Tuesday, May 12, 2015

16 Dresses and a Skirt and a Man's Vest


Was that the title to the movie with Katherine Heigl?? No, the movie is 27 dresses.  This is also not for the same plot, but it does explain what I've been doing for the past few weeks.


As I mentioned in THIS post, I'm making dresses for the Quilt Dance at Lehigh Valley Charter Arts.  I'm finally done, and wanted to share some of them.  There are 16 dresses altogether, plus a vest for the male dancer, and I also made a skirt for the soloist who sings the opening of this piece.  The students love the dresses!  I'm thrilled.  I added vintage buttons to some, and other details to others.  One has red trim, so I'm calling it my "1950's Diner Waitress" dress.  I need to get a photo of the group, and that dress.  It was fun to add little touches.  


The first one is made with a grey mottled cotton.  It looks great on stage.  This one has cuffed sleeves, and vintage brass buttons, in an olive green woven polyester.  

This one is a super soft homespun fabric.  It's the kind of dress you would want to live it, it's that comfy.  Those 3 use the same pattern.

 This is another homespun plaid, and it has a very retro vibe to it.  The pattern is Simplicity.
 This is the same dress, only in solid black cotton, with gold and pearl buttons.  I think June Cleaver or Lucy Ball would have worn something like this.  I joked that the girl needed a black patent leather belt, a strand of pearls and a brooch.  She's using a belt.  And, with her beautiful black hair, she really does look very good in this.  Very '50s Hollywood.
This is the third style, only I left off the pockets.  Again, another great teal and purple homespun.  I wish I had more of this fabric.  I would love a shirt in it.

And the skirt fabric is great, too.
I hope to get more photos of the students wearing these, and the other 9 dresses.  It's been a challenge to make them, using retro patterns and trying to use fabrics and trims I had here or could purchase from Paul.  I think I did well, and the look for the theme of the dance is great.  One student said that it's the first time she has a costume that actually fits her.  I'm thrilled to have made her happy.

And I'm thrilled to have finished these dresses!  It's been an interesting process, and now I have tons of fabric scraps to cut into squares and strips for some scrappy quilts.  I have lots planned, and need to get the Accuquilt GO! cutter out and get the piles cleaned up, cut, and sorted.

Thanks for visiting!

Maryellen



1 comment:

Sally said...

Looks like a wardrobe from the history books! Nice work ME!!!