Project Run and Play Season 5 has officially started. It is Week #1 and the challenge was a Pattern Remix,
"It's OK to be Biased" Skirt by Katy at no big dill. Use the bias strip technique and make it your own.
Did you enjoy watching the Summer Olympics over the summer and seeing all the flags from all around the world? 'Le Tricolore' is what the French call their flag, it is where I got my inspiration from. My daughter is half French, so she is the perfect little model for this one.
I've already made
a French flag skirt using
Dana's layered skirt tutorial. You know, so why not create a whole outfit inspired by the French flag?
So here you have a modern, color block top & skirt, in bright eye catching colors... classy, polished, and oh so chic! The skirt is a color block white and red elastic waist skirt, the seams used for the skirt were French seams (how fitting for a French flag inspired outfit!) The royal blue top is fully lined with an invisible zipper in the back (I had to shorten the zipper from the bottom as I couldn't find an invisible zipper short enough). I decided to make the bias strips very evenly spaced apart, creating texture within each color block. And for la piece de resistance... white bias strip straps and ties in the back making a really beautiful touch in the back and a nice surprise.
I decided to make this outfit into separates instead of a dress as it will give more versatility, she can wear this skirt with a store bought white shirt, for example, that she already has in her closet. For the construction of the top I placed red & black style tapes on my child sized dress form to create the style lines in order to produce a muslin pattern first. This was the first time I've ever done this method & it was a success! I'm so pleased with the result.
I found a nice light weight fabric that would work really well with this technique. I wanted something that wouldn't weigh down each piece since there are so many layers. Also the ties in the back flow so beautifully in the breeze, don't they?
I also created a blue toile vertical ribbon cuff bracelet to accent the outfit, this was ribbon that I bought in Paris a decade ago. The ribbon just happened to be in the same royal blue that's found in the French flag, so of course I just had to use it for this challenge, it's the whole reason why I've been saving it all these 10 long years, right? On a side note if you ever have the opportunity to visit the
Toile museum in a suburb of Paris, I highly recommend it.
By the way, everything is made of bias strips... even the blue fabric I used to make the toile ribbon cuff bracelet.
Fast facts
:: Technique: bias strips
:: Fashion trend: color block
:: Inspiration: the French flag
:: Fabric: silk essence from JoAnn Fabrics
:: Hairstyle:
long hair messy bun
:: Photo shoot location:
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden with down town Minneapolis skyline in the background. (I unfortunately couldn't get any photos of the
Spoonbridge and Cherry (the symbol of Minneapolis) as there was a huge ugly orange truck next to it the whole time that we were there, it was doing work on the cherry).
Vive le bleu, blanc, et rouge !
Now
go vote !
