Fashion Show at the Lotus & Water Lily Cultural Festival 2014

What an amazing weekend I had. Sometimes my dreams and aspirations scare me but the more they scare me, the more I know God is up to something. So an old friend of mine approached me about a month ago to ask me to participate in a fashion show at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in NE D.C. Of course any and every opportunity I can get to showcase my work I welcome. You just never know what opportunity might come knocking. I was a little nervous as I was out of my comfort zone and element. After all, this would only be my second real fashion show but I took it all in stride and grabbed the bull by the horns. Of course not literally but you get the drift.

When my family and I got to the festival, we realized it was a wonderfully diverse crowd with people from all walks of life and there was something for everyone. The place was beaming with culture diversity, from art contests for children, to Lotus tea tasting, to contemporary African music just to name a few. We quickly settled in, prepped for the show and what a success it was. Here are some of the shots from the show. Photo credits goes to mine truly; hubby of life....

The road to the runway

The journey!!!
Making time to sew is not always easy especially when you have a full time job and are a full time mummy. It comes down to time management and groveling so that hubby can watch the kids while I am downstairs in our basement sewing. On other days when hubby has to work and do other things I just have to take Jo with me downstairs...





The routine is pretty much the same. I leave her to play by herself for about 30 minutes before she starts to fuss... then I feed her she gets happy and plays by herself for another 30 minutes. At this point what she really wants is to nap so I cuddle her until she naps and pray to God the nap should last 2 hours. In most cases, it lasts about an hour, at best, an hour and a half hours. In this time I try to get as much done as possible. Most times, if I have a deadline, I utilize the nights as the best as I can while they're sleeping, that's if I don't fall asleep myself. Lol!!!!

When we were building our house, we had agreed to use one room for my craft but somehow, the room, inherited two drum sets for hubby and Sy. It's just a matter of time until Jo gets her own small sewing station in that tiny room and Ill have to relocate. You might wonder how I am able to share the space. There is an open space right outside the sewing room that I use to measure and cut fabrics.





My workstation.

In this fashion show,  I already had some ideas about the direction I wanted to take my designs. I have a style that I am drawn to... So seeing certain fabrics I already knew what I was gonna do with them. I made a couple of trips to the fabric store to pick more fabrics and other supplies. The rest was pretty much putting hand to machine and creating my designs.

Here are some unofficial pictures of the Fashion show as I wait for official pictures.

The joy of Dressmaking

These past couple of weeks have been amazing in my little world of dress making... I think I am really enjoying this new journey of sewing all over again. There is a high I find myself on when I work on a style... that high I cant describe or explain.

Anyways... so these is a dress I worked a while back. I love the details of the fabric. I love African weddings and events. That when all these amazing fabrics come out to play. I know sketching an outfit is the utmost important part when making or creating a style. But something I literally skip that process and go straight to the my dress form and start cutting... Honestly whispering a prayer that God should take control of my hands because I can't afford to damage someone's fabric always makes me feel at ease.

The details of the fabric are  insane... Enjoy