In The Sketchbook- November 2017

Welcome to In the Sketchbook, a monthly look at fashion design sketches that we are working on for ourselves. Sketching garments on a personal croquis is a great way for the individual couture enthusiast to move beyond the use of commercial patterns and into a world of personalized design! It can be intimidating at first, but with a little bit of practice it becomes something you look forward to. Join us for a look of what we have going on In the Sketchbook! Brought to you by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor and Steph King from Siouxzeegirl Designs.


Winter in Chicago means that the 2017/2018 Chicago Lyric Opera season is upon us. My dear friend Wendy and I are attending 4 Opera's this season as well as some other cultural events. We both had outfits for the first two performances and have two more coming up. Both are on Saturday evenings and we quite like dressing up!

The 4 sketches that I have here are my favorite of my group of sketches. One of them needs to include lace (sort of our own challenge to get us to work with some of the beautiful laces we have acquired!) 

The first 2 sketches incorporate lace into the designs. The first one pairs a beautiful multiple shades of blue floral guipere lace skirt with a Blue fancy tweed equestrian inspired jacket. 

The second one (which I have drawn several times in trying to convey my vision better) is more of a 1920's inspired empire style gown. The pink is a much more vibrant color than what I have shown. The idea is that the top and underskirt are in a brilliant pink silk dupioni and the over-skirt and sleeves are in a beautiful black mesh lace with pink and black embroidered roses. There is also the opportunity here to add some embellishment along the empire seam with beading or possibly appliques of the roses.

The last 2 are non-lace but made of some of my fancy fabric from my collection. The first of these really plays with lines and layers and sort of reminds of a flowering bud. There still seems to be a little bit of a disconnect between the lower half and the upper half of the design. I need to play with it a bit more to make it more cohesive... I have 2 gorgeous fabrics in mind for this. One on a black and red and another in a pink and green and both are reversible.

The second outfit is a pants set. These are intended to be wide legged and very soft with possibly an overlay in silk chiffon with the sleeves being the same overlay materials and an architectural asymmetric collar and neckline with the body of the jacket/top to be out of a black/red printed jacquard.

This month I will be spending some time in London and the Netherlands and am excited to bring along a travel sketchbook for inspiration!

Make sure to stop by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor to see what lovely sketches and ideas she is working on. Please feel free to share your sketches and ideas!

In The Sketchbook- August 2017

Welcome to In the Sketchbook, a monthly look at fashion design sketches that we are working on for ourselves. Sketching garments on a personal croquis is a great way for the individual couture enthusiast to move beyond the use of commercial patterns and into a world of personalized design! It can be intimidating at first, but with a little bit of practice it becomes something you look forward to. Join us for a look of what we have going on In the Sketchbook! Brought to you by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor and Steph King from Siouxzeegirl Designs.


It seems crazy that we are going into the last week of August!! Time sure has just flown by.

Several of my very good friends and I got together for several days of girls sewing time in Baltimore last weekend. It was so much fun and I feel like I have so many new ideas. Getting together to sew always gets my sewing mojo into high gear!

This month I did a lot of thinking about my fall and winter wardrobe. When I moved back in May, I embarked on a major de-cluttering project of everything I own. One area that I quickly realized that I was lacking in is outerwear. Nice outerwear. I have a puffy winter snow coat but am totally lacking in any nice wool coats or work appropriate coats and trench coats for the late fall/early spring and the deep cold Chicago winter.

I now have several fabrics to work from for all sorts of cold temperatures and have been going through some inspiration pictures and doing some sketching of ideas that I want to move forward on.

The first three sketches are of trench coat ideas in 2 different silhouettes. The first is a more traditional double breasted trench coat. It is OK, it certainly did not excite me enough to draw a back view!

Fairly typical looking trench coat.

 The next 2 are much more fun and have a bit more personality. The silhouette is fun and flirty and it has some personality. I showed it buttoned all the way up to ward off the rain. I am playing around with an idea in my head that includes a hood. I will need to sketch a couple more ideas around that. For me it would make sense to have a hood of some sort that will keep me nice and dry for the times that I don't have an umbrella handy. I'm wondering if it could be detachable or maybe one of those that roll up into the back collar or a back pouch... So many ideas!

Fun and flirty silhouette with some soft gathers on lower side panels,
inseam pockets, waist definition and some fun flap details.
eek... I really need to learn how to draw faces!

Next up are a couple wool coats. The first is a total knockoff from a designer coat that I really like that has a pricetag that is way out of my budget! I have some great ideas for this one!

Designer knockoff coat

The second is what I am calling my Public Transportation Coat. A utilitarian winter coat that will keep me snug as a bug while I walk to the train, catch a taxi or wait for an Uber. This will be wool, underlined with flannel and lined with a flannel backed satin. It will include zipper welt pockets, a zippered breast pocket for my metra card, as well as interior pockets. Three piece sleeves for easy mobility when all bundled up and the wrists will have internal knit cuffs to keep the elements out, I love that feature on winter coats! It will probably also have a main zip down the front to provide wind blockage which means most or all of the buttons will be purely decorative.

Hmmmm... looks like I forgot to add bottoms in this sketch! LOL!!
 A fun and well thought out winter coat!

Are you thinking of sewing for the next season? Usually I am so late to the game that I feel rushed. I suppose having a real need for these garments is keeping me on my toes!

Make sure to stop by Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor to see what lovely sketches and ideas she is working on. Please feel free to share your sketches and ideas!

Happy Sketching!

Exploring Fashion Design- Design 1 with Sarah Veblen, Part 2 of 2

Continuing on from Part 1...
Class review of Exploring Fashion Design- Design 1 with Sarah Veblen.

photo courtesy of Sarah Veblen

Day 4:
Morning: We started the morning with a lecture on fabrics, colors and composing ensembles. Sarah did another trunk show with her garments on how to create ensembles versus just having separates. This also included a lesson on using bridges for color and giving your eye a place to rest and a smooth transition between 2 fabrics or between fabric and your skin. These bridges can be piping, flat piping, lace, etc..

example of bridges used as design elements

Playing with swatches!

Late Morning and Afternoon: we played with TONS of fabric swatches!! Sarah had 2 giant bags of fabric swatches that she dumped on the table and she then gave us a variety of increasingly difficult fabric challenges. Between each exercise we presented them to the group and there was lots of great back and forth discussion.

- pick a solid color you like and find swatches that go from lightest to darkest in the color range.

I chose hot pink!

- pick a solid color that you don't like and build from there using other solids and prints.

I chose tan/ecru solid in the very center. A color I never wear and find boring.

- pick a print and find solid colors to go with it that bring out or recede the colors in the print.

Each color highlights or diminishes a color in the print. Some make the print look washed out and some make it pop.

- find pairs of swatches that show the difference between a clear color and a greyed out color.

This was a harder exercise partly because of the available swatches. Using paint chips from the hardware store or paint shop shows this much more clearly. I look much healthier and vibrant when i wear clear colors over greyed out colors.

- pick a boucle/tweed swatch with 3+ colors in it and build an ensemble around it.

Multi-color tweeds and boucles offer many options!

At the end of the afternoon we then each had time to present fabric that we had brought with us and that we were unsure as to what to do with it. This resulted in another wonderful brainstorming session allowing myself to think about ideas outside of my normal train of thought.

Example of group brainstorming session with a fabric Wendy brought with her and was unsure how to use.

Lessons of Day 4: Do not be afraid of experimenting with color, texture and prints. Take the time to audition multiple possibilities before making a decision.


Day 5: 
Early Morning: Started the morning off in lecture format on how to tie everything that we have learned so far together.
re-cap of the tools we have learned so far:
- use of personal croquis; accurate body depiction
- sketching tools
- increasing knowledge of interrelationship of colors, texture and prints
- increasing knowledge of fabrics. Fabric types and characteristics
- use of your eye; allowing yourself to appreciate something beautiful and see the reason why you find it so appealing. These forms often come out in your design work at some point in time.

We also had a great discussion of learning to trust the process and of working in a mindful manner. This is something that I have been working on in all aspects of my life, bringing that calmness into my design process will be a wonderful experience.

Rest of the day: Spent at A Fabric Place/Michael's Fabrics
We were each given specific exercises to be done at the fabric store that required the gathering of many swatches. I loved that Sarah gives individualized exercises tailored to your own needs versus just generic things to do!

Just a small sample of the lovely fabrics at A Fabric Place. I was so engrossed in my exercises that I forgot to take pictures!

My specific fabric exercises were:
1.Find fabrics that I can use in a monochromatic non-color scale. this was a good challenge for me since I always wear color! I choose to go with a grey palette and found this to be a bit anxiety producing to begin with. I was really surprised at this reaction within myself! I just took the time I needed and cut about 20 swatches in the grey family and I now have a newfound appreciation for this lovely neutral. Later in a group exercise we determined what range of grey I could actually wear.

The greys that I choose for my palette, there were more but were rejected for being too brownish and too bluish.

2. Find fabrics to make a skirt out of a print with some sort of stripe at the bottom. I like stripes but found that I have a hard time using them without looking silly. I really enjoyed this one! I brought a couple sketches of skirts that I had done to help me better visualize the fabric combinations. Michael's has so many beautiful and high quality fabrics to choose from.

So many options!

My favorite of the bunch!

3. Swatch solid colors and textures to go with a Jackson Pollockesque linen that I had brought with me. Again this was very interesting. I had an idea in my head of what I would use but then when I let myself really be open and look at the possibilities of different fabric/color combinations I found many intriguing ideas.

On the left are all the swatches I chose to go with the main fabric. On the right were my favorite three!

4. Using a silk chiffon print I brought with me, find a fabric to use with it. I found it easier to think in terms of design. I had sketched out a princess sheath dress with gathered chiffon sleeves and neckline detail and used that sketch to help drive my decision. I ended up with a fabric that complemented the overall color of the chiffon and allowed the print on the chiffon to be the standout rather than matching a fabric to an actual print color on the chiffon, which is what I was initially inclined to do!

This one is quite hard to see in the photo. Photographing the chiffon print to really show off it's properties is not easy! on the left are the initial swatches. I was initially really drawn to the green wool. however the contrast is very high and I really wanted something more complementary. The fabric I choose on the right really is amazing with the chiffon!

5. Find a camel color that I can wear- did not get to this :(

6. Swatch multiple floral chiffons from pastels to jewel tones to find what I like and what works well with my coloring.- did not get to this :(

7. Using another fabric I brought with me, red and black jacquard with woven circles, find something to go with it. This was the last challenge of the day that I did and I found it FUN! I started with playing with a laser cut neoprene to go over the fabric to tone it down and give it more interest. (thanks to my friend Wendy who pointed out the laser cut fabrics to me!) This was not even on my radar to do. I liked the red/black fabric but with the laser cut over it, now I LOVE it! Really allowing myself to be open to possibilities let me 'see' the options. I also choose a beautiful dark grey wool with red and black pinstripes to make an accompanying garment.

This is going to be a wonderfully fun project!

Lunchtime: we spent some time reviewing exercises in group discussion while we waited for our food! Then back to the fabric store for several more hours of fun.

One of Wendy's exercises was to find a peachy/coral color that she can wear. Wendy tends to shy away from many colors and the color and print on her shoulder looks so lovely!

Late afternoon: we reconvened at Sarah's studio to review our fabric purchases and share why we bought them. Of course we also shared a well deserved bottle of wine!

Lesson of Day 5: Take my time at the fabric store! Allow myself to explore options, bring fabric that I am trying to coordinate, bring sketch ideas and just slow down and take it all in.

Day 6:
Wow! time just flew by. I couldn't believe we were on the last day of the class.

Morning: We started off with finishing up the sharing of our fabric exercises. So interesting to see what other people do and why!
Lecture and trunk show was next with the emphasis on the use of trims.
(lack of photos due to tired brain!)
I have a hard time with trims except on french jackets. I always feel like they look like an afterthought and just stuck on or too juvenile. Sarah described her process and I can see where the use of trims done in a thoughtful way can add an unexpected design detail to a garment. This is something that I will have to explore. We shared trims that we each brought and discussed usage of them and buttons as well.
One very lovely lady, Joyce, actually had several trims that she wanted to give away. I came home with 2 lovely pieces that I will try to incorporate.

The three beautiful trims that came home with me! The gray and blue/gold were from Joyce!

Afternoon: Sarah discussed with us as a group how to begin to translate these designs that we have sketched into actual garment designs. She believes that with 4 well fitted master patterns you can get to almost any design. These master patterns are: Princess line top, side bust dart top, pants and skirt. We then went around the room and she took a sketch from each of us and talked through how to make it happen using paper and pencil to aid her. After just seeing her do this a couple of times my mind automatically started putting them together. How lovely to be free of commercial patterns and endless fitting muslins!

Rough sketch of how to re-work a princess seamed pencil skirt to add a contrasting side angled flounce going across several panels.

The day wrapped up by Sarah spending individual wrap up time with each of us.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Veblen

Lesson of Day 6: Use the tools that we have been taught throughout the week to further our design growth. -Positive body image - Personalized croquis - Sketching tools - use of Color - use of Fabrics -Purposeful design - Allowing myself to play.

I flew home with Wendy the next day and we were like excited school girls eager to share our ideas and insights with each other! Truly a great class!!

Exploring Fashion Design- Design 1 with Sarah Veblen, Part 1 of 2

This was an amazing experience!! Hands down the best non-sewing sewing class that I have ever taken. I left with so many new tools in my toolbox, it will be a fun journey exploring what I can come up with using these new tools.

I will be totally honest and say that I really had no idea what to expect from this class, other than knowing that drawing would be involved, and that made me feel both excited and a little apprehensive. I really did my best to go into it with a wide open mind and just experience the class, the exercises and the kinship with other woman. This turned out to work to my advantage. By leaving myself open and as free from my own fashion biases as possible I was able to learn so much about color, shape and form, as well as to learn so much about myself.

Sarah leads you down such a wonderfully positive path of discovery that you can't help but feel good about yourself as you climb the steps of learning and tackle self-imposed barriers. Through carefully guided exercises that are tailored to each group of participants she gives you permission to play and ask 'what if?' and 'what about?'. I quickly found that these permissions allowed for me to set aside my normal self expectations of perfectionism and my need to get it right the first time so I could get on to the next thing on my list. Every successful person inevitably does these things to themself and having 6 days of putting it all aside was a lovely gift to myself.

Monkey the cat on my suitcase of supplies, our workroom, kitchen filled with goodies, gathered around the table in discussion.

The days were a bit intensive! We arrived at Sarah's at 8:30 each morning and were treated to a lovely home baked good right from the oven. Most mornings we started off in the kitchen/dining area gathered around a table. Sarah would lecture for a while and then give us exercises to do. Lunch break was usually around 12:30 and we would reconvene about an hour and fifteen mins later. plenty of time to go out and get some food and fresh air. Then back at again! Some afternoons were spent at our workstations and some were back gathered together depending on what type of exercises we were doing. Wrap-up happened between 5:30 and 6 most days.

Most evenings, after a nice relaxing dinner with Wendy, I would spend some time re-writing my notes from the day and adding in my reflections from what we have learned so far. I like to take my notes in a notebook and then re-write them in a notability app on my ipad. This lets me be neater and add in any pictures or illustrations that help me to understand that day's work.

Here is a recap of what we did for the first 3 days and of the tools and lessons I learned from each day.

Day 1:
 Morning: spent the morning in lecture about the 5 Elements of a well designed look.
- design
- fit
- fabrication
- engineering
- construction

Afternoon; Spent the first part of the afternoon working individually on drawing a croquis. We worked off of a basic croquis that was closest to our body type and then made all the necessary changes. We had full length mirrors to look into along with help from Sarah.
The second half of the afternoon was spent working on your individual croquis in a group setting. you would stand up in front of the group with Sarah next to you holding your croquis and the group would assess your drawing and suggest changes. Lather, rinse, repeat until the group decided your croquis was matched your body.

The evolution of my personalized croquis

This was a great experience!! It really allowed me to look at my body with a non-judgemental eye and it made me realize that parts that I thought were too big or less than desirable in my head really are not. I am a beautiful person.

After finalizing the croquis we had a basic lesson in sketching garments just to get our hands used to the process.

Lessons of Day 1-
1.There is a complicated mix of elements that really go into creating a well put together look or ensemble.
2. I have a beautiful body that is all my own! and now I have a personalized croquis to sketch out personalized looks on.

Day 2:
Morning: Lecture/trunk show on the Evolution of Style from Sarah's point of view and on how you can use style lines and seam lines to make the body more proportionate.  We then spent a couple hours tagging fashions that we like in magazines and books. This was my first introduction to collezioni magazines. Such a treat!

Tagging and discussing designs that we like!

Afternoon: In a group setting we each presented our tagged items and expressed what it was that drew us to these designs being as specific as possible. While we did this Sarah took many notes and sometimes would stop us to put a star on the corresponding sticky tag. When we were all done, Sarah then handed out a list of sketching exercises/challenges to each of us. Some of these corresponded directly to starred tags so that we could have a specific reference.

The idea of this was that we explore the designs we like using our individualized croquis and see if there was a way to incorporate the essence of those details that we liked into designs on our own bodies. Brilliant!

My specific exercises/challenges were:
- structured necklines
- structured hemlines
- peplums of any kind ( I specifically was given this challenge because I said i did not believe that a peplum would work on me!)
- long jacket silhouettes
- very open necklines (wide and/or deep)
- Deep V necklines. very, very deep even if only achieved if by illusion by using seam/style lines
- outrageous shoulder details and classy cold shoulder looks
- belted looks, waist defining looks
- sheer overlays
- 60's neckline and collar

a portion of my to-do list from Sarah

Lessons of Day 2:
Not to be afraid of trying out different details and designs that I may have never tried before. Using my croquis I can try them out and decide if it is something I like and if it is a design I want to further work on. No excuses to push myself out of my box.

Day 3:
Morning: spent the entire morning sketching. The idea was to work on the challenges that we were given the day before from Sarah. She spent individualized time with each of us. During this time she helped with actual mechanics of sketching as well as with helping us to develop our designs from the exercises/challenges she gave us.

Presenting our initial sketches to the group.

Afternoon: Directly after lunch we gathered as a group and each took the time to present one sketching design and how we came up with the details and what we learned from it. I found learning from each other in a group setting to be highly beneficial. Each person had different ideas and different reasons for how they made their decisions. Often times this would spark new ideas in my brain! After this group exercise we were back at our individual workstations, or anywhere in the house you wanted to be, sketching again for the rest of the day. Time flew by!

A few of my sketches

Lesson of Day 3:
Not only could I sketch designs I really, really like it!! Finally a tool for me to get the ideas out of my head and onto paper in a meaningful way.

Half way through!
Stay tuned for part 2