Chain, Chain, Chain

When Cherie first asked me to design these pieces, one of my first ideas was to handstitch rows of chain onto my Road Warrior silhouette, to bring it up to the next level. I knew that handstitched chain was something I just wouldn't be able to offer in my regular shop, stitching on the chain is just too time consuming to create multiples of, I'd never be able to keep up! So I thought this was the perfect time to try out this idea.


At first I thought I would use a small sized chain, but then I decided to throw caution to the wind and use the biggest chain I had. Thankfully I had the foresight to use gold toned aluminum chain which is much lighter weight than regular brass chain. The lightness of the aluminum chain keeps the shoulder pads from weighing a ton and starting to droop, but even still, this piece is quite weighty!

I had also recently picked up some vintage milliners woven raffia in black, and I thought this was the perfect bit of 3-D emellishment to compliment the chain. I then added black fringe to make the shoulders even MORE strong, I really wanted this piece to be really tough and really geometric. Basically what Mad Max would wear to his wedding, or something like that.

I had originally planned to use the gold embellishment (the section with the "x"s below) right against the skin with the elastic looped through each end, but then I thought about it a bit more and realized that no one in their right mind would want metal rubbing against the side of their bust, so I decided to handstitch it to the elastic. The tricky part here though is that the elastic stretches, but metal obviously does not, so I had to attach the metal in a way that would still allow the elastic to stretch a bit below it. Tricky work, but the end result is exactly what I was looking for.


Originally I was going to use gold buckles, but I found they made the look too busy, so I switched to the black ones for a more subtle look. Finally I tried it on and found it was missing something, it was too top-heavy. I mulled it over for a couple days, and saw that the solution was right in front of me....a fringe peplum at the waist! I love how this detail came out and how the entire piece swishes and swings as you wear it. Swishing is fun, no one can argue with that...

xo
Angie

Punk Ballerina

Hello lovelies, Angie from Norwegian Wood here again! Did I mention that I like to mix opposites when I design? Probably not (since I've only blogged here twice before) but blending opposing styles is one of my favorite things to do, just to mix things up a bit and see what the results will be. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much, but when it DOES work, the results can be magical.

This next harness is the embodiment of this idea, the mixture of tough studs and faux lambskin perfectly temper the delicate mini-pleated sheer fabric and the art deco inspired clasps. Without the studs, the harness would be too girly, and without the ruffles, it would be a WEE bit too S&M, which is a WHOLE other market that I'm a little wary to get into....as it is I already have enough dudes on Flickr favoriting pictures of me in knee socks and tights....ew.

This design started simply while I was at one of my favorite trim shops here in Montreal, and I stumbled upon a bag of black faux lambskin covered elastic. It was just shoved in a corner on a shelf, and when I saw it I had one of those grabby panic moments where I get all paranoid that someone is going to come up beside me and snatch it right from under my nose (I get a similar feeling when a stylish girl stands beside me while I'm thrifting...doesn't everyone?) So I quickly grabbed it and proceeded to carry it around the store like a baby. I'm in love with this elastic, it's as simple as that.

So I tucked it away in my sewing room, trying to imagine the perfect project, because experimenting with it and making something less than stellar was just NOT an option. So once again, when Cherie contacted me about this project, this was one of the first materials I thought of using.

I had also been hoarding away the vintage sheer pleated fabric for at LEAST 10 years. I know. Ridiculous. This means I have moved this fabric across two provinces and five apartments. My name is Angie, I have an addiction to vintage fabric. So I was happy when I pulled it out and finally had the perfect use for it. The clasps were something I sourced out specifically for this project, I love the art deco style detailing and the pewter colours. These were again something I found in another favorite trim shop, where the little old man who runs it will often pull things out of dusty old boxes in the back room, just for me! The studs were the final detail, and as soon as I held one up to the harness to see how it would look, I knew they would be the finishing touch. That little bit of toughness that was needed lies in those studs, the perfect balance for a punk ballerina.

xo
Angie

Feathered & Fringed

Hello dears, Angie from Norwegian Wood here again. I'm popping in to let you all know that as of tonight, all my goodies for the Shrimpton Couture site are in the mail, on their way to the protective and able hands of Cherie! Over the next few days I'll post pics of the 6 pieces I created for this mini collection; 4 deluxe harnesses and 2 very special necklaces.

The first piece I'm SO excited to reveal to you is the Feathered & Fringed harness! As any of you who are followers of Norwegian Wood know, I'm pretty obsessed with the idea of adding things to my shoulders, so when Cherie told me to "go wild, do whatever you want!" my mind immediately screamed "put feathers on your shoulders, do it, DO IT!!"

So the next step was to find the perfect feathers. I hunted down these lovely vintage feather pads at a small local trim shop, and snipped and trimmed them until they were the perfect little shoulder sized half moons. Then I laid them out on the shoulder pads to have a look and thought....

"Huh. Doesn't really seem "WOW" enough. It obviously needs some fringe."

And of course, why stop at one layer? I was inspired by the natural colours in the feathers, and decided to do three layers of fringe in olive green, cream and black. Finally I felt satisfied and began putting the harness together. I recently found these great antique brass coloured clasps, but was only able to find six of them, so I knew they had to be saved for a special project, and this one seemed to be calling out for them. I toyed around with adding more straps or adding something else to the bottom of the harness, but in the end I decided that anything else would just compete with the feathers. Time to listen to my moms old adage "Angie, for gods sake, don't gild a lily!"

xo
Angie