Joyful Noises times six!: Dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses

My inspiration for this record of my days:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” -Anna Quindlen

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses

This post is kind of a sequel to my last one. The skirt that was next on my list to make was inspired by my sister Lindsey’s wedding dress:

I guess you can’t see it too well, but it’s fitted to the knee, then flares out.

As I was trying to figure out how to go about it, I found a fun contest over at Shabby Apple Dresses. They are looking for a design for their new spring collection. Even though I have no experience whatsoever in this sort of thing, I thought it would be fun to try.

Here is what I have come up with:

I couldn’t decide which version I like best, so this young lady was kind enough to model them both. Please don’t tell her she has awkward bird legs. She is blissfully unaware of her figure flaws.

The first one is grey. A very light cotton…almost filmy. Where the skirt flares out you see layers and layers of yellow underneath… like petticoats. The same yellow peeks out at the sleeves.

Option two is the same lightweight cotton, but in white. There are loose white rosettes at the neckline, and on the band above the skirt. The waistband is the same color as the “petticoat” layers. Pink, red, yellow. I think they would all be cute. My only worry about this version is that it may look like an occasion dress, and not an everyday.

Anyway… there you have it. My first attempt at fashion design.