Project Run&Play Finale

Here we are! As this competition comes to an end, I am so excited to share these final three designs with you. I know how much time each designer has spent on this competition and I am so amazed by all that they have done. The outfits look like they belong in expensive boutiques- not at all "handmade."

1- Kelly's Petite Chouette
I am sooo excited about this finale outfit! My goal was to create an outfit that looked like Anthropologie, Emerson Made, Elias & Grace and Zara all had a baby together ha! I couldn't just make one garment, oh no. This is the FINALE! So lets start with the coat! Because Dili does not sell cotton in colors I hand dyed natural cotton to be a deep turquoise. Again this is done with local organic dye so we will see how it washes ha! Since there is nowhere to purchase buttons I commissioned a local wood worker to widdle me some oversized buttons. I love their imperfections, how the holes are just slightly off center on one set so I really had to pay attention when placing them so they would line up. The coat is lined with a gorgeous liberty print and natural cotton. Again I only had 1/4 a yard sent to me by a reader, so, when making my own pattern, I cut the liberty print in a way that it was all along the edges and back and then the natural cotton filled the rest. This took some serious fiddling the first time but it was worth it! The collar and sleeves are ruffled. Of course there had to be ruffles! This is a signature look and I am ALL about ruffles :) There is a long belt held on by two belt loops on either hip made from the fun liberty print so they pop next to the blue. There are two box pleats on either side of the front panels to give the coat some much needed volume and body.

Now what is underneath? First the top. The top is made from white cotton, lace and a hand embroidered flower chain. I, by hand, made each pleat on the bib then tucked a strip of lace in between every other pleat. Once I attached the bib to the main body I covered the seam with the embroidered flowers. The sleeves of course are gathered making them super comfy :) The back of the dress I wanted to be asymmetrical so I made the right portion button farther on top of the left. To add some "drama" I made 4 button holes and attached tiny buttons on the top and then there are 3 hidden buttons (using the second bottom layer) that button along the rest of the shirt. The skirt is a blend of some sort that I purchased a long time ago because the color was so "me". I created a high waisted skirt with box pleats all the way around. A side zipper on the left and a seam pocket on the right (little girls need places to put their Chapstick too you know!) The leggings I made by cutting up a deep burgundy maternity shirt, hemming the bottoms and then sewing up the back center. 

Now for the accessories. I adore over the top hats. LOVE them. I have been waiting my whole life to go to a wedding in England just so I can have a reason to done an over the top feathered number (I guess it would help to LIVE in England ha!) This particular hat is made from felt I made (you cannot buy felt on the island either) when I first got here. It's edges are finished with bias tape. I went everywhere looking for feathers but could find none so I bought another feather duster and destroyed it. Then I added the one peacock feather I brought back from Jakarta, some velvet ribbon and some bling! 

For her feet I made her some slip on t-strap tweed shoes. The tweed came from an old skirt and the bottoms are reclaimed leather. Kierra kept telling me how comfy they were, even if they were a tich wide. The buttons are simply for show, the straps have easy on/off snaps hidden underneath. She loved holding the little Owl I brought. I kept asking if she wanted to put him down but she refused, so he sort of dominated the shoot and that is where the name of the outfit came from: Petite Chouette or "Little Owl". Plus I thought the colors were very earthy and "owlie?" To see more pictures and find tutorials already posted hop on over to Sewing In No Mans Land! Thank you so much for the fantastic competition I have had so much fun and loved working hard each week to make something new! Now it is time to hibernate ha! 
Cheers!
Kelly


2- Katy's O Pop

 How fun to combine all the things I love into one final project!  Let's start with the orange.  I love orange!  I think it is such a happy color, so choosing the color for this was easy.  Another of my loves is incorporated: the Asian culture, specifically Japanese.  When we were in Japan with our oldest three girls a year and a half ago, I found a giant box of antique obis, what's used to tie around a kimono.  Of course the orange one practically jumped into my hands.  It was soiled and worn in several spots, so I had to cut strategically, and hand washed each piece in preparation for this dress.

 Both of my parents are artists, and although I never excelled at painting, I still like to play with altering color, so I dyed the baby ruffled fabric, doing an ombre effect as well as dying the canvas shoes.

The last part of me in this dress: the ruffles [4 yards, in this case].  With our first daughter we fought the girlie colors and frills. With our second daughter we still hung on to the yellows and greens and unisex clothes.  But by daughter number 3, we gave in to the frills and ruffles.  [I still try to maintain a more variable color pallet than pink.]  So, there were bound to be ruffles with 5 daughters.

More O Pop photos.

3- Ashley's Li'l Mod Rockwell

If I had to describe my "signature style" it would be: eclectic, unexpected and modern all wrapped into wearable, versatile, comfortable clothing. For this look I created a dress, leggings and hair piece. I wanted to combine knit (a requirement for comfort), a vintage cut and several kinds of fabric/prints. I wanted Boo to look like she was straight out of a "modern" Norman Rockwell painting.

The top of the dress has cap sleeves and was made with comfortable floral 2x1 knit. The bottom of the dress features a full, billowy "bubble" style skirt made from two layers of a beautiful cotton voile. I made the black and cream lace print capri leggings from a soft, buttery modal knit. The large bow on the dress is made from a Japanese fabric featuring a cute folklore print.


The elaborate hair piece was made by layering lace, sun-printed fabric, and Chinese silk jacquard:


The large bow is removable so the dress can be converted from "dress up" to playground wear. Put a sweater over the dress and the result is a "skirt" look....very versatile!


Come on over to Lil Blue Boo to see more photos of this outfit! It's been so much fun creating these looks every week and thank you so much to everyone who has visited and voted. Katy and Kelly and the other women in Project Run and Play are such amazing talents and I've just been so honored to be included among them. Thank you Micalah for the opportunity!

Wow! Amazing, huh? Have fun voting everyone! As usual, the poll will close Monday, February 21, at midnight.

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