Clik here to view.
Knock Me Over With A Feather….
So I was peacefully minding my own business and enjoying my time remaining at the costume shop, steam-fluffing hat feathers with the gravity iron, and I saw this…. OMG, it’s Frankenfeather! I pulled it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Tulle To Make Lamé Less Horrid
I recently had to make a pseudo-cavalier tabard-y-thing, using tissue lamé (hmmm…. reads like “lame”) for the appliques and trimmings. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really, it just had to work with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Semester’s Everyday Challenge…
I try to give my Principles of Design for Apparel class a shape challenge where I ask them to look at the actual shape/aesthetic properties of an everyday item and re-interpret it as a fashion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Missa vs. Liquid Nails: 15, Love
And by “love”, I mean “hate”, but they never admit to that in tennis. This was my kitchen ceiling. This was my little reward for two days of chiseling hideous industrial hanging-ceiling tiles off...
View ArticleIt’s Official: History of Costume I Class
So it’s official – I’ll be teaching a History of Costume I (pre-antiquity – 1700ish) class spring semester. When I started teaching, this was my ideal-perfect-want-it class. I’m not feeling good...
View ArticleBeautiful Video of Empire Costumes
I’m doing research for this week’s lecture on the Directoire and Empire periods, and I ran across a beautiful YouTube of an exhibit on Napoleonic fashion in Milan. If you haven’t seen it, it’s five and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
That Old Denim Tutu
I dusted off my original denim test-tutu last week and did a little work on it, mostly because I was doing a talk on denim for the Chicago Haute Couture Club (that’s not intimidating) and I thought I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Block Draft for the Anti-Math Crowd
What if I said you could draft a torso block without all those pesky maths and measurements? Would you laugh? Cry? Call me crazy? Would you help me test it? Would you give me some advice? Here’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oh, Theater
It’s a tutu! It’a a clock! It’s a … Clock-a-tu? It’s uncomfortably literal. For me, at least. The dancer who wears it, the choreographer, and all of my students thought it was pretty. *shrug* If...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Project Amidala
I am working on this: Queen Amidala’s pre-senate grey cocoon-kimono costume. Star Wars. yo! This is for Stephanie, a dear friend and favorite collaborator. So far, we’ve done… Tudor (2004) Pompadour...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ami-done-a
I absolutely can’t pick just one picture for this post. Seriously. Although I really wish there had been a stand the right size and height at the school – this one is too short and plump. And by done,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
That Amidala Headdress
I took pictures while I was going because I was planning to do a demo. That shook out, unfortunately, is more of a how-not-to-do-it, but I’d hate to waste all the electrons tied up in the photos. ;)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
And Then I Made It Weird….
I finally finished Ye Olde Denim tutu and bodice. It’s in a display of faculty work at the college (upstairs in the library). Aaaaaactually, it’s been on display since November, which brings me to the...
View ArticleMusings on Haute Couture
So I found this fabulous BBC documentary on the crazy secret world of Haute Couture: It goes into more than just the making of the gowns (although there are some crazy-intense things going on with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How (not to) Make a Carmen Miranda Hat/Costume Thing
So my sister has a Halloween party every year. Every year there is a theme. This year’s theme was “Hollywood is Dead.” The dress code, as it were, was to dress as a dead celebrity. I feel a lot of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This life… It keeps lifing.
Things have been changing at Chez Sempstress. For one thing, there’s a car where my workshop was. Well, you win some, you lose some. Last fall I promised mom she could park in the garage this winter....
View ArticleDownloads
Hi hi – Quick maintenance post. The Downloads page is working again. So …. download to your heart’s content! (There’s still a $0 price option on everything.) I’m updating the site some. The gallery...
View Article
