Design Brief for the Semi-Impossible Design Challenge

The departure of wool sweaters and trousers from my wardrobe signal a return to the longer warmer days of spring and summer. Out come the floatier fabrics that shy away from, the darker tones of winter and that seem to dance towards brighter lighter colours and more vibrant and alive prints.  Ahhhhh, spring I have missed you so.

When I was banishing my winter clothes and reuniting with my spring and summer wardrobe, I found a cardigan that I absolute love but have yet to wear. Why,? Well, it is so striking I haven’t found anything that compliments it. Yes, I could wear my winter standby of jeans, but the warmer weather and the vibrant nature of my cardigan seemed to demand more of me.

Ah ha, I thought, this will be the inspiration for this month’s challenge. I should design garments to go with this fabulous cardigan, so my blog readers can vote for their favourite design.

Love the Dreamy Sea-Side Print

I put a close-up photo of the cardigan print on my Facebook page before my Periscope explaining the challenge. I wanted it to act as a teaser. I asked everyone how they thought the image above was going to inspire the next design challenge. One of the loveliest sewists and bloggers on the internet, Faye of Faye’s Sewing Adventure, captured the spirit of the cardigan perfectly in her comment “The cardigan makes me think of summer by the ocean, a bicycle, and a picnic basket filled lunch off to the countryside for a relaxing afternoon.” I will have to try to design from that place.

Designing a garment to co-ordinate with the cardigan would be fun, not too challenging but fun. Part of what I love about each challenge is the feeling of, will this even work. I want to push myself out of my comfort zone, challenge myself to try something new each challenge. So I decided to up the ante.

Swan Dress

There was a t-shirt I came across in my quest to banish all things winter from my wardrobe. When I first saw this T-shirt on the hanger what came to mind was Icelandic singer Bjork and her quirky swan dress. For the 2001 Academy Awards, Bjork wore designer Marjan Pejoski’s dress that very closely resembled a dead stuffed swan crossed with a short tutu. It made all the magazines and appears again every couple of years if anyone is talking about iconic award show fashion. I think Bjork would be pleased. My t-shirt is reminiscent of that dress but tamer and easier to launder. The only thing I could ever think to wear with it was jeans. I thought would be fantastic to make another piece that I could wear with it.

 

Misson Semi-Possible

What do the Swan t-shirt and the European seaside cardigan have in common? Not much.  Both are eye-catching and bold. Just what this introvert needs in her wardrobe to shake things up. One seems like a romantic happy print while the other, makes me think of Bjork and ripped jeans. I thought it would be fun to design a garment that I would wear with both of these garments. I have no idea if it is possible or if the garment I design will suit one more than the other, but I am excited to get started.

The Design Brief

The requirements for this month’s brief:

• I must design, devise a pattern and sew one garment that can be worn with both the Swan Shirt and the Sea-Side Cardigan.
• The garment can be a skirt, trouser, or shorts.
• It must fit my fantastic pear-shaped form. Size 14

My Favorite Season

I am looking forward to wearing the winning garment this summer until the late fall when all the summer clothing disappears, and all I’ll hear is the Game of Throne’s theme song playing in my head with a voice whimpering, “Winter is coming.”

See you next week when the design sketches for this month’s challenge are posted. I cannot wait to see what patternmaking and sewing adventure your vote will take me this month. If you want to be sure that you never miss a chance to cast your vote in a design challenge, subscribe to my newsletter. You will receive a reminder to vote via e-mail and an email at the end of the month with a recap of each month’s challenge.

Do the two shirts used for inspiration for this month’s challenge make you think of anything? Do you like one? Hate both? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Blogger to Watch

Please check out the blog Faye’s Sewing Adventure. She writes about sewing and interviews interesting people about their work. She even interviewed me. She is one of my earliest supporters, a fellow Pericrafter, and a lovely human being.