Here’s a photo of one of the biggest fashion influences that I’ve had in my life. My late grandmother, Agnes. She was a woman of limited means yet still possessed an impeccable fashion sense. She brought sewing, style and creativity into my life. Here is a family photo taken in the backyard of their home in Philadelphia sometime in the 1950’s (my guess is ’53). I’m even willing to bet that she made that outfit herself which so elegantly goes with her pin curls. Love it! Who are your style influences?

Happy New Year everyone! I’m normally not one for resolutions but this year I have made an exception. One of the biggest promises I’ve made to myself is dedicate more time and energy to sewing and The Hip Curve. Lately, I’ve been out of commission due to work obligations coupled with family time over the holidays. Devoting more time to my passion is a way for me to devote more time to myself. That being said, I have brought my focus back to the red gown with asymmetric shoulder that had occupied my time before my extended sabbatical.

Sources of inspiration for design have always been fascinating to me. Recently, while I was perusing vacation photos from my trip to Venice, I started to recall the feelings of inspiration that I had that lead to this particular dress. Here are a few photos that led to the creation of the sketch for this gown. Note the rich red fabrics, curves in architecture and black/white stripes:

A young street ventriloquist with a puppet performing to the song “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Doris Day.

Museo della Musica – a free exhibit with an impressive collection of instruments and lessons on violin making.

An outdoor orchestra located in Piazza San Marco that played the finale song to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Quite funny, actually. If anyone knows the name of the song, please let me know…

Marc Jacobs is brilliant! Discuss…

I needed to take a break from the pencil skirt that I have been working on recently and decided to start on a gown that I designed for the Venice-inspired line. This dress embodies the romantic feel and aesthetic of the city with it’s rich scarlet-red fabric, flowing lines and black and white striped silk on the bust.

Since I am new to design and construction, I am learning what works for me in terms of my own creative process. After sketching, my natural next step has become draping. This helps me to determine the functionality of the dress. It also helps with determining if I would like to make any changes to the original design. I draped with muslin and some old upholstery fabric that I used for pillows several years back. In this case, I am in between three different styles for the black and white striped fabric that covers the left breast. One is based on the original concept and the other two are slight variations minus a strap. What do you guys think?

After taking measurements, I started to draw out the first pattern draft. I finished the draft for the bottom but am still working on the top part of the dress. I ultimately would like for the dress to be in two panels (front and back) for a smoother, cleaner look. This is proving to be a bit challenging due to the asymmetry of the top. Any tips?

It’s been quite the productive day. I went ahead with the dart placement on the pencil skirt. The darts, in my opinion, were falling too low. So, I decided to take in the side seams a bit to lessen the fabric in the midsections. I’m much much happier with where the darts fall now. Time to sew!

After sewing the side seams and darts into place, I went ahead and cut away some of the excess fabric and did a finishing stitch on the side seams. The fabric that I am using is linen and it frays terribly! Usually, I would wait until the garment was complete to finish the seams but I felt this was necessary step so the fabric wouldn’t fray too much.

At this point, I tried the skirt on. The fit is spectacular! You’ll never have a better fitting garment than one that is tailor made to your measurements. The only thing that I would like to change is the darts. They need to come down just a few more stitches for a smoother look.

I was able to get started on the waistbands today as well (hence the productivity ☺). After attaching the standard waistband pieces together, I pinned them to the skirt only to find that the seams on the band did not match up with the seams on the skirt. I reattached the band pieces together taking them in enough to match the skirt seams. After stay-stitching it in place, I attached the decorative waistband pieces. I’m really excited about this part because, up until now, this has been a simple skirt making process. Now, I get to add an extra dose of creativity!

On another note, I did some serious sketching last night. After the season premiere of Project Runway topped off with a dose of the Rachael Zoe Project, I was feeling inspired. I’m obsessed (like most of you are) with the red carpet. Gowns are my favorite things in the world to design. My dream would be to see my dresses on Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and especially Anne Hathaway – the old Hollywood glamor girls of today. Once I start to work on these dresses, I will post the sketches.

Today, I started to draft the pattern for a skirt designed based upon my inspirational trip to Venice, Italy. I have designed an entire line around this recent trip so, you will see that most of my current projects will contain details representative of Venice and it’s culture, architecture and rich lavish colors. The original design for the skirt (mainly the waistband) was based upon ruffle details seen mostly in Carnival costumes. Walking through Venice, you pass many a shop with decorative masks and costumes designed specifically for the annual Carnevale di Venezia.

I found a basic skirt pattern tutorial in one of my recently purchased books, How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McCunn. I followed the instructions for the basic straight skirt pattern. However, my design calls for a pencil skirt and a decorative waistband, so some tweaks were made to the initial pattern draft.

After taking my measurements and adjusting my dress form (amazing bday gift!), I created the first pattern draft for the skirt panels.  The only adjustment I made to this first pattern draft, is the cut of the skirt. My design calls for a more pencil skirt look rather than a straight skirt look. So, I used a hip curve ruler to round out the fit. It looks good minus a mistake on the seam allowance on the lower back skirt panels. Not only am I impressed with this book; but I am also impressed with my ability to get this down on paper and make necessary tweaks as I go along. I transferred the pattern draft to Muslin (cheap fabric) and will attempt to stay-stich the pieces together. This will help determine where the darts will be placed and if any changes need to be made to the first pattern draft.

After pinning the garment pieces (inside out) around the dress form and locate the darts, I was thoroughly impressed with the overall look and fit of the main skirt panels. My only concerns are the length of the skirt and the dart placement. The design calls for a “right below the knee” fit. The pattern is falling mid-knee and this is before hemming. So, I decided to add another inch to the length of the pattern draft. I also want to play around with the dart placement a bit.