Solved Mysteries of Dressmaking by Vanessa Petey

Holla!

It's been amazing not being in school anymore. I've had time to spend on small details of my commissions and have started thinking about a lot of new endeavours regarding Petey and where we should pick up after that horrifying 6 month hiatus. I watched Coco Avant Chanel today to try and get some inspiration, and I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I recently posted a bunch of photographs of the progression of a prom dress I'm working on on

Facebook for interested parties to see. I got a lot of positive responses because I have fantastic friends, but truly, this dress has gone from being something I had to rush through because I

was i

n school and short on time - to one of the best pieces I've ever made and something I'm really proud of (and hallelujah if it fits...)

One of my friends, a fantastic woman I met when I worked at Fabricland years ago, and also a wonderful seamstress and artist herself, comments regularly on my work. Although every comment I

ever get on anything are so greatly appreciated, it's different when the comment is coming from

someone who knows the trade and could see the flaws that the untrained eye would likely miss. I

thanked her on Facebook, with a little wall post, and added that I continued to use her zipper trick on all zippers I'm installing, with the exception of the invisible zipper. Her response was lovely and on the end she

attached that even she was perplexed by the installation of an invisible zipper.

First I just was going to message her with a step by step guide to installing one from my own experience, but then I thought - WAIT. I have a blog for this kind of thing.

So here we are.

How to Install an Invisible

Zipper - By Vanessa Petey

1) from the hem of the fabric up to the zipper notch, stitch. backstitch.

2) open the zipper and match the top closure of the zipper to the top edge of the fabric. the outside edge of the zipper should be level with the edge of the fabric to the notch with the teeth of the zipper facing inward.

3) baste stitch near the edge of the zipper with regular sewing machine foot. sew the entire length of the zipper down to just past the zipper notch where the two fabrics meet.

-when the foot reaches the slider of the zipper, leave the needle down in the machine and raise the foot. slide the zipper closed and continue

4) do the same to the other side, making sure to match the tops of the zipper sides.

5) switch

to a zipper foot on the machine (an invisible zipper foot is good too... and some seamstresses will swear they never use anything else for an invisible

zipper, but I much prefer my method, so take your pick.)

6) press apart the teeth from the tape of the zipper and lower the zipper foot as close as possible to the teeth. sew down from the top repeating the method of moving the slider with the machine stopped and the needle down.

7) when the machine reaches the bottom of the zipper, simply veer the stitch off of the edge of the fabric leaving a tail.

8) repeat for the other side of the zipper

Done!

I actually find it more simple than any other sort of zipper in dresses, to be honest.

So anyways that's what i thought I'd explain today, so if you're a sewer, you might have found it interesting... if not... well... see ya next time with something less painfully boring.

LOVE!

- V

Solved Mysteries of Dressmaking and Caffienated Beverages

Holla!

It's been amazing not being in school anymore. I've had time to spend on small details of my commissions and have started thinking about a lot of new endeavours regarding Petey and where we should pick up after that horrifying 6 month hiatus. I watched Coco Avant Chanel today to try and get some inspiration, and I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I recently posted a bunch of photographs of the progression of a prom dress I'm working on on

Facebook for interested parties to see. I got a lot of positive responses because I have fantastic friends, but truly, this dress has gone from being something I had to rush through because I

was i

n school and short on time - to one of the best pieces I've ever made and something I'm really proud of (and hallelujah if it fits...)

One of my friends, a fantastic woman I met when I worked at Fabricland years ago, and also a wonderful seamstress and artist herself, comments regularly on my work. Although every comment I

ever get on anything are so greatly appreciated, it's different when the comment is coming from

someone who knows the trade and could see the flaws that the untrained eye would likely miss. I

thanked her on Facebook, with a little wall post, and added that I continued to use her zipper trick on all zippers I'm installing, with the exception of the invisible zipper. Her response was lovely and on the end she

attached that even she was perplexed by the installation of an invisible zipper.

First I just was going to message her with a step by step guide to installing one from my own experience, but then I thought - WAIT. I have a blog for this kind of thing.

So here we are.

How to Install an Invisible

Zipper - By Vanessa Petey

1) from the hem of the fabric up to the zipper notch, stitch. backstitch.

2) open the zipper and match the top closure of the zipper to the top edge of the fabric. the outside edge of the zipper should be level with the edge of the fabric to the notch with the teeth of the zipper facing inward.

3) baste stitch near the edge of the zipper with regular sewing machine foot. sew the entire length of the zipper down to just past the zipper notch where the two fabrics meet.

-when the foot reaches the slider of the zipper, leave the needle down in the machine and raise the foot. slide the zipper closed and continue

4) do the same to the other side, making sure to match the tops of the zipper sides.

5) switch

to a zipper foot on the machine (an invisible zipper foot is good too... and some seamstresses will swear they never use anything else for an invisible

zipper, but I much prefer my method, so take your pick.)

6) press apart the teeth from the tape of the zipper and lower the zipper foot as close as possible to the teeth. sew down from the top repeating the method of moving the slider with the machine stopped and the needle down.

7) when the machine reaches the bottom of the zipper, simply veer the stitch off of the edge of the fabric leaving a tail.

8) repeat for the other side of the zipper

Done!

I actually find it more simple than any other sort of zipper in dresses, to be honest.

So anyways that's what i thought I'd explain today, so if you're a sewer, you might have found it interesting... if not... well... see ya next time with something less painfully boring.

LOVE!

- V

Confessions of a Design School Drop-Out

“I don’t design clothes, I design dreams,” says Ralph Lauren, millionaire fashion business mogul and founder of the design label by the same name. Ralph Lauren started from nothing. He was the son of Jewish immigrants, growing up in the Bronx in New York and the only thing he knew he wanted to be when he grew up was a millionaire. In the 70s he enrolled in a local college for business with a specific interest in fashion design and after 2 years dropped out of school. As a result of his own lines, Ralph Lauren Polo and Club Monaco as well as his countless investments in a long list of other American labels, the man is now worth $8.5 billion.

I came to a decision after much thought

and consideration to leave design school, yesterday while I was sitting in class. The truth is, I lost interest in the program some time ago and have since been struggling to keep my attention on anything school related for any length of time. I knew it was time to leave. For months now my physical health, social obligations and overall creativity have

suffered in a seemingly irreparable way, which was something I could handle, if I felt that I truly needed the program or that it would benefit me to stay in it.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I realized how much I missed working on Petey the Troll. Meaghan and I had serious plans when we arrived in Toronto this past January – none of which have even begun to come to fruition. For me this is a problem that I can’t not fix.

So now I have a few directions I can take and things I can do in order to more directly achieve the goals I wanted to achieve 5 months ago. Over the next few months I’m going to be moving very quickly, releasing new info and items and photographs all the time.

My next project is a sea foam green prom dress for a lovely young girl by the name of Thyra. Tomorrow I’ll post a few pictures of the progression of a dress such as this (it’s chiffon!!) with

some comments on why I chose to use certain techniques or methods.

Oh ps. my fabulous friends and I are having a Mad Men costume party and I'm working on a few vintage dresses that i'm so friggen excited about I can't contain myself. There will be photos soon.

And o m g! We'll be getting an industrial sewing machine for our apartment really soon so production is about to go through the roof. You know what that means gurrrrls ;

Until next time, I’m Vanessa Petey, and I’m glad to be back.

Confessions of a Design School Student

Petey fans, friends, admirers etc,

This is a bit of a confession note/ a piece of writing inspired by my context and surrounded by

the current decisions I'm making in my life and more importantly, in my career. I felt like everyone should know, so here it is.

Firstly, when I write my blogs, they're directed (generally!) to people either living in Windsor,

my home town, or Toronto, my new home. In Windsor reside the people I miss, who have the most fantastic little art scene going on that no one else in the country knows anything about. These people are awesome, and it's for them that I started doing my work. In TO reside both my Windsor friends and my newest Toronto friends. These are by far some of the most interesting and unique people I've ever known and I count my blessings that they think I'm cool enough to be in

their beautiful lives. It's for all of the afore mentioned people and for those I have yet to meet

that I make these decisions today.

If you know me, you'd probably say I made the decision to move to Toronto so I could go to

Design School. That is indeed what it has seemed for the past 6+ months. But realistically, My choice was actually to go to Design School as an excuse and a reason to move to Toronto. I've been looking for one my whole life, that seemed perfect.

Now that I'm here I don't regret my decision for a second. My life has changed in ways I could never have imagined and I love every day. But I am beginning to feel those pesky feelings I felt throughout the entirety of my sad University career - that I was bored with it, that I wished I

was working on my own art and that the likelihood of it coming to nothing in the end was a depressing eventuality to face. Here I am again in a post-secondary education system feeling the same feelings and thinking the same thoughts and

wondering if the choice was best or not.

Follow?

I miss working on Petey the Troll more than I can say. I try to work my creativity into some of our projects at school, but it can sometimes feel very lack lustre. Meaghan and I spend everyday during the week getting no sleep, rushing to get to work or school or anywhere all the time and

falling behind every step of the way. As for those fabulous friends I mentioned above, they are but a dream in my life, as I co

nsistently become a worse friend who is less reliable and more likely to blow them off due to my insane hectic schedule.

The question now has become, How important is Design School to the development of Petey the Troll Apparel and its future as a fashion design company? How do we get away from the thought

of becoming Joe Fresh and back to the thought of becoming Coco Chanel? And the biggest one of all is, Is it worth not having worked on Petey for almost 6 months and not seeing any time to work on it for the next year to finish a diploma that I'm not even sure will help get me anywhere I want to be?

Time will tell.

Until then,

V

Fabric, Petey the Troll and Wedding Dresses

It's been like FOREVER since I last blogged, I know. Between school and work and day to day life, (I have a new boyfriend, okay!!) it's been a very busy couple of weeks. ;)There are a bunch of things that I wanted to blog about when they were current information such as the Royal Wedding and continuation of the John Galliano saga with the announcement that he would no longer be the creative director of his own self titled line due to the unfortunate drama surrounding him since this past winter.

As for Meaghan and I and Petey the Troll, we regret to inform that due to our dramatically over-packed schedules, we haven't been able to move forward creatively for some time. We are

currently in a period of growth as designers and

stylists and when we finally do start working again on our own creations, you'll understand why it took so long to get there. Hold tight!

At the end of this month, my biggest and most important project yet will

be walking down the

runway...ahem...I mean the aisle at the wedding of my sweet friends Justin and Courtney ofWetFresco Photography (the photographers responsible for 90% of the Petey the Troll photoshoots.) For obvious reasons, I can't post photographs of the work in progress, but be

aware that after the wedding, I plan to post an album of pictures of this masterpiece

creation of mine.

Enjoy the random Toronto life pictures throughout this post and pull your dresses out of the suitcase - Spring is here.

Until next!

New Clothes For Spring

There are several other things I could be doing right now, but my interest writing has been much more pronounced since I graduated from University last April. ...Cause like, I'm in design school now, but we don't do much writing. It's a lot more actual work than theoretical work. :P I have a lot of friends who are graduating this year and are currently in the process of finishing up their semesters with the twelve page papers and the presentations and the horrifying exams.

I don't miss it. But before this turns into a "How I Gave Five Years and $20,000 to the University of Windsor for No Reason" rant, let's talk about happier things, yes?

Now that the weather is tolerable and we can all start wearing our good clothes again, all I can do is watch the people and their

fantastically unique sensibilities that can only be found in a city like Toronto.

They're the ones who are always perfectly dressed down to

the accessories with whatever style they're trying to pull off. They all have registered Starbucks cards and

Smartphones and are a generally hysterical and awesome city culture.

Like for example, the other day I was down town after work and was looking for fabric for a gown I'm making for a girl's prom. (First of all, I love an age when I can go to a

fabric store, photograph it with my phone, send it to the client and she can make her decision and tell me what to buy right there. This is fucking Jetsons shit now man.) And there was one of these

crazily painted streetcars for that radio station Flow 93.5... and I just kind of was really impressed that something with such obnoxious, yet beautiful colours could be floating down Queen, nobody looking twice. Toronto is gorgeous.

So I've got a really insane couple of weeks ahead of me, but I'm ready for it I think. I'm in good spirits and I've got LOTS of new clothes and it's awesome. Is there anything better in the world than buying new clothes in the spring?? Possibly buying new shoes in the spring... but that's really a whole other post.

Later :)

V

LG Fashion Week - Photo Diary of Vanessa Petey

Hey guys!

As you know, LG Fashion Week here in beautiful Toronto has come to a close for this season. The last time I blogged I told you about y first day and how excited I was to see what the rest of

the week had in store. I must admit, despite the fact that we spent a lot of our time moving benches and taking orders, it really was ridiculously cool being backstage and seeing all the fashion drama happening right up

close. Of course, the entire time I had my BlackBerry in my hand and I took asmany pictures

and videos as I possibly could. :)

We'd get there in the morning

(12:45pm...if you stopped for a grande nonfat half sugar free caramel white mocha withwhip and caramel drizzle... I know I'm out of control, no need to remind me) and then we would have an

hour or two at the most to arrange all of the seating, place cards and gift bags in the studio before the shows. Every detail mattered. We had to measure the spaces between the benches to make sure they were exactly straight and aligned with one another. The place cards themselves were a big deal - all having to be lined up and taped down to ensure it was as visually appealing to the industry people as possible.

Obviously the stuff I really loved seeing was the sometimes

outrageous behaviour of the people in the industry backstage . Like for example, Jeanne Becker had a special seat at every single studio show, but she didn't actually show up to any of them. There were 6'11"

models running around everywhere in shoes that I'm sure they needed special training to walk in, not to mention the people running the show who continued to insist that the "socialites" be taken care of first and foremost. :P Love it.But that's so boring.So here are some pictures for you to check out of my backstage fashion week adventures! Some of them are horribly blurry or grainy, but forgive me, it was a panicked situation at

best.

Thanks!!