Rhonda's Creative Life: The Wednesday Showcase/Custom Sewing and Fabric Design

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Wednesday Showcase/Custom Sewing and Fabric Design

The weather reports have been warning us about horrible storms coming through the Chicagoland area. Even telling us to be sure and have our cell phones charged just in case we loose electrical power and we need to call for help. Guess what...the storms have all moved to the south and not one drop of rain! My garden needs some rain!!! Oh well, break out the water hose :)

For today's Wednesday Showcase, I have two ladies who not only have a passion for sewing, but have decided to make it a business.

First up is Whitney of Tom Kat Stitchery. She says that she became motivated to make custom clothing when an expensive pair of pants fell apart after wearing only a couple times. She lives in Indiana, is a member of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals...and she loves to sew!

Whitney entered the 2015 ASDP Threads Challenge, "A Sheath Dress Inspired by Art." Her piece was inspired by Renoir's ballerinas.

I thought this shirt dress was such a great idea. A bride commissioned the shirt dresses for her bridesmaids to have the day of the wedding while they were dressing. Each was monogrammed with their initials. What a great bridesmaid gift!

Whitney took a Shibori dying class through her local ASDP chapter and made the amazing fabric you see below. You can read her article about the process HERE.

I think we all long for a beautiful basic shirt in our wardrobes. And there's nothing more versatile than a great white shirt.

Whitney is so inspiring and it's wonderful to see someone truly embrace sewing as not only an art form, but a business.

Next up is Renee. I met Renee a few years back when I did the fashion show for the Haute Couture Club of Chicago. Renee LOVES to design fabric and wait until you see what she does, it's absolutely amazing! Her blog is Learning Patterns, and you can find her Spoonflower store HERE.

Now for a few of her very creative pieces. Keep in mind that she designed all of the fabrics that you see.

This dress features a big surprise in the back!

Inspired by poppies, Renee created this lovely border print and then
used the fabric so artfully.

She really enjoys making skirts. When you visit her Spoonflower store, you'll find that the skirts are already printed, so it's just a cut and sew situation. It doesn't get any easier than that!