Operation Easter Dress pt. 2 (by Kendal)

To celebrate gaining three semesters of college credits (I passed my last CLEP for that semester last night!) I decided not to even think about clep tests today, and do "just exactly what I like, the whole day long" (Roman Holiday).  :) I spent most of my free time this morning recoloring my hair, which turned out nicely, and after lunch I decided to finally start on my dress for Easter Sunday. I really hadn't done anything with it besides think about how to put it together, but today I started the actual measuring and calculating. This is a pic of the paper I was writing everything on, it's just sideways.:)

 

After getting some basic calculations for different pieces of the dress down, I decided to cut out the skirt portion of the dress, since that will take up the most fabric. I'll then be able to see exactly what I have to work with for the top. After a lot of measuring, math, cutting, trimming, more measuring, and more trimming (chiffon is SO hard to work with) I finally finished cutting out the chiffon for the skirt. It's a half circle, and should be just above ankle length when it's hemmed. The lining for the skirt portion was easier to do- it's an A-line, and is mid-calf length. When everything was cut and trimmed, I ironed everything, sewed the two lining pieces together, and basted the lining to the chiffon at the waist. It looks promising! I'm just holding it on in these pictures- the side seam won't be sewn together until it's attached to the top and I put the side zipper in.

Side view:

 

Front view:

 

It flows so nicely. :) I can't wait to start on the top and attach the two!

 

-Kendal

A Quote I Came Across While Studying (by Kendal)

"Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty." -Edgar Degas

An Example of What Can Happen at The Chicken

While studying at Chick-fil-A the other day before work, I came across the following bit of nonsense in my Humanities CLEP exam book:

"how i became charming, likeable and delightful
by tristan tzara
19th december 1920

I sleep very late. I commit suicide at 65%. My life is very cheap, it's only 30% of life for me. My life has 30% of life. It lacks arms, strings and a few buttons. 5% is devoted to a state of semi-lucid stupor accompanied by anaemic crackling. This 5% is called DADA. So life is cheap. Death is a bit more expensive. But life is charming and death is equally charming. "

Crazy, right? I still can't believe that was actually in a textbook! I turns out that it is a result of the "dada" art movement- who knew? I just had to share it with someone, and I knew Rees and Dave- two guys I work with- would appreciate the craziness. After we all read it a few times, we were inspired to write our own nonsensical paragraphs...

Disclaimer: Rees, Dave, and I do not necessarily agree with anything we wrote- the following paragraphs were written merely for laughs- do not attempt to follow any advice that we may or may not have implied we were giving. :)

My version:
A Matter of Opinion

I know 9/10ths earthly. That which is not earthly fails to exist as it ceases to be unknown. No knowledge pertains to what is known, but half of my knowledge is known. Thoughts are attainable and lucid as an ellipse. Thoughtless knowledge is known 11%, but primarily 95% of knowledge is factually abstract. Life is the majority of knowledge, because when knowledge fully repents of earthly properties, to know is to live.

Rees's version:
I Do Not Exist

What is purpose? Does it mean anything at all? Or maybe it is meaning to mean it is meaning itself? Who knows? Who's to know? What's to know? Nobody's to know, or maybe anybody will ever know it at all! Maybe so? Maybe no. Maybe ever. Maybe superficially. But to know is to mean, and to mean is to purpose, and these are the same. Are you following me? Possibly not, so I will continue. To know anything I say is to imply I make any sense, and if I do make sense then I have purpose. But have we decided what purpose is at all? No? Then no it is! And if we have not decided what purpose is then I make no sense, and if I make no sense then how are you to know I even exist, for even if I say I exist but make no sense, who's to know I make no sense? Who's to even care? Nobody I guess. So I've concluded: this is better than coffee.

Dave's version:
Die

If you feel me, then you know me. For feeling is more than a mere sense-based superstition based on the illusions of ever growing wonder. To be sure of nothing is to be sure of what you understand. But don't base understanding upon what you feel. Feeling withers the flower and takes cheap tricks from a deceitful magician. So grow weary only when necessary. Necessity know no feeling. Death is absence of life, but death brings life. So die.


We actually each had a message we were sort of trying to communicate- mine is about how we can really never know how much we know, or if what we think we know is true; Rees's was questioning the meaning of purpose and meaning, and Dave claimed that his is about love. :)

Are you inspired to write your own?

-Kendal

Operation Easter Dress- Year 4 (pt.1) (by Kendal)

Every year I design and make a dress for Easter Sunday- this will be the fourth year in a row, assuming it works out again. When Kelsey and I were little, Mom made us Easter dresses (not every year, but often enough that it was a tradition of sorts). So when I could sew clothing well on my own, I decided to make a dress for Easter Sunday. I was 16 that year, and had already been experimenting somewhat successfully with clothing design, so I decided to design the dress myself. It worked, and I've done it every year since. Now that it's a tradition, there are a few guidelines that I follow regarding my "Easter Dress":

1: It has to be the first Spring dress I make that year
2: It is the first Spring outfit that I wear to church that year (supposedly there's a fashion rule that says that you shouldn't wear spring clothes/shoes until Easter Sunday anyway)
3: I've made the dress white on alternating years- why break the tradition now?
4: It has to be a design that goes outside my current comfort zone

I'm willing to break any of these if necessary, but I've stuck to them so far. :)

Here are the designs from previous years:

The first dress was white eyelet- the style was probably a bit young for a 16 year old, but it was pretty, and I enjoyed making and wearing it. Here is a drawing from my design folder- I no longer have the actual dress:

I made the next dress out of Swiss dot, and was a little more daring with the design. It was a combination of two patterns- one I had designed and one I bought- plus a tie in the front similar to one I had seen on a friend's dress. (Beware to my friends- I may copy elements of your clothing!) Here is the dress and the drawing:

Sorry about the quality of these pics- I didn't feel like dragging out the camera, so I used my webcam.

 

I really took on a challenge with the next dress. It was definitely the most difficult thing I have ever designed- it took weeks just to make the pattern. I had seen a similar dress at Khols for $150, but I wasn't willing to spend that much on a somewhat casual dress, so I made my own version. I had no idea what a challenge it would be to make a lined dress solely out of vertical panels, but it was worth it! The design:

Kelsey and I did a photo shoot with the dress in Floyd:

This year I knew I would make the dress in a color other than white, but I didn't have any strong inspiration. I wanted to use chiffon (which I have avoided for years, but used successfully in a semi-formal dress I designed last fall), so I sketched something out that I thought would be workable with that fabric. (For those of you who don't sew, chiffon is almost always an absolute nightmare to work with, but it hangs and flows SO nicely)

After I showed my original drawing to Mom, I had to adjust the drawing a little (modesty factor vs. artistic design- you know how it goes) and this is what I came up with:

It's pretty, and doable, but I still wasn't feeling inspired, so I did a Google search for chiffon dresses hoping to get some ideas. I found a dress I liked, and made some adjustments, and this was the result:

(you can click on the picture to see the back- it is pretty much the same as the front, though)

It will be slightly simpler (less time consuming!) than the previous idea would be, which is great since I'm trying to complete a good bit of CLEP testing right now, and don't really have a ton of time for sewing. :) I think it's somehow more artistic as well... I don't know exactly why...

I'll probably still make the other dress, or some version of it, later this year, but I'm definitely sticking with the second idea for the annual Easter Dress.

 

I went ahead and bought fabric this afternoon, here is a picture:

 

The color isn't quite accurate- it's a bright, somewhat greenish, robin's egg blue. Kelsey wouldn't let me get the periwinkle color. :) I'm sure I'll like this color best anyway...

 

Since I've never done posts on my design process, I think I'll at least attempt to post at different points while I'm making this dress. (I probably won't start working on it for a couple of weeks, though.) Unfortunately, this means y'all will know if the project is a total flop, but I suppose that's  ok. :)

 

Well, I hope all of you are having a great week so far! -Kendal

Worn by Tenth Avenue North (by Kendal)

 

Kelsey and I made this video today of me singing Tenth Avenue North's song "Worn". We decided to play around with "mixing", and added audio of me playing the guitar afterwards. Kelsey patiently filmed it for me. The quality of our camera microphone was an irritation- it makes the audio harsh and wobbly (on all but the softest notes it sounds sharp, and like I'm singing from my head)  but we enjoyed playing around with Windows Movie Maker. We think it might help to tape part of a cotton ball over the microphone... maybe we'll try it sometime. (Kelsey is reminding me that she is getting a nice camera with video soon, so we won't have to deal with that in the future) My singing is definitely not the greatest anyway- I was trying really hard not to mess up on the piano, as all I had to work from was the chords, so we just filmed it and hoped for the best. :) Let us know what you think (even if you hate it. :) )!