Last month was my birth month. Though we did not celebrate it because of the continuous rainfall in the Philippines, my husband agreed to take me on a “me and just me” date last August 26, amidst the call for a #millionpeoplesmarch against pork barrel issue. That “me and just me” date was stupenduous to describe it at the very least. I had several things I wanted that was given to me without second thoughts. It has never been my thing to ask for the things I want. I usually work hard to be able to get what I want and it is rather comforting to have a partner who recognizes my wants and provides them.

So one of those wants was my (not-so-secret) yearning to be able to do a bit of fashion design. It is a (not-so-secret) dream I had since I was young, when my concept of that is to become a sewer. I had several attempts in the past and I had also worn a number of my own creations. I can only force them on me for a number of reasons: (1) They take a bit too much effort to finish a piece of clothing (2) I do not reckon that a number of people share my own fashion sense and if ever someone wants the same piece, it would be too much effort to recreate another one and I would be too clingy to my work to even let it go.

The purchases includes:

WANT WANT WANT! Fabric + Tailoring Guide Book + SketchPad

(1) A book on “Combined Tailoring and Dressmaking Guide Book”. This book was too ambitious for me because I can never cut a straight line (as well draw a straight one too :D). So with all the instructions on how to properly create a pattern and the measurements to take to create one, I took the big leap of faith that I would probably muster enough patience (after pregnancy, mind you) to actually study this by heart and finally acquire the skill of becoming a decent pattern maker.

(2) Loads of 1 and a half yard of fabric (Just one and a half yard is enough to make a dress for small little me).

(3) The Pantone, Fashion Sketchpad. THE SKETCHPAD. THE ULTIMATE SKETCHPAD for me to answer my ambitious need to actually create a dress design.

You see this sketchpad has pre-drawn “croquis”. (It rhymes with “hokey). Which is the figure of a slender human that would later on be dressed by fab designs. It is this figure that I can never ever draw myself because I had always been more of a cartoonist than a “croqui-ist”. So my human figures always looked like anime with big boobs or a straight chubby figure.

Since then I had been actively sketching designs and this had been my de-stresser for the past weeks:

The mesh sando would form from irregular or free-form crochet with the cropped pants built with continuous crochet motifs. The Doily skirt, which I have been yearning to create for quite sometime would be made from different doilies joined together by black thread.

Design focus: Ruffled Collar. The dress would be done in alternating motif and dc mesh with a drawstring to form the waist

The mesh sando would form from irregular or free-form crochet with the cropped pants built with continuous crochet motifs. The Doily skirt, which I have been yearning to create for quite sometime would be made from different doilies joined together by black thread.

An idea to create an illusion of creating homogeneous design from brown to light beige of diamond stitches for shorts with continuous motif double functioning as belt

Hexagonal Motifs + Bruge’s lace. An attempt to create a colorful dress with a number of color switching created continuously. I have attempts to create the bodice of the dress but it takes too much effort so the dress has been set aside.

And the first design I was able to procure is finally taking shape now:

Using continuous crochet motifs for the sleeves and upper portion and (ununiformed) mesh for skirt

The trickiest part for creating a design is the execution. But the design always gives you something to look forward to. Like a goal. It gives me direction on what to do next and keeps me focused on what I want to do.