Ahhhhh, Costumes!

So, good times. Late night sewing, early morning sewing, last minute sewing. Good stuff. I'm a nut, I know. But sometimes with a deadline looming is the best time to sew. Sometimes you miss some details you need correct or you realize you just won't get around to hemming anything, but here is something very satisfying about it all coming together and the stress of the past several hours melt away as you arrive at your event and watch the eyes of those around you light up with envy and awe.

Hey! I never said I was modest.
Pictures!!!!!!!

Hair preparation

Ready to go! Check out the kiss curl.

Me and my cute beau. I made his vest and I found a tie with the Phillips dog listening to a Vitaphone at a thrift store. SCORE!

Me looking smart by the Dunsmuir House, Oakland.

Classy!

Next time: Trip to Chinatown to buy a dragon.

Gatsby Picnic Dress 2012

*Sigh* Why is it that I work best under a looming deadline? 
So, Gatsby Picnic. This Sunday. I'm there and I'm bringing my terribly attractive boyfriend to it for the first time. This was my dress least year:

Cute day dress, right?

Here is my concept drawing for this year's dress

Bias cotton dress with wrapped shawl styles ruffle on the bodice, pipped insert seams with kick pleats at the front and back in contrasting fabric and a self belt. 

I coveted this reproduction fabric at Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics until it went on sale and then bought 5 yards.

BOCCI BALLS!!!!!!
Tres adorable! Red is one of my favorite colors, so that's my contrast fabric. I ironed my kickpleats...

basted the pipping to the skirt inserts...

faced my shawl ruffle with contrast so that it peaks out when I move...

and piped the ruffle so that you can see the lines of the dress better through all that pattern.

And that's what I have so far. Hang in there, more pictures and the completed dress will be coming sooooooooooooooon.

FashionArt Santa Cruz

So, LOTS to talk about. First and foremost: One of my gowns was accepted into the line up of fashion artists for FashionArt Santa Cruz! Here is their postcard:

See?! That's me, Mary Jane Nee, listed under the guy who plays the accordion in crazy costumes in Downtown Santa Cruz. OK, maybe the image is too small, but I'm listed. So, there!

What will I be showing? Something gooooood:

I created this dress for the opening of my favorite artist Yinka Shonibare, MBE at the Brooklyn Museum. I got to meet him and he loved the dress and asked if I was single. *sigh*

There will be a few minor changes to the dress, but luckily I have a model who is very close to my measurements, so very few alterations need to made.

FashionArt Santa Cruz encourages us to be theatrical with our models, so that's what I'm going to do. More to come on what I have in store. This is my inspiration piece, of course by Yinka Shonibare:

What else? Gatsby Picnic is this weekend!!!! Is my dress ready? NO! Will it be ready in time? I sure hope so! Photos of my design concept and the process to come. Stay tuned, kiddos.