A Dress A Day

A dress.
Mostly every day.

November 25, 2008

Ideas I Am Going To Steal

Eirlys sent me this fantastic Etsy skirt, by deciduoussoul:


writers wrap skirt

I love this skirt, but I don't wear wrap skirts (that is, I haven't worn a wrap skirt since about 1977) so I have put this on my list of cool ideas to steal someday. Banding alphabet fabric (of which I have a gracious plenty) at the bottom of a plain A-line skirt? Genius.

Ktbb sent this link, in a comment a few days back:

rickrack sheath

I've done rickrack on skirt hems before, but not on midriff bands. I think I see a Duro Jr with this effect coming up ...

And Lisa sent a link to this eBay auction for a terrific rocketship sundress ... the dress itself is a bit banged up, but the fabric is so darned great I see another Spoonflower order in my future:


rickrack sheath

I don't feel bad about this at all -- we get inspiration from everywhere, and there's a bright line between inspiration and slavish imitation. (I was going to throw in the Picasso quote "All art is theft" here, but I've looked that up in both the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (and the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, just in case) and in the new Yale Book of Quotations, and can't find it. So I'll just have to steal without the glamour of Picasso having said it was okay.)

What good ideas have you wanted to steal lately?

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posted by Erin @ 8:45 AM  

32 Comments:

  • At Nov 25, 2008 9:43:00 AM, Blogger the_lazymilliner said…

    Nothing at the moment I want to steal...but if you do order that rocketship fabric from Spoonflower, I might want some...

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 9:45:00 AM, Blogger *Sandra* said…

    I wanted to steal someone's brilliant idea for writing a story from the POV of a dress. So I did... twice. But I gave credit and apologies for my efforts being very pale imitations of the originals. Sorry, Erin :(

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 9:52:00 AM, Blogger Elrond Hubbard said…

    I like that first dress. Sort of disco on top and flapper on the bottom.

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 10:13:00 AM, Blogger Sara Darling said…

    now the picasso quote I'm remembering was stolen by Steve Jobs: "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 10:20:00 AM, Blogger Gabriella said…

    Igor Stravinski "Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal." Golly I love that rocket ship dress and I'd be proud to wear it, flaws and all. Now if I only had $125 of expendible income!!

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 10:55:00 AM, Blogger Nancy (nanflan) said…

    Love the rocketship dress! Surely there are similar prints available? eQuilter has a lot of neat novelty prints, maybe they have something similar.

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 11:14:00 AM, Anonymous Lisa Simeone said…

    What good ideas have you wanted to steal lately?

    Everything Tracy Porter does.

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 11:17:00 AM, Blogger Kat said…

    I am delighted by this painted dress from Project Runway and would love to wear it:
    http://www.seenon.com/project-runway/season-5/photo/project-runway-5-episode-514-kenleyand039s-final-collection/kenleys-final-collection-look-7/

    I am trying to paint a similar vine design on a pair of jeans (and let me say that vines and flowers are pretty much the only things I can paint decently) and am finding it somewhat more difficult than I might have hoped!

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 11:36:00 AM, Blogger notsocrafty.com said…

    That could be an ideal dress for the holiday.

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 11:57:00 AM, Blogger wundermary said…

    My latest blog entry deal with just this topic. I saw an image of a beautiful coat from Afghanistan that I probably would have bought, if someone else hadn't beat me to it. So, I grabbed the images; the cut was perfection.

    I do wear wrap skirts and I am likely to use this idea somewhere along the way. Maybe not alphabet fabric, though...

    I remember reading an interview with Paloma Picasso in which she told a story about as a child doing drawings of some of the art that hung in her father's house. She says he caught he doing it and angrily told her to not copy others, but to come up with her own ideas.
    We all know that art is theft on some level or another. He apparently wasn't going to tell his daughter that, though.

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 12:01:00 PM, Blogger Mimi said…

    I do do wrap skirts and I don't do sewing, maybe I should buy? I love it!

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 12:47:00 PM, Anonymous Dawn said…

    I do mostly costuming--everything I do is theft of some sort...isn't it flattery?

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 2:05:00 PM, Blogger Marjie said…

    How about I steal someone else's cooked turkeys so I can have an easier week? Not what you were looking for? I steal dress, top and skirt ideas from every catalog I get. Plus, I saw a movie recently where in the pivotal scene the female protagonist was wearing the most beautiful green satin evening gown ever! I see that in my future (if I ever have a place to wear it...)

     

  • At Nov 25, 2008 5:46:00 PM, Anonymous Victoria said…

    Picasso: "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal".

    He also said: "Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility." and "To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic".

    I love the look of the wrap skirt, I haven't worn them in years, but I should try one on to see how the style looks on me these days.

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 12:18:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    There's a quote going around blogland, "All art is theft, but not all theft is art." Not sure who said it first. Love that rocket ship fabric!

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 12:44:00 AM, Blogger AlasMyDear said…

    Oh dear oh dear I steal delicious ideas all the time! And sneakily make them mine so no-one (I hope!) catches me in the act.

    Latest one: small bow brooches on the wide round neckline of my top...

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 6:13:00 AM, Blogger Tara said…

    I just bought a dolman-sleeved, twisty bodice dress from a seller on ebay and I'm looking forward to eyeballing it a good long while before I do it over again in black - or maybe purple. Or green. . .

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 6:42:00 AM, Anonymous Elle said…

    This was on my bedroom floor for about a week. I used a number of things to get the pattern JUST SO but I'm not paying $2300 for anything.

    http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/35188

    Other then that, everything I do is a rip off of something, even if I wind up using that something as a base and tweaking it to make it look better, IMO.

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 7:12:00 AM, Anonymous Eirlys said…

    Oh, so glad you liked it! I'd like to steal back the time I've wasted worrying whether it's right to steal other people's ideas ;-)

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 8:49:00 AM, Blogger Lydia said…

    Funny you should mention this. I'm 100% stealing this design for my holiday dress:
    http://buzznet-00.vo.llnwd.net/media/jj1/2008/06/kidman-vogue/nicole-kidman-vogue-july-2008-04.jpg
    (the dress, not the cows)

    I'm doing a more standard straight skirt, though. Probably shorter, too, since the last cheongsam I made was floor-length and I didn't wear it very often.

    So...how do you ease the straight design of the alphabet fabric onto the curved edge of the A-line skirt?

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 8:53:00 AM, Blogger Erin said…

    "So...how do you ease the straight design of the alphabet fabric onto the curved edge of the A-line skirt?"

    I have no idea. :-) Probably attack it with an iron until it submits.

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 9:03:00 AM, Anonymous Lisa Simeone said…

    Then again, there's Orwell:

    "All art is propaganda."

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 11:47:00 AM, Blogger wundermary said…

    "So...how do you ease the straight design of the alphabet fabric onto the curved edge of the A-line skirt?"

    I'd hope, hope, hope for a design on the bias. But, it can be done on the grain. I'd wash the fabric first. Depending on the weight of the fabric, you could approach it in a couple of different ways.

    If it were heavier and not so likely to give (stretch) at the lower edge, I finish the lower edge, gather the upper edge with tiny stitches and and ease it to the correct curve.

    If it were lighter and more inclined to give, I'd do the opposite. I'd finish the upper edge and stretch and press the lower edge into place.

    If the curve of the skirt isn't too extreme, either method would lay fine in the end. I'd do a test run first, though!

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 12:19:00 PM, Blogger Valerie said…

    The rocketship dress idea is genius, and I LOVE the first dress!

    For an upcoming Christmas party I'm going to, I'm wearing my gorgeous diamond necklace my fiance bought me from www.idonowidont.com and wear a black chic dress.

    My idea is to make the dress a lot bigger than it is, and have it flowing to the bottom so it's more like a runway look than just a simple black dress!

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 5:42:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    http://www.istok.net/church-product/angel-brocade.html

    I was just roaming about on the net when I ran across this site. It's a bit different, being a supply storefront for traditional Orthodox church fittings, but there is a wonderful angel brocade for sale there. I saw it and thought of you.

     

  • At Nov 26, 2008 5:45:00 PM, Blogger Jen said…

    um, yea!!! this rick rack skirt from tim burton's alice:

    http://www.costumersguide.com/alice/bluecoat13.jpg

    i'm so going to do something like this, it's just a matter of when! ;)

     

  • At Nov 28, 2008 9:17:00 AM, Anonymous S said…

    I walk past French Connection in London every day, and whenever I see that rick rack dress in the window I always think of you. xx

     

  • At Nov 30, 2008 6:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Erin I think the alphabet is printed on the cloth after the dress is completed.

     

  • At Dec 1, 2008 2:20:00 AM, Anonymous Tommy said…

    That dress is great ! , I love the hem and the way the simplicity of 2colours work together to make it stunning.

     

  • At Dec 1, 2008 9:27:00 PM, Blogger Charmingirl said…

    This post has been removed by the author.

     

  • At Dec 2, 2008 3:38:00 AM, Anonymous Elle said…

    Gee thanks Jen, now I have to add the blue coat from the Alice movies now.

    And mind you, I live in Tennessee/Texas where I really don't need coats all that often (and aside from that raincoat, don't OWN any coats).

    :D

     

  • At Dec 2, 2008 7:19:00 AM, Blogger robin said…

    i own a dress in that rocketship fabric, only mine has a dark blue background! i got it on ebay sometime when it was still the '90s and ebay prices weren't sky-high.

    it doesn't fit quite right so i've always planned to remodel it somehow.

     

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