fashion designs

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

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

Trapped In Time Designs

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Number Four

Third Time’s a Charm