Dress #33 Cincinnati

So here's the extra dress for the year---Cincinnati, the place I name when someone asks "Where are you from?" A great city during the 50s and 60s; I have many fond memories, but haven't been back in probably 35 years. Can't someone have a conference or a big show there?

Dress #32 Zipper Dress

I've seen many zippers in fashion recently. Both the working and non-working kind. Sometimes the sipper teeth are used as an edge. This little dress is definitely the non-working kind, as it is entirely made from paper.

Dress #31 Mood Fabric

This is the most beautiful, wool gauze fabric from Mood Fabrics in New York. I'd love to have this same style---a skirt with a popover top---in real life. And maybe I will this year.

Dress #30 Academy Awards

Just in case I'm invited to the Academy Awards tonight, I thought I should have a dress. After all, we do watch a lot of movies. This gold lame is the only fabric in the atelier that seemed suitable. To the best of my recollection, I bought it 20 years ago for a party tablecloth that never happened.

Dress #29 Piecrust Hem with Cinnamon and Sugar Overlay

The weather this week was so warm---daffodils in bloom in the park---but today it is windy, and feels like fall! Jeff wanted a pumpkin pie, presenting us with an opportunity to make a little dress, too.

Dress #28 Black and Tan Coatdress

I've loved this fabric since the moment I saw it, but never found the right use for it. A simple coatdress with belt.

Dress #27 Domed Box

This is one of my treasures---a box with a domed lid with this colorful and inspiring dress motif. So far, it is empty, but one of these days I'll find the right thing to secret away in there.

 

Dress #26 Mosaic

I love this mosaic-looking fabric!

Dress #25 Little Black Dress

The classic little black dress for today. Easy to make, easy to wear. A touch of lace and that's it.

Dress #24 Casual Monday

A casual shirtdress for this Monday. A bit like corduroy, don't you think?

Dress #23 Pringles

I needed some tubes for a Girl Scout project. PVC pipe? Too heavy and too expensive. Pringles? On sale at Safeway!

Dress #22 Black and Tan

Just a simple black and tan dress. I like the belt twist.

Dress #21 Jacket Dress

Black and white and red. Always an elegant combination.

Dress #20 Amsterdam

When we visited Amsterdam a few years ago in February, I wondered about the canals and ice skating. Yesterday, I read that the canals had frozen for the first time in many years, and my thoughts of there reminded me of a small paper bag I'd saved from a souvenir purchase. I scanned the bag, printed the image on a piece of fabric, and this dress is the result.

Dress #19 The Tube

Again with the black and tan. Obviously, a bit of recycling using an empty toilet tissue tube.

Dress #18 Paris Map

There is no better present for my sweetheart than Paris---so here's a tailored dress made from a Paris map fabric.

Dress #17 Pink and Red Paper

OK. I don't like this one. But one every day, means one every day. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I'm also tired of Valentine's Day.

Dress #16 M&Ms

Another Valentine's Day scheme. I love the special M&M color mixes---especially Valentine's Day and Easter. Luckily, I don't eat them, and luckily, another team member does!

Dress #15 Strapless Red Lace

Oooh, la la! Strapless red lace for Valentine's Day? Why not? Channeling my inner vamp...

Dress #14 Embroidery

Embroidery machine is working again---just needed a new card reader/writer box. When this design was published on the Urban Threads website, I knew it was meant for one of my 365 dresses. Ooops. This is leap year, so I have to do 366! Love this dress, design, color---all of it. Here's the link to the design: http://www.urbanthreads.com/product_details?product_id=8847

Dress #13 Sweater Day

This morning someone posted something on Facebook about this being National Sweater Day as decreed by the World Wildlife Federation. So, of course, I decided that today we'd have a nice, warm, fuzzy sweater dress. Again it is about 6" from turtleneck to hem.

Dress #12 Basic Gray

Just a lovely gray dress that can be accessorized in many different ways. Today it is worn with our monogrammed belt. Since I forgot to put the quarter for scale (again!) I'll tell you this one is 6" from center back neck to the slightly-below-knee hem.

Dress #11 Paris Metro Tickets

This is not my favorite style---the tailored shirt dress---but something I wanted to try. The dress is made from used Paris Metro tickets (thanks, Kim and John) and doesn't qualify as origami because of a little glue and scissors. This little dress is just shy of 3" from center back neck to hemline.

Dress #10 Thread Scribbles

Black on tan--one of my favorite combinations---and just sketching with the sewing machine. Easy, and ripe with opportunity to do even more. Linen background. I like it. I must remember to breathe.

Dress #9 Thoughts of Summer

Why am I thinking summer? I'm not sure---it certainly has been a mild winter here---unlike Alaska and Europe! The other day I bought sweet pea seeds to start in a sunny window, and today's dress certainly says "summer picnic" to me.

Dress #8 Mousse

I bought some mousse for my hair, and it has this cute little nozzle---looks like whipped cream in your hand. And haven't we all seen dresses for weddings or proms that looked like they were made of whipped cream? Thus today's dress...(Too bad the mousse didn't work for my hair; every time I squirted it out I smiled.)

Dress #7 Shadows

Today's dress is a bit of an accident. I have an embroidery project, but my card reader to my old sewing machine failed. I think it is another casualty of a lightning strike this summer. So sad. Oh, well! I'll replace it---hopefully with one which has a USB port. No more messing around with the exclusive card. But in the meantime, I just set these two cut outs against my iPad, and I like the way they look! Purely accidental.

Dress #6 Yellow Lace

I've always been intrigued by the possibilities of deconstructing doilies, and playing with the pieces. This is just a quick and easy attempt, but I like it. And yellow? I've never really like many shades of yellow, but it is showing up on my radar more and more.

Dress #5 Abby's Grandma

This image, from a card, has an interesting provenance. A colleague and I were talking fashion at a trade show. She mentioned that her grandmother had made some fashion illustrations many years ago, and as a tribute to her, she had made some notecards from the drawings. I was honored to receive a box of them, but they are such treasures to me that I can't think of using them. This is the first of those dresses.