Project Runway!

Need I say more? I have been waiting for this show ever sense the tragic ending of last season, and the first episode was everything I hoped for. Contestant wise...

Anya - really shocked me, I thought they should have told her practice for a year and we will have you on the show next year. I mean if I were going to go on this show I would personally want to know that I was at my best and not just starting to sew. Needless to say, with only 4 months under her belt, her clothes were a knock out.

Bert- I loved what he did last night and I'm so glad that he won. I agree with my cousin Amber though, I wouldn't have wanted to be the model who had to wear his old boxers lol.

the color blind guy - I forgot his name sorry. But I love him as well he's another one that's a shocker for me. He's definitely a fighter and everyone should see him as competition. I loved his outfit and the way he used the trimmings.

The only person I'm not really fond of at this moment is Cecilia, I honestly think Amanda should have had her place.

As for the other members of the cast none of them stood out to me hugely last night and I will talk more of them next week. I think the problem this week is that a lot of them were overly ambitious. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with being ambitious, but you don't want to send something down the runway that will embarrass you later on, aka the jacket tank and shorts dude, I thought he would be the one going home.

I really think its funny that the top 3 this week were the 3 people with handicaps in the competition, the other competitors better not underestimate these three.

Now for the fun part... Here is my solution for this weeks challenge!

Since they were allowed to design in their bedsheets and pajamas. I chose to use the PJs I wore last night and a white sheet as my materials. I was wearing my anchor and whales tank top. So I would have taken that tank top and attempted to dye it a navy color first. After finding a color that worked, I would have dyed my sheet to match that blue. I would have made the bottom skirt in diagonal ruffle tiers, then I would have looked for a lime or pale green ribbon to stitch onto my clothes in this design:


My friend at kelseyscollection.blogspot.com also will be creating a response! Check her out, I really love reading her blog :)

I've been practicing more with my chalk pastels, and I think I almost have it down to an art! I created some fabulous designs today, 2 of which will appear in my Fall RTR show!

xoxo,

Stocking up!

I was watching the news today, and they were discussing the royals. Turns out, over the course of this recent tour William and Kate have made sells in pantyhose and stockings have grown! Here is a link to an article on it, if you want to hear about it for yourself.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/kate-middleton-brings-back-pantyhose-bare-legs-are-so-2010-2510160/#photoViewer=1

I'm personally excited about this new trend. As a young girl I always loved wearing pantyhose, especially the pairs like Kate's with the iridescent slight sparkle to them. Nothing makes a leg look better than a nice pair of stockings. Not to mention the embarrassment they can save you if you forgot to shave your legs, or if your like me and have a hard time tanning the slight tint of tan they can give your legs.

I loved wearing my black pantyhose when they trended back and allowed me to wear dresses and skirts in the winter without freezing to death. While I admired the colored legging trends I never quite hopped in with both feet into the bright colors, I preferred the darker more subtle colors like deep red or eggplant. When the colored trend was done right though I really enjoyed the fantastic resulting outfits.

The only thing I hope is that girls don't view pantyhose like leggings and start wearing them around as pants as well. yuck! Leggings are NOT pants and neither are pantyhose. I leave you with a couple lovely pictures of Kate from her North America tour thanks to hollywoodlife.com. I'm sure these dresses have already sold out, I just hope when I get on my feet as a designer I can catch her eye with one of mine.



Duchess Kate's style is very classic and clean. I feel some of her outfits related back to her wedding day. These pieces with their touches of lace made me thing of the lace on Kate's gown. The blue piece especially does this, and also my favorite from the tour. the first lace gown is one of the few dresses she wore that didn't have a cinched waist.



I would call this set of garments this set of garments Duchess Kate's signature style. I feel this style became her signature with her wedding dress and reception dress. All of the garments have the same silhouette with variations in whether the garment is cinched at the waist or a belt cinches her waist. Kate also seems to prefer a high neckline with particular preference to the bateau neckline. The only thing in these photos that varies from Kate's signature style is the small glimpse we get of Kate's toe in her formal gown photo.



These photos show a different side of Kate's style. What I love about the first photo is the split from the matchy matchy style that can be seen on royals. A style where every piece of the outfit is the exact same color right down to the shoes and purses. The second shows her casual more laid back style in a miltary styled shirt, I bought one that's an exact match at express last year. And lastly her sailor dress, I had to post it because I've always been a fan of nautical style.

That's all I have for now, don't forget to take a look and see how fantastic her legs look in her stockings in these pictures. If that doesn't make you rush to the store to buy a pair I don't know what will :)
xoxo,

Unexpected Inspiration

One of my favorite times in life, is when inspiration takes me by surprise. Instead of me having to search for it, it hits me by a surprise WHAM-in-the-face. This morning was one of the moments. I was chilling on the couch watching ANTM cycle 10 reruns sipping my coffee, when this shot of the bus they were traveling in popped-up on screen. Even now looking at this image I've had a few more ideas pop in my head, not all formal wear I'm seeing a couple menswear pieces now. I think I feel a 6 outfit line coming on again from it! Stay tuned.


When I saw this image an evening gown popped in my head. In this moment, I felt like it lasted for hours. I saw how the gown would twirl and move and the way the colors would pop off of one another. I could see my girl walking down the streets of New York and the long train trailing behind her being gently whipped by the wind. I immediately grabbed one of my sketchbooks and started drawing, and here are my drawings.

I decided to use my chalk pastels to render it, as you can tell my skills with them are still a little rough. I discovered chalk pastels in my second art class, and although we had a hate relationship at first I've actually grown rather fond of them. If you are looking for a new medium to play with I 100% recommend them. I think the benefits of using them are the limitless colors and effects you can create. One thing to be careful of is putting to many layers on them as they can start looking like mud, and of course you have got to be careful with your fingers. Finger prints get me every time.

As for the dress, I didn't realize at first that the top of the bus was dark green I thought it was black. Therefore I saw the dress with a black top. I'm not sure how I'd want the one arm to be yet I've though about it covering part of the shoulder as well. I'm not sure whether it would be a black and white crackled looking top, shiney silk top, or a black chiffon top with black beading in a crackled pattern. A gold sash to seperate the colors depending on the top choise there might be some embellishment on the back. The bottom would either be chiffon or silk depending on the top part and 3 tiers of a deep crimson red or bright red. Now that I know the image was actually green now, I'm thinking when I render the other 5 I might do them with the dark green.

At the moment however, I am working on a beautiful dress for one of my close friends Laura. Here is the pattern and dress. The pattern is fairly simple and I'm hoping to alter it some to fit my vision for it more. The fabric is a cream cotton/poly blend jacquard in a houndstooth pattern that I found at JoAnn's fabric in Hoover. I felt this was appropriate as she's an Alabama fan :) Ad for the belt in the middle I'm hoping to create a one of a kind black belt embellished with some crystals by me to add some sparkle :).


<3

Samantha