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I love this time of the year. As someone who greatly enjoys cleaning and fresh starts, the New Year is always exciting. I also find it helps to look over the last year, to show myself how much I have accomplished. It always feels like not much happened until you look through your day planner or calendar. I ended up having a very busy year, and have another one planned! My apologies in advance - this is going to be a very long post! I started off the year with an easy project- a cute little bee skirt. I look slightly miserable in some of the photos since I was battling an unnecessarily long cold, but I still wear this (and brought it to Germany with me!). After that, I had a bustle era obsession, and made a bustle cage and my Through the Looking Glass dress. We took photos of this dress in a blizzard (most of our photo shoots seem to be in terrible weather...), but I loved how it turned out! It is actually for sale in my Etsy here. And started making a second bustle dress to go with the first... which is still not done (first goal for the New Year? Finish some of theses projects) In March I went to Germany! I spent two weeks, starting in Berlin, and making my way over the Koln and then Hannover. I had an amazing time, got tons of inspiration, and met some of my family that lives there! Once I got back to Canada, I finished quite a few things in a pretty short amount of time, starting with my Moth dress. We had a great day taking these photos in Inglewood, in Calgary. My favourite photo shoot from the entire year! The Berlin Collection is so far some of the favourite garments I have ever made as well. I wear all of them, and the WW2 military style will always be my favourite. We were so lucky to ride in a vintage plane as well. This is up there with Germany on my best memories of the year list. Lots of 50's styled things this year! After making my In the Mood for Love Dress and enjoying wearing it so much, I decided to make another one in a different fabric. I have always admired vintage corset covers. They are so delicate and detailed! So this summer I made myself one for underneath the (still unfinished) bustle dress I was working on. And it was perfect timing! I ended up being able to get photos at a Calgary Stampeded Pancake Breakfast. The Mexico Collection was my Summer collection this year (can you believe it? 3 Collections in 1 year! I am quite proud of myself). We got fabulous pictures at Drumheller on a very hot day. In August we got new photos of my 1930's skirt at Heritage Park (one of my favourite places to go every summer), and made myself another dirndl. Dirndl's are one of my favourite garments, and I have so much fun making them. I also got 2 tattoos in August, which was lots of fun! September was probably the craziest month of them all! Not only did I start school (I am taking Costume Cutting and Construction through the Olds College Calgary Campus), but I also was a Team Lead for MakeFashion. Last year was my first time doing MakeFashion, and I absolutely loved it. I was so excited to be a part of it again this year! I also started my Etsy account in September, as well as got photos of my Man From UNCLE dress. Plus, at the beginning of the month I released my Fall Collection, Crooked House, where I collaborated with 2 local businesses - DSign Step and Iron Crow Antiques. Thankfully, October calmed down a little bit and I only finished one garment- my 1950's romper, which is also up on my Etsy. In November I actually finished two outfits, but I only have photos of my Canadian 1950's Shirt and Skirt. I also had lots of other things going on in October and November, which cut into some of my sewing and inspiration time. I got psychological testing done in November, and was finally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I also turned 19 in November, and participated in the Natural Talent Alliance Model Walk And finally December! I had some pretty big ups and downs this year, both with personal life and my sewing. I had some amazing opportunities and fantastic memories, such as going to Germany, flying in a plane from 1946, and taking part of MakeFashion again, just with my own design this time. I also spent a lot of time questioning exactly where I want to go in my future (which caused a lot of grief- I really like having a goal to work towards). December ended up being an amazingly calm end to the year. I finished my two final projects in school (a skirt and pair of pants that I will be getting photos of soon), and did a Peaky Blinder photo shoot to celebrate finishing my first semester of school. I also started working out again, and became a brand ambassador for Just Strong athletic wear! I also worked on a few things that I don't have photos of yet during the year (such as a 1960's coordinating coat and dress, and vest that I made for a gift, and a few other things), and I made a few patterns for a local athletic wear company, Intuitive. To sum up the year in logistics: I sewed over 30 garments, released 3 collections, started school, and was in 11 newspaper articles. Not too shabby!
I am so excited for 2019! ~K
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I have been having fun trying out different things lately! Some of them have to do with sewing- such as new techniques for finishing, learning how to make a pattern from scratch, and learning how to draw proper technical drawings to send to factories. I have also been trying out things that are a little bit out of my comfort zone. Last week, Natural Talent Alliance held a model walk not far from my house, so I decided to try out. Natural Talent Alliance is a local partnership of artists in the area where I live. There are photographers, dancers, designers, models, visual artists, and many other professionals who are a part of the NTA. I was lucky enough to meet the people who run it through MakeFashion. I was pretty nervous to try out, but I ended up having a fantastic time!
As you already know if you have read my blog for a little bit, I was a Team Lead in MakeFashion this year. The setup this year was very different from last since the show was a part of Beakerhead. It was a little chilly (I felt very bad for the models!) but it ended up being absolutely incredible, and I am so thrilled with how it turned out! If you would like to learn more about what my dress was about and see some construction photos, you see that here There were so many amazing designs, and you can check some of those out here. Check out MakeFashion for more photos and videos of this years show! ~K
I am very excited to be working with MakeFashion for a second time, and this time I am a Team Lead! I thought that I would explain my dress a little before the show, and let everyone know where they can see it, if you would like to. I decided to design my technology around something close to home- mental illness. The dress is based on the idea to help people struggling with things such as depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. A switch at the waistband of the dress allows the wearer to change the colours of the lights in the skirt. Each colour of light means something different- the green means that the person wearing the dress is comfortable in the situation, yellow means that they are getting anxious/uncomfortable, and red means that they are not in a good place. We came up with this format since it could benefit many people- I have a hard time with touch and being overwhelmed (with noise, etc), and having a red light would be nice to let the people I love know that I would like some space, and that it is not their fault. Having something the let the people around you know what kind of head space that you are in helps avoid miscommunication. MakeFashion is paired with Beakerhead this year, so the fashion shows will be at the Beakerhead event on September 22. To get behind the scenes access to the show (get to see the models and designers getting ready for the shows), reserved seating, a gift bag from team Luminary, access to the VIP lounge, and a ride in the Beakernight Hot Air balloon you can get the Luminary Experience here! If you would just like to check out a show, tickets to Beakernight are $8, and you can get them here. The show is at Fort Calgary, and my dress will be at the first show at 8pm! I loved working with MakeFashion last year, and I have met so many brilliant people through this opportunity. I can't wait to show everyone the finished product! ~K
The hardest part about sewing is that I can get lots of things done, but it doesn't look like it until I have photos of them! In the past few weeks I have been working on tons of different projects, but I don't have any of them finished yet (although two are almost done!). I have also had a few very neat opportunities to do something a little different, so my sewing room has been pretty crazy. I do have a few very exciting things that I have been working on behind the scenes: the first is that I have been making prototypes for a Calgary activewear company called Intuitive. It has been an absolute joy so far working with the company, and I am more than excited about this collaboration. The second thing that I have been working on is my second time working with MakeFashion! Last year I was a part of the runway show in Calgary as a seamstress. This year I am lucky enough to be a team lead. My dress is called Breathe, and has to do with helping with anxiety and mental illnesses. MakeFashion will be at Beakerhead this year in September. I can't wait to tell and show you more! On the side, I have also been working on dirndls (I made one from a Gertie pattern, liked it so much that I immediately started a second one!), a tiered 1950's summer dress, wool cigarette pants with a matching sheath dress and blazer, a 1960's colour blocked dress, and lots of repairs. My mending pile has gotten out of hand! If you follow me on instagram (here), then you will know that I have also been working on setting up an Etsy account. So far I have hit pretty much every obstacle possible (why are computers so confusing??), so it still isn't up.... But I have made progress, so it should be here soon! I will be selling some of my costumes, as well as embroidery to start. Thank you so much for your patience with everything, I can't wait to show you all of the things that I have been working on!
~K This year was a really huge one for me, especially when it comes to my sewing. I started this blog just a little over a year ago with my Special Project in school, and it has grown very quickly with all of the projects that I have been working on. I also started a makeup and skincare part of the blog (and an instagram here) after I started working at a beauty counter to share about some of the things I have learned through training sessions. When it comes to my sewing, I have grown quite a bit in the past year! I started the year with finishing my Special Project, which took me a semester to make. Not long after that, I started working with MakeFashion. I started out just helping, and ended up making a dress with the help of an engineer! It was hectic and crazy and I loved every minute of it. I also got to go to Mexico with my family this year, celebrated a one year anniversary with my boyfriend, graduated from high school, got accepted into Olds College Fashion Program, got a job, made a dress for a televison pilot, and finished 16 projects (some of which I haven't blogged about yet). I would say that was a pretty successful year! Here is my year in photos: And a quick sneak peak of a project that I haven't posted about yet: Heres to another great and productive year! I can't wait to see whats in store for me
~K It only took me more than half a year, but I finally have everything to show you some of the behind scenes when it came to making the Dream Dress for MakeFashion! The reason that this post took so long to become reality is that I actually lost the photos of the dress in progress. Thankfully, I found them so I can give you a bit of an idea of what the inside of the dress looks like, since it actually has more detail on the inside than it does on the outside! The whole process of making this dress for MakeFashion was such a great experience, and I learned so many new techniques! I am very excited to hopefully be able to work with them again.
~K If you would like to see pictures of the final project, here is a link. Since school ended recently (and I am done for good! Until college...), I have been working on a few projects. The first one, which I have brought up before on my blog in my Fabric Haul post, is a late 1940s styled dress with a matching blazer. This one has been a bit weird to work on since its been so warm lately and I am making the set out of a wool suiting. However, I love the fabric that I chose out, and can't wait to keep working on it. This one I am actually going to make a video of me sewing it, so you can see some of my process when it comes to sewing more 'modern' clothes. Another thing that I have been working on is planning for next years MakeFashion show. The call for proposals is coming up quickly, so I have been drawing out my ideas as well as coming up with a budget. I posted a short video of me working on one of the sketches on my Instagram. I have been using these Artist's Loft Dual Tip Markers, which are blend-able markers slightly similar to Copic Markers, and I am loving them! I have also finished my regency stays, which I had mentioned a while ago, and I will do a post on them once I have some good photos. ~K
So the fashion show was on the weekend, and it went almost without a glitch. The show turned out beautifully, and even though there were some things that didn't quite work out on my dress like I wanted it to, I still love how it worked out. I had an incredible technician who helped me, and it made the whole process so much less stressful, even when things went wrong. Everyone who worked on this project was amazing, and I am in awe of their efficiency and how calm everyone was, even during the most fast pace moments before the show. I was working in the team Virtually Vogue, and I had the privileged of working at ARCHEloft in Calgary, a maker space that is open to pretty much everyone. Every single part of this project and the people that I was working with was incredible, and I hope that I will be able to be a part of the event again next year! Okay, enough gushing... here are some photos from the show on Saturday: You can also watch a video from the show here. If you would like to see more photos from the evening, let me know! Tons more will be showing up on the MakeFashion website as well as their facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled if you are interested in seeing all of the other gowns from the event. Check out their instagram, too, since they have been posting photos of every gown at the show.
~K Photos by Kenneth Fung I have been quiet around here for the past few weeks, but I do have an excuse! I have been recently working with the MakeFashion team for the fashion show at Telus Spark in Calgary that is happening tomorrow (!!). MakeFashion is wearable tech, meaning that not only are the dresses stunning and completely unique, but they also include lights, motors, and other technology. I am so excited for the show, it is going to look incredible! I have been lucky enough to sew an entire dress for one of the collections, so I will be posting lots of photos once the show is over. It has all gone so quickly, and I can't wait to show you what I've been working on! The show will be on this Saturday at 7, you can check out their website here to check out some of the amazing work from past years and find some more information about this years. I will be posting more behind the scenes looks and progress pictures on my instagram, which you can check out here ~K
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