Tie Dye

I have seen alot of tie dye coming back around, on both the streets and the runway. Personally I love tie dye, its so much fun and you can do it at home (for cheap!) and create your own one of a kind look. Most of the tie dye garments I've seen around are dresses but there are many things you can put the look into.


Heres a link to some easy instructions to get you started on your own tie dye masterpiece:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-tie-dye-an-old-white-shirt-or-a-new-shirt-/

And if youre not into the tie dye look, you can achieve an antique look by tea dying:

http://www.instructables.com/id/SE9GXOTF68BAFI4/

Sewing Machine

My sewing machine has broken and it would cost just as much to fix it as i paid for it. So, time for a new sewing machine. Sadly I'm low budget so its nothing fancy, but here it is.



Brother CE4000

It should be here in about 4 more days, hopefully this one won't give me any problems.

Boots!

I found these awesome vintage green suede boots at the swapmeet a few weeks ago. I love them, and the fit like a glove, they are also pretty comfortable. I'd say its a steal since I only paid ten dollars for the pair :-)

Latina Fashionista

This past weekend I attended an event called Latina Fashionista in downtown LA at the Cal Mart. The event was created to inspire Latina girls in middle and high school, and just girls in general to continue onto College and possibly pursue a career in the Fashion industry.
The event was very well put together and had a decent turnout. I was there to represent my school and program and hopefully I answered alot of questions any of them had. It was nice to see the girls interested, some of them even had little sketches to show. There were a few other schools present, as well as companies and women who "have made it" to inspire the girls. There was even a woman who was demonstrating draping. They had a raffle going and they were giving away Teen Vogue Fashion Handbooks, Micheal Lavine gift cards and even a mini dress form.
I thought it was a great experience for those who attended and I will hopefully have pictures soon.

Green Asymmetrical Gown

I finished this dress just last week. I got the material for $3.00 a yard or so and the dress took about 4 yards. The lining is china silk at about $2.00 a yard, and the Tulle only cost a dollar a yard. The most expensive part was probably the metal spiral boning I used in the under structure. I'm pretty happy with the outcome and I learned a lot from constructing this gown. Now I just need to find somewhere to wear it! haha

Polka dot bubble skirt

I picked up this blue polka dot dress at a yard sale a while ago for like two bucks, I had no idea what I was going to do with it,but there was just so much material to work with. Plus I like polka dots :-)

The voile dress came from the Rose Bowl swapmeet and cost a little more, about ten dollars.

Add ingredients and come out with:

De Young Textiles

I recently returned from San Francisco, and I had such a great time up there and can't wait to go back. While I was there, I visited the De Young museum, where they have a textiles exhibit.

This first piece is a bark cloth skirt. It was made in Polyneisa from the bark of Mulberry trees. It was created in process of soaking, scraping and beating the bark, then later dying, painting or stenciling the fabric. This particular piece was hand painted.


Next is a man's robe from Nigeria in the mid 20th century. it is made of cotton and native silk using a plain weave. The robes were worn to indicate wealth, social status and political authority.



This is a mens ceremonial wrap from the Igbo people in Nigeria. Made from cotton using a plain weave.


This is a ceremonial dance skirt from the Republic of the Congo Kuba people. This Skirt dates back to the early 20th century and is made from Raffia, wool and cotton using a plain weave as well.



This textile is from the United states 1930-1939. It is a screen printed cotton.


Lastly, not really textiles but I found it to be pretty interesting, is a string bag from the Upper Sepik mountain people in the 20th century. This bag was created using string, feathers, pig tail, shell, gum and rattan.



There was so much more to see and I have many more pictures, but unfortunately I cannot post them all or it will take up the whole blog!