Snips of Fabric, Glitter, Dust, and Petals

During the process and behind the scenes of my very first Art Fashion Creation show - which was beautifully and artfully presented by professional models this time, instead of dolls of ceramic and paper:

Number One Employee Cat is discovered napping on the Art Fashion Creation flower train!

Number One was fascinated with this dress from its conception. She also wanted to trod upon the satin of the Pink Paris Moth Dress (the same satin also used in the Butterfly Frock and the Butterfly Empress dresses). As my worktable became loaded with partially-finished headpieces, brocade seed necklaces, and obi sashes - I had to cut and piece together many of the dresses on the floor, which delighted Number One - although she many times had to be banished from the workroom : (

After finally handstitching the color-blocked and piped lining to the top of this flower train, I took a much needed break - as 2.5 months of sewing begins to tighten neck and shoulder muscles. This is what I saw upon returning. What an accessory Number One would be! Ha ha, I can actually imagine the model trying to navigate the runway with a striped tabby accessory happily riding the flower train. Please don't rush out looking for your own tabby accessory, unless you have plenty of time and sufficient money to care for it : ) 

Now that the show's over, I enjoyed looking through the little snipped piles of fabric I saved during the creation of 12 dresses (and the accessories). You'll see bits of lace, brocade, satin, netting, and even some small practice samples - such as the caterpillar striped tube I assembled after designing the fabric by stitching ribbon stripes to satin. I dressed a pencil in one half of the caterpillar sample. And the bands of fabric are part of a sample I created while deciding the order of fabrics for the hem of a skirt.

Art Fashion Creation photo

Here, you see some brocade and some glitter fabric from obi bows, and some glitter and veiling from headpieces

The small fabric triangles were snipped from the seam allowances of curved areas within the Obi Bow

Tube made from ribbon stripe fabric I created for the caterpillar ensemble

Sample created to determine order of brocade and lace fabrics for Kabuki Skirt

Threads I save in a jar, which are later added to collages

Photos of the Art Fashion Creation Spring 2017 Kamama Hanamichi fashion show garments are posted here.