Pick my Battles

Thursday:
Fire drill!  As we filed out of the building, we saw vendors setting up outside our buildings.  Only at FIT can you shop during your fire drill!  I joked with a fur salesman that I figured he must have pulled the alarm to get shoppers outside - he got a good laugh out of that.

Back inside to grade the dart bodice.  Another A-.  I should be happy with that, but Prof. Seggio said I didn't change the darts that much and the assignment was creative dart manipulation.  Bummer.  I took it pretty hard which was stupid, but I keep thinking structured looks are my thing so I want to do really well in that class!  I hope she's just pushing me to stretch myself even more.

Front with tucks and a bust dart

The back with a cutout detail and style tape to indicate chains

My friend Anna had a really fun look and was definitely creative with her darts!

Then we started princess seam bodices.  We can do any variation but it was hard for me to decide what to do because then I REALLY felt pressure to be creative!  I wasn't inspired and I wanted to do quality work so I stalled and figured I could work it out over the weekend.

A couple of options for princess seams.  

Sleeves were the topic in Pattern Making.  We are learning to take a basic straight sleeve sloper and convert it into different puff sleeve patterns.  Our patterns aren't anything complicated yet, but I really enjoy the flat to three-dimensional process.

Joy, joy!  I was able to take an empty seat to see Isabel and Ruben Toledo speak at our school.  They are a husband and wife team - he the illustrator, she the seamstress.  They are best known for his illustrations for Nordstroms and her lemongrass coat that Michelle Obama wore on Inauguration Day.  She was very inspirational for me to hear after another long day/week.  Some of her ideas are so opposite from my current mindset, it was fantastic to open my mind to more creative ways to design.

 Ruben and Isabel Toledo in conversation with Valerie Steele from the FIT Museum.

I had lots of homework to finish before Friday.  I hand basted along the bias on my fabric for draping a cowl.  It took me longer than I expected to hand baste!  I was trying to be perfect again, and it was for something that really didn't matter.  I need to get better about picking my battles.  I also procrastinated my Art & Design homework.  I really enjoy drawing and rendering once I get started, but for some reason it's one of those things that I can't jump into easily.

Friday:
We got to drape with real fabric today!  It was so nice to get away from the boring muslin and see bright colors around the room.  Prof. Renzulli gave us two hours to practice draping, and it took that long just to get an even cowl that I liked.  The silk I brought was harder to work with than I expected.  It's so wiggly!  I switched to my chocolate material.  I'm not sure on the fiber content, but it was so heavy I could hardly hold it up with regular pins!  For this simple assignment, our class produced some interesting variety.  I was impressed.

We worked more on our basics project in class Friday.  Prof. Bonner handed back some corrected and graded figures.  I got worse grades on my figures than my structured draping, yet it really didn't bother me.  Obviously I care more about the fabric manipulation than the drawing!  We have to decide this week if we want to try for the art specialization for second semester.  My decision to stick with the apparel specialization was solidified after seeing my art grades - ha!

I had to add this picture for my friend back home, Kandy.  We were margarita buddies.  With Kandy, I knew no better way of getting life back into focus than talking over a margarita or two.   Dallas BBQ on 23rd St supplied my end of week fix but it wasn't the same without Kandy!