Author Archives: katyturnerdesigns

Archives – Backless Dress

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

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This is a dress I actually made for myself. I have a pretty large tattoo on my back and wanted to make a dress to show it off at my cousin’s wedding…..it was also the final project for one of my classes at FIDM. I ended up not having time to finish it or put in a zipper before leaving for Boston and then sadly out-grew the dress. My friend Sarah on the other hand fit into it pretty near perfectly and became obsessed!

It is made of a cross-dyed cotton (fibers going one way are one color, fibers going the other way are another color….its how you make iridescent fabrics) of dark orange and burgundy. The dress is split into 8 panels to add all the fullness at the hem. There is a zipper up the side and it is fully lined in matching cotton for structure.

I am currently working on a new commission that is a completely new version of this dress….can’t wait to show you!

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

Thank to Sarah for being such a lovely model! and Drew Beck for taking such great shots

-Katy

A Skirt for Isaac and Becca’s Wedding!

16 Monday Jan 2012

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My dear friend Isaac married his love Becca yesterday.

I attended a party at their house afterwards, which was filled with love and laughter and dancing and drinking! It was a magical night.

So…what did I do that day? Made a new skirt of course! I have had another great Batik fabric lying around and finally found my inspiration. A paneled flared skirt that I could fit my petticoat under if I so desired.

Since this was a winter wedding, and it has extremely cold around here lately I paired it with tights, a cardigan and a big belt…not to mention the petticoat of course!

I forgot my camera and so had to take these when I got home at about midnight. Thank you parents for the tripod!

very full skirt!

And now without the petticoat

It was a perfect skirt for a perfect night. Mozel tov you two!

A Wedding Dress for Ann

15 Sunday Jan 2012

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beautiful Ann on her wedding day

Growing up in Berkeley, and going to the elementary school that I went to, provided me with a pretty cool thing – a group of friends I have known since I was in Kindergarten. I met Andrew when I was 3 years old, (he is 2 days younger than my twin brother and I and therefore became a kind of triplet for us when it came to birthdays). He was also the other artist kid in the class, and I’m happy to say he is still working that artistic magic.

Well, Andrew has a mom, and her name is Ann. She is great. She has had the fortune of finding love, again, and married her longtime friend Erich in a small ceremony at their lovely home in Berkeley in 2010.

Ann and I collaborated on her dress, which took many different forms before this lovely final one. We chose a blue silk Charmeuse for the majority of the dress and found a lovely cross-dyed silk Chiffon to use for the sleeves and some detailing. The idea was to make something that she could then wear again, say to the opera for instance…..and someday we will make a matching jacket or cover-up to go with it.

I work with ALL kinds of clients. No matter who you are, or what you are looking for, let me know….I’m sure we can figure something out!

-Katy

Archives – Cristin

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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Cristin is my sister-in-law’s best friend. They both came to me a few years back with photos from magazines and ideas. Cristin wanted something with a halter top…not really my style, but I was eager to give it a shot. She is tall and gorgeous and I wanted to show off her back and legs.

This was made from some extra soft vintage cotton that I had inherited from my great-aunt. It worked really well with the shape and the drape of the design. There are in-seam pockets…of course! and I used little accent buttons for the collar and at the top of the zipper.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

SO! IF YOU SEE SOMETHING IN A MAGAZINE THAT YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE, BUT CAN’T AFFORD, LET ME KNOW AND WE CAN WORK SOMETHING OUT!

Discarded to Divine 2008

09 Monday Jan 2012

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This is a dress that I made for an event called Discarded to Divine held in San Francisco, in 2008. It was also a class project that earned me an A and a night on display at the De Young museum! It is made almost entirely from recycled materials, old hotel sheets that I dyed various shades of blue. The floral detail and fullness of the sleeve and skirt were inspired by some of Dale Chihouly’s work. It was auctioned off for around $150 at the event, to whom I sadly do not know.

It has in-seam pockets, and I recycled the tulle underskirt from my junior prom dress do add some fullness. It fit me perfectly….maybe I should make another! Except…..the flowers alone took about 10 hours to make and then another 8 to pin and attach!

FOR SALE – Wrap dress with twisted straps

08 Sunday Jan 2012

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photo by the amazing Drew Beck

I made this dress version of the green wrap top also while I was in school at FIDM, and is for sale HERE.

I made this top out of light pink and tan cotton. It wraps around and ties in the front, so it is pretty adjustable in terms of size, though it was made on a size 8 dressform. It is fully lined and comes to a V in the back.

Thank you to my friend Katie for being such a great model.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

If you would like to see more work by Drew, check THIS out.

FOR SALE – Wrap top with twisted straps

08 Sunday Jan 2012

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photo by the amazing Drew Beck

You can buy this top here!

I made this top out of light green and yellow cotton for a class project at FIDM. It wraps around and ties in the front, so it is pretty adjustable in terms of size, though it was made on a size 8 dressform. It is fully lined and comes to a V in the back.

Thank you to my friend Sarah for being such a great model.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

To see more work my Drew Beck, please visit his site.

Batik Skirt 

06 Friday Jan 2012

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This skirt is The only thing I have ever sold on Etsy!

This fabric was originally a center square featured in a duvet cover I made years ago. It was surrounded by brown fabric and I loved it. Unfortunately about a month later I adopted a light orange kitty and his fur was showing up way too much on my bed. I had to stop using it.

BUT I wasn’t going to let that beautiful green fabric go to waist, so I made a cool little skirt out of it!

Hope you like it!

p.s. If you would like to see more awesome things from Drew Beck, please check out his page!

Strapless Eyelette Dress

05 Thursday Jan 2012

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photo by the amazing Drew Beck

Some of you may recognize this dress. I made this for, and wore it to my good friend Suzanne’s’ wedding (she’s the gorgeous on the in the Batik dress from the Starting Again, Again post, 3rd photo down).

I had had the eyelet fabric (fabric with cool little holes in it) for quite some time, but once again had yet to figure out what it should become. I had originally bought a matching cotton as a lining, but it ended up just washing out the pattern of the eyelet fabric.

Turns out all I needed was a wedding to go to and a look through my stockpile of fabrics to come up with this idea!

The dress is fully lined with the grey cotton and the top has boning in it for structure. And, of course, there are pockets! I’m always sad when I make a dress without pockets (and its usually because it just won’t fit in the design). As a woman, I have discovered the necessity of having pockets in dresses and skirts. It has kind of become my signature; you need to have somewhere to put your hands!

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

Eyelet fabrics are ones that I have worked with before, but never any as nice as this one (it’s from Britex with 3 combined gift certificates!)

Turns out that if they are well made, you can treat them a bit like lace and trim the edges to enhance some of the patterns. That’s what I did here for the waist band:

…and here on the hem:

…as you can imagine, this took me a VERY LONG time! but in the end I think it was a most successful try, and was totally worth it.

Looking forward to finding another occasion to wear this to!

Let me know if you have an eyelet fabric you aren’t sure what to do with, I bet we could come up with something really fun.

-Katy

p.s. to see more of Drew Beck’s awesome photo skills, please go to his page.

Silk Dupioni Bolero & Straps and Tweaks to a jCrew Dress

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

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photo by the amazing Drew Beck

I made this Bolero for my friend Katie to wear to her brother-in-laws wedding. It is made from a beautiful champagne colored silk Dupioni and lined with a light blue. There is no closure in the front and the collar can be worn up, or folded down.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

She had this really pretty strapless dress from jCrew, but like so many of us, wasn’t comfortable with the fact that it was strapless. It was also a bit big for her in the waist and was not falling correctly in the bust area.

Any slightly larger busted women out there know what I’m talking about…..most times when you buy a garment that is supposed to have a seam under the bust, it pulls upwards and you are constantly adjusting. Often times the trick for this is to open the straps a little bit, but not this time.

This time I put the dress on her, (sorry for no before pics, will keep in mind for next time!) pulled the under-bust seam to where it should have been, cinched in the waist and added the straps (which are just double fold bias tape sewn together). Crossing the straps in the back gives the most support.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

These are simple things you can do to make any dress fit you better.

Let me know if you are interested in a bolero of your own!

p.s. If you would like to see more awesome things from Drew Beck, please check out his page!