Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Rachel Dress Bows





If you've ever tried to embark on a creative life you know that into every life a little fallow time must fall. My particular dry spell has lasted for longer than I would like, compounded by getting married, making dresses for other ladies' special days, and then getting very involved with not one but two amazing museums.

It began to feel like, unless I grew a second head and two more pairs of arms, there would never again be a chance for me to make something just for myself. Imagine how happy I was when my friend Rachel commissioned a dress for a wedding.
We got to go through the whole 9 yards: shopping for fabric (in this case, a blue muslin Liberty of London print with a cream muslin lining), sketching out a number of different Mad Men-style options for the dress itself, mocking up the muslin and doing the fittings...all of the things I love but was terrified that I had lost. Draping the top, recutting the pattern, trueing the seams, and then re-cutting it. Yes, those are parts of the New York Times - they work just as well as pattern paper in a pinch!And the big finish, unfortunately with some blurry pics from the last fitting at midnight the night before the wedding. Even Anne got in on the act. Once the wedding is over I hope to get some decent photos together so that I can get it on Etsy.