What the Designer is Wearing This Season (part 2 in an occasional series)

In order to fill space and kill time I have been meaning to post some more of the things that I make for myself that no one ever gets to see online.
This new red skirt is making it's first outing tomorrow, when I will wear it to a dress rehearsal at my theater job. It's my very favorite color, so you will probably see it popping up pretty regularly if you pay attention to my wardrobe. The fabric is a cotton poplin with a touch of lycra in it and the design is a very simple tiered peasant style that can be styled in lots of retro ways. The little top was purchased a million years ago at Target but had a plunging neckline that I am not entirely sure who could wear out in public, really, so I added the little panel to the top. The necklace here was made by Christina (she doesn't have an Etsy store yet, so we should all encourage her, yes?) and is made from vintage rosaries and jewelry findings and a tintype.
My perfect pair of maryjanes is still out of commission (I swear I will take them in to be fixed SOMEDAY) so I will be wearing gold wedge sandals with this tomorrow night.

Summer Lovin'

"Eugenia" worn another way
Originally uploaded by I Will Fly design

Aw, man. So I've been working on this vest for a month...
Not just the sewing of the vest, though. I also had to design the pattern and work through a test garment to tweak it first. I know, I always seem to be doing that. But then I have a perfect pattern I can use to make a million things with, right? If only it worked out that way! I just get bored with doing the same thing all time.
Anyhow. Here is a vest that I have dubbed "Eugenia". I was going to call it "Eugene" after my favorite Andrew Bird song, but thought slightly better of it at the last moment. Slightly.
The inspiration for this vest came from the fabulous draped styles of one of the premier art deco designers of the 1920s, Erte. These days you mostly see his illustrations of theatrical costumes and other elaborate formal attire, but he also deigned lovely draped day wear with fascinating interlocked and wrap-around pieces.
The fabric I used here is 100% wool and 100% cotton. I have moved away from synthetics whenever possible, these days. Natural fibers are more comfortable to wear, as you probably already know, but they are also better to work with. You can mold a piece of wool in ways that polyester would never allow, and silk drapes in such beautiful ways that synthetics will never quite replicate.
The edges of the front panels, here, were all stitched by hand and took eons to complete. I am quite happy with the way it worked out, though! Originally I was going to make the buttons functional and space them out down the front in a normal sort of way. I was inspired along the way, though, by one of those happy accidents, and instead settled on decorative buttons and a snap-front closure. I use snaps on most of my shirts, rather than buttons, because I like the hidden quality of them as well as the fact that you can't mess up an otherwise perfect garment by sewing a snap on the way you can by sewing a buttonhole on a dicky machine.

Embarassment of Riches

Right now I am suffering from a surplus of ideas and a distinct lack of time to devote to them (as well as a massive lack of energy). At present I have at least three massive projects I want to work on ALL AT ONCE, not including the complicated and fiddly project I have been working on for a month now!
I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through a (hopefully) gorgeous 1920's-esque, Erté-inspired vest. After that I have to decide between a retro 80's dress called "Jailhouse Rock", a steampunk-y bit of Rosie-the-Riveter-chic, a corset with a fun and funky twist inspired by a local art festival, and many experimental bits and bobs of varying degrees of usefulness.
BUT In a few months, I will have more than enough time on my hands. Which is by way of saying that at the start of September I shall be joining the ranks of America's unemployed. I hasten to add that this was a decision I made for myself, after a lot of hemming and hawing and generally beating myself up about it. So, in a week I will be ending my 5+ year association with my retail job and taking on full-time work at the theater for the Summer season. After load-out at the end of August I will be pleasantly free to do with my time what I choose until I either a)get bored and have to find a new day job, b)become broke enough that I have to find a new day job, or c)start making enough money with my Etsy shop and craft shows that I no longer need a day job.
Regardless of what happens it means I will have practically no time for the next few months, and then, finally, PLENTY of time to work on new designs and get the store restocked with interesting and fabulous new things!
So, anyway! Wish me luck!
Also, in honor of the occasion, for the next two weeks use the coupon code "QUITTINGTIME" at checkout and get 10% off everything in both of my Etsy shops!)
iwillfly.etsy.com
iwillflydestash.etsy.com

Away with my raggle-taggle gypsy-o

"Summer of 48" pinup girl jammy set
Originally uploaded by I Will Fly design

The seasons just creep up on me, I swear! Just when I get used to the idea of Winter it's suddenly Spring. Two weeks later (it's California, we don't have transition seasons here) it's Summer.
While it's a bit too cold out today to qualify as Summer, it was in the 80s when I started work on this little jammy set a week ago.
I designed these little numbers a while back, based on classical pinup girls and a bad belly dancing costume I ran across in a Halloween clearance section. I really wanted to make the first salable set in a cherry (or other fruit, if I couldn't find cherries) print. I had to make an expedition out of the fabric hunt, and ended up dragging my father out to the fabric shop with me a few weeks back to help me pick out prints. I ended up buying two different fabrics, this one and one with the same cherries on a black and white checkered background. I polled everyone I knew to see which one I should make first. The girls all said black and oddly enough the boys all said checkers. I decided to go ahead and do the black one because my sewing machines were already threaded with black thread!
Often, when I am really taken with a design, I can't stop coming up with ideas for fabric combinations and embellishments for them. This set is no different. I can already think of so many great ways to change it up! Tap pants instead of bloomers, eyelet and gingham, lace, beads and bows, silks... what I actually end up with in the long run may have nothing to do with all these ideas, but it's always great to have a good old standard design to go back to when you are in a rut and can't think of anything new and exciting to make.

Retro Chic

English Rose skirt
Originally uploaded by I Will Fly design

I am constantly inspired in unusual ways. For this particular project I was instantly inspired when the local fabric shop got in a shipment of this incredible ribbon rose-covered taffeta fabric. I was first taken with the red version, but figured I would go a more subdued and elegant route for this skirt right out of the gate.
This 3-D fabric posed special little problems while working with it (and that isn't mentioning all the little bits of black taffeta that are still scattered around my floor after three vacuumings!). The zipper had to be stitched in by hand, the waistband had to be made of a smooth fabric (no one wants three inches of ribbon roses around their waistline), and the hemlines of both the skirt and the lining had to be reinforced with what we call "horsehair" but is actually a type of braided nylon. All in all I am tickled with the way it turned out, and only wish I had a giant Queen Elizabeth hat and white peplum jacket to wear it with for the photos a la Dior's iconic New Look of the post-war 1940s and 50s.
As an aside, I would like to point out that in these pictures I am wearing the earrings my mother gave me as a wedding present, because she was getting on my case about never wearing them recently ;)

Let them eat cake

Man, you know times are stressful when my new items drop to one per two month span. Uck.
Anyway, here is the latest greatest project. The fabric this is made from is probably the most amazing stuff I have ever worked with. The peach and blue stripes are each woven from a collection of much smaller stripes in alternating deep and light tones. The floral design is also jacquard woven in to the piece in delicate white and dove-gray thread. The background is entirely finished with a moire texture, which is that slightly wood-grained look that you see on fabric sometimes. I have had this stuff in my collection for many years, waiting for appropriate projects. I made a pair of cuffs with it a couple of years ago but this vest has officially used it all up, I'm afraid. I wish I had better photos of it, but it's terribly foggy today and will be raining tomorrow (and I had a rough morning so going out in the back yard was about as much modeling as I was up for!)
The vest is made on the same pattern as the Madame Adora circus-themed vest that sold over the Summer. I liked how it turned out well enough that I am planning some more interesting variations in the future. Next up: a steampunk-esque explorer-inspired version.

Farewell to Autumn

Villa herringbone jacket, side
Originally uploaded by I Will Fly design

Well, it's almost Winter now, and time for all the holiday craziness. This December I will be attempting to take my driver's license exam for the first time (ugh) in between all the rest of the things that life throws at you this time of year. The weather has finally changed in my little warm corner of the world, and the trees are in brilliant Fall colors!
The Etsy shop has been doing booming business (October-December is probably mu busiest time sales-wise) and so it is starting to look a little bare! I have been chugging along on this rather complicated tailoring project for the last few weeks (I had a big nasty flu somewhere in there, which sapped my will to live let alone to sew for a while). But this week I finally put on the finishing touches and it is ready to meet the world!
This little wool jacket went through a mock-up stage before the final product was actually underway, to assess how I liked the fit and style, which direction I wanted to put the pleats in, how long the hemlines should be, and that sort of thing. The fabric is a lovely blue and white herringbone shot with multi-colored threads ( I used a brown version of the same fabric for the "Irene" capelet a while back) and it is lined in a blue lining fabric that I had in my stash leftover from my big final project in couture sewing class when I was in college (ooh, about 10 years ago, now). That project caused so many tears on the day it was due, as while I was giving it a final press before turning it in the iron melted one of it's long sheer organza sleeves! Ugh! I am still heartbroken!