Birthday meerkats

My son turned two a few weeks ago. Amazing! We had a family party at our house on the day of his birthday (since it was a Sunday), and I managed to squeeze in a few crafty things. I tried to think of something that a toddler would actually consider a fun, special treat for a birthday party. Well, something he likes to do, but rarely gets to, is pull out Kleenex. So how about he gets a whole bunch of his very own Kleenex boxes he can pull as much from as he wants? In addition, when we've taken him to the zoo, his favorite animals were the meerkats. So I made meerkat Kleenex boxes!



I drew this using these photos as reference [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and got it printed on the new wrapping paper option at Spoonflower. (You may recognize the background as being the same one I used for the brolgas, in a more "dried grass" colorway.) The rows are five inches tall to match the boxes, so I just cut them in to strips and glue-sticked them on. I also tried to make the repeat match the circumference of these boxes, but I made an error somewhere so it's about 1/4" too long. Oh well!

Continuing the meerkat theme, I also made meerkat cupcakes.



These are banana bread. I was originally going to try to make cream cheese frosting and color it with jam, but then I saw the speculoos (like ground up cookie paste) at Trader Joe's and used that instead. No mixing needed! The ears and eye patches are quartered prunes, and the eyes and noses are blueberries. I have wonderful memories of all the themed decorated cakes my mom made for my birthday each year, and even though my son is too young to request his own, I had a lot of fun continuing the tradition.

However, I think my son's favorite part of his birthday was that we removed the baby gate blocking off the kitchen for the day, to make it easier to serve lunch to everybody. The side effect of course, was that he could wander in whenever he wanted and open all the cabinets. That was just beyond exciting.

Geek chic, a fit of pique, and candle mystique, so to speak

It's "Fabric8" time again - the yearly contest run by Spoonflower where the winner gets to make a mass-produced fabric collection for Robert Kaufman. This year's theme was geek chic. For some reason they always schedule these so that the Fabric8 contest closes on the same day as a normal contest (so one evening is the final deadline for two contests). They pick 100 entries out of the lot (750 or so this year they said!) and we all get to vote on those. The top eight go on to make a mini-collection of four fabrics and then we all vote again in a few weeks. Anyway, just like the last time (and the one they did with Timeless Treasures but the same setup), sadly I didn't make it into the voting round. I'm a little more sad about this one than the previous times, because I did feel that mine had a unique point of view. It did seem that the glasses/bowties/mustaches axis was, shall we say, amply represented. In any case, I'm happy with how mine turned out.

My idea was to make literal the names of some of the most common programming languages and put them all together. Take a gander and see if you can puzzle them out:



So, it's coffee for Java, and fancy scrolly initial J's on the coffee cups for JavaScript. The rubies and pearls are for, well, Ruby and Perl. In the background are sea-colored pairs of plus signs, for C++, and shells, for shell script.

My favorite entry was this isometric arrangement. A close second were these colorful icons. I also liked these two very dreamy patterns, and these two very cute ones. None of those made it into the final eight, alas.

The contest that closed last week was to inaugurate the new option to print on wrapping paper instead of fabric - a pattern for birthday paper! I figured most people would go more towards designs for kids, so I wanted to make something you wouldn't be embarrassed about using for an adult. I wasn't sure what, so I was browsing birthday-themed palettes on Colourlovers and found this one:


Color by COLOURlovers

Perfect! It immediately made me think of candles in a darkened room, so that's what I went for.



This came in 43 out of 226, with 154 votes. Not too shabby! Obviously there were a lot of other candle-themed entries, of which I liked this best; for the other predominate theme, of cake, this was my favorite. My favorite overall was this confection of birds and flowers, that came in sixth, and the one I'd be most likely to use to wrap a gender-neutral present is the one that won..

Chickens of the sea

Two contests to catch up on! First, the challenge was chickens, but using a Pop Art style in some manner. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, but I knew there'd be a ton of those references, so I thought some more. I tried to think of something in pop culture that had lots of appeal - and then I remembered the famous collaboration where Takashi Murakami made a super-colorful (and apparently astonishingly expensive) version of the Louis Vuitton handbag. So I decided to remake that print with chickens and chicken-related stuff.

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I'm a little disappointed how this came out. It uses the same colors, but is much more leaden and garish than the original. I think a big part of the problem is that Murakami's uses much more negative space within the repeating icons. I could go on about the shortcomings, but it doesn't do to be TOO self-deprecating on my own blog. Oh well, another for the "redo someday" file!

This came in 63 out of 199 with 111 votes, so it actually did pretty well. My favorite entries were these two graphic, outlined, collage-style montages (the first of which came in fifth). I also really like these understated chicken feather dots. The funniest was this take on the chicken crossing the road. As expected, some of the most common themes were takes on Roy Lichtenstein's comic book panels and Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroes. My favorites of each of those were this and this, respectively.

Then, this week's contest was one of those where we're given a set of colors to use:


Color by COLOURlovers

Plus, the theme was "sailing." Originally I wanted to try doing a bunch of different knots, but I started with the figure-eight knot and liked it so much I stuck to just that one.



This came in 41 out of 247 with 198 votes - definitely one of my better showings! There were some other knot entries as well - my favorite was this large print (that came in eighth), though I liked the little ditsy one too. There were also a few appearances of nautical code flags, of which I liked this one the most. I also really liked these textured seagulls, the flotsam and jetsam print, the ships in bottles (that came in fifth), and this cutesy illustration reminiscent of old tattoos.

The most common type of design was of course scattered prints of boats on a water-like background, with various other evocative icons. My favorite was this one that used crosshatching to cleverly give the appearance of more colors - and indeed, that was the overall winner this week. Tied for second in my mind are this in a modern, flat style, and this very cute one with excellent typographic elements.  I also really liked the treasure map and this one with stylized schools of fish. And these two had a great sense of movement (the former of which came in fourth). As usual, the limited palette contests always seem to draw out a ton of really great entries!

Project Runway Season 11 Episode 13 (Finale Part 1)

Before the designers are sent home with $10K to make a twelve-look collection. They are told to make it a fit for the Fall season, and focus on outerwear. I can't recall them ever getting those kinds of specific targets on previous seasons of the show, but I could just be forgetting. Michelle in particular is ecstatic about the outerwear aspect.

Next, we have one of the most charming segments of each season - the mid-collection home checkup from Tim Gunn. First, a visit to Patricia in Taos, NM. He gets a lovely home-cooked feast with her family in theor traditional adobe home, and gets to see her huge amazing studio. As usual with her, she has a ton of different techniques going on. Tim steers her away from the most literal and crafty of the things she shows him - a bunch of little paintings she was going to piece together.

Next, he goes to Michelle in Portland. He likes her lone wolf/huntress/final kill collection, but warns her from over-designing. In particular he is not so sure about a sweater with a literal bleeding heart image knit into it. Michelle puts up a confident face for Tim, but confides to the camera that she is way behind where she wants to be.

Next, we're off to see Daniel in Austin, where he's grown Neil Gaiman hair. (Or as Tim Gunn describes it, "you look like a chia pet!") Daniel's inspirations are the cosmos (i.e. astronomical images), Berlin, and Salvador Dali. Tim likes it, but warns him off one light blue cashmere jacket that he can't heap enough insults on - it's simply horrible, brings down the collection, get rid of it!!

With Stanley, the item Tim gets him to edit out is an orange dress. His inspirations are the sixties and Renaissance Spain, and he has "so much fab, he has to edit it down," to which Tim replies "It's a high-class problem!" Tim also lets Stanley know that, to all of the other three designers, HE is the number one competition.

Fast forward to just a few days before the final show, and the designers are summoned to a penthouse in New York. It turns out Daniel is still holding a bit of a grudge with Michelle about their time together (i.e. the whole "21-year-old" rant), and they have to have a very awkward conversation about leaving the past in the past before it gets smoothed over again. Next, it's off to the workroom so everyone can peek at what everyone else has done so far. It's immediately apparent that Stanley has a ton of work to do. Patricia thinks Daniel's is too safe. Daniel thinks Michelle's is trying too hard. Stanley simply notes that Patricia's is "not [his] style." Michelle thinks Stanley has set himself up for failure, since the producers are sure to spring something on them that will interfere with all his remaining sewing.

The task before them now is to pick three looks to send out as a mini collection, which will be the basis of the judges deciding the final three. And once again they get other designers as sewing helpers. Stanley is happy to get Richard again - apparently Richard's supposedly limited skill set is still what Richard needs even though Patricia found it utterly lacking for her purposes. Daniel is pleased to work with Samantha, and hopes she will help youthen up his work. Michelle is happy with Amanda, and Patricia is also happy with the (very pregnant!) Layana, and is ready to have her plunge right in and sew on sequins.

Tim warns of Michelle from including ALL of the clip-on bags that go on one of her coats. She decides to ignore that advice, however, since she can always remove them during the judging if the judges think it's too much. She sees that Stanley's collection has that Old Hollywood glamour but "the volume is not turned up." Tim has tried to advise Stanley to show a little more skin (on his models, that is, not himself...) but Stanley isn't buying it since it is, after all, a collection for fall.

Patricia shows off her amazing horsehair headpieces. Tim Gunn looks at them silently, blank-faced, for a long moment. Finally, he says, "I'm having a positive response." Well, I guess most people would have smiled and said "I like it!" Her clothes, however, are not quite coalescing. She still has a lot in progress, so her options for the first three looks are limited. Tim does convince her to not use the plaid leather shirt, as it doesn't seem to go with her other two and looks "lumberjack-y."

Daniel is not seeming worried even though he's having lots of fit issues with heavy fabrics that can't be let out. Michelle also wishes she had left more seam allowance in some of her pants. Layana is very concerned about Patricia's stuff and has whispered conferences with Samantha while Patricia is in the sewing room. Stanley is getting very stressed about finishing his garments, so he's getting in barking mode again with Richard, causing the other designers to roll their eyes.

But, as always, they do all get their stuff walking down the runway.

Stanley:

• A lace jacket, bronze shirt, and shiny pants
• A gold dress with black beading around the neckline - this was by far my favorite of this three.
• A black leather coat over a top and skirt with huge rhinestones

Patricia:

• A dress with a leather bodice and feather-printed skirt, with a floaty feather-printed scarf
• The knockout look - black leather pants and cape, with horse-hair tufts
• A blue chiffon dress covered in square petals all over, and both large and small sequins - with that head piece. It had some good bounce when the model walked!

Daniel:

• A plunging peplum jacket and leather capri pants - styled with a fedora that somehow makes it all look like a very luxe Raiden from Mortal Kombat.
• A very blah black knit sweater with tuxedo pants with a stingray-skin stripe down the side
• A black apron dress with more stingray on the T-back

Michelle:

• A sweater knit with a geometric wolf pattern, with a slinky blouse, jeans, and leather CHAPS!
• A silk dress with a quilted breastplate and neoprene skirt
• The black coat with built-in hardware allowing three (or four?) different bags to be clipped on, with quilted pants

Patricia's collection was definitely the most like clothes I would ever want to wear. Michelle's had a very strong steampunk/Firefly vibe going on. Daniel's and Stanley's were much more conventional - the shiny black clothes you see in magazines all the time.

The judges are pretty happy with Michelle's. They wish for more color, and do indeed think all the bags together on the coat is too much, but like the range (casual to dressy) and love the wolf sweater. Overall their comments sound like advice on how to style it (like putting a shirt underneath the jacket!) than criticisms that could lead to an elimination.

Daniel included stingray skin on all of his outfits, which is apparently expensive and very hard to deal with. The judges appreciate that he took on that challenge, but are underwhelmed. They've seen that dress many times and the sweater has no shape or drama. They deem his effort the most disappointing.

Their issues with Stanley are much the same as with Daniel. Not enough ideas, too little wow, proportions not quite sexy or modern, not young or hip. Some elements, like the zipper up the back of the skirt, are passé. With Stanley though, they feel the styling is a large part of the issue, and they do like the cohesiveness and luxuriousness.

For Patricia, as usual Heidi loves her (especially that cape!) and Nina can barely contain her rage that such a person is still on the show. The blue dress (with headpiece) is described as a Tina Turner Smurf, or something out of Dr Seuss. They aren't fond of her styling and get the sense from this three-look sample that there's no way her full collection could be cohesive. There are special details, but they get overshadowed. Nina is just not buying it, but Heidi says she'd rather see Patricia's show than "one of the snooze boys!"

Backstage, Michelle has convinced herself that they're not going to eliminate anyone - that all four will get to show their collections and be considered. Which brings up the question - what was the plan with the eliminations? If Michelle hadn't been given her second chance and had been eliminated for her so-called "t-shirt and pants", then we would have been down to three at this point already. So were they already planning on leaving on designer behind in New York for the "whirlwind European tour" episode? Or was it really an unplanned reprieve they way they would have us believe?

Michelle is in. Patricia is in. (Apparently Heidi carried the point!) Stanley is in. And, alas, Michelle is wrong - Daniel is out. The previews for part two of the finale would have us believe that Stanley still has a TON of work left to do on the rest of his collection. Plus, Michael Kors will be back to judge the finale! In celebration, go watch his most iconic quips.

Project Runway Season 11 Episode 12

For the final challenge of this season, they blow the minds of the contestants by telling them they will each go to a different European country to find inspiration. Start the squee-ing now! Daniel in particular is about to vibrate himself into an alternate dimension. Michelle, being on double not-secret probation, isn't going anywhere - they only have tickets for four contestants, not five. So she'll just have to be inspired by New York.

Layana is going to Barcelona, Patricia is going to Paris, Daniel to Berlin, and Stanley to London. And inevitably, they must each have another contestant go with them. At least here the producers have been kind, and have come up with pairs who are genuinely friendly with each other. Layana will be accompanied by Samantha, Patricia by Kate, Daniel by Amanda, Stanley by Richard, and Michelle by Tu. Tu messes up his own reveal by popping out to the runway too early, cracking everyone up.

The specific challenge is to make a high-end runway look, using $1000 worth of fabric bought at their foreign destinations. (Watch out for those exchange rates!) The editing is deliberately vague on how long they're on their little trips, but it's clearly as short as possible. Each pair gets a little bus tour of the main attractions of the city and then a visit to a fabric store. The incredibly cliched music choices for the "oh, look, it's City X!" montages were cracking me up, though. Berlin got "oompa oompa" polka-like music, Barcelona got classical guitar, and Paris some cartoony accordion music. London, however - was Papageno's song from The Magic Flute? Random.

Meanwhile, Michelle has time to sit alone in her room and think herself into a funk, and then goes on a little bus tour with Tu and buys fabric at Mood - leather and cashmere, specifically. She gets inspiration from the mix of old and new skyscrapers - brick vs. glass and all that. Patricia is inspired by the street art, and everyone else is just going with "architectural details" from the well-known buildings and monuments in their cities.

While buying fabric, Stanley is having some issues calculating exchange rates in his head. Daniel can't find any of the leather or silk he was planning on so has to make do with what that particular store has. Patricia is very unfocused and is buying a ton of different fabrics - and having issues with the language barrier when trying to return some to get under budget. Samantha, trying to help Layana move some bolts around, accidentally hits a clerk in the face. Whoops!

Finally, we get some shots of each pair in turn, having a beverage in a scenic spot, reflecting on how lucky they feel. They head back to the workroom on clouds of bliss, cooing and laughing at each other nearly incoherently. Michelle now faces the worst point of her not-quite-eliminated punishment, as she has to listen to all of it in stony silence. Happily, she's able to recover as the work progresses and she feels better about her garment.

The companion designers stick around as sewing helpers for the remainder of the challenge. Patricia is making a jacket of dozens of different fabrics all bunched up together, to emulate the layers of street art. Daniel is making thigh-high leather boots to go with his look, which Michelle thinks look like a costume hooker. Tim likes how Stanley is making a dress that looks monastic from the front, but has the surprise of a mostly-bare back. Michelle is debating whether to give her (very expensive!) cashmere a painted treatment to echo a soot-stained building, and Tim encourages her to go for it. Tim (and everyone else) is worried that Layana has too much work left. At the end of the day, we're treated to many shots of concerned faces over Layana's shoulder.

But, she does manage to finish. She sends out a black and white lace jacket over black pants and a peachy pink blouse with loooooong sleeves. Michelle has made a cashmere dress (though the dying technique ended up being a little too timidly applied, so she is worried it looks merely dirty) with a quilted leather breastplate. Stanley's look is a black dress with a cape, which he oddly hasn't told his model to remove, so the back detail of the dress isn't very apparent. Patricia sends out a poofy layered jacket and black pants. Daniel's high boots are shown under a dress with the skirt long on one side and short on the other, and a white vinyl jacket.

To Michelle's great relief, the judges really like hers and call it a comeback. Heidi, however, doesn't like the "dirty horseblanket" effect of the painting technique. They also like Stanley's - the glimpse of luxury from the leather sequin lining, the elegant front, the surprise back. Even the styling is good. The praise is enough that he actually smiles! Daniel's also gets a good reception - they like that the white vinyl jacket and tall boots make it look younger and hipper than what he usual produces.

The panel is not fond of Patricia's or Layana's. Patricia's is lumpy, dumpy, messy, and collapsed-looking, and her pants are hemmed unevenly. It's trash couture, but not in a good way, and they are underwhelmed. Layana's sleeves are an eyesore, the jacket looks like an old lady's housecoat, and it doesn't have any of the color, passion, or heritage of Barcelona. The model looks like she could be Layana's mother. The judges actually like just the pants and blouse better without the jacket there at all, even though Layana meant the blouse as a throwaway. Layana doesn't really have anything to say back and just stands there with an embarrassed smile. After they're backstage, she cries about it, and says she'd rather let it stand on its own than try to argue with them.

Next, everyone has to name the two other designers besides themselves they want to see in the finale. Patricia, Layana, and Daniel all name Stanley and Michelle. Stanley says Daniel and Michelle, and Michelle says Stanley and Layana. So everyone thinks Stanley and Michelle should go!

Heidi continues to be Patricia's main supporter, and horrifies Nina by suggesting she'd wear Patricia's jacket on the cover of Marie Claire. ACK! Nina accuses Layana of being too commercial and getting lost in high fashion, and then criticizes Patricia for not realizing that clothes are for buying, not looking. Huh? As usual, Nina's real-clothes-but-not-too-real "strike zone" is reeeeeeeally hard to to hit.

No surprise, Stanley, Daniel, and Michelle are safe and through to the finale. Patricia is also in! Layana is eliminated. Now, it's time to send everybody home to make their finale collections.

Project Runway Season 11 Episode 11

It's down to just five designers, who are relieved to get an announcement from Heidi that they will now be working as individual designers. Importantly though, that's how she phrases it - not that they WON'T be in teams. Hmmm. Yes, it's that time already - to bring back previously eliminated designers as their assistants!

It's also time for the obligatory visit to the Hearst Building, to reinforce the show's ties to Marie Claire magazine by having them make a look that will be in a MC editorial, worn by the show's latest B-list starlet. Nina stresses that she doesn't want to see red carpet, or just t-shirt and pants. With helpful sound effects added to the soundtrack as punctuation, she rolls on - it should be bold in shape! Ding! Bold in color! Ding! Bold in print! Ding! Bold in silhouette! Ding! Do not disappoint or embarrass Nina! So we have our "gun" in the style of Chekhov - which of these directives will be egregiously violated by the time we're done?

Speaking of disappointment, it's time to pair the designers with their assistants.Everyone is hoping to not get Richard. Stanley is happy to get Tu, and Michelle is happy with Amanda. Daniel gets Samantha, Layana gets Kate. Poor Patricia...in one of the most cruel acts perpetrated by the producers on this show, she is indeed stuck with Richard. She already looks like she's going to cry again at this point. She's sure that she must now scale back her design ambitions in order to have anything that Richard can help her with, since he only has the ability to sew with knits.

The Stanley/Tu dynamic also takes a downward turn from the start, as Stanley gets more and more commanding, issuing Tu very terse directives and corrections. Finally he's just barking things like "IT'S WRONG" as if Tu were some desperate employee beholden to him. Tu gamely soldiers on under the workload as the other designers cluck their tongues.

Meanwhile, having some more time working with Richard hasn't made Patricia feel any better about it. Richard wants all his instructions demonstrated to him visually, rather than simply spoken, eating away even more of Patricia's time and patience. She is feeling more and more stuck. Fortunately Tim is able to help her rethink her fabric options. Richard seems to remain clueless that he is the cause of Patricia's stress and constant re-planning.

There's a funny little exchange between some of the models. Patricia's model catches the eye of Michelle's, and nods at the model wearing Daniel's outfit. She mouths "do you like that?" Michelle's model looks over, looks back, and makes the "so-so" hand wave. They trade nervous grins.

At the end of the work time, Samantha finishes her work with Daniel and kindly jumps in to help Patricia. Stanley is still cracking the whip and yelling abuse at Tu.

Daniel has produced a day-glo yellow short suit with giant shoulders. Layana's dress is pieced leather plates on top, floaty on the bottom. Michelle sends out a floaty, transparent wraparound belly shirt with baggy green pants. Patricia's short, light blue dress has one shoulder and some strips of short-fringed leather, that overall looks rather hastily made. Stanley's output is a leather jacket, print shirt, and very high-waisted, extremely fully-hipped culottes.

Ack! The directives! Nina decrees that even though Michelle's outfit is unlike anything an actual human being would wear in public, it is still too much like "a t-shirt and pants" and is therefore unwelcome. I actually thought it was quite good looking, in the editorial sense - I could more easily see it in a magazine spread than any of the others besides Stanley's. But no matter, to Nina it is not strong or special and felt like a throwaway.

Daniel's also doesn't fare well. The exposed hook-and-eye closure of the jacket is a bust, and overall it looks too Victoria's Secret, too gimmicky, too Easter, too FTD florist, too Star Trek! Patricia's is deemed not flattering enough to Random Starlet's "rockin' bod." She does bring up the whole Richard fiasco, and in a change from the usual, when teamwork issues usually make the judges MORE critical of the team leader, she actually manages to explain it so that they (correctly) sympathize with her, and understand that Richard was truly more a hindrance than a help.

Both Stanley's and Layana's receive praise. Layana's evokes the Hearst building architecture in a flattering way. Stanley's looks fresh, elegant, and expensive, and demonstrates good time management. "Of Tu!" Stanley says smilingly. The other designers laugh uncomfortably but nobody decides to cause drama by implying that Stanley demanded, perhaps, TOO much of Tu.

Layana and Stanley are safe. Stanley wins! Then they announce Patricia is in. There is SHOCK HORROR in the green room when Patricia joins the other three instead of Michelle. But as it turns out, the judges have decided to not eliminate Michelle yet - they are giving her one last chance, yet to be explained. So the shaken and drained Michelle has to rejoin them and pass on the mystery, unable to share in their relief and happiness.

Next time, we find out just what Michelle is up against, and whether she'll be able to get through it.

Project Runway Season 11 Episode 10

Episode 10 starts with a field trip to the Guggenheim Museum. I had a few seconds of intense confusion - isn't that in Washington, DC, not New York? Didn't I visit it when we traveled to DC when I was a teenager? But no, I was thinking of the Hirshhorn, a different round art museum. They actually get to tromp around the Guggenheim all by themselves, no other visitors. Sweet deal! Anyhow, they can pick their inspiration from anything in the museum.

They are rearranged into pairs. Stanley and Michelle are happy, and Richard is very optimistic being paired with the artsy Patricia, leaving Daniel and Layana as the last two. This is the "make your own fabric" challenge, and this time each pair will be making just one fabric design, instead of each designer making their own. Using said fabric, each pair needs to produce one look that's wearable art, and a second that's a commercial companion piece.

Right away, Patricia and Richard are having issues, as Richard seems to think that Patricia, as the "artsy" one, will completely drive this challenge, so he'll let her decide everything and then just come up with his commercial look based on what she does. So she's not getting any sort of suggestions or feedback from him.

Once back in the workroom, they have an hour to work together to design their fabric. An hour! I know that's what they always have, but I'm still incredulous. No wonder their designs are almost always pretty unappealing. Layana and Richard start making a red, white & blue design, but end up making overlapping yellow and gray rectangles. Michelle draws a screaming face that she at least rotates in repeat to make it into a four-way design. Patricia makes a really huge print of earth-toned triangles.

Once the work starts, things get even worse on the Patricia-Richard front. He's still totally lost and doesn't "get" what Patricia is doing, so he spends ages creating and fussing over a bracelet instead of starting on anything of his own. Patricia is getting more and more frustrated but gamely soldiers on. Daniel and Layana don't have as much of their print as they want - Layana gets almost all of it, and Daniel has to make do with a little scrap.

At Tim's visit, he gets "chills" at the long train Michelle is creating for the art piece. He calls out Richard for not doing anything, and actually accuses him of "gaming" - that is, failing on purpose in hopes of getting Patricia eliminated. He denies this, but doesn't seem particularly outraged at the suggestion. Layana has by now fallen into a hole of self doubt and feels like she's out of her comfort zone.

Stanley quips that an art piece shouldn't fit into a cab - and by that standard his team is in pretty good shape. All the designers make quips about Richard trying to put in a zipper - he's stretching himself by not working in jersey for once (get it? stretching? ha ha!) but is struggling. Can he even do it? And, the best part, he doesn't even end up using that bracelet in the final look.

Layana's art piece is a poofy mermaid-shape gown with a sundress-like neckline, all in their rectangle print, with a black tulle overlay. Daniel's commercial look is a black jacket (which nearly goes without saying for him at this point) with a tulip skirt, also in their print with a tulle overlay.

Patricia's is definitely the most arty of the museum pieces, with her very patient model covered in a veil and with her arms bound to her sides, like she's been mugged by Christo. Richard's blah companion is a tank in their print and a terrible pleated hobble miniskirt.

Michelle's art piece has her usual urban warrior feel, with a high neck, a swirly hat, and a painted bubblewrap skirt. She had an even more outrageous hat, but was eventually convinced it was a hair too far, so she wore it herself to the judging. Stanley has made a calf-length babydoll with nice volume and movement.

Michelle and Stanley are clearly in the top - the judges love their pieces, and it's obvious that they worked well together, especially when Stanley thanks the judges for pairing him with Michelle. They are not fond of Richard's look, and are mixed on Patricia's - though Heidi is quite fond of it. It is readily apparent, however, that things are not so peachy on the teamwork front for those two.

For Layana and Daniel, the judges don't really like their print, and feel the art piece is too costumey and Eliza Dolittle-ish. Heidi likes the commercial look though, and points out that Daniel's lack of fabric forced him to make a shorter skirt than he otherwise would, thereby skewing his look younger. However, Daniel makes it sound like their work breakdown was much more separated than it really was, and doesn't make clear how much Layana contributed to that look, causing her to break down in tears backstage from feelings of betrayal.

Stanley is named the winner! Richard and Patricia are the bottom two, and poor Patricia starts sobbing just before Heidi announces who is out, forcing Heidi to pause and therefore stretch out the moment even longer than they normally do. But fortunately for Patricia, Richard is the one eliminated.

Next episode, there are only five designers left - so how much further can they keep going with the team concept?