In the Sketchbook- September 2016

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.

Hello everyone! Please don't forget to leave a comment or email if you would like us to link up to your blog or photos of sketches.

This month I have really concentrated on wardrobe building and using fabrics and swatches that I own to design around. Fall has finally arrived in Chicagoland and I am wanting to sew up so many cozy clothes and warm colors and textures have me so excited!

I also need to get sewing since I have lost almost 55lbs since last fall. I really have no wardrobe to speak of and I can only stand wearing pajama pants for a limited time. For me, it is important to look and feel nice in my clothes. This doesn't mean that everything has to be super fancy or fitted. Rather fitted and comfortable and things that make me happy to put on! 

To start off with I have designed a pattern hack to one of Sandra Betzina Vogue patterns #1336. I made this up twice last fall in ponte and now I have this super soft knit tweed and and am going to add a hood and other green accents. The green is a very soft and light knit that feels like a dream. A perfect fall/winter cozy dress or rather athleisurewear.

Next up is 2 new versions of the Cashmerette Appleton Dress. I have 3 versions of this dress and due to weight loss they are a little too big on top. Great thing about this dress is that I can wear a tank top underneath and just pull it closed a little tighter! For the 2 dresses I have planned I will go down a size or just take out a closed wedge diagonally across the bodice to account for the loss of weight.

Both of these are a slight hack on the original pattern. The first is a dress for the holidays out of a beautiful burnout knit velvet that I will make into a midi length. On me that means extending the length by 8 inches. The second dress in the black/white print is the original length but I want to slash and spread the skirt to make a fuller, more playful skirt and use a solid black knit for the band and ties.

This fun black and white dress is a winter version of my 'Corner dress' design. One of the segments in the Haute Couture Club of Chicago 2017 fashion show is 'black and white'.

The dress in the center is sketched with 4 fabrics. I ordered about 20 swatches from Mood and Emmaonesock and these were the four combinations that spoke to me. I am going to go with the version on the right. It is a black and white cotton/lycra woven  checkish print and the smaller check print is a silk with applied silver dots. I love the contrast of the print sizes. I'll order the fabric from mood and put this on my to-do list later in the fall!

The next 2 are mood boards of wardrobe ideas. Some I have already made, some are in progress and some are just fun ideas! Both mood boards revolve around the same blouse, Cynthia Guffey T-2025, made up in different fabrics. There will be full blog post coming about these shirts soon!

The completed shirt is in the phtot with the skirt.You can see the swatch of fabrics. It is made up of this lovely silk floral with a base of green. The long skirt has been muslined and hopefully started on soon. It is a beautiful blue/green wool that will have a long zipper detail at the front. I started thinking what else could I make with this? Like a mini-wardrobe... I cam up with 2 pairs of grey denim jeans. One plain and one with embroidery on it. Also another shirt, modified version wwith no ruching on the sleeves, slightly longer and a different collar.

Here is the completed shirt with the ribbon neckline.

This mood board also started with a completed Cynthia Guffey T 2025 shirt. That will be entered at the ASG Chicagoland fashion show fabric challenge. From the shirt I designed and sewed the maroon ponte skirt with orange topstitching. Next I thought what other shirts/tops could I make to go with this skirt. I came up with a knit surplus type shirt from this orange and white knit. From there it went into a winter corduroy skirt also in a shade of maroon. This one a-line, button down with pockets built into the panels.

Here is the other completed shirt with the ponte maroon skirt. Please excuse the tightness of the clothes on my dress form! Making my shirt look a little funky!  She has a good 15lbs on me and needs to be adjusted.

Don't forget to hop on over to see what amazing designs Wendy Grossman of Couture Counsellor has come up with this month!