Profess your love for the heat before Summer's Over!

Photography by Andrew Chris

Photography by Raymond Diaz

Profess your love for the Summer's before it's Over!

Photography by Andrew Chris

Photography by Raymond Diaz

The Birth of Venus Dress, Technicolor Sea Cruise

 

  

The Birth of Venus Dress, Technicolor Sea Cruise

 

  

The Birth of Venus Dress!

I. Love. The. Way. This. Shot. Came. Out.
Flaw. Less.

The Birth of Venus Dress!

I. Love. The. Way. This. Shot. Came. Out.
Flaw. Less.

Gilligan's Island - Skipper Sexy

So let us return to Gilligan's Island. Last season, I did the girls. (Ha, who ever thought they'd hear me say THAT?!) But who says that my ladies can't emulate the males of the island?

Maybe it's the current hot days, maybe it's that I have a lot of stretch material and just found a new website that teaches stretch pattern making, but I decided to do a small collection of swimwear, just for the fun and experience of it!

I have had this blue striped material for a while now (I've used it as the "underwear" in my mens' faire pants because it's hidden, but comfy and sturdy enough to be a good base under the pumpkin puffiness). Anyway, I think the stripes just scream, "Nautical!" So I made a bandeau variation bikini top and the female Skipper was born.

For the rest, I wanted an airy, sea-cruise type of feel, so I used some light lacy stretch white cotton to make a tiered cave-front peasant skirt, perfect for walking up the steps and short ladders on a yacht without tripping while still catching the sea breeze beautifully.

The top, of course inspired by The Skipper's blue polo shirt, is (gasp!) ultra drapy! I wanted to make her have a more "round" shape on the top to echo Skipper's chubbiness without making her actually look fat. I think I did a good job at that concept!

Oh, by the way, I did look for a Skipper hat to go with this outfit, but it ended up making Raine look so Jennifer Lopez-as-Selena. It just didnt' look right, so I didn't use it.  AS for the rest of the ensemble, I am quite happy with it!  It's cool and comfy and ready for more than a three hour tour!

Gilligan's Island: Howell Madness!

Okay, maybe not "Madness!" but it is a little bit unusual, don't you think?

For my final swimwear exercise, I tried a "standard" string bikini with a stringy twist.  You know, I kind of felt strange using such a little amount of fabric to cover up Trina's girly bits.  I mean, if a regular piece of paper represented the amount of material I usually use to make a garment, this outfit would be represented by a postage stamp.

The hat was essential, and I chose the plaid print to echo a Mr. Howell sports jacket, of course.  It usually would be used for trousers or something, but it is actually stretchy, so I thought it would be a good choice for this character.

Always not wanting to keep things simple, I wanted to also add something extra and unusual, so inspired by the idea of a scuba-diving outfit, I made a string-embellished raglan sleeve shrug that is almost off the shoulder and buttons off center.  I think it adds a nice fashion touch, even if it would make for a strange tan pattern after a day at the beach.

Just to point out as well, check out the awesome backside to this bikini bottom!  I used an inward curved center back seam to "lift and separate" which also prevents the fabric from riding up and in while the girl is walking.  I will use this technique again!

Gilligan's Island: Profess Your Love for Leonora

I was excited to make something for The Professor.  Along with the Skipper, he was always one of my favorites.  I used his white shirt and khaki pants combination as inspiration for this combo.

As I mentioned last post, I am doing an exercise in swimwear since finding a great site on how to draft patterns for stretch fabrics.  I'm quickly becoming a fan!

I knew I wanted to try to make a one-piece suit that looked like she was also wearing a very professorial vest.  The small problem was, how would I do that without making the waist look bulky with the extra layer of horizontal-laying fabric on it?  The answer was to do a twisty, high placed ditty withangular lines running through it.  I love the way it turned out!  

In addition to making the otherwise simple-ish suit look more interesting, notice how the placement of the bands on the side sections also add cleavage-creating bra-like support.

And of course, I couldn't simply make a one-piece and let it stand alone, so I made a flowy (yes, a flowy, unstructured top!  Can you believe my boldness to explore the unfamiliar?!) blouse as a cover-up.  While it doesn't really cover anything, it sure would look great billowing in the sea breeze.  I was not only taking from the Professor's white shirt, but also was inspired by coconut "fuzz" and the the palm frond thatched huts, which is why I added the detail of the frayed edge ribbon I created from the shirt fabric.

Gilligan's Island: Profess This!

I was excited to make something for The Professor.  Along with the Skipper, he was always one of my favorites.  I used his white shirt and khaki pants combination as inspiration for this combo.

As I mentioned last post, I am doing an exercise in swimwear since finding a great site on how to draft patterns for stretch fabrics.  I'm quickly becoming a fan!

I knew I wanted to try to make a one-piece suit that looked like she was also wearing a very professorial vest.  The small problem was, how would I do that without making the waist look bulky with the extra layer of horizontal-laying fabric on it?  The answer was to do a twisty, high placed ditty withangular lines running through it.  I love the way it turned out!  

In addition to making the otherwise simple-ish suit look more interesting, notice how the placement of the bands on the side sections also add cleavage-creating bra-like support.

And of course, I couldn't simply make a one-piece and let it stand alone, so I made a flowy (yes, a flowy, unstructured top!  Can you believe my boldness to explore the unfamiliar?!) blouse as a cover-up.  While it doesn't really cover anything, it sure would look great billowing in the sea breeze.  I was not only taking from the Professor's white shirt, but also was inspired by coconut "fuzz" and the the palm frond thatched huts, which is why I added the detail of the frayed edge ribbon I created from the shirt fabric.

Gilligan's Island: Skipper Sexy

So let us return to Gilligan's Island. Last season, I did the girls. (Ha, who ever thought they'd hear me say THAT?!) But who says that my ladies can't emulate the males of the island?

Maybe it's the current hot days, maybe it's that I have a lot of stretch material and just found a new website that teaches stretch pattern making, but I decided to do a small collection of swimwear, just for the fun and experience of it!

I have had this blue striped material for a while now (I've used it as the "underwear" in my mens' faire pants because it's hidden, but comfy and sturdy enough to be a good base under the pumpkin puffiness). Anyway, I think the stripes just scream, "Nautical!" So I made a bandeau variation bikini top and the female Skipper was born.

For the rest, I wanted an airy, sea-cruise type of feel, so I used some light lacy stretch white cotton to make a tiered cave-front peasant skirt, perfect for walking up the steps and short ladders on a yacht without tripping while still catching the sea breeze beautifully.

The top, of course inspired by The Skipper's blue polo shirt, is (gasp!) ultra drapy! I wanted to make her have a more "round" shape on the top to echo Skipper's chubbiness without making her actually look fat. I think I did a good job at that concept!

Oh, by the way, I did look for a Skipper hat to go with this outfit, but it ended up making Raine look so Jennifer Lopez-as-Selena. It just didnt' look right, so I didn't use it.  AS for the rest of the ensemble, I am quite happy with it!  It's cool and comfy and ready for more than a three hour tour!

Gilligan's Island: Howell Madness!

Okay, maybe not "Madness!" but it is a little bit unusual, don't you think?

For my final swimwear exercise, I tried a "standard" string bikini with a stringy twist.  You know, I kind of felt strange using such a little amount of fabric to cover up Trina's girly bits.  I mean, if a regular piece of paper represented the amount of material I usually use to make a garment, this outfit would be represented by a postage stamp.

The hat was essential, and I chose the plaid print to echo a Mr. Howell sports jacket, of course.  It usually would be used for trousers or something, but it is actually stretchy, so I thought it would be a good choice for this character.

Always not wanting to keep things simple, I wanted to also add something extra and unusual, so inspired by the idea of a scuba-diving outfit, I made a string-embellished raglan sleeve shrug that is almost off the shoulder and buttons off center.  I think it adds a nice fashion touch, even if it would make for a strange tan pattern after a day at the beach.

Just to point out as well, check out the awesome backside to this bikini bottom!  I used an inward curved center back seam to "lift and separate" which also prevents the fabric from riding up and in while the girl is walking.  I will use this technique again!

Gilligan's Island: Ginger Twist

That is not an optical illusion or special staging just for the photo, the skirt of this dress was drafted to make the pleats twist around Ginger's hips.  It was a lot more mathematically involved to achieve this effect than it looks.  Nonetheless, I like the way it turned out, even if the dress looks more simple in pictures than it does in real life.

I remember that Ginger had two standard outfits on the show, her pearly white dress, and the cheetah print dress that could be repurposed as a swimsuit.  I remember seeing at least once that she had a tight cocktail dress made from sail canvas with "S.S. Minnow" printed on the thigh, which I thought was genius on the costumer's part.

It was kind of hard to find a good picture of her in the cheetah dress, although the picture of Mary Ann wearing it while suffering from a case of amnesia (which made her think she was Ginger) were plentiful.  Go figure.

The black top is criss-cross seamed to match the seams of her pearl dress, but it's hard to see, which reinforces my preference to not use black in my designs.  In this case, though, the black was necessary because there was no way that I could make the entire outfit out of the cheetah material, it would just be "too much" and no other color than black would pair well with the print, so black it is. Still, the bodice fits her like a glove, which I love and is something you can't hide, regardless of the dark color.  I also placed some hand sewn flowers trimmed in black sequins on the shoulder to add more interest.


The long mermaid skirt is removable for extra versatility!  While I can totally see a starlet walking onto a tour boat wearing the long dress and thinking it's a perfectly fine dress for sailing, if you get stuck on a deserted island, a shorter cocktail dress is better just for convenience sake.  And, oh, it looks good in real life and I can see some people liking this version better as it looks a little more youthful.

Oh!  And!  It's my Birthday!