This is the first time I didn't want to throw the sewing machine out of the window. I even tried new stitches! Note the zig zag neon stitch pictured below. I did a ton of research for the work, mainly on my go to; Pinterest. (See the link in my website if you want to check out some of my inspiration boards). I was strongly drawn to exploring with this work, as I've never truly built a piece of fashion without a pattern. I began with intuitive play. Cutting up some felt I'd saved from a previous project. I began folding the material into various shapes to see where it lead me. The path quickly formed into these beautiful simple square origami shapes.
Phase two involved exploring some color and stitch application. Typically, when I have tried using new stitches on a sewing machine it's led to broken machines (seriously, I have a track record). Not anymore!! I have an industrial machine that even I can't break! It held up to my heavy duty material selection, the lead foot (is there such a thing in the sewing world) and constant stop & go to remove each pin holding my design in place. The neon zig zag is a success! Part two of the zig zag origami squares involved hand stitching each piece together... because I couldn't handle seeing the join seams, so I painstaickedly snuck stitches between the hem to join the squares into a form.
Phase three, which I thought would be so easy. Piece of cake. Ha, nope.. not the case. Two trips to Habermans fabric store later, I finally found the proper stretch of material to build the bandeau neon green top in just the right color to match my neon green thread I had to have. This was actually one of the more complicated pieces to make, believe it or not. Figuring out the dimensions and getting things to fit just right was a challenge.
Phase four... what's next? Oh.. yeah figuring out what's next! I spent so long staring at this. I hate to even admit to how long and how many times I draped and pinned, re-draped, re-pinned... finally.. I jumped in feet first. I really love the texture of these 3D dots on this material. Check out the images below to see some more of the process.
Oh, and if you're curious about the color.. the last image truly represents the neon green!
