Category Archives: Dresses

My Dad Wrote A Book, There Was An Event, So Of Course I Made Myself A New Dress!

19 Tuesday Jan 2016

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My dad wrote a really wonderful book called David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement which you can buy here. I’m totally biased of course, he’s my dad, and I helped transcribe interviews, but it really is a fantastic book about an inspirational man who’s work revolutionaized conservation, but who’s name is sadly widely unknown. I actually knew Dave. I had the privilege of growing up just down the hill from the Browers and got to go to waffle breakfasts at their house on many a Sunday.

UC Press published the book and fittingly threw a party at the David Brower Center in Berkeley last night. For this occasion, I decided to make myself a new dress. Unfortunately it was cold enough that I never took my coat off, but thankfully I took pictures before hand!

The design took a while to come to me, but with the rainy weather we’ve been having I decided to try something pretty different for me;  I added sleeves. To start, I went to my favorite fabric store in Berkeley called Stonemountain & Daughter where they have a truly spectacular selection of Batiks. The second I saw the bolt of this fabric, I fell in love. I ended up walking around the store with it clutched in my arms for a while, and after a bit realized that I was basically petting it I loved it so much!

When it came to construction, instead of dealing with darts like I normally do, I chose to go with princess seams to get a nice fit. During the construction process I kept getting major 80s flashes so I ended up raising the waist a bit and did my best to take out any fullness in the sleeves. It’s tough to get the fit you want and still be able to move your arms, but I think I managed in the end.

I had wanted to play with the colors and pattern of the fabric and piece it together in a cool way, but given the amount of fabric I had, my options ended up being pretty limited. I like the way it turned out a lot, but I wish I could’ve played with where the lighter color ended up a bit more.

For some reason I have been having some fit issues with the neckline in the last couple dresses I have made and had to give a little tuck at the neckline to get everything laying flat. Of course I ended up loving the detail; yay for happy accidents!

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Archives – Jessica

20 Friday Jan 2012

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I now have a sister-in-law, and she rocks. Her name is Jessica and she came to me a few years ago, along with her friend Cristin to ask me to make her a dress.

She had a photo in a magazine and we started from there. She wanted a simple shift style dress with a few cool style details.

As it tuned out, I already had the perfect fabric. When my great-aunt Kathleen passed away, I inherited a TON of fabric. A lot of it was a little funky and not quite my style, but hidden in the piles were a few true gems. I had about 4 yards of a gorgeous raw silk in a lovely deep purple color.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

We ended up with a scooped neck in the front, and a nice V in the back. The dress has an empire waist and I added some geometric ruffles to the seam under the bust to add some detailing. The skirt part of the dress also has some tucks and darts to add shape and fullness.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

This dress ended up being my payment to her for spending 4 entire days with me cleaning out my apartment. WELL worth the trade, I would say!

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

Doesn’t she look gorgeous?

All photos by Drew Beck

Archives – Suzanne

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Did you know? I have a super-power!

I have the ability to look at a fabric and know what it should become!

At least I’d like to think so.

This is my gorgeous friend Suzanne (or Suz). She was one of my very first commission, if not the first and that is super cool.

She came to me, wanting a summer dress that came to a V in the front, and pockets of course! Those were her only guidelines. So, we went to the fabric store and I found what I thought was one of the most beautiful fabrics I had ever seen and showed it to her for approval. She looked at me like I was a crazy person, but trusted me enough to let me go with it. And….

THIS is what happened:

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

It is a simple dress with a slight surplice top, coming to a V in the back as well. There is a waistband and the the skirt has a little fullness from some pleating. In-seam pockets as well.

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

photo by the amazing Drew Beck

Thanks Suz for being such a pro at modeling! and Drew Beck for the great pics.

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 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.

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.