Featherstitch Avenue

Style and Couture Sewing

Work in Progress

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Car Wash Skirt Muslin

Here we go.  An unfinished skirt in the unfinished attic.  The muslin is done.  (For those of you who don’t know, a muslin is the “trial” garment used to get the perfect fit.  You also have the opportunity to make design changes at this stage.  You’ll notice the hand written notations on each pattern piece.)  This is when I really appreciate how much Vivie helps me.  I draped this muslin on her, then just sewed it up.  And it fits with no adjustments.

Car Wash Skirt Muslin

Although, I didn’t add any ease for this muslin, I think that I’m going to add just the tiniest bit of ease at the center back.  I’m not going to add too much because my garments tend to get a tad bit bigger going from the muslin to the real garment.  It’s just one of my personal sewing quirks that falls into the “good to know” category.  And considering the number of seams this garment has, that can add up to a whole lot.

Car Wash Skirt Muslin

I pinned the seam allowances back so that I could get a sense of how the ‘flaps” are going to look and how they are going to move.  I walked all over my house flipping those panels every which way and littering the floor with pins.  I’m really thrilled with their movement and I think this skirt is going to be an absolute blast to wear!

I’ve got a way to go to before this skirt comes together.  Cutting the fashion fabric, thread tracing, quilting with the silk charmeuse lining, sewing it all together, putting in the hand sewn couture zipper, fell stitching all the lining pieces, and hemming.  I love this part!!

Car Wash Skirt Muslin

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

Have a great week, everyone.  We’ll see you soon.

Iris Van Herpen

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Dress with Motorcycle Chain and Grommets
Iris Van Herpen, From the Mummification Collection, January 2009

I know, I know!  I told you that you would see a muslin this week.  But why look at a muslin when you can see this instead?!!  I recently had the amazing good fortune to find myself in the High Museum taking in the Iris Van Herpen exhibit.  My mind was so blown that I still have smoke coming from my ears!  I consider myself a fashion junkie, especially obsessed with all things couture and although I had heard of Iris Van Herpen, she wasn’t really on my radar.  Now she is, in a huge way!  I can’t stop thinking about what I saw.

Dress with Lacing
Iris Van Herpen, From the Mummification Collection, January 2009
Bodice Detail with Bike Chain
Iris Van Herpen, From the Mummification Collection, January 2009

The title of the exhibit is Iris Van Herpen, Transforming Fashion.  Honestly, it’s way more than fashion.  Each piece is a work of art.  It takes incredible creativity and ingenuity to mold such unconventional materials into a garment.  For the Mummification Collection, she used motorcycle chain, bicycle chain, and grommets.  For the Chemical Crows Collection, she used umbrella spokes.

Dresses with Umbrella Spokes
Iris Van Herpen, From the Chemical Crows Collection, January 2008
Black Leather Dress
Iris Van Herpen, From the Radiation Invasion Collection, September 2009
Black Leather Bodice Detail
Bodice Detail, Iris Van Herpen, From the Radiation Invasion Collection, September 2009

Iris Van Herpen takes her inspiration mostly from nature, but not in expected ways.  Her collections have been about radiation, smoke, magnetic force, and crystallization to name a few.  Then with amazing artistry, she solidifies those concepts into something tangible.

Shoes with Crystals
Iris Van Herpen Shoes with Crystals
Dress Detail
Iris Van Herpen, From the Wilderness Embodied Collection, July 2013

Collaboration is a huge part of her process, as technology must come into play to realize her vision.  She seeks out partnerships with people in many different mediums to pull off these garments.  Many of her pieces use 3-D printing.  Some are made by hand.  It can be difficult to tell which process she used as some of the more organic looking pieces were 3-D printed while some that look more technological advanced were actually made conventionally.

Leather with Ray Fish Print Dress
Iris Van Herpen, From the Biopiracy Collection, March 2014
Dress Detail
Bodice Detail, From the Biopiracy Collection, March 2014
Dress with Metal and Crystals
Iris Van Herpen, From the Magnetic Motion Collection, September 2014

If this work excites you as much as it does me, then make a point to visit the High Museum before May 15.  I’ve shown the tip of the iceberg here.  The exhibit covers 3 floors and being able to see the back of the garment is just as valuable as seeing the front.  And if you can’t make it to Atlanta, then consider buying the book, Iris Van Herpen, Transforming Fashion.  It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ve included a few pictures below.

Book Spread
From the book, Iris Van Herpen, Transforming Fashion
Book
From the book Iris Van Herpen, Transforming Fashion

See you soon!

Introducing….

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Dress Form

I heard once a good way to unlock your creativity is to name your inner artist and your inner critic.  For years, I have tried to do just that, and for whatever reason I’ve come up empty.  I finally gave up.

When I got my dress form, I was asked frequently if I’d named her.  The question never failed to make me uneasy.  Even as I worked to shape my dress form into my own personal measurements, I eyed it with a certain level of reserve, maybe even suspicion.

Dress Form, Top

The stand-offishness that I had with my form didn’t help at all when it was time to start draping.  For some reason, I’d decided that draping was the true test of my sewing chops, and if I couldn’t do it, then I’d have to admit I suck at something I desperately want to be good at.

After my first workshop with Julien (read about it here), I brought home my form, perfectly sized to my proportions and marked accurately to practice the art of moulage, which is a specific way of draping that uses corresponding lines on the form and on the muslin.  Guess what?!  I didn’t touch that form for a whole year!!  Believe me, I was sewing like crazy.  But draping?  Not once.

Dress Form

So I signed up for a second workshop with Julien.  And this time I decided that I would not walk in that door until I named my dress form.  She would be a stranger no longer.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Vivie!  It took a lot of time to come up with the right name.  Some of you may have already guessed that she’s partly named for Vivienne Westwood whose garments are world famous for their amazing drape.  But last time I checked, I’m no Vivienne Westwood, and using the name Vivienne sounded pretentious.  But a nickname, yes!  That works!  Vivie has French feel which is my way of honoring my teacher Julien and the very French method of draping that he taught me.

Dress Form and Skirt

Can I confess to you now that naming her worked?  It really did.  Where I was tight and inhibited, Vivie is fun!  She brings out the best in me and we now have a lot of fun working together.

So, it’s only fair that Vivie get her own photo shoot.  She’s earned it.  She’s currently wearing the draped car wash skirt.  You can see a video of our work together on our Instagram.

God bless you, if you’ve read this far!  And if you’ve decided that I’m not a total lunatic (or that my kind of crazy matches up with yours) then come back next week to see a muslin of the car wash skirt.  See you soon!

Photography by Santiago Vanegas