Hello March!

The above photo is my inspiration dress.  Sweetheart, A-line with a slight mermaid shape, fitted with a natural waistline, and lace detailing.  This is the type of dress I seem to be drawn towards right now.  No ballgowns, no yards and yards of fabric, no pick ups galore.  Maybe some draping at the bust if I decide to go with a satin or chiffon. I am excited to try and make a muslim draft of something like this (which should be fairly easy to do!).  I am planning on a silk satin or silk charmeuse for the lining.  I just hope I can find the "right" lace fabric in LA somewhere.

Ignoring the top, I like the shirt part of this dress with the ombre chiffon fabric and the curly hem. I would drop the waistline and make it not so poufy!

Draping

It's been a while since I've last touched my dressform. It can be a bit daunting when I think of all the formal steps to draping: prepping the muslin, draping the muslin, truing the muslin... sometimes I just want to forget about the muslin!  lol, so unless I have a lot of free time to devote to designing (which rarely happens now), I usually stick with pattern paper.  However, I've always thought you can be so much more creative when using a dressform, especially because you can see the final results as it comes.

It is definitely more fun to go straight to the actual fabric! Here is some freestyle draping I did with a vintage fabric I found.  And it only took me a few minutes to drape :)  The fabric is all one piece.

I have a lot of things I want to write about: how I made my cloche hat, how I draped my evening gown, a wrap up of Mesa's annual fashion show (you can see some of the garments from the show on Susan's blog), and I also have some quick side projects I am doing... but I forgot how demanding blogging can be!!

I figured if I wanted to open an Etsy shop, I should have a blog to go with it. I hope to have a list of one-of-a-kind garments for sale and maybe some hair "embellishments," as every outfit really isn't complete without the right accessories.  Please stay tuned!