The Long and Short of It

It took me awhile to get this challenge going.  A whopper of a summer cold took root in my head.  Nothing worse than a SUMMER cold.  Here in Arizona, the suffocating heat (daily highs of 108, not unheard of now) leaves you unable to snuggle up in your fuzzy blankie, slurp soup and hot tea, or even soak in a hot tub to "cook" it out of you.  Nope none of that, instead you are left sweating in your shorts and tank, walking around with a box of tissues, and debating if your sweat is from a fever or you just need to crank down the AC.  But enough of the whining, I'm better now and the only casualty is the lack of tissues in the house.

Wow!  Weird and interesting challenge last week.  Make a "couture" looking garment for stilt walkers.  Something we all aspire to be able to do.  Not.  I hope next week's challenge is more wearable, and relatable to something someone might actually wear.  This is the long...but what is the short?

Fallene and Bert.  One is short in height, the other short in temperament.  Bert, I have decided is  the classic whiny grumpy old man.  (Notice I didn't add gay, that would be rude.  Gay or not this is the whiniest man I think I have ever heard!) I had such high hopes for him being some great guru of fashion, sage advice on life, but no.  This designer had fallen incredibly short of my pedestal placing.  Not that Viktor (really, ViKtor? ) was much better, but I give him props for realizing his whiny-ness and rude uncooperative behavior.  Good turn around after Tim's visit Viktor.  All I can say is the two are a pair, and maybe just maybe they don't have a pair.  Divas with hubris!

Now to Fallene and Bryce.  Awesome start with the tutu, but massively down hill after that.  First off if Bryce had been thinking he would have given skirt development to Fallene, and taken on the more "complicated" top.  Again, team challenges can work or not.  I felt bad for Fallene, who fell so short in basic construction and fabric knowledge.  It makes one wonder how she got there.  I hope by now has taken a couple of patterning and draping classes.  I was sad to see her go, she was cute and a nice personality to have around.  I love that she openly owned up to falling short and took responsibility.  She showed some strength in character.  But, I am trying to forget the whimpering mess of a cry-fest at the runway show.  Chicks, we cry... and this is worth crying over.

As, for the top three outfits they were great.  And Laura and Anthony Ryan won hands down.  What a fabulous couture look!  Anthony has to remember to keep a few secrets.  Don't tell the judges you used hot glue gun on the shoulder pads.  That's a secret I'd take to my grave.  I like Daniel and Cecillia's  pants (FAB!) and blouse (a little dowdy for me but incredibly difficult draping and sewing involved) and like the judges, impressed at the difficult fabric and draping challenges they took on.  Technicians for sure.  Kudos!  Becky and Kimberly's look was nice too, but I don't think worthy of all of Nina's gushing.  I HATED the bedazzled pants bottoms.  Made the whole pant look silly.  Rest of it was nice.

For pics of all garments go here: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway/season-9/rate-the-runway/episode-3#id=1

How about this "designer?"  First I have to say I am trying to be very cost conscious and am so lucky I have two fabulous discount fabric stores in town.  SAS Fabrics is the place I go for fabrics in bulk.  Most everything is $5 or less a yard and it is like notion nirvana.  They have a lot of crap too, stuff you wouldn't but your dear old granny in, but treasures abound here.  Treasures like the beautiful navy stretch satin and cream and gold cheetah print fabric I used for this challenge.

In thinking "couture" and stilts, I wanted to do a dramatic Elizabethan type collar that flowed into a sheath dress that flowed into long flowing cape like bottom.  I lined the skirt bottom in the collar fabric and then created very full "leggings" in the collar/under lining fabric.  I wanted to bring some more movement and interest to the front and created some curving seams and  embellished the front with some gold cording.  I like it!  I think it's tons better than Fallene and Bryce's dress, better than Anya and Oliver's mess (what a disappointment there) and might have done better than Becky and Kimberly's.  Better than the red dress of Laura and Anthony Ryan, not sure.

Here are my design...

Now I also have my friend Sandy's submission...


My frugal side came through & we used fabric that I had in my storage bins & tried to design an outfit that could not only be attractive on an extremely long-legged model, but also be worn by a 14 year old girl. I started with wide legged pants, but decided that stilt walking was dangerous enough & I wasn't going to be the designer that had their model end up in the hospital because of trying to walk in my flowing design!  So, we went with leggings but I flared them at the bottom & changed the ribbing direction to be horizontal at the bottom in an attempt to break up the extremely long legs.  I used only one color but a lot of texture to create interest & keep the eye from simply noticing the REALLY LONG LEGS.


photoshoot, I think that we may have a hit on youtube!  


And now...  we watch the rest of week 3 to see what everyone else did!


Her Pic: