Entry #6

2013 Fashion Design Challenge

Entry #6

From 18 Inch Stitch

18inchstitch.blogspot.com

DESIGN AND INSPIRATION

My entry was inspired by a dress worn by the character Chi from the manga series "Chobits".  It is an elegant white dress perfect for a spring garden party. Enjoying the flowers grow and bloom every year in my backyard pushed me even further to create this hand embroidered piece.  

I looked to regency era clothes for inspiration when I started sketching and designing it.

My ultimate goal for this project was to test out my sewing skills in general, learn and demonstrate hand embroidery on a dimensional piece, and to effectively reflect the dress from the illustration from "Chobits."

IN PROGRESS

I only needed to select a few different material types for the outfit.  The majority of the dress is made from a cotton poly blend white fabric that I backed with a lining to make the fabric stiffer for embroidery, fine mesh, thread, embroidery floss, velcro, and ribbon.

After looking over my inspiration and initial sketches, I started sketching out pattern pieces I thought would work. I also looked at the construction of dresses from Josefina's collection from American Girl to get an idea of the structure.  I then like to cut out and lay the pieces on my doll to see how they wrap around.  Then I cut the pieces out of scrap fabric and quickly stitched them together to see if the fit the doll correctly. 

Once I settle on my pattern pieces I trace them onto my fabric instead of cutting them out right away.  I embroidered right to the edge of the pattern piece so I needed  a little extra fabric to fit in the embroidery hoop. Then using a light box, I lightly traced my flower and vine pattern onto the fabric with a pencil.

Then came the hand embroidery part!  This step took the longest amount of time to complete but it was well worth jabbing myself and the hand cramps.

After I finished embroidering I cut out my pieces, pinned them together piece by piece, and headed over to the sewing machine.

I wanted to make the overlaying, fine mesh separate from the dress so I would have two looks.  I cut two square panels for this part and sewed them to a long white ribbon which can be tied around the waist.

FINISHED OUTFIT

Thanks for viewing my entry!  You can see my new blog at 18inchstitch.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your entry!

Vote for this outfit via comment on this post or by emailing us 

at nora.demington@gmail.com.

One vote per person.

You can vote for yourself.

You can vote for more than one outfit.

Hence, you can vote for multiple outfits. :-)

Information about this contest:

http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2013/06/dw-2013-fashion-design-challenge-starts.html

First Outfit Tasks Due July 14th, 2013.

Second Outfit Tasks Due August 25th, 2013.