jennine of the coveted tipped me off to the emergence of a new street fashion website focusing on san francisco, called san francisco street fashion (sfstreetfashion.com).
"SF STREET FASHION is a free service comprised of user submitted content", or so says their terms of service page. hrm, such sites are cropping up like mad these days!
interesting! neat! fab for san franciscans! and of course, fun for (street) fashion fans/lovers voyeurs worldwide.
a couple weeks ago, i found this 70s denim dress at the goodwill down on haight street, one of my favorite local thrift stores. it had good bones: nice dark denim, and a fitted yet simple shape. but otherwise, it had it's faults: weird, cheap looking ribbon trim on the cap sleeves, neckline, and pocket edges. it buttoned up the back (odd for a dress...you have to be helped into it!), and was just a smidge too small for me, thanks to my stupidly large chest. it was screaming out for help! so...of course, i had to swoop in and do some magic (or attempt some magic, anyway!)...
the front was rather plain, so i gave it a bib, edged with bias. and used bias to edge the square neckline, hem, cap sleeves, and zipper placket on the back. the reason for the placket? well, it was a hair too small, as i said, so i opened out the button plackets for more room, and the new placket covers up the button holes and gives the back some interest. the buttons on the front are covered with a little of the fabric i cut off the hem before attaching the bias. btw, all the extra contrasting fabric is a herringbone weave chambray type fabric i had in my stash already.
it's not perfect, but it's a lot more fun than it was before. and it fits!
i love this kind of work...taking something that's not quite right and making it more so. and if it doesn't work out, fine. but when it does...so wonderful, so satisfying.
remember how i told you that i'm taking a silkscreening class at sfai? and that i pulled a print of diamonds as a test print a few weeks back? well, i made a few prints on arches 100% cotton paper with fluorescent pink and orange inks the week after that. they are fun. here they are!
see?
i am really loving the silkscreening, the stretching into other mediums...beyond the fashion. oh yeah. and i'm getting all sorts of ideas, but...not room to do them. i wish i had room to do it in my current apartment/studio, but alas, this place is like a shoebox! *sigh*