The End of a Dress

Crikey... where did that week go? I seem to have gone from one Wednesday to another with just a flash in between. To be fair I have been away teaching at the weekend (my lovely C & G students at Missenden Abbey) but even so, the weeks seem to be flying by. But I'm not here to bemoan the passage of time but rather the passage of a dress...

 

 

Remember this? A dress constructed entirely from Sainsbury's plastic carrier bags. It was part of one of my degree modules looking at dress as a sculptural form. I was inspired by the fabulous creations of Junya Watanabe and found that plastic bags made a good cheap alternative to silk organza.

 

I spent many furtive trips to Sainsburys to collect enough bags and then hours and hours stitching them together to create the skirt. The bodice was knitted from strips of bags. I loved that dress!

 

It was beautifully modelled by my friend's daughter Sophie on the catwalk at the Cambridge University fashion show, where it was picked out for a prize... and then didn't win a prize!

 

It had a stint in a shop window, it came with me around the country where I gave talks about its origin (and some people even tried it on) and for much of the time it has resided on a dummy in my hallway... a feature of my Open Studio events.

 

But sadly, the dress has become a faded, crumpled version of its former self

 

And the plastic is gradually distintegrating... which is probably a good thing in the long term.

 

But very sad for me as I've had to say goodbye and bin it... time to move on!

I leave you with a scary image

This comes with a warning....

... and those with a sensitive disposition may wish to avert their eyes.

But I'm not entirely responsible.

Several of you did request to see this.

And because it is my birthday.

And because I've reached the grand age of 51.

For this one day only...

I give you me in the orange dress!!!

I even put on the tarty shoes!

But that's enough of that nonsense.

Back to the serious business of cake.

Nothing sophisticated for me.

No cheesecake or strawberries and cream.

Good old chocolate cake with Maltesers.

This is the last of the birthdays for a few months.

Normal service will be resumed next week.

Might even get some sewing done.

Look out for the spiders!

Fashion Show.

Lots and lots of pictures today because this is where I was yesterday...

The Cambridge University Fashion Show!

We had rehearsals all day on Tuesday and then yesterday we were at the Cambridge Corn Exchange all day from 9 am until the end of the show. Because all the models in the recycled bag competition were under sixteen, I'd volunteered to be backstage as a chaperone and dresser so it was a long and tiring day. For the most part there were twenty girls shut into a windowless dressing room up on the top floor - as you can see, very crowded (and hot) but the girls were all brilliant. There was lots of camaraderie... and cake...

... and plastic Sainsbury's bags!

Mostly orange but one or two painted purple and pink!

Lots of laughs and new friendships formed


And here they are waiting for their entrance at the dress rehearsal.

My dress didn't pick up any prizes but I was in a bit of a no win situation really. I know it was picked by the judges but circumstances made it impossible to win. Although the competition was open to all ages, the majority of the competitors (apart from me and possibly a couple others) were under sixteen so it wasn't fair to all be judged together and therefore the winners were picked from the children's entries. I can't pretend that I didn't feel disappointed and a little deflated by the end of the evening... but that's life! And as you can see, Sophie did me proud and the dress looked pretty good when she modelled it down the catwalk!

Whichever way you looked at her!

The prize winners were all fantastic. The one below came third but I think this would have been my first choice. It was very cleverly fitted and ruched up the length of the dress with a wonderful floaty train. Very elegant and beautifully modelled.

You can see the detail of the ruching better below. It was also tied all down the back using the bag handles.

This one came second - very wild and wacky!

And in first place was this - also wild and wacky and great fun!


All very deserving winners but not the only amazing dresses.
These are just a few of the others...

Who would think you could do so many amazing things with plastic bags! Overall it was a terrific show, brilliant entertainment and great fun to watch (I got to see the evening performance) with lots of other amazing creations as well as the plastic bag outfits and the whole thing was for charity so all in a good cause.

***

To compensate for any disappointment, this morning I got my results for my last OPUS module. I passed (it is only pass or fail at this stage, not grades) but also received this comment "Your successful orange dress form demonstates ambition at this stage of the course and we would recommend that you keep developing this vision in your work. This is a very exciting start... well done!" I might not abandon my designing career just yet then....

More Orange Bags

What does every orange plastic bag dress need? An orange plastic corsage of course!


Despite plans for sleeves and other additions, in the end the dress looked best with just a few simple additions - some straps to keep it up and a corsage. It is now packed up and labelled ready for delivery tomorrow. Some of the dresses will be on display in "The Shop", Jesus Lane, Cambridge over the next few weeks in order to promote the Cambridge University Fashion Show which will be taking place on 19th June at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

Now I know some of you were expecting to see me model this very fetching garment... and much as I hate to disappoint... it ain't gonna happen! However my friend's 13 year old daughter Sophie, who is very tall, very thin and very beautiful is going to be my model at the fashion show. So there will be pictures of her modelling after 19th June. She tried it on this week and looked stunning but my camera battery was flat - so you'll have to wait!

I'm so excited...

...and to be honest it doesn't take much! But I finished my honeycomb plastic bag skirt. It was all a bit of an experiment and I was never quite sure it would work but it has! I think if I was to make it again (which I'm NOT going to do) it would have a few more layers and be slightly longer but overall I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out.



There have been one or two of you who asked would I be modelling the said garment but although I can get it on, until I've shifted a few pounds you'll have to be content with seeing it on my super skinny dressmaker dummy!

Although this has been the resolved project for my assignment on Dress as a Sculptural form it is also serving a dual purpose. There is a competition being held by Cambridge University to create an outfit using only Sainsbury's plastic bags. I've never entered anything like this before but thought it might be a bit of fun. However, a skirt alone does not constitute an outfit and so I am knitting the bodice... from orange plastic bags of course!

The outfit has to be finished by the end of this month and winners will be modelled at a catwalk show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in June... so you may see me modelling it yet!

There have been lots of other samples for the degree made over the past couple of weeks too and because I've not made a collage for a while... here they are! These are for my last assignment which is Sculptural Form (but not in the context of dress). I've still got to resove this assignment and then consolidate everything I've done so far... all in time for assessment day on 16th May! ... so why am I blogging????

Good Idea?

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time....

... several hours stitching later and still not even half way through... now I'm not so sure! Watch this space.

P.S. I sold four sock creatures on Friday... but not Lulu so guess where she is.