Put this under your glass

This week's contest was to make a fabric that could be cut apart and made into cocktail napkins. The guidelines suggested making 4 1/2" napkins, with 1/4" seam allowances, so the starting fabric squares would be 5". I decided to just make a repeat of 5" squares, instead of making it obvious that you could cut it out into napkins, so that it could look like a patchwork print.

One of the most-viewed designs I've made was the Doctor Who-inspired coordinate. So I decided to add two additional patterns to that set and use them for the napkins, since the colors already have a sort of harvest-y feel.



Added to the Time Lord collars, fourth doctor scarf stripes, and blown up tweed and tartan I had last time, are a bowtie stripe (for the eleventh doctor) and a pinstripe (for the tenth). I also finally uploaded all the individual patterns and you can see them together in a collection here.

It came in 84 out of 182 with 75 votes. I really liked these Mary Blair-ish ones, the jewels, the olives, and the quilt patches. All of the top ten are great, but I especially liked the retro ones that came in third.

ARROW'D!

Last week's contest was for a design that had something to do with arrows. I couldn't come up with anything that was both an appealing design and doable in the time I had, so I went with a simple geometric, which came in 126 out of 221 with 58 votes.



My favorite entry was the winning one: these swirly arrows. I wish it came in more than just plain black and white. Also good were these Frank Lloyd Wright-ish arrows, nicely-done rainbow-fletched arrows, and waves of gradient colored arrows.

The most recent contest was for a boy's novelty fabric in the theme "Be My Hero."  I knew the most common themes would be superheroes and first responders, so I wanted to do something different. I put positive qualities (courageous, thoughtful, etc) into stripes. Hopefully I didn't misspell anything!


They didn't publish the results of this one, other than the top ten, since the winner was decided by Timeless Treasures fabric, who is actually going to produce the design and sell it in stores and all that! So I'm not sure how mine did. My favorite entries were the super shields and the crossed swords.

Project Runway Season 10 Episode 12

Well, we're now two weeks into the new season of Project Runway All-stars, so I guess I had better get caught up on how the regular Season 10 ended.

Episode 12 brings us down to the final five. Heidi introduces the challenge in her craziest, strappiest minidress yet. They are taken to some ritzy estate turned tourist trap called Oheka Castle, where they learn that this is the makeup challenge. They have to make avant garde looks inspired by both the castle and a randomly-assigned "persona" associated with a makeup palette.  Fabio and Chris get "Enchanted Queen," Sonjia gets "Tempting Seductress," Dmitry gets "Wise Mystic," and Mellisa gets "Artsy Muse." So they are somehow supposed to make cutting edge fashion based on some of the stuffiest cliches ever unearthed from a bad fantasy novel?

Sonjia is in deep trouble from the very start, when they get back to the workroom and she discovers that her main fabric purchase - five yards of gold lamé - somehow did not make it back with them. Fabio and Chris are feeling the competition a bit more than the rest, since they're the only ones who have to compete on the same "persona." Fabio likes Chris' take, but Tim is literally rendered speechless when confronted with Fabio's. This inspires Fabio to break down all the stages of Tim's silence: first the breath in, then the chin on hand, then the crossed hands, then the lean back. Eventually Tim is able to say that he thinks it looks sad and flat, and like a costume. He is also not very positive with Dmitry or Sonjia, saying the former is producing a look with no remarkable drama and the latter is clearly stuck and not working up to her potential.

The second day in the workroom, Fabio has literally turned things around by flipping the jacket he's making upside down. Tim loves it, Sonjia hates it, Mellisa thinks it's her biggest competition. Mellisa is having time management issues, Dmitry says "no!" to Sonjia's look, Chris' is reading very 90's, and the other designers think Dmitry's is too ready-to-wear and too similar to what he's done before. Sonjia and Fabio luck out when their looks fit their models right away.

Sonjia makes a green dress with an illusion back. Heidi loves it and says she'd go on the red carpet with it, but Michael hates it and jeers that it's like an old lady's idea of a backless dress.

Chris sends down a black dress with padded hips. The judges like that part but hate the way it flattens the model's bust and feel the arm feathers push it too far into Goth Victorian costume territory. In all, they feel it was a mediocre execution of a good idea.

Dmitry makes a skirt suit with a separate Vampira collar. The judges love the sleeves but say the collar was too much. Heidi likes the peekaboo slit in the back.

Fabio makes a transparent black dress with a smock-like sleeveless burgundy jacket. The judges are pretty fond of the jacket, and once they hear that it was originally the other way, they make him turn it right-side-up again - and they actually like it even better that way. The dress, however, nobody likes - Heidi says it has no beauty and is not flattering.

Mellisa makes an odd outfit combining a vest, a leather shirt, and a huge, long, high-waisted skirt. Michael loves it - it's interesting, flattering, and handles its colors well. However, Heidi hates it and thinks it's ugly.  Nina says the skirt is too long.

Dmitry wins! Sonjia is out. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn't lost her intended fabric? Next week, we get to see what the final four will make for their finale collections.