Saturday, March 30, 2013

Madame Gres Two Piece Evening Gown

One of the most innovative designers of the 20th century, Madame Alix Gres created classically-inspired "Grecian" evening gowns, caftans, day dresses, and ponchos to astonish and inspire.  Madame Gres designed gorgeous creations through the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, dressing her clients in fabulous beauty.

My hat is off to you, Madame Gres.  I want to try my hand at replicating one of your evening gowns.

I will make my tribute to Madame Gres for one lucky person for free.  No charge at all for my labor.

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SEND ME a large piece of SILK CHARMEUSE or SILK LIGHTWEIGHT CREPE or SILK JERSEY? Any color.  I will salute Madame Gres by crafting your silk into this design.






There are indeed a few requirements, "conditions", if you will.  If you want me to make this two-piece evening gown for you for free, you must:

1. Send me at least five yards of silk charmeuse, silk jersey, silk tricotine, silk lightweight crepe fabric.  The fabric must be at least 44 inches wide and it must be 100% silk.  Well, it may contain a small percentage of lycra spandex, I suppose.  Here is one fabric suggestion.  There are perhaps thousands of awesome silks that would work nicely.....

2. Promise to wear the gown.

3. Promise to love Madame Gres.

4. Send me at least two good photos of yourself modeling the gown.

Please contact me to let me know you are sending me your silk.  I will need to know only two measurements from you:  your waist circumference at the narrowest part of your midriff and your inseam length*.  I will send you my studio address so you can have your fabric shipped to me.

I will be able to make only one of the Madame Gres two-piece gowns on a no-charge basis.  The first person who contracts with me according to the above terms will be the one for whom I make the gown.
Write to me in a comment here or email me:  KathleenTempleTailor@gmail.com.  You may text or phone me, if you like:  540-574-4311  Don't purchase/send your fabric to me until we correspond with one another....  I may get more than one order in response to my post today, but I can do only one of the dresses for free!

The above images are my own humble photos of the gorgeous photos by Irving Solero featured in MADAME GRES: Sphinx of Fashion (Fashion Institute of Technology, 2007).

*for your inseam length, measure the inseam of a pair of pants that fit you well and that are long enough to drape nicely on the shoes that you might wear with your Madame Gres gown.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Blue and Black Vertical Stripe Pants

I have been enjoying a new project.  I am creating custom made pants for someone who herself plays Eridan, a character in a web comic.  I love to get to make these sorts of garments that help to transform people into the web comic characters!


 The only cobalt and black striped fabric we could find was a soft knit.  I reinforced the soft, drapey fabric by stitching it along some of the black stripes to a stretch knit underlining fabric.

Eridan's pants have deep pleats in their front panels.

The wide elastic band lays more smoothly than most elasticized waistbands, and I stitched the elastic inside the band so it cannot roll.  These pants will be quite comfortable to wear!

 One of the ways I prevented the pants from looking pajama-ish was to create invisible hems.

 The back panels of the pants are darted for shape and comfort.

 When the pants are suspended from a hanger, the fabric shows its softness; when they are being worn, they will lay smoothly and Eridan-like.

 Thanks so much to my client, the Eridan-impressionist, for letting me create these pants for the web comic event!