So I make garments sometimes.
These are a few pieces I have made recently for school/for fun/for me to wear/for all of the above.
(Note: Apologies for the terrible, “take it yourself in the mirror,” photography. I am technologically behind when it comes to digital cameras. Someday I will get around to finding a real model and photographer. Until then..)
1: Les Culottes: a pair of leather panties/skort, all hand sewn for lack of a machine capable of getting through thick leather. The side is made by strips of two different kinds of leather that were smocked for the pleating effect, and then embroidered with metallic thread to make the V shapes. The method is the same as that in the previous accessories collection (they were made around the same time).
2: My cotton springtime dress! I made this dress specifically for going to the park and having a picnic. It’s simple, but it has a classically girly silhouette, a sweet floral print, and a super thick zipper that runs the length of the center back.
3: Shibori. This is another simple spring dress, made of a very lightweight denim. The original color of the denim was that of the solid blue panels. For the other panels I used shibori (a hand dying technique) except instead of dye I dipped the wrapped fabric in bleach.
And last!
4: A knit scarf using plating and hand stitching. The goal was to make it look like a paint covered artist’s palette.
Lovely work, and you make an excellent model.
I hate to think how long it must have taken you to smock that much leather by hand. Do you use a thimble? I sometimes use my desk to force a needle through thick fabric.
Haha, yes, it took forever and my hands were in ruins after. I ended up taping my fingers with athletic tape instead of using a thimble (I never could get a handle on a normal thimble) and made sure to punch all the points to stitch with an awl beforehand. Both of these revelations came after a lot of trial and error… and I’ve definitely used the desk trick
.