Tag: prototype

Birthday Dress – In Progress

Overdress - in progress

This is the back view of the prototype version of my 40th Birthday Dress. So far, I’m very glad that I made a prototype, and didn’t take the scissors straight to the gorgeous shot silk dupion that I’ve got waiting!

The style of the dress is exactly spot on. The open back designed to give a glimpse of the layer underneath, the ridiculous bow inspired by a 1971 Style pattern (more on this later), and a high round neck at the front, deliberately kept very plain, to show off a big necklace or a pretty scarf.

Overdress - in progress

Unfortunately, I forgot something important. (No, not the ironing. Shush.) You see those drag lines at the sides, underneath the bust? I forgot the all important part where fabric is flat but bodies are curved, and I didn’t leave quite enough breathing room at the top. Fortunately my dress form is somewhat more generously endowed than I am, so the dress does fit. But it is a bit tight, so I’ll need to re-draft the front pattern piece before I make another. (I blame the fact that my pattern drafting books are already packed for the move, so I had to make the pattern up as I went along.)

I’ve been adding a lot of “Lagenlook” inspired outfits to Pinterest lately (you can see the board here), and the point is to wear a lot of loose layers, often with plenty of frills and asymmetry thrown in for good measure. The basic silhouette of a Lagenlook outfit is fundamentally triangular. As I am also fundamentally triangular, this seems like a great look for me!

Overdress - in progress

The annoying thing is, I’m so utterly conditioned to the “right” shape for a woman being an hourglass, or at least having some semblance of waist definition, that my immediate thought on adding this belt to the dress form was, “that’s better”.

Except that it’s not better. It’s not better at all. It pretty much guarantees that I’ll have indigestion after an hour, be uncomfortable all day, and generally be distracted by my clothes instead of focussing on whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing. None of which, however you look at it, can possibly be defined as “better”.

I think what I need to do now is take the belt away, make the next version of the dress much more wide and floaty, and try to step away from any and all forms of media that try to tell me that my body shape is fundamentally wrong.

(And work out how best to add the most ENORMOUS pockets to the front of the dress. Obviously.)

Prototype Gloves

Prototype fingerless gloves

Well, they fit, but only because I happen to have very small hands!

They’re made from polar fleece which, it turns out, isn’t really stretchy enough for gloves – not ones as fitted as these, anyway. I’m very pleased with the shape at the top (tall over the fingers and cut away underneath), although the placement of the curve needs a little alteration so that the little finger doesn’t disappear. The decoration on the cuffs also needs re-thinking. On auto-pilot I put the centre of the braid in the centre of the cuff piece, without thinking that this would cause it to end up hidden on the inside of the wrists. Oops.

I’ve never made gloves before, and it turns out that they’re very fiddly, especially parts like the thumb which obviously can’t fit over the free arm of the sewing machine. I am pleased with the way the thumbs have come out though – they’re the right height, and they fit really nicely around the base. Next time I think I’d change the order of the construction and attach the cuffs before sewing up the side seams. That would have made the top stitching in particular a lot easier!

My disembodied hand has arrived! Yay!

Perhaps most frustratingly of all – my disembodied hand arrived last week, and I was so looking forward to displaying my first glove on it… but they’re so tight that they won’t stretch far enough to fit. Damn!

Stripy Boots

Stripy Boots

Ta-daa!

This pair isn’t wearable outside, mostly because I made an error in the construction (I am clumsy, and accidentally snipped a little hole in the outer fabric), so I sewed felt slipper-soles onto the bottom. Annoyingly, this took longer than it would have done to glue the rubber soles on, but it meant that I could try them on and walk about in them for a bit, at least inside the house.

There are some little adjustments I want to make to the pattern, but this is fundamentally it.

I’m waiting for drawings-of-feet from a couple of willing prototype testers, so I’ll be able to show you some different versions of these as I make them. I’m looking forward to the peacock-coloured silk pair that have been requested!

Prototype Boots: Take Two

Muslin Boots 2

I made another little boot prototype, sort of idly based on the construction of Converse, but developed from my existing shoe pattern. The black stitching lines are the seam allowances, so they’ll be a little more cut-away than they appear.

I need to make the curves more shallow, as they’ve come out a bit right-angled on this little boot, but I think the style might just work.

Muslin Boot

Muslin Boots

I’ve been thinking about making boots for a little while. I finally decided to stop thinking, start sewing, and see what happened. Some minor tweaks are needed (the uppers don’t fit properly to the insoles for a start), but here is the beginning of some little boots. I have plans for more of a pull-on pixie-style thing as well, but haven’t quite got my brain around those yet.

I have terrible spacial awareness, which makes imagining objects in three dimensions very difficult for me. I have to build them, and see what happens. I am terrible at pattern drafting for exactly this reason. Also, small children can beat me at Tetris.

If I can get this pattern right, and make sure that the construction isn’t deathly complicated and time-consuming, I should be able to make these in lots of different heights without too much difficulty. She says, optimistically.

And the last pair…

Diane's earth-toned shoes

Here they are, the final pair of prototype shoes. Made in earth-toned colours, as requested, this is a very heavily interfaced crepe-de-chine. The lining’s a gorgeous bright orange, and the copper coloured ribbons are a perfect match.

I’ve started getting some feedback from my shoe testers, which has thankfully been pretty consistent. It looks as though there are a couple of changes I need to make to the basic pattern, but once that’s done I can feel a few more pairs of shoes coming on.

Dennis the Menace Shoes

Dott's Dennis Shoes

I think this might be my favourite pair of the prototype shoes. Plain black toes, big red ribbons… but who’s that hiding inside…?

Dott's Dennis Shoes

Ooh, it’s Dennis the Menace!

Stripes

And to complete the effect, red and black stripes around the heel.

Hopefully these are smart enough to wear for work (perhaps with black ribbons rather than bright red) with a little bit of sneaky silliness hidden away on the inside!

Purple Organic Cotton Shoes

Laura's Purple Organic shoes

Laura requested that her shoes be a plain, dark colour, such as purple or red. This picture doesn’t really show the depth of colour in this lovely purple organic cotton. I used the same fabric inside and out, and was lucky enough to find a ribbon that matched almost exactly.

More skull shoes…

Lisa's Skulls & Roses shoes

This is the second pair of skulls & roses shoes – this time with an organza ribbon for a little bit of variety.

Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Rhona's Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Sorry about my little disappearance there – I’ve been so busy making things that I haven’t been making time to write about them. Please prepare yourself for a flurry of posts!

These are the sixth pair of prototype shoes, in black chinese brocade with multicoloured butterflies. They look a bit wrinkly because they’re a size bigger than my lasts – I promise they’re not wrinkly in real life. They’re finished off with a delicate organza ribbon because I thought it went well with the butterflies. These are definitely a pair of shoes fit for a faerie, so they’ve gone to a good home.