Little Gems

I am a terrible blogger. Let's just face it, shall we? I think, after four years of this, we all know I will post only sporadically, and in brief spurts at best. I probably won't reply to comments regularly, even though I ought. I won't take consistently good photos and I will change up my content all the time. I wish I were better at this, but to be honest, it just isn't the right time in my life. I've been getting better at prioritizing my time, and by doing so, school goes to the top and internet goes to the bottom.

And that school... Let me tell you, I've been learning so much in my two years in the program. It's harder than I ever imagined, but it's also the kind of thing you learn to deal with as time goes on, and you get better at managing how you work the more you practice. And the people help. Having made best friends out of the girls in my major has, quite truly, made this whole Apparel thing survivable.

Anyway, it's finals week. I'm in the middle of making portfolio pages for the garments I made in my Advanced Pattern class. This past week was our fashion show. But more on all of that later! Here's my Children's line from last semester!











More projects to come!

Line Development - Men's Line

This was my men's wear line. For this one, we got to be a little less creatively driven, and we had a lot more requirements. The main ones were that we had to do striped knit shirts with varying patterns, that it had to be a resort collection, and it had to have a certain amount of branding, motifs, and emblems included. Knots were my main theme, and my mom even tied the knot on my cover page above! So sweet. :)



This collection was hand-drawn, and then colored using Photoshop. It was so neat to learn to use the program to create patterns! Coloring remained my favorite part of the process through this project, and learning to dodge and burn was a total game-changer for the quality of my flats.



Also, I draw very angry men, apparently. They're all sneering!



This line was a bit of a struggle to complete in our given two-week time period. What I remember most from the day I turned it in was the sheer exhaustion: I hadn't slept in three days save a few naps, and I couldn't even stay awake through my classes afterward. But, it was worth it. It's always worth it to pull all-nighters like that, because the alternative is turning in sub-par work. By the time I finished this project, I decided that I enjoyed outerwear more than anything else--and it helped that I was better at it than other aspects of design. I think that was my favorite part of the class in the end: learning your strengths and weaknesses is so hugely important to success. Knowing that I enjoyed outerwear gave me direction for the next project: children's clothing!

Line Development - Women's Line

Welcome to my life in Fall, 2011.



I lived and breathed my Line Development class for three months, and oh, what a crazy time it was. I wrote about it back in January, but to give more of a recap of what the class actually was, I figured I would show some pictures from my portfolio. Before this class, I couldn't sketch. I mean, I really could not articulate my ideas on pen and paper. Here is proof, and I only am linking you to this to prove a point: these awkward drawings make me cringe!

To say I was nervous for this class would be an understatement. Sewing is my strong point, not sketching! And yes, I struggled, but all the extra work make success that much sweeter.

But anyway! This is my women's wear line. I was inspired by arched doorways and hinges, and that was the driving point behind most of the pieces.





Everything in this collection was hand drawn and hand colored. I used Prismacolor pencils and a clear Prismacolor blender on top to get the partial rendering effect. Coloring was definitely my favorite part! Getting the texture, hand-drawing embossed leather and tweeds... it was such fun. Remember that jacket from up top... You'll be seeing something similar soon!

just close your eyes

Thanks for your nice comments on my last post, guys! I can't believe you haven't forgotten about my in my long sabbatical. I know I always say this, but I think I will have more time to post this next semester! Hopefully. I'm taking three Apparel classes, though, so I guess we'll see. Advanced Pattern Development will be my hardest class by a mile: it's more draping than flat patterning, which my first pattern class was on. I've heard the professor just draws a design on the board and you have to figure out, in class, how to drape it with your chunk of muslin and box of pins. Eeek! I'm also taking Quality Analysis of Sewn Products, and I'm not totally sure what it will be like. My third Apparel class is Textile Evaluation, where we test fabrics for, say, tensile strength, or flexibility, or abrasion resistance.





dress & scarf / handmade | sweater / new york & co | petticoat / thrifted | boots / urban original



I live in this scarf, it's true! And these boots, for that matter. What's in your closet that you can't help putting on most days?

Bleak Midwinter

Oh hi!

It was a crazy semester. That's really the only reason I have for my absence here. I hardly slept, let alone made any clothes. I had never worked so hard on anything until I worked on my Line Development homework--learning to draw, design, and put together cohesive lines of clothing. Getting a portfolio together, learning photoshop... it all required a lot of time and effort and I seriously pushed myself to my limits. It was so, so worth it--worth skipping other classes to finish projects, worth pretty much letting go of my social life, worth all the consecutive nights stayed up before projects were due, sitting for 24 hours in one spot, working nonstop.

Because now that it's over, now that I'm home and can remember to eat normal meals, get a full nights sleep, and let go of the massive doses of caffeine, I can proudly look at my portfolio and know that it is a kind of quality I am proud to show potential employers, something I can bring to internship interviews. That I created something I'm proud of and loved doing it (for the most part) and know I'm still passionate about this--that's worth it, in the end.

Oh, and I achieved a 4.0 GPA for the first time! That was pretty gratifying, too.

I am sorry for any emails that went unanswered, attempts to contact me that were to no avail. I really let a lot of things go this fall. I'm playing catch-up, but if you tried to contact me and I didn't reply, do try again!



This is a dress I made spontaneously on New Year's Eve. It was the first garment I'd made in months! I was sick of everything in my closet, and I'd happened to throw two table cloths on top of each other while cleaning my sewing room. One was a thrift store find from the summer, and the other I had dyed several years ago with the intent of making something eventually. After staring at them a little while, I decided I needed a new dress to wear that night. So I copied a pattern from the dress I posted pictures of on my birthday, and got to work right then. Four hours later, I had myself a new dress and a couple hours left to make some desserts for our annual party.



It's really rather poorly thrown together on the inside--I didn't use seam finishes or anything--and the waist is a smidgen big on me. But it's fun and new and I'm okay if it doesn't last forever.





I also made my cowl: it was a little exercise in maintaining sanity during the semester. My friends and I went out, bought yarn and needles, and just sat and knit to unwind. It worked!

cowl & dress / handmade | jacket / gift | socks & gloves / target | boots / urban original



My New Year's Eve was lovely--food, music, friends, fun, and a bonfire, as usual! How was yours? What are your resolutions, if you made any? Hope your fall went well--tell me about it!