Little Green Dress...

For my last project at college I had to create a dress based on Second World War fashion and the 'Make do and mend' theme. I had to imagine I was a woman during World War 2 who had to create a dress for a tea dance. So I used patchwork and a beautiful green floral fabric.

This is my finished dress. I am more or less happy with it, appart from a couple of minor mistakes here and there. This photo was taken on a shoot in college, it was so much fun and such fantastic experience.

My mock final major project...

 Last year I designed and created this dress for my mock final major project. As we could choose our own brief I decided to design costumes for three of the characters who appear in the Shakespeare play The Tempest. The three characters feature in one scene, however they derive from ancient greek mythology. Juno was the Queen of the Gods, she was married to Zeus and she rode in a chariot flanked by peacocks. Ceres, the goddess of the harvest and Iris the messenger was the goddess of the rainbow, this character is who the above dress was designed for. I was very pleased with the outcome of the dress until I added colour. As I am sure you can tell I painted it with Fabric paints however it dried much quicker than I expected it to and it would not blend together. The wings on the shoulders were made using water soluble fabric onto which I appliqued red material using lots and lots of machine stitch. This gave the wings a nice firm structure and I could mold them to a certain extent.

Recycling...

  During my first year at college I had to create and design a garment using recycled materials. The picture is of our end of year fashion show, this was my final piece. I decided to look at burlesque, show girls and concentration camps, an odd mix but I'm very pleased with the outcome.

  This was my one of my favourite projects I loved the materials I used and my inspirations. To make the corset I made a simple base of Calico which I painted with silver fabric paints. Then I tacked ring pulls onto the front of the corset. This took hours and many sugary drinks but I was so happy with the finished piece. The skirt was made from old trench coats and shirts, which I cut the collars off to create the front of the skirt. 

Who do you think you're kidding Mr Hitler?..

  On Saturday the 20th of November I went to visit my auntie Jj in London. She was appearing Dad's army the musical which fits in brilliantly with my current project, I also went dressed in 1940s wear but sadly I was the only one who had bothered. It was performed in a town hall which gave a stronger impression of 2nd world war life. We sat round tables, ate cakes and drank tea, how very British. The hall was decorated with bunting and WWII propaganda posters.
  I felt that I had started to understand (even just slightly) how important morale is during War and the British always get it right... Tea and Cake all the way.

Make do and mend...

  My current project at college is Make do and mend. I am really enjoying it so far as I have had a chance to personalize a project more than usual. I have looked into my family history around the second world war.

  At the start of the second world war ration books were issued to everybody. The british public had a limited supply of clothing rations and so they began to make new clothes from old warn garments. a booklet was then issued to the women of Britain called 'Make do and mend', this informed women of how best to look after clothing and how to mend holes in clothes, darn socks and make things look as good as new.
  People particularly young women are now becoming more interested in crafts, for instance I have set myself the challenge of making most of my christmas presents, however as we are getting to the end of November and I have only made one I think I had better pull my finger out.
  Fashion has become so important to men and women alike that it would be hard to imagine, if modern Britain was put in the same position of 70 years ago how would we cope? Would we be able to conform to rationing or would this divide the classes completely?

I have just finished making this cushion cover, it took me about an hour. I am trying to make most of my christmas presents this year and this is for my little sister. To make a cushion cover like this you need: * A piece of material double the width of the cusion with a bit extra to over lap like a pillow case and enough to hem. * Material scissors. * Pins. * Cushion. * Sewing machine. To make it you turn in each end and stitch and then repeat to form a secure hem. Then if your material frays like mine was sew a stay stitch along the long edegs. Turn the fabric so it is the wrong side down, put the cushion in the middle and wrap it over so the back over-laps (look at a pillow case to be sure.) Then pin and stitch along one edge, pop the cushion back in and do the same along the other side. make sure to take the cushion out before you sew. turn it inside out and there you have it. I hope you have as much fun making it as I did and I will be adding to this to show what I have added  to the cushion to make I more exciting.  





That little black dress...

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