Fashion: Smaller and smaller Circles

Circle.

This headdress was made entirely of circle shapes of varying sizes.

Circle is prolly the most used shape in garment industry.

The way circle makes for the most perfect bias (championed by Madeline Vionnet, bias is a general term for items/clothes cut on the 45 degree angle of the cloth. Bias is loved by many as it lends much needed 'give' and allows fabric to fall more gracefully as opposed to the stiff hemlines landing on the cross-grain [the width of the cloth]); and it being the shape most flattering to the body- as circle has a natural tendency to follow the curves of our body; makes circle such a subject of exploration and experimentation by a lot of designers as circle seemingly promises myriads of possibilities and applications... from clothes (the best example I can give is the NYC avant garde collective of threeASFOUR) to drapes to embellishments (most ruffles start their lives as circles) which is the case in this blog entry.

Bespoke headdress made of dupioni and net circles.

By yours truly for my client Nicky who's attending a vintage themed party.

To contact.

Email: chua.mara@gmail.com

Fashion: Cotton

A preview of my client Patti's grad ball dress.
It's a double dress with a detachable long skirt.
She was less specific about the design of this dress so
I did exercise quite a bit of liberalism in designing/making this one. :)

I don't really see myself as the go to designer for pretty feminine dresses.
I love my edge. haha. Yeah, as you might have guessed, the color and the material isn't exactly my thing. Sooo, in this particular exercise I tired achieve compromise (femininity and edge) by creating soft geometries.

The dress is made of around 19 yards of chiffon. Dull satin base.

19 yards coz I did at least 3 layers of chiffon per skirt. I'm not a fan of single layer chiffon overlay. It's not diaphanous enough. hahaha (I would have used ethereal but diaphanous is a more apt description of the effect I wanted to achieve)... If I had more chiffon I'd have gone all the way and made 6 layers and made do without a base to really get that light airy effect.

The bodice is 100% hand pleated.

Also, loved the fact that my base is a few tones darker. It give the impression that the dress is glowing.

Fashion: Works In Progress. Pattern vs Hand Draping

PIC 1. Dresses in their current state.

PIC 2 &3. Their previous lives (the flat worm like paper patterns is the red dress now, the white dress obviously being the white ):)

The picture of the 2 dresses showcase an interesting POV on construction. Both dresses are 'draped' or more accurately, have drapes. The white (current state in pictures 1 while it's previous life is in picture 2), is draped with hand while the bodice is on the dress from. The red (current life in pics 1, while, yes, those 2 caterpillar shaped brown papers in pic 3 are its blueprint), purely generated from flat paper pattern. Both have their pros and their cons (flat and hand draping). I'm personally more comfortable using the paper pattern. I love precision and being able to replicate my clothes. Lets just put it at that :)

Fashion: Mock dress

While in the previous fashion post I mentioned about my love for pattern experimentation, that experimentation is usually derived from an already drafted basic bodice pattern. That being said, an ill fitting bodice will result in an awkward and disproportionate looking shape relative to the body.

What I'm trying to get at? There's wisdom in something as basic as perfecting the fit of your bodice pattern and knowing how to make the bodice fit different body types properly.

This rule/ wisdom applies especially to designers who offer bespoke/ couture services since the bodice in question changes on a per client basis. A designer concentrating him or herself in pret- a- porter only needs to base her proportions on predetermined industry sizes... This means that, he/ she doesn't have to concern his/ herself in certain 'nuances' like say a certain individual's wider bust (apex) distance or torso and then paired with, say,a narrower chest width- considerations when you're in the business of engineering patterns and creating clothes that should fit the individual perfectly.

I could go on and on and on about the importance of knowing how to properly draft, construct and finish the basic bodice. If fashion had its own "pillars" like Islam does, a properly drafted/ draped basic bodice would be one of them. It can make or break your garment since the bodice is the foundation of your garment. Poorly made foundation is just inviting trouble and lots of additional unnecessary work and wasted time. A good fit and a bodice you can consider successful is usually achieved through detailed measurement taking and certain adjustments you only really know by instinct/ experience and a good grasp on basic mathematical and geometric equations... Before I lead anyone to believe that you only need to know drafting to be able to successfully make a garment. Drafting is only the beginning phase of the process. I feel the need to highlight what I previously mentioned: constructing and finishing are 2 very different stories since they involve a certain level of competence/ mastery of a completely different skill called sewing.

*In the picture is a mock dress made of canvass for my wedding client to fit soon. The the said dress is an additional feature for wedding clients to give them an idea of the general silhouette, determine if the length of the dress and straps are right and most importantly to further ensure that her wedding dress will fit her like a glove. As it would be pretty costly to make mistakes and wrongly cut wedding fabrics.

I chose the picture since it showcases a dress in it's most basic/ naked form. You can pretty much see an unobstructed view of the bodice. A good dress/ bodice should be clean from the inside out. By clean meaning, smooth lines and shape, no puckering, no loose thread, generally uniform seam width and a good fit.