Pixels Dress

Added Aug 18, 2010

by candyjoyce

Southampton, Uni...

1253ef6da08f9a1c901d80b9de58822a5056c690_thumb

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804

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Description

This dress is my entry into the Vintage Vogue and Me Competition.
The brief was to choose a pattern from the Vintage Vogue range and re-imagine it with your own style. I chose the 1950’s sundress (V2961) because I wanted to incorporate the competition dress with something that I could wear to a summer wedding. My inspiration was the wealth of tools, materials and knowledge available to the modern seamstress through computer technology (compared to the seamstress of the 1950’s)

The original dress was fun and I wanted to create a more modern look so I got rid of the placket and instead made the bodice on the fold. I inserted a hand picked lapped zipper into the side seam. I lowered the front neckline by about an inch and made it curved. I tried out boning in my toile but it was quite uncomfortable for a dress that I was going to be wearing all day so I omitted it in the final dress. I lengthened the halter ties so they can also be fastened at the back and worn as crossover straps. When worn as a halter I prefer to tie the straps like a man’s necktie at the back as I find a bow at the back of the neck a bit cumbersome. I toyed with some peg top draping on the skirt but in the end went for the original skirt pattern which I shortened. The hem is given some extra oomph with 1 inch horsehair braid (Thanks to Gerties blog for the tutorial).

I designed the fabric myself and was inspired by artists such as Chuck Close, Christian Faur and Eric Daugh who all play on the nature of pixelisation within digital imagery. I had it printed in a vibrant yellow at Spoonflower.com. The main inspiration for the fabric design was that I am currently learning vector graphics and also brushing up on my photoshop skills and I wanted to create a fabric that looked like pixels. I was in a hurry to meet the deadline for the competition as printing and delivery times can be a bit slow from Spoonflower so I will probably tweak this fabric design more in the future. I was also influenced by the S/S2010 trend for yellow, and the bold check dresses in Christopher Kanes collection.

Material Notes

Self Designed, Printed at Spoonflower.com Organic Cotton Sateen

Related Techniques

Categories

Season
Summer
For
Women
Garment Type
Dress
Style
Vintage
Material
Cotton

Credits

Spoonflower

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric_items/new?design_id=289809

Gerties Blog

http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/

3 Comments

  • Hpim0604_edited_large

    Aug 19, 2010, 12.57 PMby amyalberici

    Thanks for the information and I’m definately going to check out that website.

  • Dsc04818_a_large

    Aug 19, 2010, 05.36 AMby Ralf Schmitz

    i really love what i can see so far on the pix, but agree with amy, that i would love to see some more closer ups of the dress! i am amazed, that you designed your own fabric! wow!!!

    1 Reply
    • 1253ef6da08f9a1c901d80b9de58822a5056c690_thumb

      Aug 19, 2010, 09.37 AMby candyjoyce

      Hi Ralf,

      Thanks. I’m going to try to get some close up pics done soon.
      I’ve really gotten into fabric designing recently, this was one of my first designs. You can’t really see all the colours on the dress because the sun is reflecting so brightly! Oh well, can’t complain about sunshine!!

      Cheers,
      Candy

  • Hpim0604_edited_large

    Aug 18, 2010, 06.58 PMby amyalberici

    Fantastic alterations and custom imagery! Could you please post some close ups and back views? I am very interested in your custom fabric design too so if you have any advice to offer I would appreciate it. Great job!

    1 Reply
    • 1253ef6da08f9a1c901d80b9de58822a5056c690_thumb

      Aug 19, 2010, 09.35 AMby candyjoyce

      Hi Amy, Thanks.

      I was the photographer for the day so other than catching the bouquet (which was a set up!!) I don’t have any other pics of myself. I will try to get some close up shots done though and will post them when they are ready.

      As for the fabric design, I usually use Coral Draw or Coral Photopaint….it is a lot of fun and quite simple once you get the hang of it. If you go to www.spoonflower.com there is a lot of information and links on the site about how to make and prepare your files for fabric printing and you can check out everyone elses designs for inspiration. If you are likely to order yardage then I would definitely recommend that you buy a colour sample first(roughly $5) as the colours on your screen may vary a lot from the ones that print out.

      Cheers
      Candy

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