I'm officially a designer

Back when I was in school, I looked into a program with Shabby Apple called their "Emerging Designer Program" where you can submit some designs and if approved, they mentor you through the production and manufacturing process of your designs then they assist you by selling the dress on their website.  So, I submitted a sample of my "Criscell Dress" and they wanted to do it.  I of course paid for all the fabric, and the manufacturing costs, but now it's finally done and up on the website.  I can officially call myself a designer now!  Check out more photos here.

Erica Rose

Sorry for the delay in posts lately.  Moving from DC to Paris has been hectic, but we're loving it so far. I finished this dress while still in DC, and it's another one in my Lazy Sunday Collection.  I'm naming it after my friend whom I worked with in DC.  She and I were put on a scanning project than nearly made us go insane had it not been for each other.  I'd give her daily updates on the dress, and when I lost enthusiasm for it, she'd always say "ok, I expect the dress to be done tomorrow."  Thanks Erica.

P.S. Kevin wanted to be in the picture too.

The Tara Dress

This dress isn't part of my Lazy Sunday collection (still working on that) but I needed to test a pattern I made recently so I sewed up this dress really quick and had my cute girlfriend Tara Collette try it on since she's got the perfect shape for it!  Anyway, it actually turned out to be a pretty cute dress even though it was just supposed to be a test sample, so I put a couple cute bows on the shoulders and decided to put it up on the blog.  Thanks Tara for modeling and helping me get the fit right!  You are too cute, too bad I couldn't have gotten a picture of you in the dress!

The Sarah Dress

This is the first dress in my Lazy Sunday collection.  I'm sorry that two very wonderful ladies have to share this dress, but it's not my fault that two of the most wonderful women in my life were both named Sarah. : )  The first Sarah I met while living in California.  She was such a cute lady, was a wonderful mother to her three beautiful children, and was such a great friend to me through thick and thin.  She was a great example to me.  I'm sad I don't live close to her anymore, so  I don't talk to her often.  The second Sarah I met while visiting Chicago as a possible location for grad school for Steve. She is also a wonderful example to me because she not only lovingly raises two young darling boys, but she is always so positive about life.  She enjoys every moment, and thanks our Father in Heaven for everything little blessing in her life, even the ones that don't appear to be blessings right away.  I love you my wonderful Sarahs!

Another Lazy Sunday

My favorite thing about Sundays are getting dressed up, going to church, then enjoying the rest of the day without school or work to intrude on a perfect day.  This summer collection was inspired by the song "Life is What You Make It" by Mishelle Bradford-Jones.  It makes me think of a warm Sunday afternoon, you come home from church and sit on your front porch overlooking a beautiful flower garden, drink ice cold lemonade while cuddling with the love of your life, giggling with your children, or hearing funny family stories with mom, dad and grandparents.

The Allison Dress

I'm naming this dress after my former boss at U of C when I worked there during recruiting season.  She was the cutest girl, and always wore adorable dresses under her blazers.  Plus she was a kind, professional person who I look up to.  I found the cute polka dot fabric at Emma One Sock.  I love that website, and she sends out free swatches.

The Kelly Dress

I've had this gorgeous fabric that I got from Tissu, but I haven't really known what to do with it.  Finally yesterday I decided to just sit down and make something up and this is what I came up with.  It's named after my good friend Kelly who has been my gymnastics buddy.  We take an adult gymnastics class together every Tuesday and Thursday.  I've loved going with her and I'm sad that she'll be moving in less than a month!  Anyway, this dress is a tribute to her because she's encouraged me in my dress making woes!  Thanks Kelly!  I'll miss you!

The Honolulu Dress

Most sun dresses these days don't have sleeves.  But I needed a sun dress/cover up for our trip to Hawaii for Spring Break.  So, I decided to make one.  I got this cute fabric at www.tissufabrics.com, Teresa does a great job at keeping unique fabrics in her shop that can't be found at Joann's or Hancocks.  Anyway, here's the finished product, I wore it to church dressed up with a belt and espadrille wedges, and I wore it to the beach with sandals over my bathing suit. 

Kate Dress

A few months ago I saw this picture of Kate Middleton, and I loved her navy lace dress.  This is my knock off version.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's a emerald green lace on white.  Now, if only I could get her to model my version as well!

My Own Custom Made Dress Form

So, after struggling for quite a while with fitting patterns on myself, I decided to do some research on doing a custom made dress form.  Of course there are companies out there who do this for you but it's very expensive.  I thought I'd try to do it on my own.

I ordered a bunch of plaster gauze strips from a medical supply store, it's the same stuff they use to cast a broken bone.  Then I talked Steve into plastering my body one Saturday afternoon.  It took about 3 hours, and I was freezing because my clothes underneath the plaster got wet.  Plus, I'd never had to stay still for that long.  It was an interesting experience.

After the plaster had completely dried, we cut it off me, going up the front and back.  Then I painted this "ease release agent" inside all over the mold.  It's supposed to make it so that the foam you fill it with doesn't stick to the mold.  Then I put both pieces back together with duck tape and cloth strips.  If you do this yourself, use something a lot stronger.

Here it is upside down.  The guy I bought the foam from said it'd be best to close off the neck and arms and pour from the bottom.

So this is it.  Rigid liquid polyurethane foam.  I looked everywhere for this stuff and finally found a place here in Chicago that sold it.  It comes in two parts, the blue bottles and yellow bottles.  You pour and mix the two for 20 seconds, then this stuff instantly starts foaming like lava.  

Well....I made quite a mess because the neck and arm holes weren't quite sealed.  Oops.

Here I am trying to get the mold off the cured foam now.  The ease release agent didn't do too much good because it was HARD!  My fingers were so sore afterwards.

Here I am sawing with a knife trying to get this stupid plaster off.  There was foam and plaster dust flying around so I tied a piece of my fabric over my face.  Cute huh?!

Here is the dress form finally...and the mess I made from tearing off the plaster cast.

These pictures don't do the mess justice.  It was bad!

I tried to sand down the foam to make it smooth, but this foam stuff is tough!  So, that's why it sort of looks bumpy in places.

I bought some double knit in a cream color to cover the foam with.  I just whip stitched it together along both sides.  I think it looks pretty dang good and I'm so glad it's over with!  A part of me would like to try it again because there are so many things I know now to do better, but maybe not for a while!  If you want to try this yourself, let me know and I'll give you all the tips.

Portfolio

Specialty Collection: Bridal

These first two pictures are what they call a mood/theme page.   In a portfolio, these pictures go before the illustrations to set a theme for what you'll see coming next.  I tried to set the mood for soft, feminine lines with a touch of flare.

Ruffle Cover-Up

I can't take credit for this adorable dress, but I can take credit for the cute jacket that makes it a little less bare for those of us who don't want to show off bare arms, chest, shoulders and back.

The Criscell Dress

I'm naming this dress after my wonderful sister because it's really the first dress I completed after going back to school for fashion design.  She and I worked long hard hours on some sewing projects, and without her building me up, I probably wouldn't have realized my love or potential for sewing and designing.  Not only that, but she let me live with her while commuting from Chicago for my last semester of school.  And she always let me show her all my projects, and ooh and aah over them.  Sure do love you Celly!

Here's a picture of my cute sis and me at my wedding

Christmas Present for Criscell

Well, this isn't a dress, but I'm still pretty proud of it.  My sister showed me a skirt she liked, and told me to keep my eyes open for a shirt kind of close to it.  Well, I decided to make her one instead.  The hat I also made in my millinery class at school.

The Ashley dress

My husband's cousin Ashley gets the credit for this beautiful cowl neck jersey knit dress.  At the annual family reunion, she told me about this wonderful fabric store they found in Rome.  As it so happened, Steve and I had a trip planned for Italy that summer, so I memorized the name of the store, and later we visited it.  It was glorious, rooms full of fabric of all colors and textures, going literally from the floor to the ceiling.  Needless to say, I was in heaven.  Anyway, this dress was made from one of the many fabrics I bought there.

The Ashley Dress

 

Here I am at the fabric store

The Krystle dress

This dress is named after my good friend Krystle.  I've had many classes with her and she is wonderful inspiration to me.  She sews all of her clothes, and works very hart at her passion which is sewing and creating her own style.  She's a very proper, classy girl so I thought this dress a perfect fit for her.  Plus, I worked on it a little at her house when we'd have "sewing parties."  Love you Krystle.

Close up flat

This dress has short sleeves, a moderate square neckline,
while the skirt comes just below the knee.  I finished
it off with a large flower at the hip to add to the
vintage look.

My Dresses

Hi, I'm Chalise.  I've recently finished school in fashion design, and I've decided to start a blog to share my dress line.  I've decided to name all my dresses after current or old friends who have somehow influenced my life.  Occasionally I'll add stories or inspiration, sometimes I might keep it all to myself.  Enjoy!