Draping Me Some Ted Baker

Oh my goodness it has been a while since I've posted.  Work, life, and gearing up for the holidays seem to have me distracted as I am sure many of you are as well.  I have however had some free time to play with design and have something fun in the works.

I love this Ted Baker dress, from 2010 (can be found on my Pinterest Dresses board), which obviously isn't available anymore so I am working on creating my own.

So last week I pulled out my dress form and draped the basic shape:

And worked on drafting patterns for it last night:

I did have a rather (un)helpful assistant though so it was a much slower process than it should have been.

She kept lying on my patterns, chewing the paper, and running off with my tools.  Little brat.  I told the hubs I might have to buy her a mouse next time I do pattern making to keep her preoccupied because the dogs weren't helping keep her entertained.

Anyway, the dress is ready to be sewn up so now I need to brave the fabric stores to find the perfect fabric..... or maybe I have something wonderful in my stockpile that I can use.... the hunt is on!

Just a short post today but didn't want everyone to think I have been slacking!

Dressing Up for Halloween?

Can you guys believe that there are only 2 days left in the month?  That is crazy!  And it is supposed to start snowing here this weekend too so fall is really coming to an end.

Friday is Halloween.  What are you guys doing for the holiday?  Do you still dress up?

My parents have a party every year and this year the theme was monsters.  It was surprisingly harder to find good adult monster costumes than I thought it would be.  I ended up ordering my costume on Amazon and was a pink/green/white monster:

It was fun.  I will probably use my costume again for work on Friday, just for fun.

What are some good, fashionable costumes?  There are of course your Marilyn Monroes in the white dress, Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's (speaking of which, did you see that the brownstone from the movie is currently on the market?  only $8 million to the lucky future resident).  But what are some other good, original ideas?

You could always be Twiggy.  That's another great icon that doesn't get as much play as the above stars:

If you were more current, you could be Lady Gaga or Nicki Minaj.  Between the two of them you probably could have costume ideas for the rest of you life!

It could also be a good year to do Miley Cyrus wrecking ball but everyone and their dog (literally) already played that one out when the video premiered:

I know that for little girls it is absolutely going to be the year for Frozen princesses.  There is no doubt about that one.

For adults, it is probably going to be the year for Maleficent.  Anyone that can actually pull off the Maleficent look has my stamp of approval, but if you're going to do it, you really need to do it.  That might be the ultimate costume, that I can think of, for this year.  Overall, it is a fairly simple costume, black dress, black wings, and a horned hat, but the hat needs to be spot on, it is what totally makes the costume.  That and the cheekbones.

And hey, if you are going all out on the Maleficent thing, you will totally need the Louboutins that Angelina and Louboutin collaborated on and she wore to the premiers right? ;)



Still need ideas?

Julep posted about 7 costumes you can make from things in your closet that are pretty clever.  I am in love with the Morton's salt girl.  They did a great job with that.  I am going to have to remember that for next year.  I have a yellow dress but not close enough of a match to pull this off like I would like.  Check out their ideas: Julep.

RIP to a Legend; Oscar de la Renta

If you are at all interested in fashion, I am sure that you have heard by now that Oscar do la Renta died yesterday.  Details of his death are still unknown but what is known, is that at 82, he was a legend.

De la Renta has been a symbol of elegance, grace, femininity, and glamour since 1965 when he launched his brand.  He has dressed celebrities, royalty, and political figures, along with "successful working women" for nearly 50 years.



I have never worn anything Oscar de la Renta, but I really think that any woman that wears one of his creations must feel like a princess.  His gowns have such style and structure.



He dressed icons such as Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy, two of the most memorable style icons of the previous century and his work has carried over to be a symbol of elegance into this century.  He will truly be missed.



Peter Copping was appointed as the Creative Director last week and I look forward to seeing him continue on the sophistication associated with the brand.

One of My Fashion Icons/Major Jacket Envy

I was trying to come up with a list of who I believe are current style icons, and who I am currently most influenced by.  In past years, my list has included Angelina Jolie, Heidi Klum, etc.  The short list that I came up with for right now is: Kate Middleton, Blake Lively, and Victoria Beckham.  There are of course others that I love (Emma Watson and Kerry Washington (Olivia Pope) for example), but those are the 3 that I am most drawn to currently and the ones I see most in the media right now as well.

With the weather dipping as low as the 40's here right now, my thoughts have been turning to one of my very favorite wardrobe staples, jackets.  I don't know what it is about them but I love coats and jackets.  I have a closet in my house dedicated to just those.  I love a classic trench, a perfect peacoat, even athletic jackets, I love them all.  Don't believe me?  Check out my board.  So what does this have to do with my style icons mentioned above???

Kate Middleton has a wonderful collection of jackets!  I found in my creation of my Pinterest board dedicated to her and her classic style, that she has an incredibly enviable collection of coats and jackets.  What does one have to do to be the heir to a Duchess's wardrobe, specifically her outerwear???  If anyone knows, send me the application ;)

Here are a few of my favorites I've seen her in:

The pleated skirt on this is so feminine and beautiful.  Plus the color is great.  It's much more warm and young than the normal greys/blacks/and tans that we usually see (and still love - don't get me wrong).

Then there is this white beauty!  Again, very young, and playful, but still very much a classic.  I love the full skirt, and the double breasted bodice.  And the matching hat is totally icing on the cake.  And it's timeless... Can't you imagine Jackie-O in this?  I totally can.

And finally plaid!  I love a good plaid.  Also, again with the matching hat!  I love it all.

I am sure that when you are a Duchess, you get stylist to go along with the roll you play and whoever is helping to dress the Duchess of Cambridge is doing a fantastic job.  She looks polished at every event and outing that she attends.  She has developed a signature style and is always classy.  Her wardrobe is enviable and so is the job of whoever styles or shops for her (again, can I get another application for that???)

I could post so many more pictures of her lovely frocks, specifically in the cold weather, outerwear department but I won't make you scroll for 6 pages to do that.

But speaking of Kate Middleton and paper dolls (one of last weeks posts), there are of course paper dolls of this modern royal (as well as many historical ones as well).  That may be the best way to get her wardrobe in your home.... I may have some shopping to do: on Amazon.

If I could only own one jacket right now.... let's rephrase this into a more pleasant scenario.... If I could only buy one jacket this year.... much better... I think it would have to be this one below:

I have no idea the brand of jacket or where to find it.  I originally found it on my IBFF where it was pinned on another bloggers site: April W.  I think this jacket is stunning!  I love the structure at the shoulders.  I love the pleats.  I love the buckles on the wrist.  And of course I love the bow on the back.  I feel like this jacket would be a catch all.  You could wear it with jeans and a tee up all the way up to a gown for an event.  It is beautiful and versatile.  Since I don't know who created this or where to get it, in my future free time I may have to recreate this.  I would probably change the color.  Not sure to what.  Perhaps a charcoal or a nice tweed, but all of that will be decided at a later date.  I am definitely going to keep my eyes open for the perfect fabric for this.

If anyone knows more details on this particular coat, please share the info!  I would love to know where it comes from.

Sorry this post seems to be all over the place.  I apparently and suffering from some form of ADD today and can't stay on one subject.  I tried to tie everything together but it is a bit random.

Too Old for Paper-dolls???

Now that the weather is starting to change, I am realizing that we are getting close to Christmas.  That is a scary thought.  Especially if you, like me, like to try and DIY some or all of your gifts.

I decided that for my niece I want to make her her own paper dolls (if you know her, keep this on the down low, obviously).  She is 8 and loves to play dress up so I thought this would be a fun activity for her and would be portable for times and places she can't actually dress up.  So, to get some inspiration on how to put this together, I turned to my IBFF (internet BFF), Pinterest.  While my good friend didn't give me as much inspiration on putting this project together as I had hoped, I did manage to distract myself and find paper dolls that made me want to go back to playing with one of my childhood pastimes.

The first one that got me excited was the Louis Vuitton Paper Doll collection featured on Refinery29 (can be found here).  I couldn't get my computer to download these, but I think they would be cool to frame in my sewing room (or cut out and play with should the mood strike):

I love the use of watercolor on the clothes.  I think it gives a cool effect.

The next one that I was excited about was done by another blogger, Stardustsoul.  I hope she won't mind me sharing these with you but I think she did a fantastic job.  Check out her page and her beautiful paper doll here. 

Stardustsouls is more like what I have in mind for my niece.

The thing I'm having a hard time deciding is if my doll should be an actual photo of my niece so that there is no doubt that her doll is her, or if I should sketch a croquis to look like her.  My debate is this: If I use a photo, will it be weird that the clothes are pen and ink renderings instead of "real" clothes, since the picture will be real? and if I sketch her, I'm worried I won't be able to pull off a good enough resemblance.  I haven't done many (if any) children fashion sketches before so I view it as a bit of a challenge.  Any advice?  Anyone? (Bueller?.... Bueller?)

I remember being a kid and loving to flip through the paper doll books at Barnes and Noble.  I never got many, but I sure loved to look at the clothes.  I had the Samantha American Girl set that I played with at my Grandmas.

Don't you think it would be cool to have a personalized one when you were a kid?  I hope she'll like it as much as I would have when I was a kid.

I, of course, ended up creating a Pinterest board of some of the fave paper dolls that I found as well.  Check it out: http://www.pinterest.com/UntradFashion/paper-dolls/

What Would Your Basic Wardrobe Be?

I've been on a (mostly mental) kick this year to clean and downsize everything in my house.  While I have been successful in some fields and have thrown away quite a bit and organized my basement, bathroom, craft room, linen closet, etc., I have not been very successful in downsizing my wardrobe.  I have posted about cleaning out my closet before and I did get rid of a lot then, and I regularly am pulling pieces from my wardrobe that don't fit how they should anymore, or that I never wear, but I really need to do a wardrobe overhaul.

To give you an idea of what I mean, I only have to do laundry about once a month.  And that is only because I run out of clean socks and underwear.  My dresser and closet are still bursting at the seams at that point.  I obviously don't need as many clothes as I have.  So, I have been asking myself a lot lately, what would constitute as a basic wardrobe for a woman?  There are so many factors that make this a difficult question to answer.  Especially for someone like myself that has mixed working environments (warehouse and business dress standards), lives in an area with varied seasons (snow half the year and hot, hot, hot the other half).  Those 4 differences alone mean that my wardrobe needs to be at least twice as big as the average Jane that has a more consistent work environment and lives in a steady climate.  So what does a gal need and when does it become too much?

I scoured Pinterest for advice and inspiration and that definitely did not narrow down the options too much.  There are boards for as many different circumstances as you can image: Fall/Winter Wardrobe, Spring/Summer Wardrobe, The Audrey Hepburn Wardrobe, The "Basic" Wardrobe (of which there are dozens of different pins/solutions), 12-14 Essential Pieces, 50 Classics for your Closet, The French Wardrobe, Wardrobe Staples, and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and you get the point.

After pinning and searching Pinterest for an undisclosed amount of time, I decided I should just make my own Wardrobe Essentials list and turned to Polyvore to make a photo guide for this.  The problem I encountered here, is that I had specific pieces in mind but had a hard time finding photos that matched the images I had in my head so that didn't prove to be as helpful of a solution as I had hoped but I did come up with a very minimal wardrobe guide:

Like I said, very minimal.  But in all honesty, you could get by with even less than this.  I however, don't know if I can cut my wardrobe down that far.  I was thinking I'd cut down to 5's, 10's, and 20's of each category with some combinations.  20 bottoms.  20 casual tops/sweaters.  10 work/formal tops. 10 shoes. 5 dresses.  5 jackets.  Etc.  I don't even know if I can cut it down that far!  This is going to be a real challenge but I am super excited to have a closet that I can find things in.  How great would it be to pull something out of the drawer every day and not debate about whether or not I felt like wearing it?  You should be excited about every piece of clothing you have.  If you are hesitant, and don't need it (i.e., work uniform) get rid of it.

I'm at the age where I want to narrow down and develop a classic wardrobe of quality pieces that will last me through the years.  No more impulse Forever21 purchases (be strong girl!), more quality (natural) fibers and less synthetics (except in exercise wear, swimwear, etc).

What would (or does if you are ahead of the game) your basic wardrobe look like?  Do you have a signature style?  How many pieces of your wardrobe are actually essential and what's extra?  What piece/pieces can you not live without?

Pictures and progress updates to come....

Be sure to follow me on Polyvore, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram :)  Username for most is: AnUntraditionalFashionista.  The only exception is Pinterest: UntradFashion (they limit the character amount for names).

Loving My New Logo :)

So this is a post with things that I am not the most proud of admitting or that I will want my parents to read, but it's part of who I am so I can't deny it.

When I was 16 I went to a party and got a tattoo from one of my friends.  Definitely not the smartest move I've ever made and not something I would ever do again.  I was very lucky that it heeled well and I didn't get an infection or TB or anything like that.  Of course at the time I thought it was cool, but now more than a decade later, I shake my head and wonder what I was thinking.

One thing that I am glad about concerning my ink is that it is something I designed and drew myself so at least it's not something anyone could have pulled out of a flash book and there are hundreds of people running around with the same meaningless ink.  Also, it's on my hip so it's not visible in my day to day life so mostly, it's as if it isn't there at all and I don't have to do anything special to cover it up for work.

I decided some years ago that since I had branded myself, I should make it have some sort of meaning more than a doodle from my sketch book.  Thus, I decided that my ink should be my brand, as I have indeed branded myself.

I've had a lot of motivation to start doing something with my work so it seemed like the right time to get something legitimate made up.  So, I got with the graphic designer at my work and had him get me a more professional/cleaned up version of my brand and he came up with this:

He did a great job and I love it!  If anyone is interested in having him do any sort of graphic design work for them, I would highly recommend him.  You can reach him at: andyrewluke@gmail.com.  I think he is a very talented artist and have been trying to get him to do more to get his work out there, such as submit designs to Threadless.com.  I'd totally rock a shirt with his design on it, or use stationary with his art, etc.  Plus he's just an overly awesome guy (which is why he is often referred to as "Amazing Andy" around here).

For those that are curios what the original looks like, here you go:

Obviously not the best quality but it is a part of who I am so I am making the best of it.  Lesson learned kids, you may think something is cool at the time, but is it something you want to live with forever?  And if you are going to do something stupid, at least be smart about it (ie, go to a professional, don't get one at a party).

PS. This isn't meant to be an anti-tattoo, preachy post.  I am all for personal choice and self expression.  I have seen some incredibly beautiful pieces of art on peoples skin.  All I'm saying is, I didn't make the best choice at the time and should have put more thought into what I was doing and shouldn't have gotten a tattoo when I was 16.  On a lighter note, I should have, at the very least, cleaned up the image a little bit so it was more symmetrical ;).  And yes I know I could have it removed but I have decided to keep it as a reminder to myself of who I am,where I've been, the decisions I've made (good and bad), and use it for something better in my life (thus my brand).

PPS.  Andy also has a blog.  He doesn't post much of his own work on it, but he is always posting about cool artwork that he finds around the web/world.  It's definitely one to follow if you are at all interested in art: http://andyavenue.blogspot.com/

Sewing Room Redo

School starts again here in a few days so I've been spending the weekend trying to make Zoes (my sweet blue heeler for those that don't know  who Zoe is) room into a working sewing/craft room as I have been doing projects in my front room until now.

Her room has been a mess for the 3 years that I've lived in my house.  It was always intended to be my office/sewing/craft space but up until now has been a junk/storage room that Zoe also lives in since she doesn't get along with the little dogs and needs her own space.

I should have taken some before pictures but didn't think about it until I was mostly done.  But here is my progress so far:

I put up some of my design boards that I did in school however many years ago for inspiration and to give the room a fashiony feel.

A little more work is going to happen in this corner once I get to Ikea to buy more storage furniture but so far it is my inspiration board and dress form area.

My uber cute sewing machine is under the sketches.

My bookshelf still needs some organizing love but the boxes hold notions, fabrics, yarns, etc.  And I wanted to show you the cute jewelry holders I picked up from Hobby Lobby some years ago.

My serger/cutting table is a mess and most of what is on there is also waiting for the shelves from Ikea.  The bags all hold fabric for projects that are in the works.  Once I get the shelves, this table will be spic and span.

Some of my travel photos from around the world.  More to be added very soon.  I just need to print and frame them.  These are to help remind me of the beauty in the world and of all the experiences I have encountered and enjoyed.

I still share this room with my big, beautiful girl (above) and love that I will have more contact with her while getting my design on.  She is a self decided cave dweller and makes her nest under anything she can find, tables, desks, my parents pool table, etc., so her bed is under the serger desk.  I'll post final result pictures when the room is done.

Baby Sweaters Everywhere!

I recently found out that my best friend is having a baby.  I am so excited for her.  Unfortunately we live about 1,600 miles away from each other so I don't feel like there is much I can do to help her get ready for this big change in her life so I decided I could use my skills and make her a bunch of baby clothes.  I am having so much fun doing this.  Baby things are tiny, quick to make, and can use such fun textiles.  I'm loving it!

So far I've made a few sweaters (all patterns were found on Ravelry, I believe...)

I LOVE shawl collar things.  I think all sweaters should have a shawl collar.

Hard to see but there is a cable up the side of this one.

This one has a cute bow that attaches at the neck.  I'll post more photos when I get it sewn together and the bow attached.

I still need to sew seams together and put buttons on but this is my progress so far.  I have a huge stack of fabric to sew into adorable little things too.  I can't wait!

Turquoise Lady

Lucky me got to attend 2 weddings this week.  It is always fun to see what the bride chooses for her dress.

On Thursday, my cousin Shanae got married and her gown was beautiful.  It was very elegant and had a vintage flair to it.  I of course, was not in blogger mindset and didn't take pictures of her beautiful gown, or of her well dressed guests (including myself - got to toot my own horn every now and then since I don't have many occasions to dress up these days).

On Saturday my moms cousins grand niece got married (we had a debate at the wedding about what that makes her relationship to me and my sister, but were inconclusive).  She had a small ceremony and reception and once again things were beautiful.  Something that she did that I hadn't encountered before was, she had a color dress code for her guests and during the reception they took extended family photos with the bride and groom.  That was a clever idea.  However, her color request was turquoise and I didn't feel like I had anything wedding appropriate that was turquoise so I decided to make my dress for the occasion.  My inspiration was Trashy Diva.  I do so love Trashy Diva but can't bring myself to afford they beautiful dresses, so it seemed like a good occasion to make a knock off.

This is what I came up with:

I made a necklace to go with.

Lucky me had matching shoes in my closet!

The dress is actually made out of outdoor decorator fabric, which I personally am loving for my projects this year because it provides weight and body that would require more inner structures if I used a lighter fabric.

What do you think?

All Saints - Chicago

I'm in Chicago on vacation with my parents and the shopping here is a world different than it is in Salt Lake.  There is a street of high end shops called the Magnificent Mile and you could probably buy anything you'd ever want there.

One store in particular caught my attention though.  We were walking down the street and all of the sudden there were huge windows with shelves of vintage sewing machines.  That was very cool.

At that point I had no idea what the store was but the display got us in the store.

The store had a feel of an old factory crossed with a Hollywood Studio from the decor.  It was cool.  It took a while to take all of that in before I could even start looking at the clothes.

The clothes were cool.  Picture a modern day Billy Idol.  I think that is the best way to describe it.  Modern, Punk-Rock.  Lots of metal, mostly monochromatic, simple silhouettes.

The product was a little higher priced than I expected but not completely unreasonable.  I am much more of a fan of the womens clothing than the mens.  Overall I found the store to be interesting and there were a few items I could see hanging in my closet.

Check them out at www.us.allsaints.com.

Sewing/School/Busy

This has been quite a busy spring!  School and work have kept me very busy but it's finally over so hopefully I will have time to be more diligent with my posts.

Short post today but check out one of my final projects!  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I had to go to Target to take a picture since I don't have full length mirrors at home.  I'm feeling motivated to keep the ball rolling and make a lot of summer dresses for myself.  More to come...