One More Post!

Hello again! 

In the past week, Julia and I presented our Google project for the class! The completed sketches along with the final dress, modeled on American Girl Doll, Samantha, were all revealed in our presentation. We explained the various fabrics, as well as the minor changes made in the creation of the "mini version" of our ideal Wind Ensemble dress. While I was not able to incorporate the mesh because the material was too thin to thread through, I would say ideally the real dress would still include mesh for the upper portion the dress. The dress was made in two pieces; the bottom portion (chiffon) had pleats that required making fold after fold and sewing each on separately, while the top was made with a thicker, velvet material. One problem I came across was the velvet was too thick to thread through-- I ended up having to measure and tie the dress on the doll, pinning it in some places and creating the desired shaped by wrapping the fabric a certain way. The overall process was quite time consuming, but definitely worth it! I learned how to use a sewing machine! :) 

As Julia mentioned, it seems now we may have new Wind Ensemble dresses in the near future! I hope you all have had a pleasure reading our updates on the project. As always, thank you for reading and have a relaxing and musical holiday break!

-Olivia 

And...That's A Wrap?

Hey there!

Yesterday, Olivia and I presented our Google project to the Wind Ensemble.  She did a fantastic job creating a sample dress for the doll!  It looked really spectacular and I was so proud of our project as a whole.  During our presentation we shared our final sketches with the class as well as describing the various fabrics we liked.  At the end of our presentation, our band director expressed interest in purchasing new dresses for our band!  The project has been a SUCCESS!  Because Olivia and I will be keeping in touch with our teacher about (hopefully) making our project a reality, I feel this is not the final post I will write on this blog.  I have had so much fun working on this project.  Olivia is the best partner anyone could ask for.  Oboe buddies for life!

Also, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has read this blog!  I am truly honored that you spent your time reading about dresses some teenage girls were thinking of.

I hope you all continue to have wonderful, music-filled lives.

-Julia

Final Thoughts...

Happy Wednesday!
Yesterday was the final day of the Google Project. Julia and I discussed more plans to continue to work outside of class, and as previously mentioned, go to a fabric store and purchase chiffon, mesh, velvet and other fabrics needed for the dress. We are considering creating a mini version of our dress design-- which will mean learning how to sew! We decided to create final, polished sketches of the two dresses, complete with colors, shading and labeling. Below is a picture of the almost-completed sketches we worked on yesterday:

While the sketches are obviously not done, we will post final picture of the project in the near future and continue to keep you updated. After doing some research on how to sew doll dresses, it seems like this blog will be helpful. We will just have to make some modifications in terms of the cinching and chest area, as well as add sleeves. The length of the dress will also be longer and have more of a flow-- and of course, the materials will be different. Julia has American Girl dolls that we will most likely use, so this tutorial is perfect (using American Girl dolls). 

Thanks for reading!

-Olivia

Final Google Day (The Project's Not Over Until We Say It's Over!)

Yesterday, Tuesday the 27th, marked our final day in class to work on our Google Projects.  Olivia worked together (however she is a much better artist than me!) on drawing the final sketches of our dresses.  Although we previously stated that we had created final sketches, what we worked on in class involved heavy drawing papers and colored pencils we borrowed (emphasis on borrowed) from the art room.

You may be thinking, "Wow, this project had a very anticlimactic ending!"  But fear not!  Olivia and I have made plans to venture out to a local fabric store and obtain swatches of the fabrics we feel would best suit our dress designs.  Then, if we're feeling very creative, we will create a mock-up of a dress sketch and use a doll as a model.  Sounds fun, right?  First we need to learn how to sew...this should be interesting!

In terms of companies that sell professional show choir/performance dresses, our wind ensemble has used the company Stage Accents before.  http://www.stageaccents.com/ Although Olivia and I are not found of our current band dresses, I must say that the current designs shown on the Stage Accents website are beautiful!  My top picks for Wind Ensemble dresses would be:

Serenity
http://www.stageaccents.com/womens_formal/product/2651/

Glamour
http://www.stageaccents.com/womens_formal/product/2770/

Thank you for reading!

-Julia

Hello!

As my lovely partner Olivia has stated, she and I spent our most recent Google Day surveying the female members (as well as our band director) of Wind Ensemble.  When you look at the pictures in Olivia's most recent post, you will notice that dress #2 had the majority of the vote.  Olivia and I were pleased by the positive response we received.  Thank you to everyone for the kind compliments!
Our next course of action will be to visit a fabric store and pick up some swatches of fabric that we have envisioned for our dresses.  We look forward to sharing our vision with the entire class when we present our Google project.

Thank you for reading!

Thought I would add a fun picture.  Gotta keep making those reeds!

-Julia

Day 4

Hi there!

On Friday, Julia and I surveyed all the girls in the class asking which dress they preferred. Here are some photos with the tallied votes:

We plan to create final dress sketches with color on larger paper with charcoal color pencils. We will also purchase desired fabrics and possibly create a mini version of Dress 2, just to give the class an idea of what we have in mind. 

Thanks for reading,
Olivia

Day 3

Hi everybody!  Yesterday in Wind Ensemble (as Olivia states in her post below) she and I finalized our final dress designs.  Hooray!  Here is the sketch for dress #2:

In the top right corner we wrote "Fabrics: chiffon and black mesh."  On the right side of the page we wrote "Sweetheart neckline."

While we realize that this dress is a little more romantic and feminine for a band dress in comparison to our sketch for dress #1, I believe that this dress has many redeeming qualities.  It would compliment many different figures as well as making all the girls in Wind Ensemble feel confident.  To add a nice demure effect to the dress Olivia and I included a black mesh overlay over the collarbone area.  We hope you like our design!

Also, I would like to give a special shout-out to our blog readers from Germany and Malaysia.  Danke and terima kasih!

-Julia