somedays i sew.

a couple fridays ago a very special thing happened in my high school theatre. the fashion show. at my school we have sewing classes, though my teacher would insist that they are much more than "sewing classes." but let's be realistic, i learned to sew. this year is my third year in the class which is pretty cool, because there are only two other third year girls but scores of first years. so i'm a pretty good sew-er.

each fashion show is comprised of "scenes" which are groups of garments with a similar theme, but each look is made by a differnt person and modeled by its maker. in last year's fashion show, an ambitious then-second-year (now a third year, like me) endeavoured to have her own "collection" of garments. it was a really big accomplishment and it was beautiful. and then this year, us three third years (and a few ambitious second years) all wanted to have our own collections in the show. so now it's a requirement for third year students to make collections, which i think is kind of too bad for all those up-and-coming, dedicated high school sew-ers who could care less about presenting a cohesive unit of their sewing skills. but i don't make the rules, i just influence them.

so this very special fashion show had a collection by me in it! i've become pragmatic enough to not want to "be a fashion designer"; i wouldn't want to have to put myself in that world anyway, but i do like to make clothing. so here are some pictures of my lovely models. there were seven looks (for a total of twelve garments, which i think is kind of impressive) but i'm getting these pictures from my school's website, and the photographer apparently didn't get good photos of me working the runway, or another dress.

that floral is what all the colors came from.

hand-knit sweater and purple corduroys.

a hand-knit dress. i knitted five different colored strands of yarn together as one strand with really, really huge needles (size 50). the knitted fabric is about a half inch thick. this dress does not look very good on me, it's a little too big and really ridiculous looking, i was considering not showing it but i spotted this girl and thought, "the knit monstrosity might look good on her." and it kind of does.

for that dress, i cut a t-shirt off, added darts, and sewed a skirt to it. the skirt has pockets. i really like this dress. the vest is hand knit and oh! i wish i had a picture of the back because that's the cool part! the back is diagonally sliced in half, the upper right half is light blue (like the right side) and the lower left half is dark blue (like the left side). black crocheted trim on all the edges. i love this vest (it was going to be a cardigan) but it is too big on me and the acrylic fabric is kind of stiff, which doesn't mean it falls nicely. i think it looks better in this model, though that's not a very good picture.

inbetween the look with the vest and the next dress was another dress. it was a mini dress with pockets (i love pockets!). the middles (front and back) were white stretch knit (so it wouldn't need a zipper and could just stretch on) and one side was purple and the other was blue. it was very cute and kind of mod-looking.

this is not a very good picture. here is that floral again.

the last look was a black mini skirt (pocketed, of course) with a pink short sleeve blouse tucked into it. the blouse was pleated at the collar and had bit of a stand up collar. i liked it and someone told me when i was wearing it, i looked like a 1950s roller skating, soda fountain girls. at least i think that was what she meant, she didn't say it very well. over the blouse i put a blazer that i had made from that same floral fabric.

well there you have it, my first collection in review. i was pretty pleased. it certainly wasn't the most impressive (technically or visually) sight to take the stage, but i really like all of the things i made.