my camera is giving me hella problems, so i went all rinky dink retouch on these photos... it might have been better just to have taken them with my iphone and used freaking instagram, in retrospect.
i took these awhile ago in a happy balloonaan shoot (grapes, sparkly jewelry and dave matthews) and was so depressed by the results, they sat neglected in my iphoto for two months. i thought my camera would magically repair itself if i just let it sit awhile, but weirdly that didn't work out.
i like my toes.
even if the elves had fixed my camera, there's no hope for a reshoot, as back to its owner this dress must go. it was made for a wee pixie of a girl. (oddly enough, my camera began its breakup with me when i shot the dress that made wee pixie commission the gown. there has to be some sort of plot in there.)
unfortunately i never did get a good shot of her in it. brought it to work and spent an hour shooting her to no avail. then ruggy accidentally brought it home with him (i SWEARS) when helping me clean out my work digs. i couldn't resist trying it on. it does fit me but it's certainly off. i had a duh! moment when i found i could indeed zip it up; of course it makes sense, we both buy the same size in RTW, it just looks different. her waist is even higher than mine. and let's not talk about the rest of her dimensions. i love my body and i love her body and i love every-bodys' bodies. bodies are nice. seriously. i'd just like a shot of her body in it so you can see how it's truly meant to fit.
see that wonky ass zipper? peeeee-YOOOH! invisible zip on bias cut silk. which i had to reinstall SEVEN. TIMES. i am not even shitting you. originally, it hung down nice and straight, but le client wanted it tighter on the derriere, so a curvy zip that wouldn't pass a breathalizer is what came to pass. i guess it's okay, since the dress is pretty flowy anyways...
geez, grumpy much, oona? i think i'm mad that this has to leave kalkatroona. yes, that is the proper diagnosis. i want it to stay! it's exceedingly hard to make garments for other peeps. this took about a month to make, swearings at home and fittings at work. i've only done it once and i'm not sure i'll ever do it again.
that said, it provided me a lot of firsts. it was the first thing i ever draped on a form (i mean a real live wolf form, and not my pin pricked body). the first time i ever worked with silk (at a whopping 8 bucks per yard. the thought of it!). and i learned so much from the aforementioned Amazing Lady, whose exclamations of glee gave me the confidence to sew the damn thing instead of offering to buy the silk from wee pixie and call it off. and, i wouldn't have done any of it if wee pixie hadn't requested a gown.
what do y'all think? have you made garments for anyone else? and have you found yourself plotting how to steal them ask for them BACK?
I would so steal this back--that bodice ! Who cares about a wonky zipper when the front looks like that.
ReplyDeleteWOW!
ReplyDeleteThat is SUCH a beautiful colour on you! You are always so amazing with the drapey drape stuff, I honestly am in awe. I have no idea how you do it! Plus I would have given up after 2 tries on the zipper!
I love the style you've given these photos, they look good!
so it's lots of things going on not only in what appears in front of the eye but also in the making of! a zipper 7 times must be terrible, I'm almost tempted to think there is someone out there for which making a garment takes as long as it does for me:)) and yes, I made quite a lot of clothes for other ppl, mostly when I was in college and I was waking up a few hrs earlier in the morning and stressing myself out and getting panicky trying to live up to the deadlines I was setting myself! It's no wonder my mother hoped I would eventually chose to do something else:)) But hey, that made me feel alive!
ReplyDeleteWOW, beautiful dress! I'd certainly have a hard time giving that one up! I absolutely love the color and the details.
ReplyDeleteI've never made clothing for anyone else. I fantasize about it sometimes, maybe having a small line in a few local boutiques around town, nothing huge. Part of me is kind of scared that if sewing turned into any sort of part time job, I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much. Money can sometimes take the fun out of things, but I guess you never know until you try. ☺
sigrid: when i finished the final install on the zipper, that was my exact hope!
ReplyDeleteveronicadarling: you could totally do the drapey drape. TOTALLY. just try it with some blue stash fabric! thanks for the photo love, as i played with the background i actually kept telling myself: just make them look cool like VD :)
magdamagda: how long does it take you? i imagine you cranking out your beautiful garments twice a day! every time i start a garment i think it'll take me like 2 days, but most times it's 2 weeks... and that's short for me! i think that's (part of) what makes it so hard for me to make things for other peep's.
ashley: thanks! i've been digging on green lately, there's more to come... actually, a corner in a few little boutiques might be wonderful... then the shop owner would be the moneyhandler, and i couldn't flake on the price! i only charged for the fabric on this, so, meh... i sold a few belts on etsy, and it always made me skip around when one would sell. i don't wear belts that much though, so i had less desire to keep them for myself :)
Oh, my. This dress keeps amzing me - that colour! That drape!
ReplyDeleteBe a good girl and send it back. With an oonaballoona label inside, if it's not there yet. :-) Then, decades later, a museum or auction site will salvage this, and they will keep wondering who that crazy draper oonaballoona was... hehe.
This dress is a work of art. That color! The sheen! The bodice details! I was so distracted by all the shiny that I never would have noticed the zipper. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteOh! I am in love with that dress! I confess to lurking around in your archives and hoped I might see this again:) So creative and so beautiful...I wouldn't blame you for "losing" it on the way to the post office!
ReplyDeletehana: a LABEL!!! yes! for the planet of the apes future! she's already seen it-- i wonder if she'd notice a label...
ReplyDeletemick: thank you! the bodice was a lot of fun. and (despite all the horrible camer-ness), it really is that shiny.
jacqueline: ha! i wondered if anyone remembered the past sneak peeks of it! back then i thought the dress might've ended there, sans skirt :). now, if only this could be lost in the mail... wee pixie lives a subway ride away!
stunning dress, design, fabric, colour.
ReplyDeletei admire anyone who can make something like this and give it (or sell it) away afterwards.
What a freaking gorgeous dress! I wish I was Pixie! I love the top stitching.And the colour. And the way it drapes at the front!
ReplyDelete