Saturday, October 4, 2014

My Half Scale Challenge entry


There she is! I knew I wouldn't win, but I had so much fun. I'll do it again next year and maybe get fancier. The ball gowns won, of course. Next year's inspiration is '50 shades of red'. Look on my examiner.com page to see the other entries. Its not finalized yet, but I was told that contestants next year will be able to use their own dress form and won't have to spend money on a specific one. I didn't have one, so it was a good excuse to buy one. Not sure what the prizes were yet. I'll hopefully see it the Newsletter and I'll add it to my article.

My inspiration was Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. I took her class on Craftsy, Hand-Embellishing Knit Fabric: Stenciling, Appliqué, Beading and Embroidery,  and bought her books and couldn't get her out of my head. It was awesome to work on the 1/2 scale because mistakes only used up a small amount of fabric and sewing time was minuscule.

Some pictures of my process, the self drafted skirt had a side zipper, 28 pieces and was on the bias. Cut from jean legs I got at a rummage sale. Jacket was from a half scale pattern and a pattern book for the sleeves. Rummage sale jean legs again. I was tempted to cover the whole thing with the rosettes, but I didn't. Self draped tank, in Alabama Chanin Style, all hand stitched, I used the stencil from the book and recycled t shirt.



























Messy, messy, shop :/

4 comments:

thevegansisters said...

Good heavens - that was a lot of work with SEW many pieces in that skirt! It was such a great look, thanks for sharing!

Diane Sladowski said...

Thanks Rachel!

Mary said...

Wonderful! I'm so glad you went for it. What were the requirements?

Diane Sladowski said...

Hi Mary, contestants had to purchase their standard size 8, 1/2 scale, dressform. It included an online class and entry fee. The contest theme was "Fashion Icons thru the Ages" Anyone who makes, wears or inspires fashion.