The long holiday weekend might have delayed me a bit, but I’m finally able to share with you my newest garment in the series of challenge recreations I’m making based on Season 9 of Project Runway. I’m getting such a collection of well-dressed dolls!
EPISODE 6: THE ART OF THE MATTER
This week’s episode began with Tim taking the designers to meet some young art students who love to paint. He paired each designer up with one of the kids and challenged them to create a painting together. The designer would then have to create a garment inspired by the painting, in an avant-garde style. I thought this was a really fun idea, and I knew instantly I would let me niece, Emily, help me.
Emily is seven years old and has been watching the show along with me this season. She actually loaned me many of her dolls so that I could use them as my models, with the caveat that she gets to keep the dresses when it’s all over. When I told her she would get to paint on canvas and I would make an outfit to match, she was thrilled! As she painted, she kept saying she wanted to use “breezy” colors and paint a “breezy” design. I was really liking her abstract version of breezy, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the very end when she whipped out a big brush loaded with teal paint and said, “Now it just needs a heart. There!”
When designing my garment, I stuck with her breezy concept as much as I could, and made something with movement and action. I chose a couple of the colors she used and focused on those. The trick for me was coming up with something avant-garde, because I’ve never tried to do that before. In fact, I sort of hate that type of crazy fashion, so if you don’t think my design is very fashion-forward, I won’t be upset at all. I do think it’s fun and “breezy” though. Oh, and for those of you who (like me) think that gluing is cheating, I hand-sewed all those little petals, thankyouverymuch!
I was overall pretty pleased with the garments the designers created on this episode. Some of them really went nuts and captured both the avant-garde style and the essence of their painting really well. This was not the case for Olivier and Bert, though. I am seriously SO tired of those two. Olivier is so boring and Bert’s creation was just ridiculous! Surely Heidi was joking when she said she liked it, because I can’t think of enough bad things to say about it. I thought Anya’s and Kimberly’s dresses were both really interesting and pretty. Victor put a lot of work and technique into his blue swirly gown, but as much as I appreciate what went into it, something is a little off and it’s just not that pretty. I was completely baffled by the judges’ adoration of Josh M.’s painted tree skirt. Maybe it’s the crafter in me screaming, but all he did was paint some smears (on neoprene, of all things) and they acted like he painted the Mona Lisa! I found Bryce’s straight-jacket look to be an amazing example of what the challenge was about. He did a fantastic job of getting the idea behind that creepy eyeball painting, and came up with something very avant-garde at the same time. It was completely unwearable but completely fabulous! Instead, the judges handed the win to Anthony Ryan for his Kindergarten craft project — Oh, sorry, I meant to say paint stroke peekaboo dress. Between the unfinished hems and the literally cut-and-paste swatches of fabric, it was an execution mess. It was Josh C’s decidedly non-wolf garment that got him auf’d, and I can’t blame the judges for that. I think he made the right call to not be too literal, because I guarantee the judges would’ve accused him of that had he kept the fur, but I think he went a bit too far on the safe side.
12 comments so far:
All I can say is GORGEOUS!. Your dress captures the painting and I can totally see Heidi wearing it. Love the colors. It may not be avant guarde but it is beautiful.
Aw, thanks for the encouragement, Tricia! Jo told me she wants a dress like this in her size, too. Can you imagine how long it would take to sew those petals?!?
I actually liked Anthony’s dress, but I think both Anya’s and Kimberly’s dresses were fantastic and really captured the Avante-Garde aspect. Kimberly has really impressed me thus far. Every time I see her working on something, I’m thinking, “ugh, no way” (ex. gold lame top), but then it comes down the runway and I’m happily impressed by it. She clearly has good vision and good style.
p.s., I really look forward to seeing what you’ve created each week and love that you’ve decided to do this;) Great job!
Shauna, I know exactly what you mean about Kimberly. Every episode, it seems like I don’t pay her much attention to her, and then when I look back at the designs, I think, “Wow, was that Kimberly again?” I suspect she might be a dark horse and will be around for a long time!
I’m so happy to hear that you are enjoying my creations. You can thank Jo for coming up with the idea
Hi there,
I’m seriously becoming addicted to your blog! I was already a lurker who drools over your photo cube and kindle case, but I continue to be impressed with this Project Runway series (this is my first time commenting on a blog, by the way, and I read them a lot). Anyway, enough gushing.
You are so on point with your assessment. I’m flabbergasted that Anthony Ryan won with that mess of a dress. And Michael Kors is really making me laugh this season — he called Bert’s outfit something Teletubbies would wear to a cocktail party. Hilarious, and so accurate.
I love your dress by the way, the only thing missing, I think, is some blue to capture her heart. That painting is pretty good too!
Thanks so much, Anika! We love hearing from our readers, so we encourage you all to comment as much as you like. It’s nice to finally get to know you through this series of posts
I totally forgot all about the Teletubbie reference… that was so awesome!
I’m glad you like my dress, and I know what you mean about the heart, but I was afraid to be too — say it with me now — literal! I’ll tell Emily you liked her painting. She’ll be so pleased to hear it.
Chica,
This is so great again! And yay for not gluing!
Recently, on an impulse, I took pity on a naked Barbie doll in the thrift store and bought her home. I used to love making clothes as a child but maybe my standards were a bit lower then! It’s so difficult to get them looking as great as you do! I have yet to make her an outfit that fits! Would you tell us how you make them look so good?
Thanks, Mara. That’s a great story about the Barbie… how cute! It is difficult to sew on such tiny models, but I’ve learned a few things along the way that might help. First, use very thin fabrics. Anything thick will just bunch up and look bad. Second, don’t be afraid to use several snaps and/or Velcro to get the garments to stay on. Third, use tiny stitches so they don’t show. And finally, when trying to get tight seams or darts, put the clothes on the doll inside out and make your stitches. Hope that helps!
Thanks Chica! Inside out, genius!
This dress is soooo pretty! The green offsets the pink perfectly. I’m not sure it’s avant garde enough for this week’s runway, but it is definitely “marketable.” The Judges are going to love it!
Thanks, Bonnie! I think you’re right that I missed the avant garde, but I’m okay with that