Vintage Pattern Meets African Batik Meets kokoleo

Last month I got a commission to make a sundress using authentic batik fabric that was purchased in Kenya, Africa. The customer wanted it to be a 1950s style cocktail dress based on this vintage reprint Vogue pattern:

To be honest, I'm not a fan of patterns, especially vintage ones. You'd think with all the sewing I've done that following a pattern would be no problem, but I much rather prefer devising my own way of doing things, be it custom plush monsters or a cupcake costume or any other weird one-of-a-kind. Fancy grown-up dresses with darts and gathering and interfacing and buttons and hidden side zippers still intimidate me. Which is precisely why I said, "Yes, I'll do it." To prove that I can. And I did!

 

 It took a few weeks of careful planning before I got up the nerve to piece it together. One wrong cut and I would have been screwed since it's not exactly the kind of fabric you can pick up at JoAnn's. Luckily, I remembered reading somewhere that vintage patterns run about 6 sizes smaller than their modern counterparts, so while the pattern I had went up to a size 14, that's really a modern size 8 and I needed to make it a 10. Argh! Math! I checked the measurements against those I took from my customer and realized that the pattern was too small so I simply trusted my seamstress instincts and cut about a 3/4 inch extra on the sides, top and bottom and followed the basic shape of the original pattern. Thankfully it fit her perfectly.

Here's the back view. The skirt is nearly 4 yards gathered at the waist.

 The only materials I purchased for this project were the shoulder buttons. I have a billion buttons in my studio stash, but not 10 identical ones.

Working with the free-form, assymetrical pattern was a bit tricky. I took extra care to line it up in a balanced, flattering manner, making sure not to let the circles be two giant bullseyes on her boobs. I thought the cummerbund needed a little something extra so I added this oversize vintage plastic button that matched the colors perfectly. I've had that button for probably 6 years now knowing it would be perfect for something some day. 

And now it's done! My confidence in my vintage pattern-following abilities has grown and my customer got a one-of-a-kind, custom-fit, African batik, vintage reproduction, kokoleo cocktail dress.

Raggedy Barbie

Yesterday, inspired by a call for submissions for an Altered Barbie art show at happy delusions, I spent a rainy Seattle afternoon holed up in my studio making this:

I call it Raggedy Barbie.

I printed the face onto photo transfer paper, ironed it onto canvas material and using McKenna's Raggedy Ann doll as a reference, cut out all the body parts like this:

 Then stuffed it, sewed on yarn hair, and made a patchwork print dress and ribbon belt.

Here's a close-up. 

I probably spent over 6 hours making it. Minus the Barbie face, it looks a lot like a rag doll I had when I was little - her name was Minneapolis and she had yellow yarn hair and a patchwork dress. In college, I made several rag doll-related works of art including a 3-dimensional fabric collage atop an antique quilt titled Annabelle Lives in A Patchwork World. It was a girl (composed of my clothes) with yellow yarn hair leaning against a fabric tree. I also made a painting of Raggedy Anne all grown up and stuck in a toy box.

 It hangs in McKenna's room now. I suppose rag dolls are a theme for me, which is why when I thought about how to alter Barbie I instantly thought of making a her into a traditional rag doll. Barbies are usually sexy and stylish. Rag dolls? Not so much. The juxtaposition of the two is a wee bit off-putting. When I was nearly finished making it McKenna walked in, looked at it, screamed! and said, "That's a creepy doll mom!"

 Ha! She warmed up to her though.

And now they're friends.

Tutorial Tuesday: Patchwork Carrot Tutorial

The bunnies I made last week were hungry, so I made them a bunch of patchwork carrots:

If you have hungry handmade bunnies, here's how you can make some too. Here's a pattern:

 

The 2-3 sided larger carrot is easiest, while the 3-4 sided smaller carrot is more challenging. I worked my way up. Here's the challenging one: 

Cut 5 separate pieces and sew one to another 2/8 inch from the edge making sure to meet at a common endpoint at the bottom:

Stitch all sides together leaving an opening at the top:

 Trim excess fabric at the tip and turn right-side-out through the hole at the top.

 Now stuff it:

For leaves, rip fabric into 1/4 inch strips. Insert into the hole and hand stitch closed.

You can also use string or ribbons or lace:

or ric-rac:

Now your bunnies* won't go hungry.

*Not suitable for real-live bunnies, intended only for the handmade variety.