I am looking forward to ruffly summer skirts on this snowy day in January! I designed this skirt to have no side seams. All the shape through the hips is created by the bias and the shape of the princess seams.

100% cotton shell, polyester/rayon lining, back zip, fully lined.

A blouse for August

I designed this blouse around the fabric, which is my favorite creative springboard!

Completion!

A dress is not completed until it's debut. I wore the dress I designed over Christmas break to my boyfriend's brother' wedding this summer. I think it was a success!

Anthropologie for free

Nobody has as much fun shopping as a seamstress! Like a spy they sneak into designer territory and steal any pattern they like!

I found this blouse at Anthropologie and I wanted it. So I examined the garment inside and out, found a picture online, gathered some scraps of hand-me-down fabric from my hoard and got the blouse!

Anthropologie: $78.55

Kristin Anderson: Free!

All night designing

Stricken with severe motivation last night, I obeyed and made a dress.

The design, 11pm


The plan, 11:15pm

The pattern, 12:00am

The first fitting, 3am

The dress, 6:30am

Awake enough to try it on properly, 2:15pm.


p.s. try your best to ignore the lovely print, as big a fan as I am of big florals, I would have used something a little more subtle, had the occasion not called for scraps.

Internship

This summer I am interning at The Dress Doctor; a Couture design and alterations boutique located in the Water Tower Place Professional Suites in downtown Chicago, Il.

The Dress Doctor works with Belle Vie Bridal and Vera Wang Bridal gowns, they do custom design work and just about anything sewing.

As an intern, am learning hand-work alteration and fitting techniques such as:

-Bustles--French and American

-Lingerie loops

-Boning tabs

-Easing

-Hemming techniques

As an intern I am also learning design techniques such as:

-Making flower embellishments

-Draping

-Using dress forms

-Beading

My experience so far has been very positive. The majority of the lessons I have learned are of a type one cannot quite put into words. Not exactly the gaining of knowledge so much as the gaining of experience and exposure. Doing the actual hand work in a shop is a different side of the clothing industry than one meets in a classroom.

Pam's Bridesmaids Completed