Re:Fashion ...from Quilt to Gown!

This right here is something I’ve been wanting to make for years now. A quilt dress. Mind you, I did NOT want to make the *actual* quilt. Though I do have roughly ten bags of wax print scraps stored up for a rainy day, this squirrel does not have the mindset (yet) for quilting.

But my mom likes to surprise me with all manner of technicolor goodness. And plants. Her thumb is green as the day is long. Sadly, the technicolor goodness has a much better chance of survival around these parts (watering is key, I’m finding out). However, I’d been wanting to hack into this Kantha quilt since it entered our domain. I couldn’t see cutting up such a beautiful gift from my mom, but then the perfect reason presented itself in Re:Fashion Season 2...

Said reason is revealed in the full episode on Bluprint, which you can, right this very hot minute, watch completely free! As in NO “free trial sign up,” NO “cc info needed,” just enter an email address and you can binge EVERYTHING on the site through January 7th.

I won’t say much more about this dress here, since you can get the whole story right now, even if you don’t subscribe to Bluprint. But I know we sewists love our static close-up shots, so I made sure to ask for some in our photo shoot!

OH HOLD UP A MINUTE WHO’S THAT THURRRR IN A FAMILIAR FABRIC

HI HANDSOME! MATCHING ME LIKE IN MY DREAMS! He is actually down with this sort of thing now! Well, to a degree. I mean, he’d *rather* a subtle hint of a pocket square. He went big for me this time. But couldn’t you see him in a technicolor blazer? A brocade blazer? A BROCADE BLAZER WITH A SEQUIN BACK PANEL AND ME IN A MATCHING SEQUIN BALLGOWN?! CAN YOU IMAGINE?!!!!!

Maybe in season 3.....

For now, catch seasons 1, 2, and everything else these Handmade Harriells have on Bluprint for free through January 7th. Just search “Harriell” on site to pull up all our madness.  And remember —- everything else is bingeable as well; cooking, carpentry, oil painting, ballet, crochet...and yes, actual quilting ;).

Behind the Seams of Re:Fashion Season 2: Sequin Two Set!

Actual shot of my face when I had to delete this post last month.

If you're experiencing déjà vu, mea culpa! I'm still learning YouTube, and human error meant I had to erase my Re:Fashion Series 2 kickoff posts across multiple platforms. Which is such a 2019 sentence. Then, you know, the whole acting-career-thing meant I had to push my course corrections back even further. SO. If you caught my July glitch, and wanna get straight to watching the first sparkly episode of Season 2 for ab-so-lute-ly free, you can head on over to our new Youtube channel! It's not going away this time, I promise.

Now let's get back to pictures & ramblings!

GOOD LORD THERE'S TWO OF THEM RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

It made perfect sense to me to kick off the new season with a sequined, ombre, off-the-shoulder mermaid gown. SUCH AN EVERYDAY PIECE. But don't we all have that specialty item? The monster that haunts us each time we open the closet door? You know, the kind of beast one is *requested* to buy, in order to complete a bride's wishes...the kind of beast that lurks in the shadows, after its one day in the sun? Yeah. THAT BEAST. 

What, you don't have a horror story in your closet? Want one of your very own to refashion? Who am I to stop you.

RTW beasties aside, you might imagine my technicolor racks are overflowing with sequins of the handmade variety. Nope! Nary an item! I'll tell you the truth, every time I fall in love with some blingy yardage, I dive straight in, sparkle flying everywhere...and when something goes horribly and immediately wrong, I keep stubbornly stitching until I've fitted the thing to within an inch of its life, and several inches smaller than myself. Then into the Time Out Corner it goes. I've got a whole pile of botched bling just waiting to be saved.

Sequins require extra work, extra patience, and extra cleanup. I'm down with two outta three of those. Depending on the fabric, you might need to remove each sequin from the seam allowance, so that you don't have great big galumphing lumps of seams running up the side of your bod. Lining is a necessity, to keep necklines and armscye scratch-free. And sequins. Get. EVERYWHERE. In fact, they are now a permanent part of the ambiance of our apartment. 

With all that in mind, I wanted to choose a project that would end in success, both for myself and for y'all! The gown I refashioned has an allover, scattered pattern of miniature sequins, sewn onto stretch mesh, with a separate poly lining. These guys were so tiny, I could do away with the painstaking removal of each little speck from the SA. And the stretch mesh fabric meant no fraying edges--an even cut was all I needed for my hems. Remove any amputated sequins from those edges, and voila!

Oh--recognize the top? It's the beloved Ogden Cami from True Bias, saving the day! I flipped the script on this gown and used the gold that was once the mermaid hem for the new top.

I went nose-to-tail on this refashion, using every bit of the gown to make my new look. The lining, zipper, and even that great big floofy shoulder tie, were all saved and used. The only new item was a length of petersham for the waistband treatment. It gave me an elegant, easy finish for this little two set.

OH AND SPEAKING OF TWO SETS

I CAN'T I REALLY CAN'T.

We were thrilled to be back on set with our Re:Fashion gang! I'm pretty sure I was in Godzilla Hummingbird Mode the entire week. The nonstop Nitros definitely aided and abetted. SUCH HAPPY RAMPAGE! Watch me tame this blingy beast (the dress and Rob), and cover every surface (the apartment AND Rob) in sequins, in the Season two premiere on our brand spanking new Youtube channel! 

If you're jonesing a binge of all 6 episodes, and get your sewing TV through Bluprint, they are all LIVE now. You can also sign up for a free trial and play around for a full week. More to come on each episode, with loads of pics, my usual ramblings...and a couple of surprises, including a giveaway or two ;) It is my birthday month, after all!

Have you tried your hand at sequins? Maybe you've got a beastie in your closet that has you stumped? Do tell.....  

Re:Fashion Season 2 on Bluprint!

Also known as The Extra Season, also known as The Season We Do Things To Rob. See evidence above.

Re:Fashion Season 2 is now live on Bluprint! I am so enormously proud of, and in love with, the crew that makes this happen. They are the most collaborative, supportive, fine group of humans that we've had the honor to work with. I hope you enjoy what we've created together... 

I'll be highlighting all 6 looks over the summer, with plenty of lovely pics for the sewing minded to ogle! OOOO I DO LIKE TO OGLE A SEAM! Til then, if you get your Sewing TV through Bluprint, you can catch the series here.

Happy sewing, my friends!

Making RUNWAY REMAKE

A fistful of organza flowers in my mitts, an open flame dangerously close to my coils, I  looked at my pink reflection in the mirror and maniacally breathed to Rob across the fabric bombed expanse of our Denver digs: I'M THROWING IN THE TOWEL.

He 98% believed me, which tells you how underwater I was. At that point, I'd been sewing for six weeks straight, and little else. That's not a complaint, let's be real, WHO NEEDS FOOD AND WATER AND BATHROOM BREAKS WHEN YOU'VE GOT SEWING. But, when you're slam sewing stuff intended to be paraded around in front of cameras, and you're Type A, the "this is sh*t" stage of the creative journey sometimes sets up shop and refuses to leave. And that's where this dress was hanging out at 11pm the night before the shoot.

And I do mean hanging out. On a hanger. ln a corner. I'd been giving it the hairy eyeball every night after Rob forced me to turn off my brain, eat a good meal and chill for a minute.

Lemme back up. Here's the skinny. In the midst of production for Re:Fashion 2, this extra challenge dropped in my lap. And I do like Extra. This chameleon dress (that has too many looks to reveal in this post) was created for the new Bluprint series, RUNWAY REMAKE. Hosted by Mondo Guerra, it goes hand and hand with Project Runway--an episode drops every week in conjunction with the main event on Bravo. I was slated for the premiere episode. The timeline was tight. Supatight! SPANX TIGHT! (That last bit, to my chagrin, literally.)

The premiere ep's challenge was "First Look." My dossier was to reinvent a past look for my present self, and my inspiration was a shot of me in my prom dress. Ah, prom! Basically the red carpet of high school. As I've said before, I was a shy teenager, but although I used wild clothing as daily armor to walk those hallowed halls, the thought of 400 eyes at prom was apparently too much. And this was me going to prom as a bewildered junior, so I well and truly squashed my naturally off-the-wall instincts and went full wallflower, with a demure fit and flare solid pale pink gown, adorned with a shy satin rose.

I am 24/7 bold now! My red carpet reinvention would have metallic bling! Couture organza flowers! Boning! Multiple capes! And I could totally get it done on top of Re:Fashion sewing! AGAIN WHO NEEDS SLEEP WHEN YOU HAVE SEWING! Prom pic at hand, I sketched an updated look, extending the neckline into a tiered cape surrounding a mini dress. And then, I worked up a mini version on my half-scale dress form with THREE capes to mimic the three pleats on the original neckline. BECAUSE MORE IS MORE.

So, the dress was pretty much designed before I started to sew. And that was what was biting me in the tuchus. How do I always forget it's hard for me to make something *as promised*? I like to have an idea in my head, and then I like to be able to BATTLE ROYALE myself. Smackdown sewing! Make mistakes! THEN FIX 'EM! I especially need that improvisation when there's a time crunch.

My first catastrophe was the underdress. I went with a self-drafted bodice and pencil skirt. So smart, going with an already fitted pattern! SUCH A TIME SAVER! I chose to underline and line the poly metallic organza, using a lofty, textured metallic jacquard for the visible underlining.

And then I decided to machine baste the layers together. And then when they weren't behaving (because I had skipped hand basting), I decided to steam blast those layers flat before assembling the dress. Both questionable choices worked in harmony to shrink my perfectly sized, supersensible pre-fitted pattern to about 2 sizes smaller than intended.

Enter seam ripper, teeny seam allowances, exposed zipper, and taped seams. (And, on the day of the shoot, Spanx. Which I think are the devil incarnate. But, when you've got a deadline and no minutes for remakes, you make your deals, yo.)

I gave myself a break by testing a flower or two. They were so quick and easy, I decided I'd knock out the rest in Denver. Because I had boning to get to.

I chucked some rigilene in along the neckline as well, within the seam allowance. Lately, I've been using rigilene here instead of twill tape. I love what it does to a neckline! You can see here how it keeps a square neck & deep V supported in a strapless romper I made.

I figured it would also add some stability for the caped contraption that was somehow going to extend from the dress bodice down to my waist. In theory, the whole cape-beast-thing would be one liftable unit. IN THEORY.

Y'all. WHAT THE WHAT IS THAT. This exo-skeleton contraption mocked me for seven days at home! The night before the flight, I still hadn't figured it out. I brought the structure, two flowers, the strapless wiggle dress, ten yards of organza, five suitcases of fashion, and a headful of stubborn with us to Denver.

After a fantastic and wonderfully technicolor week of Re:Fashion, the night before the Runway Remake shoot, literally at the eleventh hour, I decided it was either the ridiculously engineered exo-beast, or me. Were it not for Rob, who handed me a digestif and said you need to follow your instincts, babe, it probably woulda been me, in a blaze of stupendous cursing, because THERE IS NO CRYING IN SEWING.

I dismantled the overworked structure, and repurposed two of the taffeta covered lengths of boning for straps for the underdress. Six little filigreed hook and eye sets afforded me the solution to attach the newly freed cape tiers at three points along the dress: straps, underbust, and waist. It was SO much simpler! Sometimes simple is beautiful. However, my exhausted brain wasn't convinced at that point that what I'd made was anything approaching beauty, so to bed I went.

The next morning, Rob was my hype man. He got me coffeed up, packed up, and on my way. In the dressing room, I tried on the full look for the first time, and went to meet the (always fabulous) crew for the day. A man said "that is the best thing I have ever seen." To which I hollered back with the force of a thousand suns

OHMYGAAAH LISTEN NO REALLY?! ARE YOU SERIOUS THANK YOU SO MUCH I TOTALLY THOUGHT IT WAS A DUMPSTER FIRE LAST NIGHT I ALMOST CALLED YOU GUYS AND SAID IT'S NOT GONNA HAAAPPEN ROB HAD TO TALK ME DOWN

And that's how I met our DP Dave ;) 

Moments later, to my caffeinated delight, I realized my left turn at Cape Dismay meant I'd doubled the ways I could wear the beast! That's up next. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Thursday. I've learned to give myself a little wiggle room, dontcha know ;)

AND NOW I GOTTA SUNDAY SEW SOMETHIN'. I've got mistakes to make! Hope you do, too!

Suit Up! Our New Series on Bluprint

Hiya peeps. This is a very quick PSA, as the week has gone upside down topsy-turvy. A kerfuffle, I tell you, A KERFUFFLE!

Our new series, Suit Up! in collaboration with DC Comics, launched on Bluprint last week. We had a rip-roaring, great good time doing this, and it was this comic book lover's dream to recreate some of my favorite icons--AND to dress ROB up too!!! (Y'all, I went absolutely overboard on his look. I saw my chance to get him in gold pleather, and I merrily took it.)

There are four episodes with four heroes in all--and although the goal of each is to create a costume, I think you'll get some cool stuff out of it in your everyday sewing life-- like how to work with leather. And the aforementioned pleather. Oh and I stumbled into a GREAT sewing machine that I'll tell you about soon!

But I digress. The main point of this quick post is to let you know that all content on Bluprint is FREE right now, through tomorrow (10/12). This event actually started earlier this week, but again, topsy turvy kerfuffle land over here. So! You've got, oh, twenty-four hours or so to catch Suit Up!, or Re:Fashion, or just go down the rabbithole of the gazillion things you can learn over there. Inspiration for a lovely weekend of creating that I dearly hope awaits us all. I'll be back next week with some costume close-ups, cuz I know we all like to get into the stitchin! 

Happy surfing, fellow creators...

Vogue 9253 & Clothes Making Mavens!

I'm under the wire for another top-secret misson, so it's a very quick one for my last post on series 1 of Re:Fashion on bluprint! 

Episode 5, The Festival Robe, dealt with refashioning a garment you've sewn from scratch. I know that many of us are loathe to remake something we've already made, but I myself am far more loathe to make something, dislike it, and decide the time spent on it was too precious to hack into it again! I wanna wear the shizz I make, man! One could say I also say I am far too stubborn to fail. One would be right. Vogue 9253 saved the day, no surprise, the pattern is glorious, and if you haven't tried it out, lemme say it again, DO. This is the second time I've sewn this in a sheer, but the first time I've done it on camera. Oooh, sounds kinky.

I am about out of time for typing, but oh, my friends, you are in SO MUCH LUCK if you're feeling cheated out of my usual nonsensical jabberings, as I can currently be found yammering with Helena and Lori on their Clothes Making Mavens podcast! The aforementioned Top Secret Mission began right before the podcast launched, so I haven't had time to holler about it yet. 

Laughter and NY Noise aplenty in our conversation--I've followed both their blogs for years, so it was like talking to old friends you've never met. I apologize in advance for the deafening, uncontrollable cackling that came out of my maw when Lori said I was a fashion icon.

Over and out, and back to the mosh pit! If you'd like to see the truly horrible "before," and complete visual steps of how I turn V9253 into a sheer open robe (and yes, almost wreck it again),check out Episode 5 of Re:Fashion, The Festival Robe! OKAYBYEIHOPEYOUGUYSARESEWING!!!!!

On Wednesdays, We Wax.

The first time I heard about AKN Fabrics, I was certain I was being led to my death.

Whaaat? I can hear many of you cry, having experienced first hand, at PR and MPB days and meetups, the glory that is AKN. Don't worry, the story ends well, I love the jam-packed joint as much as you do.

It was 2014, the year of my first wax print--a gorgeous, megawatt yellow spray can print sent to me by Sarah. It was so vibrant! So weird! So stiff with wax! I hammered out an Anna dress and lived in it the rest of that summer. 

One hot August day, I was stomping through a particularly seedy section of the city. This neighborhood is unexpected, almost right in the middle of Manhattan on Broadway between 27th to 35th streets. I wanna say it's the perfume/costume jewelry/wig district. I don't know why it feels so off, but it's one of those Stephen King zones. Know what I mean? All strangers suddenly feel dangerous, even the buildings are eyeing you. Shadows are thick and make you invisible even in broad daylight.

It was high noon and plenty of summer sunshine, my favorite kind of day--but I was in that area, and had to cross the gauntlet from the subway to a casting office on 28th. A stretch of two blocks populated with, as SK would call them, low men, possessing far-too-appreciative glances and bestowing "compliments" upon pretty much anything with legs. It was a no-smile zone. And although I had my spray can dress on, a dress which screams happiness, I also had my game face on. My I am not a friendly person face. Focusing on a dot in the distance, I passed an "admirer." From behind me, I heard a suggestive: you like wax print?

Huh? Did he just comment on my fabric? This gave me pause. I slowed to a stop and cautiously turned. Yesss...?

He gestured to a dusty, six-story building behind him. A building with papered windows and a dark, unmanned entryway. I have wax print. For sale. Come upstairs with me.

OH HAHAHAHAHA, I answered, bubble burst. I'm sorry, but there is ZERO way I am following you into a building, by myself, to a high floor. I'm not saying you're a creep, you know, you could be great, but you could also be trying to kill me. You understand. Thank you though. I'll bring some of my sewing buddies next time, and if you happen to see us in a gang of three or more, ask again. 

Follow him into an unmarked building! From a street! I laugh out loud at it even now. Who knew he was referring to an ACTUAL store?! Not I! The only fabric stores I knew of at that point were ten blocks north! Years later, when I finally found, and ventured up into, AKN Fabrics, I saw my old friend on the street, working the passersby, and rode the elevator up with him. He's great. Zero creep factor. He could work on his sidewalk sales pitch, though.  

Speaking of creep factor. What is it with me and once a week Wednesday goals? That damn Wednesday creeps up on you like its running a perfume joint on 28th street! Mr. Hump Day especially likes to creep on me when it's the end of summer and all hell breaks loose when things are normally quiet and the only thing on the to-do list should be SWEAT IN THE HEAT! ALSO WHERE DID ALL THE HEAT GO?!!

Sorry. I'm typing this at 2am with the windows open, because although it is oddly cold, IT IS AUGUST, and I refuse to close them! And I am chilly! CHILLY I SAY! Let me return to the point. It occurred to me, the hump day having crept up on me once again, that setting myself the task of sharing the finished garment for each of the five re:fashion episodes every Wednesday for a month was much like setting myself the task of putting up a work-in-progress every Wednesday for forever and ever amen. I abandoned ship fairly quickly on the latter, but with one more finished garment to go, imma power through the former... and the final episode features a sewn pattern that you'll likely recognize (and one that I bet you WON'T). Oh! And yes, the gorgeous floral print you see here hails from AKN, but you have to venture up into the store to get it. It's behind the cash register. Whatever you do, don't go pulling colors off the shelf. They've got a system. Ask my guy to help you out.

If you'd like to see how I made this flowery gal, episode 4 of Re:Fashion is here. If you know how to sew, it's fairly easy...I added a full circle skirt to an RTW crop top on which I taped the seams for a little "extra." However, it is almost never smooth sewing for me, and I had a pretty awesome, ahem, flower placement snafu. Rob is also showcased in some lovely prints as well. He is, how do you say, a VERY good sport.

Re:Fashion on bluprint, Episode 1: Of Glue And Girls

It was my first Girls' Night Out, and I was TERRIFIED.  My co-workers, a bevy of Broadway beauties, had planned an evening of debauchery, and I had no idea what to wear, let alone how to behave in the midst of all...those...ladies. My career in feminine friendship at that point was pretty much nonexistent, having had very little to do with the female beast since childhood. My prepubescent interactions with most girls involved them making fun of my mix, my hair, my off-the-wall fashion choices, or just mistaking my shyness for disdain. As a kid, I would grab all manner of color and print and swath myself in statements of cloth, but my yapper was pretty much shut if I was confronted with a classroom of new faces. Unless it wasn't, which was whenever I was onstage. All in all, a confusing mix that did not lend itself to gal pals.

Come to think of it, I did have a few kiddo versions of a girls' night out! You know, sans adult debauchery. Most were with various little bands of merry misfits, but the one that comes to mind was the terrifying sort: I was invited to a sleepover party, by one of the most popular girls in school, somewhere around the 5th or 6th grade. I was shocked by this invitation; all we had in common was the receiving end of a rolled eye.

The party kicked off at a small carnival, where I stood holding Miss Popular's Mom's hand, too scared to go on the roller coaster or the Ferris wheel. (That earned me major points, lemme tell ya.) Later on, in a cavernous shadowed living room, I was careful to keep my movements quiet and small (so as not to alert the natives to my presence), as we made tiny bottles of perfume, ate pizza, and climbed into our sleeping bags for the night. Around 3am, I woke up and assumed I'd been crying, because I couldn't get my eyes open. This didn't surprise me, as the few sleepovers I'd been to at that point usually ended with me sobbing myself awake from homesickness. #WINNING. But I really couldn't get my eyes open, and that really revved up the waterworks, which brought Momma Popular in, who washed my face, got my lids unstuck, and asked gently if I wanted to go home. N-n-n-n-noooooooo, I stammered, determined to GET. THROUGH. A. SLEEPOVER. I gratefully received an encouraging hug from Momma Popular, climbed into my sleeping bag, and willed myself to sleep.

In the morning, I was the first to leave, and when I reached for my tiny bottle of perfume, Miss Popular said I couldn't have it. I whispered in my defense: but Allison said she's keeping hers...at which point all of the crew verbally descended upon me in the way that I was very much accustomed to at school. DAMMIT! Rookie mistake, opening my yapper! I'd been hiding in plain sight for fifteen hours and blew it in the last five minutes!

Momma Popular intervened, handed me my eau de sleepover, and sent me on my way. She had a slightly disapproving look fixed on her little crew of pre-teens.

Years later, Miss Popular showed up backstage at the very Broadway show that started this whole tale, to congratulate me and get me to sign her playbill. I was still pretty shy at that point, but bold enough to tell her we weren't friends and she was never nice to me. Major burn, I know. Still, I raced home to tell Rob about my small victory, including the Saga of the Sleepover, as backstory. Babe, he said, you know they glued your eyes shut, right?

WHAT?! THIS IS A THING THAT KIDS DID?!!! I yelled, shocked. Well, yeah--kids did stuff like that all the time, flour and water paste, a hand in a bucket of water, you know, sleepover stuff. 

NO, I DID NOT KNOW.

So there I was, thinking I was hiding out, quietly infiltrating, when really I was an activity for the party, like those teeny bottles of perfume. That gave me a good laugh, which instantly turned to fear, as I was faced with my first adult invitation to an evening with the girls. Beautiful, popular, strange women. I was that naive kid all over again. ROB! I yelped, wide-eyed. What do women DO at these things?! How do they act?!! What do they wear?!! SHOULD I EXPECT HOMEMADE GLUE?!!!

Rob had no answers for me, being versed only in the strange rules of pre-teen sleepover parties. So I steeled myself, put on some floral jeans and an ill-fitting tee from Gap Kids (I didn't sew back then, and thought Gap Kids was the bomb for my short-waisted frame), and headed into the fray.

Once again I was that kid at the carnival, only this time, the rides were a pitcher of something with a dozen adult liquids in it, a table with an inset grill upon which live jumbo shrimp were thrown on to "dance" before finally dying and being consumed, and several rounds of "marry/kill/bang" (the answers to which would surely be repeated to the wrong people at the theater the next day). GOOD GOD SO MUCH MORE TERRIFYING THAN A FERRIS WHEEL.

And the outfit? I got it dead wrong. My new gal pals were all in something barely grazing the curve of their collective booty, dancer's legs shining and free, faces sparkly with glitter and jewelry. It was like I was an alien visitor to the planet of Girl.

99% of the time, when I sew something, I'm thinking about where I'm going to wear it. As I was coming up with this maxi-to-mini dress for the very first episode of Re:Fashion, those dancing gals (and dancing shrimp) popped into my head, and it hit me that I was making an outfit for that Girls' Night Out. And suddenly I wanted to jump in with both feet...and pretty much alllll of my legs, and go MICRO mini. I'd never tried it before and saw no reason not to!

Today, of course, I know what to wear to an escapade with friends, because many of those friends--female, male, human--were met through sewing, that wonderful art which has provoked me into willingly venturing into many a night out, with roomfuls of strangers, met through the internet. I wear something handmade. Everyone will be in something handmade, the better to exclaim over whilst emptying that pitcher. And no one's gluing anything...unless we're talking glue guns. All bets are off with those things.

Re:Fashion launched on NBC U's bluprint last July, and for the month of August (my birthday month!) I'll be highlighting each episode with a little behind-the-seams. Click here to watch the first episode, Girls' Night Out, on bluprint, where I actually talk about sewing this garment, and see how I went from maxi to mini (and almost botched the whole shebang!)