it's shape in the center panel of the garment.

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class #4 - Garment Where Closure is the Featured Element

I made this red nylon raincoat out of Vogue Pattern 7663 by Marcy Tilton.  I love oversized features

as it's a great way to make a statement.  This closure is made out of a thick upholstery piping cord

which I covered in a tube of the matching fabric.  The long button holds the closure shut, along  with

black snaps sewn underneath.  I can't wait for it to rain!

 

 

Rachel Ellis Exhibit at the Phoenix Airport

 I stumbled on this fabulous exhibit at the Phoenix Airport featuring the work of Rachel Ellis.  She was ahead of her time, recycling curtains, shawls and other textiles into interesting garments.  [Please forgive the shine in the photos as I was taking the pictures through glass.]  If you double click on this photo it should enlarge so you can read the small print.
 

 Great ultrasuede binding and bound button holes in this garment made out of a mexican shawl

 

 

The purple coat was repurposed from some theatre curtains.

Digital Print Fabrics

The Phoenix Art Museum always has some sort of wonderful clothing/fabric exhibit at the Ellman Fashion Design Gallery and when I was there in March the exhibit featured digital print fabrics.

 

This gown was by Alexander McQueen.

                                                       

  Pieces of the garment printed on fabric before assembly (on right). 

 

 

My favorite garment was a very simple long dress (unfortunately I didn't get a photo) featuring images from a recent book by designer Charlotte Moss entitled  Charlotte Moss:  A Visual Life.  She took images from her new book and had them printed on fabric by Spoonflower and then had a dress made from the fabric to wear to her book signing - brilliant idea!

(www.spoonflowerfabric.com -- a website

 where you can design your own custom fabric and print only what you need)

Wow - who matched this print?

As a garment sewer I was amazed to find that this garment, by designer Trina Turk, was not only allowed out of the factory, but was featured in the March 2013 Saks Fifth Avenue March Fashion Catalog.  So much for quality control.  For $388 I would expect more.

Indian Textiles

 

In July of this year I attended a presentation at the River Arts Gallery in Prairie du Sac, WI.  Two local women had recently traveled in India and they were sharing their textile purchases in a talk and slide presentation.  Mary Dickey and Annette Mahler, along with Marion Nelson (founder of Global View, a wonderful gallery and shop in Spring Green, WI) traveled to Gujarat and Rajasthan and shared their finds with us.

 

The garment I made was inspired by their talk.  Unable to find any indian block print fabric yardage, I ended up at SERRV, a wonderful shop on Monroe Street in Madison, where I purchased a beautiful blue and white block print tablecloth.  By carefully piecing and cutting I ended up with the garment show above - thanks to a great Indygo Junction pattern (Tribeca Tunic IJ797).  I did add about 7" to the length of the pattern.