Mesh Dresses & 80's Accessories

More beautiful images from the young and very talented Desire Kaniki - this time with a little help from The Make Den's own sewing whiz kid, Aziz Vivant. With Desire's vision and Aziz's mad sewing skillz, we whipped these dresses up in a day for some sexy 80's fun in the sun. Using navy blue jersey mesh, and working on the always amazing Janome 1100D serger and 1000CPX coverseamer, we cut the dresses without even having the models measurements! We guesstimated that they all had a 34" hip and 24" waist since models are always smaller than normal measurements. Working without measurements is always risky, even with stretch fabric and Desire brought the models to the studio the morning before the shoot for a few last minute changes (the arms were a little bit too big on Erika's dress) so that everything fit like a glove. These dresses are not hard to make at all with a little serger know-how and some love. Come by and make one yourself! (register for Serger Basics at themakeden@hotmail.com)

Styling: Desire Kaniki
Mesh Dress: Aziz Vivant for The Make Den
Available for sale @ $50~ (or Make it Yourself in Serger Basics)
Model: Erika, Beatrix and Cassandra from Spot 6
Make Up and Hair: Andrew Elek & Chelsea Dutchrack
Photographer: Adam Zivo
Accesories: Fredrick Prince

August Sewing Schedule!

Spaces fill up quickly - sign up for some August Intro to Sewing classes now! Classes are starting on Wednesday August 24th at 11am, 2:30pm and 6pm, and on Thursday August 25th and Friday August 26th at 11am and 2:30 pm, and again on Sunday August 28th from 1-4pm. Classes are 3 hrs long and each session runs for 6 weeks. Email themakeden@hotmail.com to register!

Jenn Mcnaughton: Rising Fashion Star

Here are the final pics from Jenn Mcnaughton's portfolio shoot from Portfolio Prep Camp this week. They're simple but elegant, and show a flare for style and colour well beyond Jenn's age. I was really impressed by Jenn's confidence in her own taste. She chose an understated lavender chiffon and coordinating satin from LA Fabrics in under ten minutes - amazing considering most people spend hours looking for the perfect fabric! It was really fun to see her design come to life and become a reality after two weeks of hard work. Jenn played designer, seamstress and even model for our shoot early on Friday morning.
We shot in the woods (watching carefully for poison ivy!), on the cycling paths and finally in the fountain garden at High Park. There were so many great spots to shoot but the formal hedges and light movement of the fountains matched the pretty elegance of Jenn's dress perfectly. The wind was just light enough to blow the chiffon flounce around and give the dress some movement. Congratulations, Jenn!!!

Black Magic at The Make Den for Prom 2011!

Clark is a model with Spot 6 who was introduced to me by Desire Kaniki, a fantastic stylist who I had worked with on a previous shoot. Clark was looking for a dress that was black lace and chiffon but she wasn't sure if she wanted it short or long, and had a similar problem deciding between a boatneck or a sweetheart neck. We decided the best way to solve the problem was to do both - we went with a short black mini-skirt underneath a long, bias cut chiffon gown. On top, we used the boatneck in black lace to cover a black satin sweetheart bodice. The back has a small cut-out above the zipper where the lace stops short and cap sleeves trimmed with satin bias tape. The best part about working with Clark was her amazing energy and excitement about her prom dress. She really loved the look of the final piece and looked SO beautiful in it. Love you Clark!!!

Make Your Own Prom Dress (in Three Easy Steps)

Step One: Drawing. Plan out your creation. It doesn't matter what you use to draw it on - your sketchbook, watercolour paper or the back of your math notes. And you don't need to be Rene Gruau - just get your idea onto paper so you can work out the ever-so-important little details (like where the zipper is going to go/how much fabric you'll need).


Step Two: Cutting. Cutting can be deceptively simple. While it lacks the creativity of drawing and designing, it can also be an art keeping all of your pattern pieces on the grainline, planning your layout carefully so that there is enough fabric and making sure that asymmetrical pattern pieces are cut right side up (RSU should be marked on asymmetrical pattern pieces so that the cutter knows which side goes up. This becomes even more complicated when you're tracing pattern pieces on the wrong side of the fabric, and the RSU side now goes face down)


Step Three: Sewing. Now it's starting to look like something amazing! Once your pieces are cut out and fused, hold the dress up to yourself as you go to make sure everything is fitting. Leave some extra fabric at the bottom of the dress just in case it's too short - remember, you can always make it shorter but you can never make it longer! If you've cut the skirt on the bias, expect some stretch on one side or the other. Let the fabric hang overnight and then hem it while it's on the dress form or on a person. Mark it slowly and carefully with white chalk so that you can brush it off afterwards with a toothbrush. This is Clark, waiting patiently while I hemmed her dress for her. She wanted to have the front of the dress shorter than the back so that she could show off her awesome shoes. Bias cut chiffon is notorious for being difficult to work with - but it looks awesome when it's finished!

Update: Apparently Prom is Awesome?

Party dresses/fancy tresses/sunglasses at midnight/afterparties/party buses. Who says adolescence isn't just about prom and sparkly dresses? Jess looks like she's having a blast here. She's wearing a cream lace and peach chiffon dress made especially for her - the 1920's inspired flapper hairdo was inspired by this updo at Alternative Fashion Week. Her look has a Vintage/Victorian feel to it, but with a modern, swingy chiffon skirt to bring it up to date. The palette was perfect for her perfectly rosy cheeks and a smokey eye finished the look.
Next up... Clark's black lace dream dress inspired by Elie Saab