Fashion School & Project Planning

I've been very busy over the past weeks, but my future months are going to be even more hectic, since as of last week I've started a fashion design program! I'm officially a student at Cañada College, and I've got a full-time schedule, working towards a certificate in their technical oriented apparel program.

Although this means most of my sewing in the near future will be focused on coursework, I have set aside time to work on outfits for two weddings, and have started to plan out a queue for personal projects, which I'm going to share with you now!

I often fall in love with prints that are on plain woven cotton fabric. While they don't always have the crispness associated with quilting cotton, they aren't too far off, which greatly affects the ability of the fabric to drape properly. So many of my patterns work best with fluid, lightweight fabrics, so I went on a quest a while back to find patterns more suitable for these cottons, and paired up some patterns with fabrics.

1. McCalls M7085

This first one is actually finished. And I hate it.


I made View D, a sleeveless, sweetheart neckline dress, but completely mismeasured myself, and the dress turned out huge and frumpy. I absolutely love the front and back darts, but there's little point in having them if the dress isn't figure-hugging. I was pretty bummed out about this one, but it will make for a great failed-project post in the future.

The fabric is a floral with diagonal blue and white stripes, which I picked up from the remnants sectio at Britex, ages ago. It is definitely Japanese inspired, if it isn't a Japanese fabric, but I'm unsure what its origins actually are.


2.  McCalls M6959

For this one, I picked up some lightweight lawn fabric to use as a lining, even though the pattern doesn't call for it. View A is a wrap dress with small cap sleeves and bias binding trim. I've got some black trim and ribbon ready to go, and this is going to be my next project.

The floral print fabric is this gorgeous thing I found in Boston, almost a year ago. I know I have fabric that has sat in my closet for a lot longer!


3. McCalls M6955

This Dalek print has to become a dress in my closet. McCall's M6955 View B has a contrast trim, and I haven't decided if I want that to be black, dark grey, or of course, TARDIS blue.


Wish me luck!