Hello folks.
I’ve decided that as I’m still trying to get caught up on my making from the last fabrics of the weeks, I’m going to take a little hiatus this week. I think it’s better that I do that, than try to push myself madly and end up getting run down again.
In the meantime, here’s something else I’ve worked on recently…
It’s WoW season at the moment – a big event in the Wellington cultural calendar. Entries are received from all over the world for the extravaganza, and many tourists from around New Zealand, Australia and further abroad too. The retail sector in Wellington has a bit of fun with these type of events, and many stores will have fantastically decorated windows as part of the festivities. We do this sort of thing for major movie premieres too.
This year it was my turn to do the WoW window at Made it. I’ve had an idea floating around in my head for a year or so for this, so it was pretty satisfying to turn it into reality.
Wellington has a bit of a reputation for being a windy city (you can say that either way – wind speeds of 100+km/hr aren’t that uncommon, plus all the hills make our streets rather sinuous). You can always spot the newcomers on a rainy day – they’re the ones trying to wrestle with an umbrella. My record for having one turn itself inside out and collapse was half a block. (I did take it back because I figured that was ridiculous!)
I liked the idea of doing a representation of that in a wearable garment. This dress incorporates the ribs both in the external bodice boning and in the bustle, which is shaped like a collapsing umbrella (literally – I cut the fabric using an umbrella as the pattern).
I had lots of fun making this. It probably took about a day of work all up, and there was lots of problem solving along the way, especially in attaching the ribs so that they would wrap around the bodice and support the bustle. I had to temporarily wire them in place while I made the overskirt and stitched it in place.
When I was buying the materials, I chanced across some spools of vintage sequins, so they spill over the umbrella like raindrops (totally on-brand raindrops, as they match our brand colours for the shop).
Have you had a chance to check out some of the other windows around Wellington? If so, which is your favourite? I think my favourite is the dress made from broken sunglasses at Sunglass Style (number 22 on the map, and just around the corner from us). And if you got to go to WoW, what did you think of it? I’ve never made it yet – I really must get myself organised next year!
