Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Project Catwalk at Creativ Festival



I have something very special to share! I have been reveling in a creative oblivion for the past few days. My past weekend was wholly and solely occupied by a very exciting event - Project Catwalk at Creativ Festival. This is a weekend-long event which takes place every October at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It is the biggest marketplace for the lovers of crafts of all kinds. The festival offers a multitude of workshops, classes, presentations and seminars bound to satisfy any creative craving out there. The best part of the festival for me is the Project Catwalk competition. And this year I became the lucky participant!!!

We - me and my wonderful team mates, Stefanie and Cindy - were given a challenge to create a runway look in three days: beginning Friday 11 a.m. and ending Sunday at 3 p.m. The theme of this year's challenge was the 25th years anniversary of the festival. Thus, the overarching topic was "Celebration with a touch of Silver". Each of the five competing teams was given $200 to spend on the materials for the garment. One of the conditions of the competition was that all of the materials for our garment had to come from the floor of the marketplace. So, ready to design, draft, stitch and sew, off we went!

I could write on and on about the experience I had at the competition. But one picture is worth a thousand of words. Therefore, I will not strain your eyes with more text but rather share some of the pictures from this fantastic event.

Sewing away at our assigned Seneca booth, where we spent 3 days with no food, water or breaks (not that we wanted any of those anyway!).

Inspired by the Silver Screen starlets of the late 50's/early 60's, we designed a convertible look: a body-hugging LBD a la Audrey Hepburn, with a shawl collar which can be worn as a hood, as a shalw, or off the shoulders. The dress has princess seams, is fully lined and has a marvelous sparkly zipper in the back.

Our little black dress with a touch of sliver.
To add glamour to the look we created a detachable over-skirt made of various panels, asymmetrical in the front and symmetrical and, may I say, quite spectacular in the back. Some of the panels were machine embroidered by our kind sponsor Bernina Sewing Equipment. We decorated the waistband of the skirt with crystals and Cindy made earrings and a bracelet to go with the outfit. You can tell that we had no shortage of silver in our look!

Putting together the panels of the over-skirt.
Here is the whole runway look! We wanted it to exude celebration, glamour and originality.



And here are my lovely team mates! Thank you ladies for such a tight and organized team! You rock!

                                          
                                               To many more adventure in creative land!!!

4 comments:

  1. The team from George Brown College did.

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  2. Amazing Irina! The dress is absolutely gorgeous and you look fantastic in it! Congratulations to you and your lovely team on the great job done!

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