One Down, Two to Go

The 5th Annual Frock n Roll for charity event was this past Saturday night, and it was a big success! The location was changed at the last minute and although the venue was smaller than originally intended, I think it was actually better than the previous year at Alice Cooperstown.

Designers included myself, Angela Johnson, Jennyvi Dizon, Paul Hazlett, Sommer Christine and Rhonda Zayas. Here are a few photos of some of the pieces I showed.

Modeled by Amparo Elizabeth. Photo by Nick Moore

Photo by Nick Moore

There was also at least one professional photographer at the event, Christopher Cashak, who attends ALL of the local fashion events. He hasn't put photos up on his site yet from this show, but as soon as he does I'll post some here and post a link to the rest as well.

Red duchesse silk satin corset and matching skirt. Can you tell that corset works?!
Photo by Christine Johnson for azcentral.com Modeled by Bella.

So, now that Frock n Roll is over it's time to start thinking about the NEXT show! This will be the Second Act Fashion Show at the Herberger Theater on June 10th. I still don't know very much about the show at all, but some of the other designers who I know are participating are Angela Johnson, Arte Puro, Debra Davenport and Olga Ptashnyuk. My collection for this show is going to be pretty much entirely new things, or things that haven't been show before. It's going to be very dressy, but not TOO formal, with the color scheme being mostly brown, cream, orange and maybe a little deep red. Most photos of that to come as soon as I get some sewing done. Have to go design some new things now!

Frock 'n Roll Location Change!

Anyone in Phoenix who is planning on attending this year's Frock 'n Roll event or who has already purchased a ticket should know that the event is changing location! Currently Alice Cooperstown is having some big fight with the city and is not allowed to have any live music. That's about all I know. So, Frock 'n Roll 2008 will now be held at Club Mardi Gras in south Scottsdale. The address is 8040 East McDowell road and you can click HERE to view a map of the location.

A piece I hope to have ready in time for this show!
Dupioni silk, the top will have lots more zigzags.

Tickets will be available at the door for $12, and if you already purchased and printed tickets from the internet, those of course will still be valid. Keep an eye on the Frock 'n Roll website for more and probably better information than I'll have about the event, since I'm pretty much in the dark right now. Feel free to email me if you have any questions you think I can answer. Hope to see you there!!!

UPDATE!!!
Just got a digital flyer for this with more info. Here it is:

Construction Zone!

My sewing room always looks like a tornado just rolled through, I find it difficult to allot time for designing AND cleaning. Of course making new clothing comes first! Cleaning can wait til it's absolutely necessary. Anyway, right now it no exception. Half finished garments, pattern pieces, thread, fabric and notions are EVERYWHERE! But at least it's a fun and constructive mess.

Part of my sewing room and its lovely mess

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to since I got back from Chicago. I started this black and white plaid dupioni silk dress yesterday. I've had this fabric for nearly as long as I have been designing. It's just been sitting around waiting and waiting for the right pattern to come its way, and I think I have finally found the thing that it was meant to be used for. Good thing I have about 10 more yards just in case! Yesterday I draped the pattern for the top and made a quick fit sample. Today I sewed all the body fabric together. Right now I'm working on cutting out and piecing the lining together. It will be lined with black silk satin. Tomorrow I need to get a zipper for it and sew in the lining and then voila, a cute dress ready in 3 days! I'm thinking of using a brightly colored petticoat underneath it and then making some kind of sash belt in the same color for contrast. Any color suggestions? I'm leaning towards daffodil yellow, mostly because I already have a petticoat and silk fabric in that color. That petticoat is on underneath it in the second photo and I definitely like the way it helps the dress poof.

On the left is a photo from earlier today of just the bodice sewn and being checked for fit.
On the right the dress is almost complete! Just needs lining and a zipper. Also, it will have
tiny black spaghetti straps when it's finished.

I actually started making this dress with a completely different fabric in mind. I can't afford to buy that fabric just yet, unless a mysterious large amount of money suddenly falls from the sky and lands in my paypal account, so I decided to make a test dress. The plaid one is actually a little different style-wise in the skirt than the forthcoming dress will be. Also, the 2nd dress will have a super cute cropped jacket with petal sleeves. I'm still working out the pattern right now cause it's going have some crazy details and style lines. It'll be lined with and have accent pieces of the fabric the dress will be made from. Here's a little illustration I've made of the jacket:

Soon-to-be real cropped jacket, my original design. The body will be silk noile
and the lining and accents will be printed silk charmeuse. Yummy!

Both of these outfits and many more will be shown at Frock n Roll, a fashion show featuring local designers being held on May 17th. See my past post about the event here.

So, I guess it's time to get back to work! Will post more photos and fun details when this dress is done and I start working on the jacket!