Guest Blogging on Spoonflower!

Today I'm excited to share that I'm guest blogging over on the amazing Spoonflower! If you are not familiar, you really outta be. Spoonflower is the magical place where you can design and print your own fabrics, gift wrap and more. I've not ventured down that avenue (yet) but I have purchased fabric created by other creatives there. Case in point, this fabric from dmitriylo. 

This was another dress I created at the start of the school year with fabric from Spoonflower. This fabric was created by seasonofvictory.

So hop on over to the Spoonflower blog and read more about the making of this dress...and how it helped inspire an entire art room transformation! 

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What the Art Teacher Wore #158

What's a "Monday"?: I've not been to school or seen the likes of a Monday in almost two weeks due to some art teacher conventionin  and spring breakerin . It was hard gettin' my Monday-on but with the help of my new most favorite sweater in the world, I did aight. head scarf, blouse and skirt: thrifted; sweater: Buffalo Exchange; belt: Amazon; tights: Target; boots: Anthropologie

I'm not even gonna sugar coat it for y'all: This was the best/worst week I've seen in a long time. I sprouted more gray hairs and counted down to summer/retirement more times than I'm proud to admit. But the happy highlights like an amazing visiting artist and a happy write-up in the Tennessean balanced out the cray. Thank goodness. Cuz it turns out I got a whole lotta years before I can start slingin' back the Metamucil and hangin' in my pj's all day (which is how I plan to spend my retirement. Don't judge). 

Let's talk about the good stuff, shall we? A coupla weeks ago, our local newspaper, The Tennessean sent photographer Shelley Mays and reporter Melanie Balakit to my art room to snap some pics and do some interviewing. Melanie and I chatted at length about my love for creating artist-inspired clothing that I wear in my art room. You can read the article here. Shelley even came to my house and visited my sewing room (pictured above) which was so fun AND meant that I spent a good part of my Saturday frantically cleaning my otherwise disturbingly messy abode before she arrived. It was such a wonderful opportunity to chat and share what I love. Special thanks to Shelley, Melanie and The Tennessean for making me look and sound less crazy than I truly am! 

 Murphy's Law Tuesday: Y'all. If it was gonna go wrong, it most certainly did on this day.  Between an assembly, a fire drill and a visit from the Fire Marshall herself, the day pretty much imploded after the first bell. I just kept applying more red lipstick and attempted to smile thru the trauma. In other news, CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW FREAKISHLY PERFECT MY ART TEACHERIN' DRESS IS?! sweater and scarf: thrifted; dress: vintage, etsy; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; tights: Targs; shoes: Fluevog 

Wednesday, Whatever: After Tuesday, I was all, it can't get ANY worse. Brang it, Wednesday. sweater and headscarf: Anthro, thrifted; skirt: Anthro, not-thrifted; belt: Amazon; tights: ya know, Targs; shoes: aren't they the best thing everz? Aldo

 Thursday, I Always Did Like You: As a kid, Thursdays were always my fave because that's when the Cosby Show aired. Not gonna lie: highlight of that show was seeing what wild outfit Lisa Bonet (aka Denise) would be wearing. She was always my fave. splatter paint dress: made by me! DIY here; sweater: thrifted; shoes: Clarks; palette hair clip: DIY here

 A big part of what made my Thursday awesome was a visit from artist Richard Heinsohn! He's an abstract artist from Nashville who had plenty to share with a third grade class. The absolutely loved him! I mean, check out these smiles...

 After learning about Richard's style of abstract painting, the kids got a taste of their own. I can't wait to share with you what they created. This is the second time my artists have had the chance to learn from a local contemporary artist and I'm so happy that they've had the opportunity. I can tell it's going to have a lasting impact. 

Fri-YAY: Thank goodness. I love my Fridays as they allow me to really catch up. I've started sorting, stacking and framing student work for our GIANT annual art show which is gonna go down in a lil over a month. Routine panic attacks have already set it. Awesome! pencil dress: made by me, DIY here; pencil sweater: needle felted, more here; giant pencil: made by fourth grade, blog post to come!

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DIY: A Colored Pencil Dress (and Bolero!), Many Dif Ways

I know what you're thinkin', "Holy cow, Stephens, another stitched dress?!" (by the way, teacher buddies, don't you love how the minute you became a teacher, every other adult in the school addresses you by your last name? I mean, the only other time I've been called "Stephens" was when I forgot to feign cramps during P.E., walked onto the volleyball court and promptly got whacked in the head with a volleyball. Tho I vaguely recall a "Look out!" before "Stephens" which obvi did me and my molasses reflexes no good.)

Wait. Whut wuz I saying? 

Oh, yes. Another dress. 

Weelllll, don't hate me because I'm so athletic, hate me cuz I scored an entire week off! That's right, y'all. That snow day I mentioned on Monday morphed into a glorious thing called a Snow Week which is just as glittery, sparkly and absolutely divine as it sounds. Especially since we've got built-in days so we won't have to make up for lost time. And especially-especially since this dress has been an UFO (UnFinished Object) in my sewing room for the last coupla weeks and now I can scratch it off my never-ending list of UFOs (y'all. There are so many UFO's up in my sewing room that they are thinking of filming the next X-Files movie in there).

But enough of this rambling (guess who hasn't left the house in 4 days nor spoken to anyone besides the cat and her hubs?!), let's talk dress, y'all! 

So when I showed you this dress, I tole ya that there were three more from the same pattern in the works. This here's dress #2! I've never worked on three dresses at once before and I gotta say, I kinda liked it. The progress was a lot slower, obvi, but I liked working piecemeal like that. I did manage to screw up the pleats every single time on every single dress but, you know. When you work with limited brain capacity, you come to expect such things.

 

The fab fabrics I used were the pencils by Alexander Henry and these scribbles by Ed Emberly. Super cuteness, right? In fact, Anthropologie used that pencil fabric in navy for a skirt they sold last year. I love the color palette of this light green fabric, it's feels very retro to me.

For this dress, I opted to go sleeveless mostly cuz I didn't have enough of the scribble fabric. Which is cray because I always over buy my fabric. This is also how the dress is supposed to be worn. But as you mightah noticed in the early snaps, to make it work with the bolero, I did something a lil different. 

But wait, DID SOMEBODY JUST SAY BOLERO?!

Das right, y'all! I made a wee jacket to go with my dress! I decided I needed a new outfit for the art teachers conference (NAEA for those of y'all in the know) in New Orleans where it might be a lil chilly without sleeves. AND everyone knows a jacket is all kinds of professional-looking which I'm hoping to fool people into thinking I am when I present a whopping four times. Yikes! In reality, I should prolly be working on my presentations...good thing my Magical Totally Professional Looking Jacket will fool folk! 

"Golly, Janet, what was that presentation even about?!"

"I have no earthy idea, Eunice, but it sure was professional. I mean, did you see that jacket?!"

Not to mention, it's reversible, y'all.

Re.Ver.Sah.Bulll.

 

 And I kinda dig it with a lil faux lapel, don't you? It's like a lil peak-o-pencil, know what I'm saying?

 Here's how it's supposed to be worn without the faux lapel. It's a lil too blue with this ensemble. Not to mention between the jacket and the waistband I do look a lil bull-fighter-esque. Toro! Toro! 

Like I said, reversiBULL. It's all coming together now, riiiiight? 

 So the pattern I used was that vintage number shown above. It's called "Advance". Not to be confused with "Advanced" which I would never use. The silly pattern did call for me to do some hand sewing and I was all "whuuuuut?" and the pattern was all, "yeeeeeesssss." But I had to lay down the law. It's 2015, I ain't hand sewing nuthin when I got a machine that can do it in a blink. So my bolero is all sorts of top-stitched where it isn't supposed to be. But whateves, tis the reason I ain't advanced. 

 By the way, tell me honestly, does this look like I have red toilet paper accidentally tucked into the backside of my dress? Well, does it?! A good friend would be honest with me, ya know.

But wearing it this way, with the straps criss-crossed (will make ya Jump!Jump!) around the waist and tied in the back works best when wearing it with the bolero. Says me. AND I kinda dig this look all on it's own. But that's because I'm all about the big fat belt. 

And there ya have it, folks! I promise I won't share another dress post for at least a couple of days (ahem). Until then, stay warm, buddies! 

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DIY: A Lichtenstein Dress That'll Knock You Out

 'Kay, can we all just say it right now: the best part of this ensemble is the hair. Gee, thanks, guys! This is actually what my hair looks like if I don't flat iron it. What?

Since the start of my artworks-turned-frocks journey (frock-works? I need a name, y'all. Whatcha got?), I've had Lichtenstein on my mind. Which sounds totally weird I know but it's the truth, Ruth. His work is so colorfully comic bookish that I just knew it'd be a hit with the kids and I (mistakenly) thought it'd be a snap to complete. Little did I know that the creation of this number would be a descent into applique'in madness. But more on that in a sec. First, more goofy wig/dress pics!

When the applique'in times got tough, I turned to a lil internet shopping to relieve the tension. I just knew this outfit wouldn't be complete without a red belt (Pin Up Girl Clothing, y'all. Check it.) and a crinoline to match (found on the cheap via Amazon). Of course, as the world knows, Target secretly pipes in a magical You-Didn't-Just-Come-in-Here-for-Laundry-Detergent-YOU-ALSO-NEED-A-FOAM-WIG! potion through their air vents thus making it inevitable that I purchase the wig. Although you should try 'splainin that to a hubs. For some reason, they seem to be immune to the magical Target potion. Humph.

Lest you think I only applique'd the front of my frock, oh no, I placed a big ole "POP!" and "BAM!" on the back of my arse. You know, just in case I wake up one morning with a Kardashian can. 

For my "blank canvas", so to speak, I used this cute lil 1980's dotted number that I (re)discovered as I was packing away my summer duds and replacing with my fall-ish ones. I've worn this dress several times and every time I did, I always thought, "this would be so much cuter with a shorter hem" and then I would think "SQUIRREL!" and promptly not alter the dress. This time, howeverness, my first order of biznatch was to hack -n- hem a good 8" off this thang.

By the way, art teacher buddies, have y'all introduced Lichtenstein to your students? I'd love to hear about what projects you've done. I did find my buddy Phyl had created some rad landscapes with her kids inspired by ole 'stein. Check it here, friends. I'm thinking a mural perhaps? Or maybe some painted ceiling tiles (my principal lady is on me to have the kids paint the ceiling tiles. I've never done that. You guyzzz?! Hep me!).

For the action words, I would first sketch 'em out. Then I would stack two pieces of the lighter fabric (because I didn't want the black to show through the yellow so I did a lil double layerin') and one of the back. My sketch was then pinned to the fabric and the cutting commenced. 

BAM! The only easy part.

Playing with the background fabrics was my fave part cuz I'm a girl that loves to play with fabric. Seriously, I think I could happily spend my days just combining (seemingly-random to the normal person, perfectly-matching in my crazy eyes) fabric swatches. After deciding what looked best together, I drew my designs out in chalk and cut them out.

And then the stitching began. Seriously. Didn't I learn anything from the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Dress? Appliqueing the lettering was so unfun. I guess that's why it took me so long to get to this here dress. I had to wait for the wound to heal before giving it another go. 

Not only was there the appliquéing of the letters, but also the black shadow. Oh, and the three layers of fabric. I mean, do I know how to have a good time, or what, y'all?!

I mean, lookie here. Is it any wonder I found myself in the aisles of Target wearing a foam wig and talking to myself (ha, like that's anything outta the ord)? I told you, a descent into appliqué-crazy.

I tried to do the majority of appliqué separate from the dress. This was cuz I knew rotating that lump of a dress around my machine would be most unfun. So I tried to only save that for the outer edges. I do believe I went through three spools of black thread and wound my bobbin at least a dozen times before all was said and done. 

But in the end, I'm super stoked I toughed it out. This just might be one of my fave artist dresses. I even got a lil outta hand and created something to match...but for that, I'll post in yet another photo-heave post. For now, let's just stick to frock-talk, shall we?

Of course, what's a lil Lichtenstein without imitating some of this paintings, riiiiight? I opted outta painting my face (you've seen this, right? Nutz.) but I do have a lil phone prop for times like these (what, don't you?).

"Hello?"

"Girl, this ain't Jeff. This is Jeff's wife!"

By the way, did I tell you that I got Target to taking a whopping 5% off the wig? Yeah, it was a little dingy from being tried on by everyone in state of Tennessee so they took a whole dollar off! I might have head lice but a got a buck in my pocket, yippie!

P.S. One cannot wear this wig without making annoying faces. My apologies.

See? What'd I tell ya?! 

I'd love it so if you'd leave a comment. Especially one that justifies the purchase of a big foam wig. Don't do it for me, do it for the hubs. 

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