Project Sewn Theme 1

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Hey everyone! The first theme for the Project Sewn competition is the Leading Ladies Challenge. Over the past few years I have become fascinated with Edie Sedgwick (I did a little write up on her here), famously known as Andy Warhol's muse in the 1960s. The movie Factory Girl is based on Edie's life during that time period and is filled with amazing fashion designed by John Dunn. When this challenge was announced, I knew exactly who I wanted to emulate. Edie was known for wearing striped boatneck shirts and throughout the movie she wore a red and black striped dress with the stripe placement on a diagonal. Stripe matching is a sewing technique that I have always been "afraid" of and I never dreamed about matching them on a diagonal. But, hey, Project Sewn is all about pushing yourself, right?


Before cutting into my final fabric I made a wearable muslin with horizontal stripes. It took some trial and error, but I did a decent job of matching up the sides. I realized that it was hard impossible to match everything up by cutting the pieces on the fold, so for my final version of the dress I traced the pattern twice, taped it along what would have been the "cut on the fold" line, and had very little issues matching up those crazy diagonal pieces. I did hold my breath while cutting though haha.


I used the Coco pattern for the dress and the cardigan is a modified Renfrew shirt, both great knit patterns. For the dress I did not have to do any alterations, which was pretty awesome.

This was also my first time sewing a cardigan and now I feel like a whole new world has opened! Cardigans all day, every day, and in every color! I 95% copied my buddy Andrea's tutorial which was great and super easy to follow. She took all the guess work out of it for me, so thanks, Andrea! I owe you a Moscow Mule.

The cardigan is lengthened a bit from the instructed length because I prefer them longer. The size is a bit larger than what I normally wear to account for the fact that I'm always going to wear something underneath it. I added a placket to the front and other than adding some length to the neck band and bottom band to account for the added placket I didn't make any changes. The funny part is that I didn't add buttons! Never in my life have I ever buttoned up a cardigan (is that weird?), so I left them off the garment.


I bought the striped fabric from an Etsy seller online and it was listed as "punk" which I thought was great. Somewhere I read an opinion on Edie and the writer said that she was the first punk rock girl and was considered a youthquaker.  Two of my favorite eras, the 20s and 60s, were known as times when younger people in society were responsible for a shift in culture, so maybe the rebellious side in me is drawn to that in her. The leopard print fabric was purchased from Fabric Mart, who is coincidently one of the sponsors for Project Sewn. I called them to make sure the fabric could be rushed out and received some awesome customer service. No, I did not say I was participating in Project Sewn :)


For styling I tried to keep it as Edie as possible. I painted on a beauty mark in the same spot she would put hers, wore chandelier earrings (another one of her trademarks), and got a similar hat. My wonderfully talented friend, Shannon from Moore Photography, knew of this really cool industrial spot that would work great to get the Warhol vibe from the Factory. Taking photos with Shannon is always a blast and she gives great direction. Except at one point she told me to look at her like I hated her and it was impossible! I love her too much :) Despite battling the crazy wind and almost losing my hat a few times, it was a pretty perfect day.


If you like my look and would like to see my future garments, then please vote for me here. Thanks, guys! xoxo

8 comments :

  1. Such a fun outfit and you did a killer job matching those stripes Erin! Great job!

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  2. You got my vote!! I love it and now need to make my own Renfrew Cardi!!

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  3. OMG I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS OUTFIT!! You are crazy talented, girl! You chaneled Edie perfectly! I am voting now!

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  4. Roxanne GuillemetteMay 6, 2014 at 9:13 AM

    I want that dress. Like right now. *sigh*

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  5. I want that dress. Like right now. *sigh*

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  6. Damn! Look at that stripe matching!! I have a headache just thinking about that! This look is so Edie and so you-- awesome outfit, lady!!!

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  7. You look great and totally nailed this! Diagonal stripe matching plus a Renfrew cardigan ... you've blown my mind. I must try a making a cardigan now.

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