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....

Coordinated!!!

My love child had a birthday this past week!!! What better way to celebrate him than to wear matching outfits....
We are becoming those people that I never considered we'd be but somehow I am loving every minute of it. It was on Friday when we were deciding where to buy cake for Sy's birthday celebration for Sunday school. That's when I told my hubby what an awesome idea it would be if we were all wearing the exact same fabric/print. I think he just agreed thinking I'd not go through with it. He was in for a rude awakening because I spent my whole Saturday in the basement with Jo sitting by my side and Sy making so much noise on his drum set.

Hubby went go-kart racing on Saturday afternoon, and by the time he was done I was finishing Jo's dress and starting on my skirt. The tricky part of this was I only had 2 yards to work with but I was able to stretch the fabric for my skirts and the kids' clothes. The fortunate thing is I made Hubby's  shirt a few months back when he needed to wear it for a wedding. It was what they call "asoebi" in Yoruba culture from Nigeria. 

Aso ebi: (Pronounced Asho-Eybee) Nigerian outfits made from matching fabric to be worn by a group of people to a party, wedding, or funeral as a uniform.  Wearing a certain aso ebi identifies the group of people showing sense of closeness and solidarity for the celebrant(s). For instance, at a wedding, all the bride’s friends might wear blue and gold, the bride’s family might wear white and gold, and the groom’s friends might wear black and pink, and so on.

So when I had made the asoebi for hubby there were two yards remaining, which is what I used to make the rest of the family's outfits. By the time I was done with the kids' outfits, I had just enough to make a pencil skirt and nothing else.  Luckily, I had some satin fabric commonly used for lining that I used to make the blouse that went so well with my skirt. Anyways, we made a sewing party out of the evening since the family hung out with me in the basement until I was finished with the project. I pressed the outfits and was ready for Sunday's best. lol!!! By the time Sunday rolled in, my son was so excited at the idea of all of us wearing matching outfits; so much that he couldn't wait to put his outfit on and refused to take it off after church, not until bedtime.

 

 

Please excuse my shocked face... Mummy didn't warn me she was about to shine a bright light in my face...

My dynamic duo Father and son... 

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.