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| My First Felt Dress |
Last night I was struck with the need to attempt several projects at once, but I plan to see them through to completion. I bought several pieces of felt in the craft section at Kinokuniya yesterday. I've been dying to work with felt and when I came upon these fat squares while I was at lunch yesterday, I just grabbed the opportunity. I had a great idea for the beginnings of a simple, seamless Blythe dress so I came home and made a pattern using a couple of dresses I already had. The first one I made was a bit wonky. The second which Hamsa is wearing to the left is closer to what I'm going for. I feel so ashamed being the daughter of a seamstress who graduated and taught at the Paris Academy of Fashion that I don't know a lot of sewing terms so bare with me. I mean the thing is I didn't sew anything, which is exactly my intention. LOL!! I always hated sewing. I would just sketch dresses and get my mom to make them. I think it's probably more that I'm intimidated of sewing then that I hate it. You know how that goes. I am in total awe of designers who are incredibly skilled at sewing like my mom and Valentine Westphal and Hilary Wagstaff but I never for a second think that I could ever be that good because I would always get really frustrated when I was younger helping my mom with all the needles and bobbins and holding the pieces straight in the sewing machine. I was awful at it But I loved playing with her fabrics and draping them around me and thinking of things they could be used for. I was good at imagining and drawing, not so much execution where fashion was concerned. I made bathing suits for my Barbies which was a simple process of sewing two spandex halves together and turning them inside out. I was lucky if I remembered not to sew the leg holes shut. LOL!!
But ever since I saw this felt exhibition last summer with my cousin at the Cooper Hewitt Museum I've had it in my mind to make a dress for myself or Blythe from felt. I was so impressed by how the felt made garment pieces on display seemed literally molded onto the form and without any sewing or seams because felt takes on the form of the owner eventually and becomes like a kind of fabric sculpture. So anyway, that's what I have in mind for these Blythe dress pieces. I also plan on gluing little designs on them the way mom used to do on felt animals she made for our Christmas tree. She was into creation myths at the time and cut out a bunch of animals that represented those found in the Mayan "tree of life" myth, from the highest winged creatures to the lowest underground serpents. Yes, my mom is one of a kind, really ahead of her time. She glued on sequins for eyes and thin bits of felt for stripes or whatever she saw fit and it was all based on animals from the tree of life that she had seen in this huge reference book on Ancient Art that she had borrowed from the library. This was combined by all the usual more traditional Christmas tree decorations, lights, icicles, wreaths, fake snow spray. We had a very eclectic tree. : )
In addition to the dress, I also spray painted Bowie's eyelids green with a little gold and glued her scalp into her coolcat dome which arrived a day ago finally! I'm super happy so far with how she's coming out. I also decided to work a little bit more on carving her nostrils. I think they look good, although I have no real idea what I'm doing. It's really helped a lot reading Fanny Zara's incredible fashion and customizer interview blogs this week. I just try to look at the work of people whose work I really like, like Melly Kay and Gbaby and others. I always feel that there must be some technique to carving but it seems as if everyone has their own unique way of doing it. I love the diverse result of all that uniqueness and how special all their dolls look when they are done. They have such a sweet and singular spirit.
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