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Tuesday 25 October 2011

Shoes at a Quilt Show

My face STILL hurts from smiling.  This weekend was just fabulous.  Here is some background of my entries and how it all came together.  As I worked on the dress, I quickly realized they would require matching shoes.  So I went to the thrift store and picked up these navy ones.  They were the right design, but the wrong color, so I painted them!


I cut off the tags and the top foot strap too.  My plan was to re-make one and re-attach it.  This was the 'quilted' part of the entry.  I made some folded fabric.  I made new quilted straps with angelina fibres and some decorative stitches.


I glues then and stitched them on and there they were!  I was so impressed that by heating the fibres... they turned just the right color to match the dress.  (yesss!)


...and that is how you get shoes into a quilt show!  : )  I named this entry, "Knock Your Socks Off!".


The dress... ooh that was a big one.  It began with an idea to incorporate my landscapes onto a dress, which evolved to a few sketches, and then at one point I finally strip-pieced some jelly roll batiks. This became the fabric base from which I cut a corset-style pattern.  The pattern was heavily altered - used as a template.  I edited out a sleeve.  I added hip width, took the gaping neckline and ungaped it.  I added 2 inches to the length of the top and had to reformat the positioning of the loops on the back.  I also added internal hooks & eyes and got rid of the side zipper.  lol  Oh - and then I did it again for the lining, and then again for the batting.  So here are my 'quilt sandwiches' ready to be put together.


Next, I began the initial quilting.  Once this was done, I did some free motion cloud quilting, and lots of thread painting on the bottom.  Here's the backside.

that smudge is gunk from my iron.  Glad it's on the back!!

After adding the back panels, the insert, and all the little loops, I began hand embroidery: french knots and free-form grasses.


There were hundreds of yellow french knots put on this.  After, I added yet another liner, boning, the one sleeve, and I flipped the whole thing right-side out.  WOW.  Then I had to finish the edges.  The single sleeve was heavily embellished with blue lace, sequins, and beads.

work in progress

This blue fabric was hand dyed by Corinne Appleton by the way.  She passed away this past year and an estate sale was put on.  That's how I ended up with it.  After quilting it, I shaded with white and darkened with blue-grey pencil.  The iridescent brown bow helped balance the earthiness of the lower part of the dress.


When I though I was done, I realized that the body of the dress lacked sparkle.  So I hand stitched a lot of gold into the green grasses.  I also couched on some brown & gold yarns by hand.  It was all coming together!!


The last thing to do was lace it up!  I'm not sure where this blue ribbon came from, but it is very old.  It may have been from my friend Irene's grandmother's stash.  This blue was just perfect!!


And that skirt was quick to make.  Flo discovered that fabric and it was PERFECT!  My job was done.  This fabric required no extra anything.


So there you go!  It took weeks and weeks and my brain hurt much of the time... but I did it!  ; )

I'm linking to lots this time around!



(I linked the dress, now I'm linking the shoes)

29 comments:

Heather Lair said...

What a beautiful dress Monika! I am so glad you took pictures the whole way along the process. It is wonderful to see, and read how you altered, sewed, embellished and accessorized!
Awesome!
How does it fit? Have you worn it yet? I think you should wear it to a New Years Ball!
Heather

Judee said...

Thanks for showing us how you did this wonderful piece of art. The shoes are genius!

Bee said...

Wow! Your dress is amazing! The shoes are great too! I agree...Its very interesting to see the in-progress photos.

Jackie said...

Loved the process post... it is soo groovy!
I posted my experiences with the juried process today on my blog... don't worry, it won't happen to you... only me=)

felicity said...

"I did it" - well that's an understatement. I'd say you rocked it. Hard.

Leanne said...

I'm with Felicity- you definitely rocked it! I would love to see a picture of you wearing the dress, it is spectacular.

Kerstin said...

Wow, just wow! This is not a dress, this is a piece of art!

Glenda said...

A Beautiful piece of ART. I really enjoyed the process post, one never stops learning. Cheers Glenda

Corina said...

Nice shoes... and stunning dress! I love it!

Sweet Pea said...

Wow, gobsmacked!

Lynette said...

I never tire of seeing your dress! Thank you for sharing more details. :D

Christie describeHappy said...

So incredible to see how you brought everything together!! I really enjoyed your process and the results are just stunning. Seriously stunning!!

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Wow!!! the imagination and skill you have is incredible!! I am no kidding either....lol. I love the dress; adore it...and the shoes are too sweet..great job done....so much work.

Lee said...

Wow! Monika! That is STUNNING! I don't think I have words for it. : ) Great job, you should be very, very proud.

So what happens to it now - do you get to wear it? : ) (Would you dare to wear it after all that work went into it??) Thanks for linking up to WIP Wednesday!

Dolores said...

Simply, splendid. A true work of art. I don't know how you sewed on the shoes. By hand? It must have been tough going.

Bunny said...

Well this is fabulous you are a true artist and created this wonderful outfit. I love it.

M-R Charbonneau said...

Monika, that is gorgeous! You did a wonderful job on both the dress and the shoes! Fantastic!

Pat Merkle said...

Oh WOW! What a wonderful dress and GREAT shoes!

Unknown said...

Wow! All I can say is... AMAZING!

Sheila said...

The dress is amazing and the shoes are awesome as well , you really did a wonderful job on both !Thanks for sharing the process of how it all came about.

Anonymous said...

Amazing dress. Fantabulous shoes! Loved seeing the steps along the way! Thanks for time the time to share!

Michelle in Saskatoon said...

I echo that last comment, Monika, thanks for taking the time to show the process,

Wendy said...

Stunning dress and awesome shoes!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous--absolutely beautiful handwork and quilting and embellishments. I can see why it took days and days and weeks and weeks, but it has all paid off (and love those shoes, too!). Do you ever read http://scpbanks.blogspot.com? She does a lot of similar elegant and one-of-a-kind clothing and enters it in quilt shoes around the US. You might enjoy seeing it.

Congrats again on a wonderful dress!

Elizabeth E.
http://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

That would be quilt SHOWS, not shoes.

Sigh. It's getting late around here.

Elizabeth E.
http://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

very impressed with your shoes and the vest! well done - and very unique!
Karen

Bernie said...

Awesome job Monika - I am looking forward to a picture of you wearing this stunning dress. It was up there in my top 5 of the show.

Cheryl Coville said...

It's always great to see your process.

Ladydy5 aka: Diane Yates said...

You are an amazing artist.

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