Painted Rhinestone Necklaces

A few weeks ago I fell head over heels in love with these two stunning painted rhinestone necklaces inspired by the work of designer Tom Binns. I loved the idea of taking a piece of jewelry that I never wear - how many of you also have rhinestone necklaces that just never get worn? - and turning it into a fabulous piece of jewelry that would brighten up an outfit.

So, I invited a few girlfriends over for an afternoon of painting rhinestone jewelry. With a few coats of nailpolish, an average piece of jewelry can be turned into a stunning statement piece.

 

Inspiration pictures and the most fashionable colors displayed on a pedestal.

 

A great way to spend an hour or two on a weekend afternoon.

On Modern Clothing

One of my favorite days of the week is Sundays because it's a chance to wear beautiful clothing. We're fortunate that we go to a very formal church, so I have the opportunity to wear items that I don't get to wear regularly. I try to dress nice normally, but grad school often involves long hours and lots of hands on work, so I also try to dress sensibly. I wear heels semi-regularly, but rarely wear skirts. Usually it's a nice shirt or cardigan, jeans, ballet flats or leather boots, vintage jewelry and my favorite J Crew black wool blazer (I've now expanded my collection, of J Crew blazers so I try to mix it up and wear brighter colors more regularly).

I have always loved clothing. I attribute my love of well made clothing and fine fabrics to the Ann Taylor store. When I was of middle school age, my mother first took me to the Ann Taylor outlet store and I was hooked. We found such lovely, well-made, clothing there and at fabulous prices. I have been a big fan of Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft ever since. It's actually funny, my favorite stores when I was in middle school are still my favorite stores - Goodwill, Ann Taylor, and J Crew. Of course, on a grad student budget, J Crew is a little pricier and I mostly shop consignment stores for their beautiful pieces. I remember visiting there store and flipping through their catalogs way back then, loving every single piece and trying to style my wardrobe similarly.

If there was a fire, and I could only grab one item of clothing it would definitely be my J Crew Black Wool Blazer. That little jacket is amazing. I love it, I do. Their blazers fit excellently and have such beautiful design lines. And I adore the colorful linings and bindings they have on the inside. There's always a fun surprise about even the most formal J Crew jacket.

I've been thinking a lot lately about their quality clothing. I'd like my (historical clothing) business to have similar quality garments. Items that can be counted on for a good fit, beautiful lines, and well made inside and out. Yes, you might spend a little more on it because of the care that went into it's construction and the quality materials, but it will last and hold it's value at that. And you will always look good in it because of the excellent fit and smart design.

So tomorrow I'm looking forward to wearing another outfit made from excellent fabrics with quality construction to church. And yes, I might just reflect on how much I adore well made clothing - again - and peek at how the hem of the skirt is sewn or the fiber content of my blouse.

Cardigan: Ann Taylor
Skirt: J Crew
Necklace: Vintage

Studying at home in a normal winter weekday outfit.

Lovely Green Coat

I want this coat. I've been planning to make a green coat like this for several years now. I have the wool but need to finish the pattern...and it's not going to happen for this winter. Hopefully I can work on making it over the summer. I did try to order this very coat - it was horrible! It's made of a cotton/poly blend and was the cheapest thing that I had ever seen. I have shirts that are heavier than that coat was! I don't know how they got it to look this good in the photo shoot. It was cheaper than K-mart clothing. Fortunately, I was able to send it back.

Just had to share these pictures of a lovely coat. Beautiful color, beautiful style. Oh, little green coat, I will make you someday.

Draping Project - Fashion Dress

Front

I know this doesn't look like a whole lot, but boy did it take a long time to drape! One of our most recent assignments in Draping class was to drape a dress based on a modern fashion image of a draped dress. The original was made of primitive pleated silk. We replicated it with primitive pleated taffeta. First we draped and constructed a darted shift for underneath the dress. Then the fashion fabric was draped on the form over the shift. To finish the dress, the drape would be hand tacked in place to the shift. The original had the look of fabric that had been wrapped around the body somewhat carelessly immediately before the model walked the catwalk. In actuality, the garment would have been draped and tacked to an understructure to carefully hold the drape in place.

When given this project, our initial reaction was, 'oh, this will be easy.' But it was much more difficult than that. Especially for me. It was very difficult to let go of my control of the fabric and let it drape in the way it wanted to while still remaining as true as possible to the original image. But by the end, it was much more enjoyable.

Side Front

Back - with extra fabric twirled and tucked at top - would be removed in actual garment.

Side Front

Cameron Diaz Pink Dress

I love the drape of this dress! This would be such a fun draping project.

So lovely at the back.

I'm not sure how I feel about those horizontal lines across the legs though...looks a little too tight.

Swiss Waist Project

Two weeks ago I taught a week long Fashion History class at a local High School for 2 hours each day. I talked about education and career opportunities in related fields - Costume Design, Fashion Design, and Museum work. We also discussed fashion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. I organized a field trip to Old Economy Village where we met up with my friend Sarah, who is the curator there. There the students learned about working with historical clothing and got to see some of the clothing in the work area that Sarah and her staff use to handle the textiles.

The big project for this class of 8 High School students was to design and create a modern take on the 1860s Swiss Waist. We spent a large part of the class at the sewing machines. Some students knew a little about sewing while others had to learn a lot. And, I did a lot of catching up for them each night after class so that they'd all be on the same page with their projects the next day. But in the end they all went home with a Swiss Waist or Corset type garment that they can wear over their modern clothing.

This is the 1860s Swiss Waist that our original pattern was based off of.

Swiss Waist Project

A creative take on the design challenge.

She'll be adding the buttons and straps. We didn't have time for the trim details in class, so the students got directions on how to finish the project and will complete the Swiss Waists on their own time.

Swiss Waist Project

This Swiss Waist will have a light blue knife pleated ribbon trim when finished, like the sketch below.

Most of the Swiss Waists had fun linings like this blue polka dot cotton.

Swiss Waist Project

This was the design for a blue-green taffeta corset. The student will be adding all of the trim at home, but it turned out beautifully. The edges were bound in matching blue-green piping. The trim will be classy white sequined trim.

This is the original design sketch for the Black and Burgandy Corset below. The design changed a little once I agreed to let them make over the bust corsets. :) She'll eventually add white ruched trim to the top and bottom of the corset, white bows, and burgandy lacing at the back.

I thought this sweet little pink silk corset was adorable. It will lace up the back with steel grey satin ribbon. I would definitely wear this one. :)

MET Evening Gown

This Couture Evening Gown in the collection of the MET was my original inspiration for the Marie Antoinette costume. I know, you can't tell. But, hopefully next time I wear the costume it will look a little closer to this.

How I ADORE this gown. It's so divine! I would have loved to wear this (in white) as my wedding dress. But, I was afraid it would look a little too over the top. :) Someday I would love to incorporate the swirls and bows of this ruched trim into a costume.

Flower Girl Dress

Flower Girl Dress

These were the best pictures that I got of the Flower Girl Dress that I made in the Spring for a client's daughter, but I thought I would post them anyway. Afterall, I've been feeling bad that I promised to post pictures of the completed dress and didn't! I think it turned out rather nicely. I used the Satin Taffeta from JoAnns with the Taffeta side out. The same fabric we used for the Bridesmaids dresses in my wedding, except Mom and I used the Satin side out then. It's a great fabric to work with and looks really high quality for this sort of thing. I would buy it again for similar projects in a heartbeat! A White Taffeta Sash was also made to be worn with the dress.

Memorial Day Reenactment Pictures

Currently we live on the grounds of a historic estate, in the carriage house. Each year for Memorial Day a Civil War reenactment is held right on the front lawns of the mansion. This year we were able to convince our wonderful neighbors, Josh and Kirsten to tag along with us. Josh is a very talented photographer and captured pictures of Vince, Kirsten, and I in costume.

You can check out pictures of our weekend HERE.