RAW Artists Fashion Show--June 20, 2013

In June, I got the awesome opportunity to participate in a RAW artists show and showcase my spring 2013 collection (the same collection I showed at the BYU show in February) again. It was held at the Complex in SLC and was super fun! RAW is a nationwide organization that lets artists get their work out there, meet other artists, and show their work in a professional atmosphere. I actually only showed six of the seven outfits, because I didn't have time to find another model, but I think it worked out pretty well.

We were told to get there pretty early, so my models and I had a lot of down time that we spent doing makeup, hanging out and talking in the dressing room, and walking around the Complex looking at all the other work by the artists.

My models and I (not in their outfits). Are they gorgeous?!

I'm so lucky to have awesome support in my designing and fashion shows. This show was $15 so I knew it was little pricey for people to come, but I was so happy they did. Some of my roommates and friends came, as well as my parents and sister, Sidney (my sister Carina was modeling in the show). They are the best for being there and giving their support, it seriously meant the world to me.

(l to r) my roommates Heidi and Katie, our friend Sergio, and me

I would just love to say how much fun it is to have models around...I feel like they don't get enough credit for what they do (which is more than walking on a runway in cute clothes and heels--and let me tell you that walking in heels is definitely a talent). I had a lot of fun with my models at the BYU fashion show and I had fun with them at this one too. They were so much fun and being crazy and made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable than stressful. Fashion shows (for me at least) would be so boring if all they were was putting your clothes on a mannequin. Models bring life to the garments, have to be willing to put up with what you want them to do, and need to be able to be relaxed and easy going, since fashion shows are usually the opposite of that. I just wanted to give a shout out to my models and thank them, because the shows I do would be way less fun without them!

And they sure can walk that runway, am I right?

It was such a fun night and I'm glad I got to be a part of it! Thanks to RAW, my friends and family, all the artists, and my models for helping to make it the great night that it was. I love what I do. :)

[thank you RAW for the runway photos! Check out their facebook page and website if you are interested or want to show with them]

I Like These Things

1. Smoothies.
I believe smoothies may be my favorite treat ever. They are so yummy and so easy to make!! My mom gave me a little purple smoothie maker last year that I use at least twice a week, usually more. I usually buy some fruit and freeze it (because then you don't need to use ice) add some yogurt (any fruity flavor will do, but I do love Yoplait's "white chocolate strawberry" and "raspberry cheesecake") and add some juice! I was lucky to find some Sunny Delight for $0.75 at Smith's the other day so I bought that and it adds a nice citrus punch to my smoothies. Then I mix it all up and enjoy. They are pretty healthy (Sunny D is packed with sugar though, I know. Probably one of the best things to use would be V-8 Splash to get some vegetables in there) and pretty delicious. The nice thing is that all fruits really taste good together, so you can't go wrong making a smoothie!

2. Painting my nails.
Ever since I stopped biting my nails five and a half weeks ago (what?!?) this has become my new love in life. I paint my nails a new color 1-2 times a week and I keep the color that my nails are on my nightstand so that if they ever chip at any time, I'm ready to paint over it. I've found that my favorite colors to paint my nails have been a mint green (the first color I painted my nails and the very one that got me to stop biting them), a sparkly black, and a dark maroon (current). I think I gravitate towards the darker colors more. My favorite thing to do with painted nails is look in the mirror, hold my hand up and smile at myself. It's still surreal to have long painted nails! Gah! I love it.

3. Nutella.
Need I say more?

4. Homemade granola bars.
Haha most of this list is becoming food...that's funny. But hey, food is good, yes? But homemade granola bars are the BEST. Once you've had these you can't go back to the real thing. I make them with these friends a lot and my personal favorite is peanut butter chocolate chip. My friend Sarah has a recipe here on her fabulous cooking blog if you want to try making them! They are very easy to make and well worth it!

5. Art Markers
Is that even the official name for them? I should probably know that, but oh well. The point is that these things are great! I have been using them for my fashion illustrations and they have helped a lot and make them look ten times better! I like using these markers so much that I've been practicing illustrating every night. Maybe I will post some illustrations soon, but first I just need to get my method down!

6. T-shirts.
My favorite summer outfit was just wearing a t-shirt and shorts. No joke. I wore my Demi Lovato concert tee daily as well as several other shirts. I just got this tee from Stylemint that I am wearing right as I type these words and I love it! Now that school has started I'm actually dressing cute again though and that's been fun too. I can't wear shorts or jeans at work so that's forced me to dress a little nicer than normal. But on Saturdays and Mondays? Shorts and a t-shirt. :)

7. My Harvard pen.
I got this pen at a store in Harvard for $2.99 and it's such a great pen! The ink is dark and it writes super smoothly. I keep it in my purse at all times and I love pulling it out just because it says Harvard. Anything that says Harvard is cool. At least in my book it is. Plus it reminds me of the east coast and that makes me happy.

8. Curly hair.
As many of you know (maybe?), I have stick straight hair. It has no curl to it whatsoever. Some days I can just blow dry my hair or let it hair dry and it looks good enough to go out on the town because it is that straight! I would also like to say that I adore my straight hair. When I was younger, I was vain and would look in the mirror and tell myself that my hair was "my most prized possession." Who says that? Well, I definitely did and maybe still do. But the thing is that I think curly hair is beautiful too, and one of the reasons I'm growing my hair long is so that I can have long, gorgeous, curly locks. When I was 14 and loved going to stake dances, I would spend literally two hours curling my hair with a curling iron only to have it stay in for probably two hours max. Now I curl it with the straightener and it stays in way better, but by the end of the day the curls are mostly dead. This week I was determined to make it through a whole day with curls that were fairly curly, so I curled my hair every day this week (except yesterday)! I used mousse, took longer, and then finally today I started spraying every curl I did with hairspray and they stayed in! I am now happy, and you'd think I'd be sick of curling my hair, but it looks really pretty this way so I'll probably do it more. Straight hair will be making an appearance back into my life though. Ok...goodbye long novel about hair.

9. Friendship bracelets.
I got this one for $1 on Saturday at the Latin American Festival here in Provo and I am loving it! These bracelets tend to go with the t-shirt/shorts vibe. I have my trusty watch that I wear most of the time, but sometimes it's a little too hot to wear it. But then my wrist feels bare so a friendship bracelet does the trick of filling the void.

I suppose that's all for now. Annnnd if I sound tired or blunt, I am. Ta-ta.

The Amber Apron

Say hi to the Amber Apron, sewed and designed by me for my first entry in the Sew-vivor competition! This week's challenge was to be inspired from one of the judges tutorials, so I based mine off of the Baking Day Apron found at Ruffles and Stuff. I'm going to try and give you a tutorial on how I made my apron, although it may be a little difficult. I don't always do a ton of tutorials because I make a lot of my stuff without measurements or I custom fit it on myself. But I took lots of pictures to show you guys so that should help!

I started out with this sketch...

..and this fabric, thread, and bias tape to create the apron. It's a cotton twill fabric by the way.

The first thing I did was cut out my fabric. I used Disney's (the one whose apron tutorial I was inspired from) measurements that she gave but added about two extra inches on each side. I just wanted to be absolutely sure it would fit. I get paranoid like that sometimes haha.

My measurements:
Bodice: 25" x 14"
Skirt: 44" x 30"
Waistband: 5" x 23", plus the two sash pieces I sewed onto the waistband: 5" x 35"
Two neck sashes: 3" x 25"
Bias tape: depending on where you want to use it will determine how much you need but I used three packages of double fold and one package of single fold

So I cut everything out and waited to finish the edges. Because I put bias tape on a lot of it, finishing edges wasn't necessary on a lot of parts of the apron. To make the two pleat like things on the front of the bodice, I measured in where I wanted them, folded it, and then sewed super close to the edge. You can see how I pinned and folded it and then how the finished result turned out.

For the skirt, I just wanted big pleats all the way across. They ended up being two inch pleats, and to do them, I would just follow this tutorial here, just like I did. Pleats are actually very simple and easy (at least these ones that I did were)! I pinned them and then sewed all the way across.

The bodice was too big so I had to cut it in. I kind of wanted a cool curve on the side. So at the top I measured in how I wanted and then also measured the other length I wanted at the bottom. About halfway down I measured in the same amount from the bottom, made a line, and then kind of just free-handed a curve from that. You don't have to follow this step, but it's just what I wanted to do. If you just want it straight all the way down, just measure in, cut and then hem.

Then I sewed both of the pieces together, making sure the waist wasn't too low and exactly where I wanted it.

I took the waistband and sash pieces, folded them in half and then sewed them all together to create one long sash. Then I took some grey double fold bias tape and pinned it on the waistband all the way across. It took me two packages of bias tape to cover the whole sash--1 package for each side. Remember these were folded, so I didn't have to do any edge finishing on that either.

Then I sewed bias tape at the top of the bodice as well at the hem of the skirt. I folded the single-fold bias tape in half (so that it was skinnier), then pinned and sewed it to the little neck sashes and sewed those to the bodice. I tried on the apron and then just measured where I wanted them from there. On mine I did them right outside the little bodice pleats.

And the pockets! I don't even know if this is the right way to make pockets, but I'll tell you how I did it. I just cut two slightly diagonal 6-inch lines in the skirt, measuring where I wanted them and everything, then I took one of my skirts with big pockets, traced the pattern and cut it out and sewed the pockets in. I sewed bias tape on top for embellishment as well as the two buttons.

All done!

Now you can go put on your apron, bake some chocolate-chip cookies and eat them. Everyone will marvel at your cooking and sewing skills.

There's the tutorial. NOW GO VOTE FOR ME HERE PLEASE!!!! (sorry I just really wanted you to notice that part! I would love to make it to the next round so if you like my apron, I would love you forever if you went and voted for me and also told your friends to vote for me, every vote counts!)

I Love My Little Sis

Gracie (my five year-old sister) is the cutest. My mom sent me this picture that she drew of the two of us and it just melted my heart.

I love Gracie so much and she really is my "best friend," like how we always say. One of the things that makes me happiest about this picture is that Gracie still loves me and still thinks of me, even though I'm gone a lot and might not see her for at least a month. She was born when I was fifteen and I was out of the house before she even turned 3, so I was always worried she wouldn't really love me or remember me a ton. It's totally been the opposite though. I couldn't love anyone more than I love Gracie and she's always so happy to see me, as I am her. She's so cute too and always tell me I need to come home "earlier" and "not take so long" because she misses me. This summer will be sad and hard, because I'll be in Boston for 4 months, and I'll miss her like crazy. I just have to say that I am so happy to have a best friend like Gracie. I love that girl way too much for her own good. :)

Fashion Sketches

I have a little sketchbook where I like to sketch designs if I have time. Designing clothes is one of my favorite things to do and I'm trying to learn how to do it better. Right now it's just a hobby, but one day I suppose it could be a career, or not, who knows? For now, all I know is that I definitely want to do something with fashion in my future, whether it is designing, merchandising, event coordinating, or whatever, I know I can do it, because fashion makes me happy. :) Anyways these are some of my sketches. And if you hate them...just don't tell me so. :)

Alone and Artsy

I took these pictures in the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center) which is the building at BYU where all the art is displayed, where the theaters are, and where the music practice rooms are. I went to play the piano but I guess one of the theaters was being used so all the practice rooms were closed (cuz you can hear them from the theater) and I had to wait until they were open. It was actually really nice. I just walked around and looked at all the student art, which was totally amazing. There was one exhibit about To Kill A Mockingbird, one of my favorite books, that I loved. Since it's Sunday, hardly anyone comes on campus so there was only like three other people (that I saw) in the whole building. I really loved it. I liked being able to hear my heels click on the ground and echo throughout the place. I felt so classy. Normally there's no way I'd be able to take pictures here, but it was the perfect place for a Sunday.

I decided and realized something about myself today. I like to be alone. Definitely not all the time, and not in the sense of a relationship. Just that I need time during the day when I'm just with me and I can just think and do what I want without having to worry about anyone or impressing anyone. I'm definitely a social person and I love being outgoing and hanging out with people, but I can only do so much. I think the times when I don't need to be alone is when I'm with someone else that I can share my innermost thoughts with, the ones that I usually just think in my head. But if there's no one like that to share stuff with (there isn't right now..) then I'd rather just be alone sometimes. Even when I was a kid I remember I didn't mind just sitting alone in my room reading a book or doing something on my own. It felt peaceful. Don't get me wrong though, being alone all the time gets so depressing and so lonely. Trust me, I was alone 24/7 last semester and hated it. There has to be a happy medium. What about you? Do you like being alone or doing you like always being around people?

An Outfit A Day...
Button-Up? TJ Maxx
Dress? Kohls
Necklace? Mall Kiosk
Shoes? Payless
Bag? Target--I think I've been using this bag every day for the past week or even longer, but I really love it and I think it just enhances any outfit. Notice that it even looks great with the black in this outfit. I should have more variety but I'm just a little attached right now...*sigh*

Keeps the Fashion Police Away...
Comfort? 8
Original? 8
Did I like it? 9
Overall? 8.5

Other June Activities

Just some other random things I did in June:

My friend Josh Timothy had his farewell! I've known him for such a long time, so it was sad to see him go (he's in Lima, Peru by the way), but he'll be an awesome missionary!

The arts festival. I went with Courtney and Laura. All the artwork and stuff was way cool. But of course the highlight of the night was not the festival... The last thing we did at the festival was go see the films, which was like at 10:00 at night. By 11:00, we were still in the theater and there were like three films to go. We had come on the frontrunner so we kind of lost track of time. We needed to get back on the trax but got on going the wrong way. So then, we went back and waited for like 45 minutes for the right trax to come and it never did. So we just started walking towards the frontrunner. Along the way, we came across some Asians with ramen noodles, a guy who worked at the arts festival, a druggie named Trevor, and some college aged kids trying to break in some old building. It was quite the eventful night. When we decided we had probably missed the frontrunner, Courtney called her parents so her dad would come pick us up. In the end, we got home at about 1 in the morning. It was great! :D And this was the only picture we took the whole day.

Reading books. My goal was to read 80 books by the end of the summer. No such luck, because I think it will end up being about 45-50. I'm a failure (to me anyways).

Disney did this cool Christmas Carol tour thing where they're going to all the states to advertise their new Christmas Carol movie. We stood in line for a loooong time because there were a billion people there, of course. It was lots of fun though!

Father's Day. Me and my sisters playing a musical number (O My Father) that we played in church the next week. I played piano, Carina did the violin, and Sidney did the flute. It was pretty much amazing! ;)