This Week

January 17, 2014 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

This week has flown by, and I haven’t accomplished 80% of the things I wanted to accomplish. I guess weeks like this happen every once in awhile, right?

This week, I’ve been:

Finishing up work in the photography/shipping studio (still more to do):

Working on new patterns that will be used in an editorial shoot scheduled for next week (!!!), and that will be offered in the shop after that. I first made them in a heavy ticking, as that’s what I had on hand, and I didn’t want to cut into the nice (and expensive) wool I have that will be what the final results are made of:

I love both the hat AND the capelet. *swoon*

Working on a pair of knit boot toppers that may or may not be part of the same shoot:

I really need to learn to crochet. It goes so much faster.

I’ve also been working on a new costume, which means combining 3 different existing patterns into one, and changing them rather extensively along the way. But, in the end, I’m hopeful that I’ll have a new full costume to offer on a made-to-order basis:

All this in the midst of a few orders and an intense desire to cook big dinners with lots and lots of veggies.

I always mean to snap pictures of my cooking, and prep, and final results. But my pictures never come out as lovely as food bloggers’, and my kitchen isn’t NEARLY as lovely. I really need to get on the kitchen re-do that I’ve had scheduled in my head since we moved in. FIVE YEARS AGO.

In the Studio

January 2, 2014 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

I’ll be shooting my winter knits session this weekend–extremely excited for that. While I had to scale down my original intention for the set, I’m happy with the current ideas bouncing around my head. I need to find a few crucial set pieces, which is today’s project.

Caged

December 30, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

I’m still trying to put things back together around here after Christmas (and a fabulous visit from my sister) festivities and a last-minute open-heart surgery for my grandfather (he’s doing well). In between orders, I’ve also gotten the end-of-the-year organization bug and have been re-doing my fabric stash, which (of course) has led to a more elaborate re-do (involving our guest room, new shelves, a new mailing station, and figuring out what to do with extra furniture).

So, rather than blather on too long about all that, I’ll just post some pretty for you. Cages being the theme. Enjoy!

**All images found via google image search**

Christmas Sale!

December 11, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

Because I keep all my inventory in my guest room, and because I have a Christmas guest coming to visit next week, I need to clear out some inventory. That means–it’s SALE TIME!! I’ve marked most ready-made items down 25%–just look for the “SALE” in the listings title. It’s the perfect time to check off holiday gifts for family, friends or yourself! Come see what’s on sale: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Five

December 9, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

My post titles are really gripping lately, aren’t they? I just can’t come up with witty headers for the RAWards looks. Ah, well. You’ll have to settle for little wit, but a whole lotta pretty.

The fifth look is another that underwent a rather extensive transformation from sketch to final product. That had to do with a few things:

1) my falling out of love with the idea of using that grey pinstripe suiting

2) my realization that the original idea for this look was DULL DULL DULL

3) my recent love affair with bustles

So, the (dull) original (dull) sketch was this (SUPREMELY DULL):

The original idea was a brocade bustier, grey suiting mini skirt, ruffle capri leggings, tattered collar & spats.

I realized one day that it was just boring. It just felt thrown together, no real inspiration.

As I mentioned, my love affair had begun with the bustle, and I knew that I wanted to do a bustle in that gorgeous brocade. This time, I decided to do an attached underskirt, rather than just the bustle (as shown in the first look). The brocade made the most gorgeous bustle.

Fitting:

I ended up going with the bustle and a repurposed mens-wear bustier featuring belt loops at the waist, to accommodate a belt if desired. This fit beautifully from the get-go. No alterations needed at all.

The final design walking the runway:

And from the pre-show shoot:

I couldn’t be happier with the look–Marielle really brought it to life, and looked gorgeous.

Clothing by me: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by: Amanda Bravender For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model: Marielle Songy/NolaChick www.nolachick.net

Photographer: Underexposed Photography https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Number Four

December 6, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

I have a little secret about the fourth look. *I ended up re-styling a dress I showed at my last RAW runway* Not that people couldn’t recognize that fact themselves just by looking at the dress. And in all fairness (to me), I did have every intention of making a NEW dress in a different fabric–even had it all cut out (it’s still sitting in pieces on my “sew these someday” pile). The original idea was this:

The idea was to use this grey stretch suiting I have that has a maroon pinstripe. Lovely fabric, but I was hesitant to use grey. It was just so…..grey. I know, like army green/brown and cream are fascinating colors. Who knows what it was, but I ultimately decided I didn’t want to use the grey paired with the brocade looks.

So, anyway, this look was originally designed to be that fabulous slinky grey pinstriped dress with a plunging neckline, a brocade under-bust corset, spats and a tattered lace collar. Of course, the spats took a hike.

I quickly decided to use the brown pinstripe dress instead of making the grey. Well, maybe not quickly, since I went through the trouble of cutting the dress out, but the decision was made.

The first fitting went well–other than the fact that the corset was 2 sizes too large. I’m not posting images of that fitting primarily because, well, boobs (ooo–I just opened my blog up to a whole new search category!). It was discovered at the fitting that this model has more, shall we say, blessings up top than previous models who have worn the dress. I had thoughts of a tank top for modesty’s sake (though I never really liked the idea too much). It hadn’t occurred to me that we didn’t try the dress without a bra at that fitting, and luckily we were able to make it work without a modesty panel for the show.

So, after the fitting, I re-made the corset. I love the under-bust corset–I’ve been wanting to make some for awhile but somehow hadn’t gotten around to it. I have plans for many more.

Luckily, the dress fit like a glove already so no alterations were needed.

Onto the show!

And the pre-show photo shoot:

Love it!

Clothing by me: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by: Amanda Bravender For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model: Ashton Akridge https://www.facebook.com/ashton.akridge

Photography in final images by: Underexposed Photography https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Third Time’s a Charm

December 5, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

The third look in the show is the one that under-went the most transformations. I started with one look, changed to a second (that I was never 100% happy with for this show) and completely re-did the entire look at the last minute. Literally. My last fitting for this look was the morning of the show. I finished it up in the hotel room that we had for the event. I’m now a proud member of the small group of women who have brought sewing machines to their hotel room. Booyah!

My initial idea for this look was playing off of the lace idea. It was to be a lace tunic dress–the very top would be lined, but the dress and skirt portion would be sheer. Since I don’t send naked ladies down the runway, I made a khaki bustier to go underneath. All that would be paired with ruffled full length leggings, the spats (in brocade) and a tattered lace ruff:

I somehow managed to not take a picture of this look on the dress form. I think I deleted it accidentally. Suffice to say, it was pretty much as you see in the sketch (minus the spats).

At the fitting, it…..well……it looked awful. The top of the tunic was resting inside the top of the bustier, creating what can only be called a shelf above her bust. It looked so awful that I didn’t even snap a picture of it on the model. I had had an inkling that this look wasn’t going to work–and maybe I’d just fallen out of love with it by the time I had the fitting. Maybe I could have made it work, but I was determined that it wasn’t going to. Either way, I had brought back-up options. The bustier was great on her, and I brought a pencil skirt (you saw it in my previous RAW show, actually) to pair with it. The skirt needed many alterations, but was workable. Everything looked great on her, but it all kind of looked…..the same color. Her skin, the bustier, the skirt, the shoes….I wasn’t feeling it.

So, I put this look to the back of the queue and just kept moving forward with the others that I was 100% behind. I figured something would come to me at some point. Hopefully. Or else I was screwed.

So, I completed the other looks, and I stressed and I thought and I changed my mind about a ba-zillion times. Finally, I decided on doing a dress that was similar to my finale look. I used a brown suiting with a metallic pinstripe for the top, and a cream lace with the soft moleskin under-lay for the skirt. The underlay is shorter than the overskirt. The back is grommeted and laces for a better fit (and a little more “staying up” power than a zipper can offer). I bustled the back of the skirt a bit, too, for volume. I couldn’t be happier with the result!

Walking the runway:

And a shot from the pre-show photo shoot:

The dress suffered some tearing during the show, so, sadly, it won’t be available for purchase. However, I can make one to measure and in any color desired. Contact me for details.

Clothing by me: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrappedInTimeDesigns

Hair & Make Up by: Amanda Bravender
For inquiries : http://www.ahbweddingandevents.com

Model: Elizabeth Austin https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.austin.18

Photography (final image only): Underexposed Photography https://www.facebook.com/brittsmithphoto

Second Look

December 4, 2013December 4, 2013 / trappedintimedesigns / Leave a comment

Continuing on with my RAWards New Orleans looks, my second look went through a slight transformation from sketch to final design. After dreaming up my first look, I decided I wanted to play with military-inspired colors (primarily an army greenish-brown), lace and brocade. I ended up with 3 green/brown & cream looks and 3 red brocade & black/brown looks. This second look was designed to go along with the first.

My initial sketch included my signature ruffled capri leggings, a lace tunic, spats, & the tattered lace ruff:

I’ve already discussed that the spats were the main element to go, due to my inability to make my brain play nice and create a work-able pattern that I liked.

Onto the first incarnation of the design–again, I don’t work in muslins, so I went right for the fabric:

I re-purposed some mens dress-slacks (wool) for the very top of the tunic. There is an under-lining to the tunic, and I used a really lovely cream moleskin–so soft–that kind of gets lost under the beautiful lace. I cut this so that I could take full advantage of the scalloped edging on the lace. The tunic has a zip-back for closure.

At the first fitting I realized that the ruffled leggings just didn’t work–I hated them so much with this that I didn’t even nab a picture with them on. Plus, hello beautiful legs! (I sound like I have a leg-fetish!)