Lessons

Lesson Info

Creating Couture Garments and Stylized Session

we're going to start with and we mentioned a little bit yesterday we're gonna kind of do a bridal couture shoot today so those of you guys you do weddings hopefully that's what kind of inspire you a bit but the twist in that is that we don't actually have any wedding dresses were going to make them out of just fabric that I've gotten from joanne tancock fabrics anything like that and they're very inexpensive this is just lining which is exactly what I'm gonna use it for its lining so just a bolt about three yards uh off the bolt of lightning um just to show you what's on my table over here I've another lining a couple of laces so and I'll show you that was in a minute and a bunch of trims and stuff like that so we're going to build a basic structure on the gown and then gussy it up a little bit with some trim so I just have my models wear strapless bra and nude underwear and I could build right on top of that so here's my line again before she this robes that's a good pun right because...

you have a roban that's good I like puns I'm just taking this fabric and drinking and over my arm like that okay we're gonna take a piece of ribbon I feel like mary poppins over here with all my stuff and just something like that trying to get it kind of even because this is gonna be the whining of the dress okay all right for a moment we have to get you this road there we go so I'm just gonna tie this around her and you look great looks crazy at first but in the end it won't kobar your finger all right so I just made a nice tight knot back here all right arms up for just a moment I'm just now pulling this around a little so I can get some coverage in the back how are we doing up there pretty good all right let me have you spent around so they can see all I did was pull it together in the back this point I can take a couple pens I'm just talking this part won't show very much because it's just the lining of a gown okay uh safety penalty great sell pin it here in a couple of other places here you can also penned this right to the bra and that helps because that way it's not gonna go anywhere when we're so deep in normally I would take a little more time and care in this but I just want you to kind of get the idea okay we spin you back around for a moment so that's the lining then I could take a lace and this is just stretch lace from the hancock store so the cool thing about it is it's it's very stretchy so if I wanted to make a really chic like sexy gown arms up for a moment I can really get this tight and it's you know it's going to show the figure really well um and it looks like it's tailored because it's stretchy if it's not you get a lot of wrinkles and gathers and all kinds of stuff I could go just a simple is that actually pendant in the back and that's a gorgeous gown already it's just a little sheath dress right um variations on that and you can relax lawrence from women now got it around you I can take this pull it down and gather it put a pin right there and it becomes a little sweetheart neckline I can add straps to that just a little ribbon beating anything I want I can add a little sash which we're going to do in a minute another way to take this place arms up again I wanted to do with a sweetheart neckline I can actually wrap it that way too just by going around once that way I'm coming and crossing back over this way and I would just pin that down and that becomes a really pretty little almost roost look okay so uh go back here for a moment go ahead pin this around her so if can I get a safety pin start with a really simple dress will get crazier in a minute I'm pinning this to the lining so it helps to keep the whole thing together while we're photographing I'm bleeding on the waste hey this has my dna and it would talk about that yesterday we had a bit almost their way all right what's cool about it is if you spend around for them you get a really pretty train you do it that way and I could just pin the train together at the bottom and it really looks like a regular train so spent back around one more time just uh wide ribbon again from the fabric store make her I could make an empire waist up here which is very romantic and claire pettibon ask your natural waist can't even go nineteen twenties and do a drop waist so she looks like lady mary right so it's up to you and you could just you khun do rushing you could do something like that that looks really nineteen twenty so you know just by changing the waistline let's go with that how we think it's pretty on you okay relax your arms all I'm doing is now tying this in the back can I borrow a finger again I'm trying to get this pretty tight because it does tend to loosen up a little bit as we photograph already thank you I'm gonna give her to you in a moment if you could try to hide that pin and just tuck it in there and be great you can also once you get the top of and some laces have exposed edges that air place on the edge so you have a really nice there we go you could take another trim appear this way whatever you like dress it up as much as you want to I'm gonna grab one more big safety pin getting all up in your business so we're gonna be good friends in a minute I can take this and make a little roost just threading it through a couple times here pull it down here as far as I can trying not to poke you way get a pretty little and you could put a button there anything you want and it becomes a nice little custom gown you're great thank you just a little note to sew like beating could make really pretty spaghetti straps that kind of thing whatever you like all right camp out for a minute over there and make another one thank you pretty pretty so that's really simple start we have one more model coming so I do love to use lice because I'm a super overly romantic person but I love chiffon too so this is what are you just and of course this could be any color so if you're not into the wedding gown thing I've got a bunch of black stuff too I use at home this one got dragged through the mud the other day so pardon but so I'm gonna do the same thing with the chiffon and of course you could make that dress out of chiffon if you wanted to come on over so I'll just have it unfolded over my arm this time I'm just going to grab this right in the middle right here and let it fall and we're gonna get this kind of grecian asymmetrical him line when we use this so see we got all kinds of stuff in my magic bag here cut me good length of that so this one is going to be more kind of a draped less fitted the kind of thing there's plastic on it and the idea is I'm gonna drape it from about here down uh that's good I can also take this pull it all the way under her back and I would pin it into the bra and I get almost like a sleeve effect and I could take this underneath her arm in this across her bust and you get sleeves just really pretty and I could even take a pin and gather the sleeves up a little bit make him rush if I wanted teo there's just a billion things you could do so many things this will go night very nineteen twenties also if you want to belt it down here at the hip we're gonna make a really drapey romantic gown so I'm taking that bit there and a safety pin and I'm gonna take this and just thread it through I'm kind of sewing with the safety pin is what I'm doing so this holds together so you go in out through the ribbon and again and out through the ribbon in it so that's half the dress maybe just hold that for a moment I will make the other half take a good bit of chiffon to do this without having to do lining so I've got you know three three yards each on these pieces so a total of six yards of white chiffon I kind of like the raw edge although if you really want to spend some time you can put a lace trim or something all the way around the bottom edge and it's stunning when I do is I go on pinterest and look for gowns and I fall in love with have a whole page on pinterest of gowns and then I try I have a dress form at home and I just tried to make him and what I love about this is the's are momentary gowns they don't last very long so after the photographic gown doesn't exist anymore and I think that's kind of neat I'm one of a kind thing that's temporary and then it only exists in the photograph have you disrobe under there just cover yourself up there we go can you come grab her robe okay so I can make this if it starts fall apart miller just grab it um like a marilyn monroe kind of down and belt it right here kind of hollywood glam I can make it a lot sweeter like that I can pull the straps over even more if I want fuller shoulders which we're going to d'oh okay so hang on to right there I'm doing now which I can't show you because we're a little naked back here is pending the straps to the bra hang on to it sorry sweetie can I have you been this side open the side and depends can show matter okay no in a minute I can sure I'm just gonna take the sides go ahead let us all from I mean let's see how it's doing up there if you just hold it there were good take the sides and pulling around back come here you got too much work or something again I'm just pending the back of the dress which I can show you in just a second to the bra well she had her little bum is hanging out so now we can ok you'll spend e okay well spinning spinning weapon a lot of pinning okay again if I had a little more time I would taylor that some so we wouldn't see the pins but if he spends around in the front here it's a really pretty kind of greece shiny and I'll pin it here and somewhere down here so doesn't continue to split in the front I just I mean there's so many things you can do with these dresses and you know dubai garment every time you want teo really pretty shoot this one which I'll have you and while we're working it's pretty to take a trim like that again I just got this a hancock fabrics and you could just follow the line of the gown with it so she's a little younger so this will be sweet for her something to that effect but if you wanted to be really sexy you could make it that way no they think that's pretty on this countess to belt it because he has little tiny waist so that's really pretty on you nearly pretty okay can I have you pin so end of it here since the sun always in the back follow the cross and then same thing on the other side there's another piece over there okay can I borrow uh um anybody who wants to stand here for a minute and be a dress form anyone anyone dress form yeah over here okay just to show you one were cool thing that I wanted to illustrate another piece of stretch lace it's another dress and really like to do is take the lace two corners here so I'm trying to find a kind of a midpoint and let it drape down in the middle like that would bring you over here for a second and I can pin it either behind her neck and that becomes marilyn monroe thing again right or back to the back of the broad should be back here and the cool thing about the stretch places you could gather it quite a bit and let it become a v neck this would go under her arms and around back so just the third way to do it that's kind of cool yeah I'm wondering do you always create your dresses on location and how how long does it take her address I do always make him on location and it takes anywhere from ten minutes like that little strapless when we did ten minutes to maybe twenty if I really want to gussy it up trim buttons rhinestones you know that kind of stuff on it the details stuff is what takes the time so how did that work ahead of time the detail you know I do it right on their body so I was talking about yesterday kind of the element of touch idea and that helps me to even if I kind of prefer for it to take a little bit longer because I can spend time right up in their personal space and that helps me to kind of bond with them I feel less awkward around them and I think they feel a little less awkward around me because we're already we're getting to know each other come was physically tactile so it's fine and we just chat and make a gown all so she could tell me what she wants which is pretty cool so we worked together on it yeah okay so we have two gorgeous girls that looks amazing think we're ready to rock any questions from out there on making dresses before we move on one question that had come in was actually not just about making the dresses but um about model releases actually do you have the model sign releases for the gallery if you're going to be selling the work yeah okay cool let me just check on over into the chat rooms again um so people are wanting to go see your pinterest board yeah where can they find you on pinterest y the name just there I think it's just jen jen hudson or done hunts and art I'm sure you haven't had this before about people are finding this singer jennifer yes yes I don't know how that works maybe we can find that behind every on and post that in their goodies on there so another question from j l j j l d in north carolina how much yardage again do you recommend buying of the stretch lace and the chiffon what's a good amount to start with I always get what I tried to get about three yards per piece that I'm kind of holding on my arm like this one's made of two of those so this is classy ours it's fine she's wearing just three our ship three yards of lace on her and for the train as well with that that's enough if you've got a smaller girl like that you could pull it around or bust you'll still get a beautiful train like I was mentioning you could take a trip like this especially on one of these and if you want to take the time dependent all the way around him this is a little bit wide but you get the idea it's really beautiful it looks like I mean some of these gowns I google claire pettibon a lot I love her gown stuff like that and they look quite like him they're just kind of momentary all right cool well people are really digging your outfits jin a sugar says such a cool idea for throwing together a dress I do this from maternity sessions but never thought to do it for a fake wedding dress and you look it make it look very easy and it is easy so if you just want to go out and do a shoot for yourself right make a white dress got a girl who's just a high school senior that want something high fashion put her in red or black you know anything you like I like to photograph white dresses so they do look like wedding gowns but you could do anything with this you know a pattern a print anything