PR+P week one: put me in the zoo

you guys. this is it. today’s the day. i’ve been sewing and sewing and sweating and worrying and experimenting and DESTROYING MY ENTIRE HOUSE and it’s finally here.

project run + play starts today, and it was a toughie: put me in the zoo—animal inspired, not costume.

and here’s what i ended up with:

flamingos. but it took me a long time to get there. i sketched and googled (seriously—have you ever done a google image search for “animal inspired fashion”? cue scared face) and as much as the armadillo shoes looked awesome, and the animal shaped hair really got my wheels turning, it was the flamingo that really got to me. i considered a few other birds too (they’re about the only things i enjoy seeing at the zoo), but i knew the pink would be a hit with the girls.

here’s the thing—at first i was completely determined that these dresses needed REAL feathers on them. i researched…well, i can’t even tell you how long i spent looking at various options. i even bought and tried a few. nope. in the end the look i had in mind would have cost a small fortune and been washable, uhh…never. not the best option for little girls.

generally people think of flamingos (at least i did) as being that hot pinky/coraly/salmony color. and they are—but there’s a lot of that lighter color on them. so i ended up with 3 yards of this pale peachy pink knit, and 3 yards of the brighter taffeta-ish material. i say taffeta-ish because i bought them at a discount fabric store for $2/yard and what you save in price you lose in knowledge.

via

so then i started cutting. and cutting. in the end i cut about 350 “feathers” from the knit. yikes. i did it over the course of a few nights in front of some t.v.
 

so on to the nitty-gritty. i hope you’re in this for the long haul because you’re about to get word and photo overload. everything i couldn’t squeeze into the three photos and couple of paragraphs on the pr+p site.

elliot
the self drafted top is made of the knit, completely lined with the taffeta. it has a full skirt in the taffeta, covered with a metric ton of knit feathers. i love that when she spins and moves the darker color peeks out—another little nod to the flamingo. it also has a self slip with a tulle layer for puffiness, and seriously is this weird? but i just love the way her dress sounds. it’s got that ruffley crinkley sound i can’t get enough of. i’m also in love with the back—it has a contrasting button placket with big pinkish rhinestone buttons running from top to bottom.

they were shaking their tail feathers ;)

gigi
gigi’s dress is made from the taffeta in a simple tank style with piping made from the lighter knit running down the front. the back is where i got spicey though—i was playing with the idea of the flamingo’s smoothly feathered body and fluffy backend feathers. so i did a peekaboo cutout and a cutaway skirt, both lined with more feathers. she’s got a separate slip for fluffiness, and then i added a little jacket with a big ruffle around the neck. everything on gigi was self-drafted also.

mid-spin :)

then to wrap it all up—i was determined to get my feathers in somehow, and what better way then little fascinator/hat thingys? i made these from wool felt, stiffened with a water/glue mixture. then they’re covered with more felt to smooth the edges, and a layer of the dark pink tafffeta. i added puffy feathers, a knit flower and some tulle. they’re remarkably light, and with a haircomb glued to the underside they stay in perfectly. even through all the twirling ;)

and in one of my (many, many) runs to joann’s i stumbled across these two little flamingo purses, on clearance. talk about random. they had a dolphin, a cheetah head, and two flamingos. SOLD.

altogether i couldn’t be happier with my look for week one! the only thing i would have changed is the hour we spent driving around looking for a spot to take pictures!!! it was supposed to be 60 degrees that day, and we got primped and ready only to get there and find it was windy and FREEZING! this spot was a little more sheltered and the wind had calmed down somewhat, but it took us an hour of driving to find it. i was running in to just any building/store/hotel/office complex we passed that looked like it potentially had good lighting and open space. (pretty sure the people in the local harley-davidson place thought i was crazy).

so i’ll wrap this up with a link—head on over to project run and play and check out the other ladies entries! i know we’ve all worked so hard and sweated over these outfits, so i’d love you to check them out!