Thursday, September 20, 2007

paper frocks

You are not going to believe me but guess who finally managed to clear more than just a path through her studio.

me.

It felt so good to wake up this morning with ideas about my first project already dancing in my head.

I signed up for Heather Rowley's dress swap. I woke up with an idea that made me so excited I could hardly wait to start at it. More on the idea later. But first, the dresses...










The idea was to use the images from vintage dress patterns as the template for the dresses. I resized the images, sometimes distorting them a little since the format was about 4" by 6". Even if the distortion looked strange on the dress pattern picture, it was fine for the cut out.



I added buttons and collars and sleeves and aprons, etc. My favorite of all of them is the one with the sparkly tulle overskirt. It turned out especially yummy.

Now Heather will make a garland of 5 dresses that others have made and send it back to me. Isn't that fun?!

This project really revved up my creativity. And that's a good thing because I have a lot of making to do between now and Silver Bella. I wish I could turn back time to earlier this summer when it seemed like something far off in the distance. Do I work well under pressure? We'll see.

20 comments:

Anne said...

I've been seeing lots of the paper dresses in various blogs but they haven't interested me. But, I so totally LOVE LOVE LOVE the ones you've done. They're gorgeous. Doggone it - I'm up to my eyeballs in alligators and various projects and now I'm going to have to drop everything to go make some beautiful paper dresses. lol
Thanks for the inspiration!

LaurenSmash said...

those are gorgeous!!

Unknown said...

too cute with those hips cocked out on the dresses. and my fav is the one with the apron.

Heather - Speckled Egg said...

These are sooooo cute!!! Can't wait to see them in person!

Can you believe that SB is just around the corner!?!?!? I soooo need to get busy myself!!! It should be such a great time!

Anonymous said...

Amy, your paper dresses are really gorgeous. I'm in the same swap and am so excited about all the gorgeous ideas everyone has been sharing about their dresses.

Saucy said...

Paper dresses! Absolutely cute. Cute, cute, cute! I wish I'd known about that swap. I wonder if there will be another?

Georgia Peachez said...

Hi Amy, these turned out FAB! I love how they have that "in motion" feel to them. The polka dots is my fav! xo, suzy

Anonymous said...

I first I thought your paper dresses were for the Bloglandia Ball: (http://www.elizabethbunsen.typepad.com/be_dream_play/2007/08/keep-your-eye-o.html). Yours are really wonderful and so pretty! -can't wait to see the completed garland.

LindaSonia said...

I've been seeing a lot of paper dresses in blogland lately and love them all. Yours are particularly detailed and gorgeous!! LindaSonia

Anonymous said...

Oh but these are adorable, I simply must have a go at this.

jess said...

Have you seen the Klutz paper dress book, it's fabulous! I love how yours turned out!

Anonymous said...

Those are so adorably vintage fabulous! I'd so wear all of them.

Anonymous said...

beautiful dresses. stunning, really!

Anonymous said...

These dresses are fabulous!
I love the one with the apron...so cute.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be wonderful if this dresses could pop into real sizes! A whole closet full. Love your style Doll!

Anonymous said...

Cute dresses! I'm also in that swap and I sure hope I recieve one of your's hanging from my garland!

Jennifer said...

I love these -- makes me want to spend a day making and decorating paper dresses and hanging them up on a line....

Mary Lou Weidman said...

My goodness what a blessing those little dress's were to me today. I used to make things like this with my Mother when I was small. Thanks so much for taking me back there.
Mary Lou Weidman

Maryanne said...

How fun is this? Love them all.

Linda M said...

What a fun project!!! I'm loving yours, too! I can't wait to try this.