I still have this secondary palette grouped together in my office because I really love the colors. After seeing all the other brightly colored designs, I wonder if my decision to go with the "Fog" aspect of the poem was best. I still love the idea of a rich monochromatic palette though. The contrasts of textures in the fabric was what I was going for....
The little fan pleats on my sheer blouse are my Pride and Joy as maybe I have mentioned. Every once in a while when I am working, I see a thing in my mind's eye and am able to create it just exactly right. This was one of those delightful times. The first step in their creation was making bias ribbon out of the silk organza. I used the "hot knife" to cut the ribbon so the edges are sealed. (It melts the fibers which slows down the fraying and helps it hold its shape.)
I had a terrible time trying to get this pic to post. Argh!
As you can see, the baby was strapped to my chest for this phase of production. I drew the final shape on the paper and then fan pleated the fabric so the edge conformed to the shape. As you can see, this requires a lot of pins to hold everything in place until it can be tacked and pressed. I actually pressed the center with the pins in place. It was a bit tricky to figure out which fans had to be full, which centered half, which left-half/right-half to keep the bulk low but have all the sections showing pleated. hehehe This is really the kind of work I enjoy, and it was during this round that I realized that much of what I like about boxpleat is the "craftsmanship." With that in mind, I realized that maybe having someone else (ie a factory) make my pieces might not yield the work satisfaction that creating each piece gives me. This technique, while not that complicated or even time consuming really, would be difficult to justify in a manufacturing setting. Of course the effect could be created in other ways, like pleated trims etc, but I think you will see the distinction there. In my few ventures in to "mass" production, even on a small scale, I have found I don't care for making the same thing over and over again. It has to at least be a different color, a new fabric, something.
This last picture is ominously titled "second pants" because yes, despite my careful planning, the pants didn't fit....Ellowyne has (and you may not have noticed) chunky calves! I used my Tyler sloper, making appropriate adjustments for her waist and hips and didn't even think to check the width of her lower legs! I cut the leg open to check the waist fit. You can also almost see the detail of the piping along the pocket edge. (I learned how to make piping this round!) The initial reversal idea that I was going to do used the curved pocket flaps as an optional fold down, to show the contrasting silk and tie in more closely with the lighter colored tops. The curve wasn't quite right though and I wasn't happy with the look so I scrapped it on these. As a trial of concept, I did make another pair in a different fabric this week so I could show (and sell.) I still need to process the pictures though and put them in the sales room, along with the pattern trial for the over blouse and a few other bits. You can also see the suede-y nature of this fabric in the picture here. Texture was everything for me this round.
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