With the summer humidity finally here, the last of my perm gave up the ghost. I thought I’d get a new one here, at the salon where I’ve had my hair done many times. TOTAL disaster. They set the curlers too small, the solution didn’t take, and I ended up with just some kink and frizz. It was straw. It made me look old. Worse, it made me look TRAILER-TRASH old. So much for this fancy $90 place.

But it’s true, it’s the bitchy wheel that gets the grease. I complained and the general manager gave me a free treatment to reduce the straw-like consistency, and in a week I go back to get the perm re-done — the fancy type that would normally cost $160.

All I can say is, I better look damn fabulous when I get outta there. First rule of beauty — ya don’t mess with a woman’s hair!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been saying good-bye to people (19 days to go!). At the faculty luncheon a couple of weeks ago I got a card filled with lovely thoughts and a gift (a brand-name wallet with a super-cool wooden clasp!) from the Korean teachers and a big ‘crystal’ “award” for 10 years of teaching at Ewha. Then, I was planning on having a going-away dinner with some of the ‘girls’ (Elena, Kristen, Haechin) the night before Kristen left for the U.S. and the wedding she’s in (see next post for the dress I made her!). It was the last time we were going to be together, so we planned on going out to a Mexican place.

That day we’re all running around finalizing our semester’s grades, then I thought we were leaving, but they insisted they needed coffee before dinner (?!?), so we sat in a coffee shop for an hour. It was fun, but I was hungry! FINALLY, we left.

We walked into the restaurant… and there were (almost all of) the full-time teachers and the TAs from the office! It was a surprise going-away party for me! And what a surprise it was — I had not a clue, and I had seen most of these people at least a couple of times that week already! No one spilled the beans.

I was so touched, to say the least. Not only was it totally unexpected, I believe it is THE VERY FIRST time anyone has ever thrown me a surprise party! They gave me a hysterical card — it had my head on Christian Siriano’s body, and the banner over it said, “Project Run-a-way!” (I would show it to you, but I’ve packed it already, apparently!) They also chipped in and got me a gift. Technically, a cash gift, but they printed out exactly what I had to buy with it (and it saved me packing it, yeah!). They “got” me an Italian leather portfolio presentation case for when I’m making my rounds with my designs to show clients/employers! So now I’m all set for that interview with Monique Lhullier <g>.

I tell you, them all being there, the wonderful things they said on the card, the extremely thoughtful gift — I almost started crying, and you KNOW how hard it is to get me to do that in public! So of course I made jokes, but it was a wonderful night finding out that I may not have been designing, but the 13-1/2 years I spent in Korea were well spent!

 

The bridesmaid’s dress for Kristin’s brother’s wedding is now complete! Here’s how it went:

First, we picked out the general style of dress she wanted:

 Note that we wanted knee-length instead of floor-length. She didn’t want the shiny fabric, either. She was looking for a “more vintage” look, and a little more “fullness” to add to her bust.

I have been so swamped physically and emotionally with finishing up the semester’s grading combined with teaching the summer session that I haven’t had much time for anything else. The inevitable slew of “Why did I get this grade?” and “Can I have a different grade please?” emails seem to have slowed to a trickle, and I’m back to packing and sewing in my free time.

This weekend I (nearly) finished the bridesmaid dress for Kristen. She’s coming over today for the final fitting/touches, so I will have photos very soon of the whole process to post.

In the meantime, however, I’ve been having dreams related to my new career. The other day I dreamed I was in LA and scored an interview with Monique Lhullier. For those of you who don’t know who that is, she is a FIDM graduate (the school I will attend), and one of the BIG names in the bridal market who has also expanded into evening wear, resort wear and table settings recently.

Anyway, so I’m being interviewed by Monique, and she LOVES me. We really hit it off and she gives me a job as an assistant to one of her head people. I leave the interview and run into two long-time friends of mine who are all excited to see me and why didn’t I call to say I was in town? (In real life, neither lives in LA, but it’s a dream, right?)

So I’m hoping this dream is prophetic. Dream job and friends.

Last night I had a different dream. I was in a high-end, snooty dress boutique with the bridesmaid’s dress I just finished. I put it on a hanger and hung it among the other dresses on the rack and then walked away. I came back later to see if anyone had looked at it. A very rich Korean woman was shopping there, and had looked at just about everything, dissatisfied. I found my dress in a new place and took it up to the head salesperson (VERY snooty-snob type) and asked, “Did she see this one?”

He gave me a look of utter disdain and said, “She HATED it.  I hated it. I wouldn’t wear that to the immigration office to get a visa!”

The store silenced, everyone waiting for me to start crying or something, but I was smiling. “Why are you smiling? They hated it!” I told them, “I just got my very first bitchy fashion review! That’s so cool!”

I’m thinking a sense of humor is going to be very important in this business!!!!! (Or maybe just a good case of self-delusion!)

I will be stepping on a plane to start my new life in exactly six weeks, and I’m now beginning to freak. I think it’s more the fact that I’m having to say good-bye to my students this week, since they’ll be taking exams next week — I’m admitting to them that I’m leaving Ewha and Korea, both.

Preparation-wise, I’m doing well, I think. I spent last weekend packing up my office (which is the biggest depository of my stuff  in the house. Then on Tuesday we went to the U.S. embassy to replace my daughter’s passport and Sang arranged for his visa interview. Those were pretty big things, so I’m feeling semi-organized. On track, at least.

I also went and bought new glasses. I’ve been getting some pretty frequent headaches, and figured out that it was my vision causing it (lots of squinting involved), so went to the opthamologist and then the optometrist, and bought two new pairs and one pair of prescription sunglasses. The set of three cost $260, which is pretty amazing, price-wise, which is why I stocked up.

So here’s my list of other things that must be done before I leave (in case you’re curious):

Full dental check
Renew my Korean visa (which expires four days before I leave)
Get international driver’s license
Fill out forms for having pension fund payout transferred overseas
Buy lace and buttons for Elena’s wedding dress
Finish Kristen’s bridesmaid dress
Make mother-in-law’s dress

Oh, and do all the grades/exams for the semester and teach 1/2 time for the summer school. I finish teaching 5 days before we leave!

I’m not even going to get into all the bureaucratic crap I’m going to have to do once I arrive in the States. Though I’m sure I’ll tell you all about it when I get there!

Ciao for now!

To catch you up on the story:

Elena bought a dress for her wedding. Drycleaner shrunk dress. We shopped for new dress. Decided dresses too expensive. Elena got frustrated. Drew picture of her dream dress. I got bored with grading papers one day. Made up dress in miniature. Elena saw it and jumped up and down, hugging me. We took sample to several wedding dress shops, plopped it on the table and said, “How much?” We talked them down and ordered the dress.

Whew! Of course it was more drawn out and there were hilarious translation mishaps along the way, but we have paid the deposit (by ‘we’ I mean ’she’, of course) and the dress will be made. Here’s what it will look like!

 

     Front, side, back

This is muslin, of course. The finished product will be of ivory satin. Elena and I will personally shop for the lace for the decolletage and the buttons for the back, as Korean tastes and ours are not usually the same. Then it’s all in the hands of the dress shop, the owner of which we really like. She was willing to listen and ask pertinent questions, and understood our need to micromanage it. Plus, all the dresses in her shop were sew with top quality, so we’re feeling confident in her.

So, YEAH! I will not be here when it’s completed (I’ll have already moved to LA), but by coincidence Elena is getting married during my school’s winter break, which means ROADTRIP to Albuquerque, NM to see the final version! So exciting!

 

After a month of trying to figure out DVD v Video formats and how and where to upload it, I finally got my short video tour of the small Tongdaemun market on YouTube!  Now that I know how to get it done, I will try to get to the big market to show you that one, too, cuz you WILL NOT believe it!

Here’s the link. CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHYhpnNFieE

Friday we spent trying to mitigate the disaster regarding Elena’s wedding dress (the one that shrunk in the dry cleaning).

There is one street in Seoul — that just happens to run right in front of my university — that is known as “Wedding Dress Row”. Imagine a half-mile of road lined on both sides with wedding dress, wedding hanbok and wedding photography shops. It’s not a trip for the faint-hearted!

Elena and I girded our loins and began the journey with our little sob story. In the very first shop we stepped into we met a customer who spoke English — and I was all prepared with my semi-Korean spiel. But it was great meeting her. Apparently she was in the shop having just stepped off the plane to get a concert performance dress made up (she’s a violinist). So that was fun getting a little help getting acclimated.

We found a great dress there, and we also drew up designs for an alternative, which they could make up for us. I think that was our favorite shop overall (why is it always the first one?).

We trooped through many of them, though understandably we just peeked in a lot of windows near the end and skipped them if we didn’t see something perfect.

In the end, we found three ready-made that she liked, then the one we had drawn up. They were all much more than she spent on the pre-shrunk version, but that’s what they cost here. The very first dress she picked out is the one she liked the best. It’s very sleek and simple, with just a bit of crystal beading. I think that’s the one she’s going to choose, even though it’s the most expensive, because the accents looked vaguely Indian, and her husband’s family is from India — on top of being a gorgeous dress. We’re going back to look at it next week with a body shaper (modern-day corset, if you’ve never heard that term) to see if we can solve the “tummy issue” it had.

What was fun was seeing all the different trims, beads, gee-gaws and sequins on some of these gowns. We kept saying ’sleek, modern’ and they would pull out the perfect dress and then start pinning masses of flowers and crap to it. They learned quickly not to!

It was an exhausting day, but Elena was happy with the results as she really didn’t expect to find anything that she’d like/would flatter her/would fit. She knows now that she has choices and plenty of time to make them.

I had a laugh because at one point when Elena said, “You’ve really got your Korean noises down!” My Korean is definately NOT good, so there were a lot of cultural noises, hand gestures and sketching going on. But it worked, so if the ‘client’ is happy, I’m happy!

A successful day then!

As y’all know, I have been working on a wedding jacket for my colleague Elena. As it happens, her officemate, Kristen, is going to attend her brother’s wedding this June, and needs a nice dress in navy blue (color dictated by her future sister-in-law and difficult to find in Korea). She asked me to help her get a dress made, since ordering from overseas is risky both size-wise and price-wise.

As a result, I took them out shopping at Tongdaemun market yesterday when we had a day off (it’s exam week). Our goal was to buy the fabric for Kristen’s dress and to get swatches to match up with Elena’s dress, which arrived from Albuquerque.

So we set off, full of high hopes for a full day ahead. We wandered the maze of stalls trying to find exactly what we’re looking for amongst the gajillion types, shades, textures and patterns available. Due to the number of things we were looking for, I had to tune out the conversation the two of them were having about glittery corn fabrics (don’t make me explain it!) and make sure we didn’t lose each other (it’s 100 times worse than a mall, airport, or anywhere else confusing and huge you can think of).

After a couple of hours we found EXACTLY the fabric Kristen was looking for and I found the swatches I wanted for Elena’s jacket. She also made a decision on the long jacket I designed! (The commitment is the hardest part of the whole process).

So far, so good. We took a break for lunch, then hit Doota Tower, where the entire fourth floor is devoted to shoes and bags. We found some “almost” shoes, but no “gotta have” shoes.

The next stop would be to the seamstress at the smaller Tongdaemun market that I was hoping would make their outfits. Snag was, I didn’t have her exact location/number, so I called my friend who had promised to get it for me. She, however, seemed a little confused, thinking I wanted to have a wedding dress made, not a dress to wear to a wedding, so she insisted the seamstresses at Wedding Dress Row (a street near Ewha university lined with wedding dress shops) would be better. Since I didn’t have the info, I had to follow her directive.

We went to her shop, where she informed us that, actually, we couldn’t do it that day because the wedding shops are all closed on Tuesdays. BUT, she called her friend who owned one of the shops and lived nearby. So her friend showed up, took a look at the fabric and photo, shook her head and proceeded to tell us it would be difficult, the fabric was wrong and since it’s an “unusual pattern” compared to wedding dresses, it would be $150 to make it up. Confident, she did not sound. And it was just a cowl neck halter with an a-line skirt and low waist,  so there are no zippers, boning, or anything complex except that it has to be cut on a bias.

Then she proceeded to tell us we should go to Tongdaemun instead.

So my friend called the Tongdaemun woman, who sight unseen told us it would be $300, but that she’d do it for the same ($150) because they’re friends.

Well, none of that set well with Kristen or I since neither one of them sounded like they were confident about making it. $150 is fine if you know you’re getting a great quality product, but not if you could get ill-made stuff.

But I need to point out we have not hit the disaster yet.

We went back to my house to match up the swatches with the dress, which is hung in my closet for safe-keeping. We found the exact shades we wanted, so we were really happy. Then Elena tried on the dress to give us the full effect.

IT DIDN’T FIT.

Not in a “I had to much pasta last week” way, but in a “it won’t zip the last three inches and there’s a three  inch gap where it should meet” kind of way. We have photos of her wearing the dress just two months before this and it fit with room to spare. She’s been exercising trying to lose some additional weight, so she hasn’t added any on. It was also at least two inches shorter than in the other picture.

The dry cleaner shrunk the dress.

We manipulated her breasts in every possible configuration, but that zipper was not going to meet. And if you’re not overweight to begin with, you can’t lose 3 inches of weight in your ribcage.

Elena is FAR from a bridezilla, but this dress is really the only part of the wedding she cares about, so she was understandably upset. Now instead of a great size 8 dress that needed a few alterations and a jacket, she has a size 6 dress that will need to be sold to pay for the one she has to replace, and she has to find it in Korea, land of the size 0s.

So the jacket is now cancelled, and we’re going to be making the rounds of the wedding dress shops here in the foreseeable future to see if we can get one made for her at an affordable price. She only has about a week between getting back to the States next winter and the wedding, so we need to get it done here. The one blessing out of all this is that we found out now instead of in December when it would be too late to do anything about it.

In between the numerous trips and negotiations this will take, I’ll be attempting to make up a pattern for Kristen’s dress (it is NOT the wrong fabric, by the way, it’s just not shiny bridesmaid fabric, which is throwing people off). If I think I’m confident about making it myself I will, but if we have it made there will be a pattern to follow. Worst case scenario, I got some extra practice and another outfit for my well-dressed asymmetrical mannequin.

Till next time, happy sewing!

 

 

Otherwise known as: “How to Procrastinate” since I should have been grading papers or something else to do with my current job.

I’ve been going nuts for a week since I’ve had a really crappy cold. I still am talking like I’ve chain-smoked for twenty years, but I was feeling good, had the day off, the kids were in school and the sun was shining. In other words, a perfect day for sewing.

I decided in the morning I really wanted to figure out how to make a twisted bodice dress, so I grabbed my off-kilter mannequin and some fabric. I took the idea, made a pattern, cut the fabric and sewed it up out of a dove gray silk. Here’s the result:

   

Considering it’s sewed for sh*t and this mannequin is about as crooked as you can get (A symmetrical one is going to be my first purchase off the plane), I think it turned out pretty well. Also, don’t look too closely at the back shoulder because my 13-year-old iron threw a little fit.

Imagine it out of a more stretchy silk (so it falls more softly) with either a big rhinestone brooch in the center front or some crystal beading falling from the shoulders.

Done in one day. I’m getting that much closer to being able to compete in Project Runway! (Kidding– really, just kidding.)

The pics aren’t great, but here you can see the final versions of the prom dress scholarship competition entries I’m mailing in. With each drawing are details of the dress construction and samples of the fabric (required). We were also asked to design these for a particular store, so I included the store’s logo at the top (for them to better visualize it as one of theirs), and I gave each of them a name because that is something the store does for most (not all) of their dresses. (You might notice that ‘Gemma’ is a new name, since the other two were named after gemstones. ‘Lily’ just didn’t seem to fit then.) I also included the brooch and strap for the two dresses, as I thought it ‘blinged’ up the presentation just like they would ‘bling’ up the dress.

Off they go into the mail. Vibes that the judges love them for me, will ya? I’m not expecting to win since it usually goes to someone “without life experience”, but it’s always been my strategy to be the most famous nobody out there.

Watch out, L.A. I’m a-coming!

Update time! I thought I’d let you see the skirt my mother-in-law ordered from me! I’m really happy with the results (she hasn’t seen it yet, so no telling if she is — but I think she will be!)

The skirt turned out much more cool than I thought it would. When she ordered it, she gave me some criteria to follow: It had to go to mid-shin to cover up her legs when she sat on the floor (which is most of the sitting that gets done, for Koreans), it had to have lots of fabric because with her arthritis she can’t fold her legs under her, it had to be cool because she wants it for summer (don’t ask me why, but even the summer stuff for people her age is made of rayon and polyester — it does NOT breathe), and she wanted a side zipper because back zippers were getting difficult for her.

So this is what I came up with. It’s very simple and straightforward gathered skirt into a waistband. The underlayer is cotton (almost like sheeting fabric), covered with mesh. Here’s a close-up:

At first I thought it would be horribly polka-dot, but that was the fabric she picked. In the end, though, it was a nice surprise, because when you stand back you can’t really see the dots and the whole skirt looks like a shiny gun-metal gray. Tres cool.

This style would look horrible on me, but it’s her style perfectly — just a little more stylish — so I’m happy!

My mother-in-law is a very nice woman, but we’ve always had trouble finding things to bond over. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t have any hobbies. She cooks, cleans and watches TV. I’ve never seen her do anything else. A couple weeks ago she had to stay with us for two weeks for varicose vein surgery. Even recovering, she couldn’t stop herself from cooking, cleaning, and critiquing me doing the same. Because the things she’s good at I’m not, there’s not a lot of meeting ground there.

But a miracle occurred. While I was waiting with her for a follow-up appointment, I was sketching ideas for Elena’s wedding jacket, so I explained what I was doing and why. After I finished the first model she was astonished that I had made the model up from a picture I had created. Since she seemed interested, and was generally opposed to my plan to give up my pension-safe job to become a designer, I had her leaf through my sketchbook.

Suddenly I was receiving orders. I am now committed to making a skirt and a dress for her. I took her to the fabric market and let her pick out the fabrics. and measured her up. Now she’s all excited to have me making clothes up for her.

After taking the order, I was in my closet looking for what to wear to work and saw the blouse I had made for my pattern-making class last semester. I wasn’t really happy with it when I was done because we had to do a princess-cut, which is NOT flattering for me. It was also six weeks between taking the measurements and making the blouse, so it was also a bit large for me since I’d lost weight in the process.

But it’s a nice, heavy, soft silk and I love the cattail pattern, so I didn’t want to give it up. I pulled it out, though, and wouldn’t you know, it fits my mother-in-law perfectly. That’s the blouse she’s wearing in the pic above.

It looks slightly odd in the pic because she’s sitting and she’s got a red winter undershirt underneath, but she was so in love with it! After she took it off she petted it for a while and showed it off to her son.

So we’ve finally found something I could do that she respected (other than giving birth to her grandchildren). I’ll be sure to post pics as I make up her items.

Sorry I left you hanging there for so long. I was moved to a new office at work, and have had a series of health problems due to the fact that the building is still under construction and all the teachers have been breathing in concrete dust, paint fumes and other noxious things. Today I spent maybe five minutes there so I’m feeling much better now. Avoidance is the best policy.

Now let’s see, where was I…. Ah, yes. Elena had liked the Antoinette-inspired long jacket to go with her dress, but she also wanted to look at some bolero tops. She didn’t like the ones she had tried on before, but she liked the idea of them, so what could I come up with?

 So back to the drawing board, which I was happy to go back to. The type I figured was best with her figure were the ones that cut away from the bust, so I sketched up some ideas:

  

I liked the first two here, and lo and behold those are the ones she picked (honest, there was no prompting from me)! Next was making up the models:

    

Last post on Project Jennifer, we saw the design for the wedding jacket Elena liked. This post, you’ll get a look at how she figures out how to take a drawing and make something real out of it!

Thank you, Heidi.

Well, with the drawing intriguing my client, I asked myself how I was going to make the darn thing. I pulled out my handy-dandy muslin and started pondering. Muslin, in case you didn’t know, is a woven, unbleached cotton that’s really cheap and thus used for the purpose of figuring out patterns and fit problems just like this. Being raised by my father (who greatly resembled Ebenezer Scrooge on the thrift end of things), I wouldn’t want to waste yards of even this cheap cloth on experimenting when I haven’t a clue what I’m doing. Luckily, I’d bought Donna a miniature mannequin for her to drape fabric scraps on. The body’s about a foot high, so I decided to use that as my model.

There are two methods in making a garment — one is making a pattern through measurements and calculations, the other is to “drape” the garment onto a dress form or model and then make the pattern or cut directly out of the final fabric. Since the dress form’s measurements are cock-eyed in this case, I decided to drape.

  I used the red tape to mark where the major lines of the outfit are, then put the muslin up against it and start cutting. Here, I decided to make the front side pieces one piece each with a dart instead of panels like the original, because the curvier the bust, the less good it looks with seams running through it, generally. Each piece is laid out, cut, and then pinned into place.

I then mark where I need to put darts, gathers, etc., or any changes I want to make to the shape of it.

 

If you read the previous post, you know I’ve been given the challenge of designing a wedding jacket to go with a purchased dress and make up a muslin sample for a dressmaker.

 I’d think I’d be exhausted just thinking about it, but it’s actually exhilerating — which tells me I’m on the right track dream-wise.

 So here’s how I started:

First, Elena sent me photos of her dress:

   

And a link to a type of jacket she admired — very Marie Antoinette:

 

And thus, the process begins. First, comparing the Marie Antoinette version with the dress, I can see some changes will be needed because first, a full-length coat is going to completely cover the train and most of the embroidery and beading of her dress. Next, I have to take into account Elena’s figure, which incidentally is about identical to mine. We’re both just a few inches over five feet, and we’re short-waisted with hips and a decent chest (which is also our Big Asset — you highlight it, you don’t hide it).

Keeping all this in mind, I started sketching, and came up with one sketch I thought combined all these elements. I shared it with Elena and we both thought it had possibilities:

   You can see here that we’ve kept the basic elements of the jacket. It still has the longer, pointed-front waist that will elongate her torso, the long, tight sleeves and collar/lapel. The point where the lapels meet in front will be slightly lower than shown in the picture, to show more of the dress’ decolletage. The upper collar will leave her collarbones bare for more drama. The jacket “skirt” (I must look up what that’s called) will fall smooth over the hips so as not to add inches where she wouldn’t want it and fall to the point in the back where the train meets the gown.

So, now that the customer is intrigued with the concept, the next step is devising the pattern, since I have never just “made up” a pattern for a jacket before, and am certainly no expert on patterns in general.

Tune in next time to see my step-by-step process in making a pattern for this design.

Okay, I’m going to use the word “job” loosely, since I’m not getting paid, but it’s real design work and I’m going to get invaluable practice from this. So I’m excited anyway!

My colleague, Elena, is getting married next January. She bought a wedding dress in Albuquerque this summer, since that’d be her last trip back to the States before the nuptials. Summer in Albuquerque is not, however, the ideal place to try to purchase a dress for a winter wedding. She ended up with a beautiful strapless dress, but needs something that will cover her arms and shoulders.

She was unable to find something she liked before leaving, and the chance of her finding something in Korea is astronomical. (Check out one of my previous posts called Size Matters on just why that is, if you don’t already know!) Thus, my challenge was born. Design a jacket to complement her wedding dress.

 Now, I’m not crazy enough to try to make the whole thing myself. This is the woman’s wedding! I’m not nearly skilled enough to trust myself with that. What I DO need to do is consult with her, decide on a design, experiment until I’ve made up a pattern, then make up a muslin sample. I know at least one seamstress good enough to take the sample and make up the jacket from it (she’s done it for me before with a real jacket that I’d worn out but loved the shape).

So Elena is having the dress sent here, so that once we decide on the design we can buy the fabrics and trims from the fabric market, then deliver them and the sample to the seamstress.

This is so exciting! It’s a great challenge, great practice, and I’m really helping out an overwhelmed friend at the same time.

It’s also going to make great blog fodder, in my opinion. I’m going to outline each step we take — with pics! — so you can see the entire process. Your own little Project Runway since Season 4 is over, with episodes and everything!

Stay tuned!

The black dress, the pink one and the teal (Lily, Opal and Jade). The purple one (Iris) was the runner up. Although the three don’t all belong to the same line I’d planned, they all use an irridescent chiffon as the accent, so that is still a unifying theme.

 Thanks everyone for voting (and if you haven’t, check out the blog post before this one!). My final version is due at the end of April, so we’ll probably get the result in late Spring/early Summer. I don’t have much of a chance, since they prefer to give the scholarship to someone without life experience, but I hope to show them what I can do!

Calling all 15-20 yr-old young women!

What would be your dream prom dress? What dress would you buy to make you feel like the queen of the prom?

That’s the question I need answered. I’m entering a competition where the objective is to design a line of 3 dresses for the 2008 prom season. I’ve designed two lines of three dresses, and I’m now researching which would be the most popular with the girls who would actually wear them.  Please look at the pictures and read the descriptions, then click on ‘comments’ below to tell me which line gets your vote. You might also add which single design was your favorite out of the group.

The more people who vote the better, so pass this on to all your friends. Thank you, and I hope you like them!

The Floral Line:                                       The Rhinestone Line:

  

Florals are all over the runways this spring, so I’ve incorporated them here in sheer chiffons. You can’t see it on the scan, but the first two chiffons are composed of two colors, depending on how the light hits them. They are all very shiny, irridescent. They are Dahlia, Iris and Lily, in that order.

Rhinestones brighten up an outfit, giving it a little ‘bling’. Each of these is made of a nice, shiny silk, with a very shiny chiffon. (I just emphasize the ’shiny’ since it doesn’t scan in that well.) Each of them uses some bling on the straps. They are Pearl, Iris and Jade, in that order.

So, which line do you like better? Floral or Rhinestone? And which is your favorite dress overall?

Click on ‘comments’ to give me your vote.

Many of you have heard me rant before about the situation regarding sizes in Korea — how everything in the stores runs from size -2 to 2. Maybe 4s if you’re lucky. If you lopped off my breasts, and I was my absolute thinnest, I could maybe fit into a 10. It’s the bone structure, babe, and I generally have to buy 12s, which do not exist here, unless you’re buying ‘grandmother’ clothes. It’s called an XXL, you have to buy them specially off the Internet, they’re the cheapest looking things you can find, and they assume if you’re that size, you have no waist.

 

Okay, so I get it. That’s the norm they cater to in their market. The problem is, though, the lack of size choice is affecting more than us foreigners with the big skeletons and muscle tone (comparatively). The Korean diet is changing – before, the diet was based on rice and vegetables with small portions of meat. In the last 20 years, however, the increased prosperity in the country meant meat was more affordable, and Western food became more available and popular. So now the meat, dairy and bread that makes up the muscular (again, comparatively) structure of Westerners is appearing on the current crop of junior high and high school students – especially noticeable on the girls, who have curves!

 

It’s going to be a huge problem for the fashion industry. I already hear the complaints from the freshmen girls I teach that they can’t buy clothes in a size 6. I know it’s a boon for the diet/exercise industry as these girls fight to get the fashionable “S” figure that they will probably never achieve again because their bodies developed differently from their mothers’.

 

But I’ve given up being down on the Koreans. America, I’ve discovered, is not handling the size issue much better – one designer line’s size 10 is another’s 6 or 12, and websites that sell from various designers like Bluefly, Amazon, Macy’s or Windsor (etc.)  need their own special charts for figuring out what size is going to fit you. And if you’re hard to fit, be prepared to send something back (not an option for me, which explains why I’m one of the last holdouts against Internet shopping).

 

I didn’t realize EXACTLY how hard I was to fit until I popped onto a BMI (Body Mass Index) site on the Internet. The formula for configuring BMI is different for Asians and Americans. When I register for a yoga class here they plug in my numbers and gasp, “Oh, you’re so obese! You need to lose 50 pounds.” That might be possible if you’re talking about me losing one of my kids, but not so much my weight. So I thought, “Let’s see what my REAL BMI is.”

 

I plug in my height, weight and measurements, being totally honest. I expect a not great, but not unreasonable number to pop up. What do I get instead? “You have not entered your measurements correctly. Try measuring your waist again and re-enter.” Apparently, even by American standards, my body defies physical possibility.

 

Sigh. I guess I’m doomed to a lifetime of trying absolutely everything on before I purchase it. Unless you know of a shop that sells short-waisted petite sizes for hourglass figures?

 

Don’t let anyone tell you size doesn’t matter.

Got a message from Madeline, Ji Haye’s assistant designer, and she said the Paris show went off well. You can check out photos of the creations at this link for the designer Yumi-Katsura:  LINK

House of Ji Haye haute couture

Due to my little hot tub encounter (see previous post), Donna and I were invited to tour the shop of designer Ji Haye. She only moved to Korea two or so years ago, having spent twenty years in Japan and Paris.  As a result, she’s not that well known in Korea, and her shop is in an arty, but unassuming, neighborhood.

Unfortunately, she ended up with an appointment she couldn’t miss, so instead we met with her assistant Madeline for the tour. In a way, it was a good thing, as we could communicate in English and enjoy a much longer chat!

 Interesting tidbit: Women in Korea very, very rarely purchase formalwear — even wedding gowns! Everything’s a rental, and it’s altered to fit the renter. As a result, most of the dresses in the shop were the exact ones from the runway — some of them very worn around the edges, though. But there were several racks of them, and all very impressive, as almost all work on them was hand sewn.

You never know who you’ll meet in a hot tub — and no, this is not an open letter to Penthouse.

One Sunday last month I took the kids to a local haunt of ours, a traditional bath house. It’s a great place to spend a day. There are showers, hot tubs of varying temps, saunas, “cold saunas”, heated stone floors, massages of varying types — you can easily spend 5 or more hours lounging and being pampered. (For example, if I got an hour’s massage, a full body exfoliation and enjoyed the saunas and baths, I would pay approximately $70. JUST the saunas and baths, $12. No time limit.)

 ANYWAY, I was sitting in the hot tub next to another white woman, approx. 25 years old. She was looking slightly lost, so I struck up a conversation. It went something like this:

Me: Hi. Where are you from? (Note: I was a little less abrupt, but I’m skipping the boring niceties)

Her: I’m from France, but I’m half New Zealander.

Me: Ah, that explains your interesting accent! What are you doing here in Seoul?

Her: Actually, I’m a fashion designer.

Me: (Blink, blink)

Her: What?

Me: Sorry. It’s just that you usually hear, “English teacher” or “I’m here on business.” Also, I’m going to be going to design school in the fall for fashion design!

Her: That’s great!

Me: So what kind of design do you do?

Her: Haute Couture.

I’m going to interrupt here to explain haute couture to those of you not familiar with the term. You’ve probably seen pictures of gowns on the Paris runways where you’ve looked at them and said, “No one would ever where something like that in real life!” THAT’s haute couture. It’s basically fashion’s experimental laboratory, and only a very small number of designers (I think it’s currently 15) are allowed to even use the phrase with their designs. It’s very strictly controlled by the French government. Those gowns are almost completely hand sewn and extremely intricate. Oh, and purchasing one is usually the equivalent of buying a new car.

On with the conversation:

Her: I’m actually an assistant designer. My boss brought me here (to the baths) to relax before our big rush because we leave for the Paris shows in 10 days.

(A Korean woman approximately my age with a dazzlingly crooked smile — oh, fully nude as we were, btw — joins us. Again, get your minds out of Penthouse mode.)

Her: Ah, here’s my boss. Oops, it’s my turn to be exfoliated. Excuse me.

I’m not going to transcribe, but rather describe, how the rest of the conversation went because said designer only spoke French and Korean, her assistant Madeline spoke French and English, and I am barely literate in Korean and only picking up odd phrases here or there in French. It was interesting to say the least!

It was also slightly embarrassing, because the designer, Ji Haye, is actually quite famous in France and Japan — and I didn’t have a clue who she was! (And of course, I googled her as soon as I got home. Here’s a couple of sites I found on her:

video of her 2004/5 collection:

http://www.ftv.com/online/page.php?P=846&id=10948

Her website:

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jihaye.couture/accueil.html

She was one of the youngest — and the only Korean — designers ever to be invited to show at Paris’ haute couture shows. Once I saw the websites I recognized her work, even if I didn’t recognize the name. She is currently designing for a Japanese couture house in anticipation of being named the successor (of a Japanese designer whose name has escaped me today).

She was so incredibly nice, she invited Donna and I to tour her atelier the next day!!!!!

Okay, to get how exciting that is, imagine someone saying to you, “Yesterday I bumped into Yves St. Laurant and he invited me over to watch him work.” Unthinkable!!!!!! And it happened fully naked in a hot tub! (Seriously, am I going to have to slap your mind out of the gutter?!)

So next time I post, it’ll be about the tour — with pics!

Thoroughly Modern Donna

This dress was actually Donna’s design. She drew it up and I devised a pattern for it. This is the very first piece I made after ten years without sewing, and had to create my own pattern for it! It might have been nicer with a contrasting color, but we had only this one fabric at that time. It’s a nice little cotton eyelet though.

The Bubble Dress

This is another of Donna’s designs. She was also the one who insisted I make the bow in the back so large! She’s going to outgrow it before the weather is appropriate for it, unfortunately, but it’ll make a great gift for one of her younger cousins!

Green A-Line

For this one I altered an American pattern. I found it extremely frustrating! I had to buy a size 22 (I buy a 12 off the rack) in order to fit it over my chest. I then had to take 3 inches out of each shoulder and another 3 inches out of the back (because apparently, if you are a size 22 you must have a round, fat back as well). And when all is said and done, it is still too small over the bust with the smallest seams possible!

 Asian Halter Top

My own pattern again. This was a particular challenge as I had to add gussets to my original design under the arms because the fabric is traditional hanbok fabric — which is only 22 in. wide. Maybe a size 0 could have fit the original… Anyway, I love the results — especially with the frog clasp at the neck that I had to hand-dye to match.

 Sleeveless Asian Top

This one was a marginal success. Love the trim, but I had a little trouble with the machine puckering the silk. Fortunately, I’ve got it figured out now (but not soon enough to save this one). It also should be worn by someone with a flatter chest, as it just doesn’t fall smoothly otherwise. Live and learn.

 Double-breasted teal coat

This was my next stab at using an American pattern. In this one, I was able to make the alterations fit (with what I’d learned with the last one, and by making the outside in a muslin throw-away first!). The purpose of this was to make a coat so that I would FINALLY be warm when the Siberian winds started howling down the Korean penninsula. Thus, the result is a little “poofier” than your normal A-line coat because the lining is double-sided fleece. (BIG note to self: single-sided is plenty warm enough).  Other than that, this is some of the best-quality sewing I’ve done.

Maybe I should mention that this is the warmest winter they’ve had in Korea since I arrived 13 years ago, so I’ve yet to have a day cold enough to wear this?!

That’s what I’ve got so far. I’m working on something now that is completely my own design and my own pattern and a real grown-up dress, and as soon as I get a chance to finish it, I will post it here. Stay tuned!

How about you? Have you sewn anything lately? Send me a pic at seoulfash at gmail.com (substitute @ for “at” — I don’t want a zillion tons of spam) and I’ll post it here!

Now that you all know about the big move and career change (and if you don’t, check the previous post before you read this), everyone’s asking, “What’s going to happen with the family?” Apparently, I’ve even started up divorce rumors. Well, set your minds at ease. Sang and I are separating, but only by an ocean, honest!

Here’s the plan. The kids and I are going to ‘vacation’ in LA this summer. We’ll be finding an apartment, setting up house and doing a little traveling and beach-going. At the end of August Donna and Jason will return to their daddy in Seoul to finish out the school year (which ends in January of each year as opposed to June in the States). At the start of 2009 they will come to live with me in LA. Sang will then take some time in Seoul to build up his business to where he can have it run by a manager, then come and join us (6 months? A year? We do not know the answer to this yet). He hasn’t been able to devote the time for expansion as he does most of the “soccer mom” duties in Korea (hard for me to do with the language barrier and my inflexible, odd-hour teaching schedule).

It’ll be tough — first being apart from them and then being a ’single mom’ – but I’ll have six months in LA to figure out afterschool activities, sitters, etc. before Donna and Jason arrive. I also thought it was important for them to help with pick out the apartment, etc. so that when we are apart they can visualize where I am and what I’m doing. Thank God for the Internet! We’ll be able to talk, exchange videos, pics  and emails so easily and cheaply!

So that’s the plan. If any of you are familiar with L.A., I’ll take advice on good neighborhoods and schools in the area! (Hopefully within a reasonably insane commute to downtown where FIDM is located.)

Short version: My mid-life crisis.

 Long version: I hit 40 last year and realized two things: I need to get out of Korea (where I’ve been for 13 years now), and I need to change jobs. Like most people who hit the big, scary 4-0, I looked back at my life and wondered about the paths not taken. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved all the travel, experiences and friends I’ve had. I just realized that I never actually used my artistic creativity for any useful, purposeful endeavor, and that I REALLY, REALLY needed to. I’m burned out with teaching and don’t feel like I’m “learning” anything new. I need to be making things. I need to make beautiful things. I can’t spend the next 25 years of my life NOT making things on a daily basis.

 A combination of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, PROJECT RUNWAY and a book I was researching with a 19th-century seamstress heroine made me realize that it was clothing design I really wanted to get back into. If you knew me in high school, you might remember that fashion designer/fashion illustrator was my number one career choice. I didn’t end up pursuing it — partly because girls from mid-Michigan don’t go to New York and become successful and partly because I was the first person in two generations of both sides of the family to get a college degree.

 To make a long story somewhat shorter, I was loaned a sewing machine from a friend, I started haunting Seoul’s fabric market, and I audited a class in pattern-making (in Korean!). I also applied to — and was accepted by — the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles (with a merit scholarship). They have a 15-month program where all my classes will be scheduled for two days a week so I can also work part-time in the industry and come out with an associate’s degree (with professional designation) and combine technical skill, creativity and 16 years of management experience (what else is a teacher but a mananger of 20-year-olds?) into a new career.

So I’m changing countries, cultures and careers all in one fell swoop, beginning July 2008 (school will start in Oct.). So the blog is a chronicle of all of this change. My decision to make such a sudden change has a lot of people saying, “You’re so brave!”

My response is: “Brave. Stupid. It’s a very thin line.”

So follow the blog and see which it turns out to be!