Lee Loo And The Articles

Keep It Sheer And Let It Sparkle | Lee Loo And The Articles

It’s clear to see that my fascination with creating big dresses hasn’t waned. If anything, it’s grown even more. I can hear my wardrobe groaning at the very thought of that. After I made this, I told myself that maybe maybe I should take a break from creating big dresses so that I can catch up in using them for photo concepts. I’ve been telling myself that for awhile now, and I’ve failed to follow that suggestion every single time. When inspiration hits, I must create!

The idea for this dress started with the lace portion of the top. It’s a top that I had made awhile ago as an addition to my photo shoot wardrobe. I had hung onto it for so long because I couldn’t bear to part with it. So I gave it new life and a new purpose by incorporating it into a new design. The blue top of the dress was something that I had made for another project. I ended up not using it for anything, and it remained hidden in my pile of fabrics…until now.

The skirt portion is made with two different organza fabrics that I already had in my stash. To satisfy my love for big dresses, I used as much of it as possible, allowing it to gather nicely at the bottom. With this dress, I’ve clearly disregarded the thought of even trying to walk in this. You just can’t. You just stand there and look pretty.

I’m really looking forward to creating some pretty photos with this. Hopefully this will happen soon.

♥ Lee

Lee Loo And The Articles

Golden Glam | The Articles

It’s been a rocky relationship with sequin fabrics. The last time I worked with sequins, I ended up breaking my machines. From piles of broken needles to broken internal parts, I finally had had enough and just cut the cord with the fabric (and briefly with sewing). I swore off working with sequins ever again.

It was the breakup that I needed and more importantly, it was the push that I was well overdue for. Like my machines, I broke down. I had to reassess my creative path, or rather my sort of deviation from it. I was still being creative, but I was doing it primarily because it was paying the bills.

There wasn’t any heart in it. I knew it well before my machines broke down,  but I told myself to just keep up with it. Once they did break, however, I had little desire to sew for awhile. My now broken machines collected dust and the piles of fabric remained untouched.

For awhile,  I found other ways to be creative.

Then this happened:

This is the first time that I’ve worked with sequins in a very long time. I was quite hesitant, given our history, so I just took the most utmost of cares with it as I ran it through my machine.

It was almost a given that this sequins fabric would be a long elegant dress. The way it pooled into my hands when I picked it up, I knew that I wanted the bottom of the dress to do just that. This was going to be a simple dress, but I wanted to give it some character/edge. It just so happens that I have a roll of gold chain that I’ve been trying to find a use for.

Done. Sorted. Awesome.

I rarely make dresses in my size, mainly because I find those hard to sell. This time, I made an exception. I’ve been slacking on my photography, and I’m even worse with keeping up regularly with my self-portrait work. I figured that making this beautiful creation will give me the motivation and inspiration to get clicking and creating.

I still have another pile of sequins fabric that I plan on tackling. Eventually.  No rush.

♥ Lee

Lee Loo And The Articles

Golden Beauty Mermaid Crown | The Articles

This crown is fit for a mermaid!

I don’t make headpieces too often, but when I do, they tend to have absolutely no relevance to anything that I’m currently working on. This one is no exception. As I was looking for other ways, besides sewing, to create this was a fun little side project to keep the inspiration flow going. It was also sitting collecting dust unfinished for the longest time. It was time that I finished this piece.

This mermaid crown headpiece thing was about three years in the making. For awhile, it sat as a giant, plain ring, a could-be would-be headpiece of some sort on my sewing table. After about a year and a half, the shells were added and the first layer of paint when on . It would be another year before it would finally be the headpiece that you see in the photo above.

I figured that this would be perfect for a gold and cream colour scheme. So the first layer of paint was  painting the shells ivory. The front is several large shells glued together. The top of the crown is decorated with small seashells delicately balanced along the rim.  I didn’t have enough shells to go all the way around, so I decorated the back with ‘scales,’ which I had individually hand cut from foam. To clean up a lot of the spaced gaps around the crown, I used dimensional fabric glue.

The rhinestones were added for a nice, glitzy touch to the piece. Okay, it’s a bit gaudy. I will admit that I did go a  wee bit overboard on the stones, but it’s a costume piece and there is no such thing as too much! I also think the gaudiness helps in having the piece transfer nicely in photos. Properly lit, it’ll show the shiny glitzy glam beast that it is. The pearl beading that’s draped around I thought was a nice added touch and looks even better when it’s worn and is draped over hair. It helps to give it that whimsical feel.

The final product is this glitzy piece of golden beauty! I don’t think I have any wardrobe that’ll go with it, but I suppose that’s just the perfect excuse to add some new wardrobe pieces to my collection.

I do hope to be able to use this piece for several different concepts. It’s just too pretty to just for one photo shoot! I’ve already used it once, and afterwards I just knew that I wasn’t done with it yet. So here’s hoping that I can dream up some beautiful concepts a few more times!

♥ Lee

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