First Clutch!

Front View

I finished my 1st clutch today! It's made from a stretch dark floral printed fabric with a black lining. I used black thread as well when constructing the clutch. It's styled like an envelope on the front and as of now it doesn't have a closure. I haven't decided on a snap or a button closure yet so it's 99% finished but since it can be used without a closure I'm marking it off as done! I used a decorative stitching on the top flap and part of me wishes I had chosen a different stitch, but since I have more of the fabric I can redo it with a different stitch. I do plan on making a lot more clutches, and of different materials and styles.

Opening of the clutch.

The clutch is part of a sustainability project for school. However, since my team's proposal hasn't been approved or denied the ones I'm making now are just for me to improve my skills. I rummaged through the scrap bin at school to get a lot of fabric to make the clutches. I also have some random ribbon and buttons to add to certain ones. I plan on selling them on Etsy to make a little money to save up to make more of fabrics I choose. Although I want to donate half or more of the proceeds to a charity, as of now it's undecided on which charity. I'll keep you posted! I don't want to put anything on my Etsy store until I have a small stockpile, like maybe 5 clutches done and ready to sell. We'll see what happens!

Goodwill Finds

Shopping in Progress

Not the best photo of my treasures from Goodwill, but it is a picture while shopping and before I had gone through everything. My friend Jessica and I had gone to Goodwill yesterday in search of new work pants, which are black dress pants for us since we work at the same company. Our uniform for work consists of black pants, a white button down with the company's logo, a black and gold striped tie (Purdue's colors), a black half apron, and black non slip shoes. After working my first bartender shift on Friday night I realized I needed the next size up in pants. They fit, but they're too snug with a tank top and a button down tucked in, which is why I wanted the next size up. 

When we got to Goodwill we managed to find lots of pants to try on, and I managed to find the perfect pair for work. Besides those I found a great pair of bright red plaid trouser pants that button (no zipper). Feeling accomplished with our pants finds we moved on to shoes, purses, books and then finally dresses. 

I walked out spending a total of $30. The breakdown of my purchases are as follows:

• Black dress pants
• Red plaid trouser pants
• Snakeskin booties
• Small brown leather purse
• A chiffon snakeskin printed button down dress
• A black and white houndstooth sleeveless dress that buttons all the way down, but I will be using it as a long jacket/vest
• 2 paperback books & 1 hardback

I'm pretty pumped to wear my new things, and I'll be going through my closet to get rid of some clothes to donate. 

Costume Shop Find: Fur Coat

While going through the last box of donations from yesterday I came upon a lovely fur coat from Marshall Field & Company. It's pretty great! It's a dark brown with a different collar and hem with an orange lining. I labeled it as a CUTC piece, sprayed it so the musty smell fades, and hung it up to air out before I find it a home on the coat rack. This is a pretty great find for the costume shop! I'm unsure of what type of fur, however, I do think the shell is real fur but not the collar and hem. I'm going to ask my manager tomorrow, I was working alone in the shop today because she had prior engagements she couldn't get out of for her other work.

Costume Shop Wool Finds!

 














One of things that happens in the costume shop is that we get donations from community members. Today during work we got a huge donation, it was more like part 2 of a donation from the same family. While going through everything I managed to snap a few pictures of some of the woolen pieces we've gotten and hung up so far. 

There's a Pendleton 100% virgin wool matching skirt and top set in lovely colors (mainly turquoise and purple). Then (top right) there was a Pendleton 100% virgin wool button down shirt in red and green. Lastly, there was a wonderful pair of blue wool dress pants, no tag. I'm sure there's a few more treasures in the last box, but I won't know until tomorrow. I love how we sometimes get some really amazing pieces in donations and I'm glad people don't just throw things out and they're willing to donate. It's a great example of sustainable fashion. After we go through the rest we'll then be donating the rest to someone else, it's kind of a nice never-ending cycle. Hopefully it ends up in good hands.

Costume Shop Dress Project: Finished

Hello Everyone! This is how my "Dress 1" turned out! I had removed the lace on the front, the bow from the back, and the straps. I showed my boss the final result when I took both dresses into the shop and she agreed with me that the previous straps were just horrible and definitely needed to be replaced. I chose this velvet lace to use for the straps because I love the black with the maroon and the lace adds interest to the plain dress. I left it embellished so that when used for a performance the designer for the show could add just enough without having to take anything off. For my other dress I also didn't add any embellishments for the same reason. I'm really happy with the end results and I wish I had finished them earlier so I could work on even more. I will be finishing some alterations for "Hay Fever" and this next week I will be helping finish organize the costume shop. In my private time I will be attempting to sew a men's shirt for practice and hopefully a jacket for myself.

Costume Shop Dress Project: Almost Done!

Back View.

I've been working on my dresses for the costume shop and should be done by Thursday! For this dress, ''Dress 2," I've taken the chiffon additions from around the back and moved them up onto the shoulder straps. To me it looks better, more elegant feeling and lays a lot better than the original dress. I also had removed the white bow from "Dress 1" and sewed it with the colored bow from this dress. I sewed both bows together and then hand stitched them to the back of this dress. I had stitched the one side along the back and then for the other side used snaps since the bow covers across the zipper. I really wish I used dresses my size so I could get pictures of someone modeling them for my portfolio, but I will settle for better pictures once I'm done. As of now I just have to stitch some holes in the chiffon closed and I'm debating on adding lace detail from the other dress onto the front of this one.

Closer look at the Back.

As for my other dress, it is essentially a blank state right now. I removed the lace on the front, the bow from the back, all of the fastenings except for the zipper, and removed the straps because I disliked the way they looked on the dress. I am thinking of using some black lace to make straps and a belt of some sort to add interest to the dress. I have some other chiffon I could play around with, I was considering a type of long vest over the top of the dress, but it's not the same color. Oh well, I will be playing around with my designs but not until I'm completely finished with this dress! That post will probably be tomorrow (or maybe even tonight!). Stay tuned!

Costume Shop Dress Project: The Pieces

What I did was remove the bows from both dresses and then combine them together. This brings the colors together and also adds a little interest to the final bow. I had removed the fasteners on the bows (snaps) and will wait until I'm further on the dress to see where I want to put the bow in the back. I want to add a type of Watteau back to the dress with a toile fabric I found at the costume shop. I removed the lace trim from the front of the one dress and will most likely be sewing it onto the front of the other, though I haven't quite decided yet. It might end up being on the shoulders. As of now I'm working on fixing the chiffon dress and doing the Watteau back for it. Once I make more progress I'll post my steps & more pictures!

Costume Shop Dress Project: Dress 2

 I chose this dress mainly because of the chiffon on the back. I'm not a fan of the way someone altered it because they messed the back up, but I'm going to use this as my base dress and completely change it. So far I've taken the chiffon bow and other pieces off as well as the fastenings and the silver pin that is broken and missing jewels. Stay tuned for more updates!

Costume Shop Dress Project: Dress 1

I chose this dress for the color, weight of the fabric (heavier than the other dress), and the details on it. I liked the bow on the back and the trim on the front; however, I didn't like the straps. I decided I wanted to take off the straps, bow, and trim. I also took off the fastenings like snaps and hook and eyes. I'm saving the fastenings for my final dress or also just to reuse for other projects. Why waste useful pieces?

Costume Shop Progress & More

The books I got
to use for research.

Right now in the costume shop we are almost done organizing the boxes and totes. As we might start going through them on Monday, if not then Tuesday for sure. On Thursday we were almost done so I was emptying totes up on the counter tops (where the sewing area will be) which were full of random clothing and unsorted fabric. After we get the costume shop organized and completely finished I am sure we will try and tackle organizing the fabric section in the other room in a better way than it is right now.

As for helping with the costume designer (my boss) for her show for a different theater company, I am making a ruff this weekend. Well hopefully I'll finish it this weekend. I'd like to at least have a mock up of a ruff so she can see if she likes it or not. 

Along with that I have been given the choice to remake some of the dresses! They let me take home one of the sewing machines and an iron and I can pick whichever dresses out of the prom, nonspecific, Victorian, or empire waists and combine them to make more historic looking dresses. As of now I have two maroon empire waist dresses, some patterns that I might use, thread, and a lot of books to help me. I am hoping to make a dress with a Watteau back but I'm not entirely sure about my plan yet. However, I might as well try because Sheri and Ella said it's okay if I mess up and we have to get rid of it because we have way too much anyways. It's just a great way to practice a form of sustainability, trying to make new dresses out of what we already have rather than completely starting from scratch. I'm pretty excited about this and I'll write a different post on it with progress pictures once I have finalized my ideas for it.

Spring Fashion: Sustainability

In between shows. 
Me (L) & Gabby (R).

One of the "requirements" for when you study abroad during a spring semester is that you still have to participate in the fashion show. This year they had wanted a separate section of the show to be purely for sustainability, so we had to make a look for either the runway or the art gallery that fulfilled the requirements for being sustainable. I chose right away that I wanted to put my piece, whatever it ended up being, on the runway. I enlisted the help of  my friend Gabby, who had been my model my sophomore year (& will hopefully be a model for my senior collection) and she agreed to model my look. I wasn't sure if I'd be there for the fashion show but I planned my trip abroad so I could make it and see everyone, and help Gabby if she needed it on the day of the fashion show. I was really glad I made it back, it was amazing and I got o see my friends' senior collections and others' pieces on the runway & in the gallery. It was also cool to see how they managed to pull it off in the new area it was held- the co-rec gyms. Overall it was amazing and I'm really glad I got to see the first show & hang out with my friends, and treat Gabby to Starbucks in between the shows since it's always a crazy day.

Back View: Gabby on the runway.

My look for the show consisted of two pieces: a layered lace skirt and a button down top. The skirt was made from a dress. I took the dress apart and recreated it into a skirt. It was also a XXL so I redid the waist completely and hand stitched the ribbon waistband that ties into a bow in the back. I was hesitant (and insanely lucky it fit) because I didn't include any closures on the skirt. Luckily I got the measurements perfect and she could pull it over her head, tuck the shirt in, and tie the bow. For the top I took a button down blue & white striped shirt I had gotten from the costume shop sale and made it my own. After washing and ironing it I decided I wanted the look to be kind of retro and cutesy feeling. I cut a heart in the back of it, had a tiny pleat at the bottom of the heart, and sewed a turquoise fabric for the heart area. I also got the fabric at the costume sale for free and it's see through with glitter turquoise dots on it. I outlined the heart with a curvy white ribbon and also added the same ribbon to the front of the shirt on the left breast pocket. I had a few other ideas but I didn't want to go overboard and I also did a lot by hand and only had the fall semester to finish the look. I completed everything in time and it all fit and looked great! I'm really happy I decided to put it on the runway because it was one of the only fun outfits, and by fun I just mean that a lot of peoples' looks were more edgy or sophisticated and mine was just this lacy pouf skirt and bowling-esque shirt. The whole show looked great & it was neat to see everyone's take on sustainability and how it can be more included in fashion. Freshman year we had done a goodwill project and this reminded me of it and I'm definitely one of those people that already takes things they bought at goodwill & redoes some of it. Sustainability doesn't just mean making dresses out of newspapers or duct tape, it has a lot of different ways it can be done & it's wonderful to witness the variety!