If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
At the moment I would choose this combo because it makes me feel like I’m Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean. I love the way the vest turned out so it looks like a 17th-century men’s waistcoat but over this mini dress, it transforms and has a shift and stays kind of vibe. I feel like I am ready for an adventure!
This vest was inspired by Dani’s costume from Hocus Pocus. It is made from a cotton print with a buttoned bodice and flared-out waist. The dress was made from cotton vintage deadstock fabric that I was gifted from my Grandma Schlachter’s fabric stash.
In 2020, the Strawberry Dress by Lirika Matoshi blew up in popularity becoming one of the most iconic garments from the year. It still remains in my head when I think of a strawberry dress, a garment I wish to buy because it is so joyful. But at USD 490 it’s a bit out of the question for my budget at this time. Although I wish, it isn’t going to happen. But it has become an aspirational garment for me as a designer. I hope to make something with the same amount of joy, attention to detail, and iconic statement!
So when I was digging in my fabric stash this winter and found this interesting Swiss dot gingham, light pink trim, and flower buttons I knew one thing I had to make – my own take on a “strawberry” and “Sakura blossom” inspired dress.
Materials: 1.5 yards of stretch knit jersey. A remnant cut of fabric. This pattern was self-drafted by draping on myself and adjusting the lines with pen marking. As this was the first garment in this series, there was more trial and error with cutting pieces out of the fabric to reduce waste.
Inspiration: I was inspired by the iconic 1970s wrap dress, designed by Diane Von Furstenburg. I originally planned a wrap dress but scrapped the plan due to a lack of fabric. Because of this, there was probably 1/8 of a yard of fabric left over. With more practice, I’d like to reduce that amount to smaller pieces of scrap leftover.
Cherry Henley Ribbed Top
Materials: 2 yards of stretch knit jersey and 6 buttons. It is a heavier weight jersey and feels like a light sweater. This was a remnant cut. I developed my first official bodice pattern from this process.
Inspiration: 1900s men’s buttoned henley baselayer tops from the gold rush era in the United States. Think “old western” dramas, Deadwood, or Red Dead Redemption. I cut it oversized to carry the theme of it being a men’s garment. During the cutting process, I was able to utilize almost all the fabric with only 2-inch scraps being left over.
Stormy Seas V-Neck Tunic Top
Materials: 2 yards of stretch knit jersey. To utilize as much of the fabric as possible, I chose to get creative with my pattern cutting. To do this, I pieced together the bottom and portions of the sleeves to use up almost all of the remnant, with 2in or less scrap pieces left over.
Inspiration: I was inspired by the design lines of early medieval tunics. I like the simplicity of the lines and the lengthening effect it has on my proportions. For more information about Viking Age tunics, I recommend checking out Project Broad Axe for historical recreations and additional background on the history of Viking Age tunics.
I’ve been challenging myself to be a more frugal sewist this year, using up my stash of fabric and resisting buying fabric that catches my eye. It has been harder than I thought. Mood Fabrics is pretty relentless with its advertisements, Hobby Lobby’s every two-week fabric sale calls, and Joann Fabrics sends me flyers and coupons on the regular, but I had this feeling I needed to be more budget-conscious this year and it is starting to make sense why (more on that later).
To do this, I rolled up my sleeves and dug into my storage closet, to my Gram’s quilting fabric stash and got creative. These two fabrics spoke to me, but the yardage of the ditzy floral was small maybe a half yard? This is the most frustrating thing about using deadstock fabrics, vintage or remnants, you get the yardage left and that’s that. I wanted to play around with bias tape finishing with a contrast fabric, which I thought the black floral would compliment the ditzy floral. Originally my plan was to make a camisole top, but the more I thought about I questioned if I would wear it and with what? Instead, I pivoted and used the rest of the black floral to lengthen the top into a dress. To keep it cohesive I color-blocked the fabrics – black floral straps, ditzy floral bodice, black floral skirt, and lower ditzy floral skirt.
This was a new style for me, I usually stick to one fabric but this was fun and from this experience, I feel more inspired to design garments from a scrapy style. It opens up a whole crayon box of possibilities for remnants, smaller yardage purchases, pattern mixing, and contrast piping! This is going to be a fun new world!
I decided to draft my own pattern for this dress by draping the bodice on the form. I created the straps by joining the pieces of bias tape at the top of the triangle bust piece for a seamless transition and to add strength. I added a side zipper to tailor the garment closer to the body but account for the zero amount of stretch in this fabric. It reminds me of a slip dress but I feel more comfortable in it because it is a cotton fabric. There is more structure and opacity. The dress has a more casual vibe where I can style it with a t-shirt underneath if I desire to.
I think subconsciously, I was inspired by Lorelai Gilmore’s dress styling in these episodes. I love her style and I have found that the styles she wears on the show suit my body type and personality more than Rory’s dresses. It’s a dress style I hope to experiment with more by using different fabrics and textures.
When we were living in Meadville in 2019 and I was getting into thrifting, I found a lovely 1990s dark purple velvet princess seam dress. It was longsleeved and midi length with a scoop neck and stretchy velvet knit that draped lovely from the waist. I could tell from the label it was vintage. It had a different attitude. The dress reminded me of dresses I wore as a kid that were so special yet accessible.
I was thrilled. It was a comfy dress that I would style with lace-up boots, tights or leggings, and a moto jacket. It made me feel special during a period of my life where nothing felt that special. In 2019, I was bored, stuck in a dead-end job, looking for a new purpose, navigating some drama with my dysfunctional family, and getting used to a new city. It was a weird time.
Over the years my body changed and I donated it back but it continued to live in my head, wishing that I had kept it, so much so that the first dress I ever designed was a recreation of the piece which I talked about in #3 – First Sewing Project. Comparing the pieces I made side by side, I can see the growth in my skills and understanding of fabric which makes me pleased to see.
October 2020March 2024
The left dress nailed the color but everything else about it was jacked up. The sleeves were poofy, and the skirt and bodice were draped well but I know the construction was questionable because it was the second item I sewed ever. I think if I can find this fabric again I’d like to recreate it with my current skill set. The dress on the right I cut out with my own drafted pattern piece based on my measurements. I cut it out in two pieces and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch with medium to low tension and tapered the waist with four princess seam darts. I also reinforced the shoulder with a second layer of fabric that anchored the shoulder seam.
I think I’m going to get a lot of wear out of out of my new princess seam dress. I’ve worn this dress over a few days when my local weather shifted from a warm stretch of 70 degrees Fahrenheit to a rainy, cool 50s and 40s. Because this dress is a polyester stretch knit jersey yet is lightweight, it was comfortable on a warm day. Yet when it cooled down I was able to pop on a sweater and found it easy to style with a pair of boots.
With a sweater, this dress looked like a skirt and it has transformed my approach to how I want to wear my clothing. It may seem elemental, but I’ve usually been a pants and top girl in the winter reserving dresses for the summer, but as my style evolves I’m finding that layering and pattern clashing is something I feel most like myself in.
Long story short, my new me-made dress has surpassed my love for the original, thrifted dress. I love the animal print and the fact that this was a remnant fabric from Walmart yet I believe looks like it came from a higher-end fabric store.
I’m excited to continue designing items in this silhouette and utilizing my own paper patterns which has been a huge step in achieving my vision for the garments I make. I’ve also been working in a lot of stretch fabric this year to gain more knowledge and improve my skills to keep growing as a designer. Without the practice and determination to keep going, not to mention patience because mastering any skill takes so much longer than the internet wants us to believe, this would be a different dress. It would not fit me well, it would not be constructed well, it may not have even made it through the sewing process, and would have been scrapped.
That is why practice is so important. And you know what the real big moments are? Not just your successes but being able to look back at the failures, and the mistakes, and see how far you have come. Such as this dress that I made in 2021, which although the design was cute, fell apart because I didn’t understand how to properly construct stretch fabric nor did I understand how to choose the right fabric for a garment for it to be successful. But now I get it and now I understand how to fix it and if I decide to remake it, I could! And that brings me a whole lot of joy!
When I put this jacket top on for the first time, the finished piece, I felt this sense of completeness. What I used to sketch, what I would aspire to be, the aesthetics I was drawn to during those formative years of finding my personal style in the late 2000s and early 2010s before life got a bit weird, this was the type of fashion I wanted to be a part of. It’s the kind of thing I’ve been waiting for my skills to develop to reach the imagination held inside. Waiting for the chance to express itself in more than paper and pen, in thread and fabric and form!
My early projects were a product of the times, a year spent online instead of in the world, historical fashion, cottage core, and dark academia, but not the personal style I had cultivated. Big projects were hard, blazers seemed impossible. But they are so iconic. I crave structured pieces like that in my wardrobe, I mean I wrote an entire essay on the jackets and structured fashion that is the Don’t Stop Music Video by Ateez. That is 4 minutes of glorious outerwear inspiration!
This project at times seemed borderline cursed. I cut this jacket out the day I screwed up my tweed coat and notched lapel pattern by forgetting to mirror the pieces. Not the best start to a day of design work, but perseverance and clear-headedness prevailed to keep this pattern on track. But then, it sat in my stash waiting for me to get started. I hid from it in case I failed it.
One day, I put the pieces on the form and began to pin. The lines of a jacket, structured shoulders, and excess fabric hang around the collar, waiting for the traditional form to take shape. I pinned it exactly how I thought I wanted it, and the sewing process made a few edits for me and my plan. My machine took the lead and created the happy accident, the darts around the neckline. The collar was inserted with more attitude than my intention but I prefer the edge, the little twist on the blazer that has become the Marguerite Jacket.
With the wide lapels, I pinned them back against the jacket to create these triangle shapes on the body of the jacket top. I decided to lean into the attitude of the silhouette to add an exposed zipper and black buttons for a bit of a British punk little spice. I anchored the collar down in the front, balancing the chaos and structure into a garment that walks the line between blouse and blazer. It’s comfy, it’s fun, it’s versatile. I’ve styled it with flare, baggy jeans as pictured. I’ve styled it as a blazer over a cocktail-style dress. I know it will be fun to try it out over cargo pants, skirts, shorts, etc. I look forward to it! I also look forward to wear my designs evolve from here as moving forward I plan to become more cohesive in my aesthetics and collections.
One Rabbit Riot 