Crazy Revisited

sneak peek, originally uploaded by littlegirlPearl.

Not really crazy, but you know, "what are you thinking?" crazy. You'll see what I mean in a sec.

I have been toying with this design for over a year now. I actually attempted it some time last Spring, but set it aside as needing to be reworked. I never did get back to it. Let me explain.

I am inspired in lots of different ways. Like most people who have a fabric addiction, it starts there. But what to do with all of those colors and textures?? In my flight attendant job, I see lots of fashion, good, bad, and ugly. And really, let's face it, most of it is ugly. Occasionally you see the gorgeously put together woman, but most of the time it's pajama bottoms and crocs. Seriously. In public.

But one day this gal had on a white top that was made up of lots of bias tubes (I think) set on the diagonal. It was a simple shirt really, but the detail made it interesting. So this sets off the percolating in my brain, and I think to myself, what if I did that on a smaller scale?? Vertical bias tubes of different coordinating fabrics? The easiest way to accomplish that, or so I thought, would be to make single fold bias tape.

The problem, of course is that when I stitched them down to the bodice, I didn't catch all of the fabric, and when washed, it would've basically come apart. I was pretty distressed because I had spent virtually the entire day creating three of these dresses in different sizes for a show in New York. They still sit on my pile of half-finished enterprises.



Fast forward about a year, and this idea had not gone away. The truth is that I really liked the way it looked. It was totally different from anything else I'd seen, and I knew it could be done. So...for fall I decided to do a pink and brown combination with a soft pink corduroy for the skirt. I chose 5 different fabrics, and gave my rotary cutter a workout cutting bias strips. I sewed the right sides together, turned and pressed. Then, starting in the center of one side of the bodice, I stitched them in the center, so that there is sort of a "flap" look to them.



I'm pretty darn pleased with the result, and I'd love to make more in different colors. I quite like the all pink version from before, and it would be cool to do one in red. Any other color suggestions?? Because, you know, I have all sorts of time on my hands...