All About Deconstructress Designs - Costumes, Couture and So Much More

2011-11-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

Wedding Dress Launch for 2012!!

After four years, I am close to finally bringing my wedding dress sketches to life. I plan to launch the line of five dresses (to start) in January!

Here are the sketches of four of the designs that I am close to finishing.

Sheer detail Corset Gown

This is a corseted dress with a sheer top with sheer cap sleeves. It will have a full tulle skirt and just be simple and beautiful.

Falling Leaves Gown

This is the falling leaves wedding gown. It is detailed with hundreds of hand stitched leaves in muted tones.

Neapolitan Gown

This is the Neapolitan dress. It's just a hair shorter than a tea-length wedding dress and has petals of pink and brownish-pink coming out of the bottom.

Champagne and Roses Dress

This is my Champagne and Roses gown. It has a corseted top with off-the-shoulder bands of chiffon in dusty pink. The skirt is champagne satin with dusty pink chiffon draped around the sides and over the train.

And there is one more that I'll leave as a surprise for the big debut. I am SO excited to finally be finishing this side of my work and be able to start offering them to brides.

Inspirational Wedding Dresses

2009-03-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

I am always perusing the Internet for inspirational wedding dresses. There aren't many that stand out among the puffs of tulle and cheap satin. When you come across a unique dress, it's like discovering a needle in a haystack.

The dress below was made by Dress Forms Design. I love its retro-chic styling with its own unique spin. I'm slowly falling in love with colored petticoats and knee length circle skirts. Train, schmain! I think what I love most about this dress is how obviously its style fits the bride. Her hair, the black satin ribbon, the button bouquet (made by the bride, princesslasertron). It's all so expressive which is exactly what a wedding dress should be.

Jacquelyn Kennedy's wedding dress was so beautiful! It's funny though, it doesn't have the same amazing quality on a mannequin as it does on Jackie-O herself. I love the tea length, the neckline, and the architectural ruffling on the skirt. So classically pretty.

I just love vintage wedding dresses. Who doesn't hold onto their own wedding dress thinking their own daughter would love to wear it some day. Of course, the changing of styles more often than not leaves what was once considered beautiful, sometimes horrifying.

I have a basement full of them. The most I've ever had at one time was 125 in my old studio! Some of them are hideous, but others are so inspiring. Although I always see them becoming something else, I love looking at the ones that have been lovingly cared for and withstood the many decades of fashion.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

This 50s vintage dress is available in Etsy seller KatieAmazing's shop

Cool wedding dresses also can be found by many indie designers. Etsy has a handful of beautiful, indie-designed wedding dresses.

I'll soon be launching another Etsy shop featuring wedding dresses and formal dresses called Entwined Apparel, so keep watching for my shop opening announcement! I'm hard at work on creations to fill it before I launch the shop.

Here are a few of my favorites on Etsy:

This dress is available in joanshum's Etsy shop for $5,000.
Her shop is full of beautiful and unique wedding gowns. Check it out!

I love the simple feel of this dress (which features a far from simple design)
I also love her Zooey Deschanel-ish model!
It's available in sarahseven's Etsy shop for $515

ktjean's Etsy shop features some beautiful custom dresses made from vintage slips
This is one example for $1,500

New Wedding Dress Design Sketches

2009-03-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

I have some new sketches of dresses that I'm working on! I find that sketches help me organize my thoughts on a dress. I do them if I get stuck on a design. I do all my sketches on Photoshop which can be a bit tedious. I'm sure it would be much simpler to just actually sketch them, but it's a habit I can't break.

The first dress a slight play on my Autumn Fairy dress. It's satin and chiffon with dozens of silk leaves that have contrasting embroidered veins. The bodice is a simple spaghetti strap corset style that will be fully boned with lacing in the back. The leaves are ivory, white, pink and mocha. I seem to be stuck on a Neopolitan palette these days. I have the basic structure for the dress finished and the leaves are almost complete.

The next dress is all ivory silk with a v-neck, slightly off-the-shoulder bodice. The skirt is knee length with a petal-ed hem. Peeking out from the petals are layers of dusty rose and mocha colored petticoats. It has a retro feel with an offbeat edge.

Amazed by the Kindness

2008-06-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Just when you think the world is turning upside down and makes no sense, people amaze you with their complete and utter selfishness...

After trying to spread the word about my dress on Ebay to another site where I sell my dresses, Etsy.com, I've been bombarded with emails from several people there who want to help as well. Several people have offered their own work for me to sell in my shop and donate the sales to my friends.

A whole group of Etsians who formed a group called HOST and their sole purpose is to help others. They have an entire shop that carries items with the intent of donating the proceeds to others. Well, if you purchase anything from their shop and put "For Eleigh" in the notes, the money will be donated to Eleigh's family.

Go check out their site and get to shopping! I am honestly moved to tears over people's kindness, guys.

http://HOST.etsy.com

A Fairy Dress for a Good Cause

2008-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

On June 4th, my good friends lost their 15-year-old daughter, Eleigh, in a terrible car accident. It is so hard to watch someone you care about go through the pain of losing their daughter. You feel so helpless and want so much to take away any of their pain.

I've decided that one way I can help is to relieve some of their financial stress by making a dress and donating all of the sales to them. I've listed a dress on Ebay today and the auction will run for ten days beginning today. I've started the auction at just $20 and I'm hoping it will skyrocket.

If you've ever wanted to buy a dress from me, now is the time as I plan on this being the most beautiful dress I've ever made. I plan to put my whole heart into its creation to help honor Eleigh and her short life. The dress will be custom made to the winning bidder based on any of my current designs or a design of the winner's choice.

The auction is at http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Designed-Dress-Fairy-Faerie-Costume_W0QQitemZ270246373702QQihZ017QQcategoryZ63861QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.

I'll also be listing a dress in my Etsy shop at http://deconstructress.etsy.com. Several Etsy shops have agreed to donate some of their own items to sell for Eleigh as well.

Even though money is the last thing in the world to give meaning, in this case it will help to take one more worry for a family who is struggling through the greatest pain any of us could ever know.

New Fairy Costumes

2008-05-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have been hard at work creating some new gowns in time for the art show, OhSweetSadie.

The first one is called The Tattered Rose Fairy. It has a very full skirt of tulle that has been painted a deep, dark red. The bodice is satin with cap sleeves and has been painted black. The bodice has dark red roses that drip from one shoulder to the waist and onto the skirt. The wings are black chiffon that have been burned and ripped. The wings are edged with dark red grosgrain ribbon and tipped with some smaller dark red roses. It is very pretty and elegant, in a gothic sort of way.

The second is called The Waterlilies Gown and it is based on the painting by Claude Monet. It is a very simple white wedding gown of satin. It has a higher neckline and is sleeveless and backless. It has a chapel length train. The entire dress has been painted like the famous painting. The colors on it are just amazing. I haven't decided whether to add wings to this creation or not. I plan to do another without the train that I will add wings to, but I haven't decided with this one.
The third one I have is the Pansy Pixie based on a painting by Georgia O'Keefe. It has a very full tulle skirt with a simple satin bodice. The entire dress has been painted a very pale blue. The sketch of the dress is very close to the finished garment.

Then I have a Tiffany Fairy gown that is going to be gorgeous! It is that famous Tiffany Blue and is split in the back of the skirt. Peeking through the split is a gorgeous train of white chiffon, tulle and organza. The front of the dress is wrapped like the Tiffany gift box in white satin ribbon with a big bow just below the bust line. I'm actually commissioning another artist to make the wings for this gown because I want them to be very ornate and stuctured. My wing style tends to be more free-form and flowy. I just want the gown to exude luxury...

Finally, I am working on a new Ocean Fairy Costume. It is layered in shades of deep blues and greens. The wings are organza and feature the same watery shades of blue and green. Very pretty!

Oh Sweet Sadie

2008-05-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of my very first art show right now. I was invited to wonderful ladies, Heidi and Dani of OhSweetSadie, to join in their art/craft show that runs May 2-3 and May 9-10 in Herriman and Draper.

I was a bit hesitant because I know people don't really go looking for costumes and fairy gowns at an arts and crafts show. However, the feedback has been wonderful. It's nice to have my dresses seen in "real life" instead of pictures on the Internet! I hope some ladies visiting the show remember come Halloween!

Mermaid Angel Gown

2008-04-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

The current costume I am working on is a custom design called "Mermaid Angel." It is called an angel costume because my client feels like fairy wings are much smaller and more "constructed" than angel wings, which she sees as more flowing and liquid.

This dress is turning out amazing. I started with the skirt. First, I mixed up some colors that are a very rich marine blue and a deep teal-y green. I started at the bottom of the skirt with the darkest shades and than faded them up. The result is a very pretty abalone sort-of look. It is so pretty.

My favorite part is the bodice. The "canvas gown" is a simple floor length tulle creation and the tulle draped up around the bodice as well. I cut the tulle from the bodice and began layering the deep coloring from the skirt over each other. I finished with a coating of the most marvelous metallic pigment that gave it a perfect sheen. The spaghetti straps are adorned with tiny shells. I added some shredded tulle over one shoulder that drapes diagonally down the front of the bodice and then hangs down the left side of the skirt. I handpainted the tulle a seaweed green and it has taken on an artistic interpretation of seaweed.

The skirt has been a bit difficult. It is a lightweight satin with three layers of tulle. Coloring tulle is never easy, but it's especially tricky when you are layering colors and trying to give it all an ombre appearance. However, the time it is taking is so worth it. The skirt just LOOKS like the ocean. I have chopped the tulle layers in jagged edges and painted the edges with the deepest shades. They drape so pretty over the underskirt and blend really well.

I am still in the process of painting the underskirt. I'll also be adding an organza "tail" train in the back. I have to finish the bodice and I'm not sure what else I want to add right now. I don't want to overdo it, but it's not quite finished yet. The final masterpiece that will tie it all together will be the wings.

I hope to finish this creation by the second week of April. I'll update with pictures when it is finished.

My New Studio

2008-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

I've finally outgrown my home business!!! The gowns I make are so large that thaey were overtaking the small amount of workspace I have in my house. I've found a perfect studio space! It's very close to my home and it's 1200 sq.ft. of freedom!

I put up a huge bar along one entire wall to hang all my wedding gowns and I was finally able to count them all. I have a total of 80 wedding dresses that I hope to turn into costumes by the time Halloween rolls around! 80 wedding dresses! That is crazy and you would not believe how much space they take up. I am guessing that I will be finishing more around 60 dresss, though. Last year I did 25 dresses total, so I don't want to drown myself in tulle and lace.

The space is just perfect. I love it. It has one huge room that is just cement floors and bare drywall. That is where I do all of my painting and hang all of my dresses.

The second room is carpeted and very cozy. I have a huge desk there for my sewing station. My husband bought my kids a couple of Kid Lovesacs and we brought their little TV/DVD set so they can watch movies when I bring them with me.

I plan to spend a lot of time there in the coming months. I've moved everything in and have begun work on my latest creations.

Stay posted for upcoming design descriptions and pics...

My First Blog....

2008-03-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally given in to the world of blogging. It's a necessary step for me to keep my clients and interested parties updated on my work. It's also a chance for me to clear the clutter in my brain and make room for new creative ideas.

I hope you stick around and keep coming back for a glimpse into my work!