Challenge One - The Gene Challenge

Well, after several months of waiting, here it is “The Big Day”!!

This competition is really wonderful and it is such a thrill to be chosen as a contestant.
The nerves hit badly a couple of days ago but they soon gave way to the excitement again.

I printed out the brief and took all the key words, jotted them down on my “thinking pad”, then asked myself as many questions that I could think of regarding the outfit.

Surfed the Internet for a while and came out with Renee Zellweger - ? How did that happen??
Well, just have a look at her outfits for the Oscars they are stunning! I had already done a lot of “homework” for this challenge, I found out all I could, (without actually resorting to stalking), about Mel Odom, what he likes who inspired him, how Gene came about.

Then found all I could about every silver screen goddess, who ever walked the boards.
I have a scrap book full of images and learned some very interesting stuff along the way!
I have set about the design and come up with something that ticks all my boxes!
It is a very fitted bodice in 7 panels. It has to be shaped to flatter the distinctive figure of the Gene doll.
The top of the dress is shaped to frame the face and shoulders.
It plunges deeply both at the front and the back.
The top and bottom of the bodice will be trimmed in the most luxurious lace and beading.

It will be worn/photographed against a back drop of a red carpet, so I want to use the red carpet to flatter the dress and act as a backdrop.

If the dress was bright red it would disappear into the carpet but I want to use red and black to add drama.
As the outfit is for a red carpet awards type ceremony I don’t want too much glitter. Obviously when you go to collect your award you want everyone to notice the award, therefore I want no gold or silver or anything shiny.

The dress will go from having the red carpet as a back drop, to the dress being a back drop to the award. How good will it look with a large golden accessory??

So, how do you make it glitzy and eye catching now??
Well, the richness of the colours make it look luxurious, the lace adds quality and wealth and the jewellery and trims are all glass, reflective and eye catching without detracting from the longed for award!!
Clever eh??

I want her to look like she belongs to or is part of the red carpet, therefore she has to have a train on her dress which will sweep the carpet behind her. I have kept the bottom of the dress quite plain almost as though the red carpet is part of her dress.

She has to look good from the front (as she stands to accept her award) and she has to look good from behind as she walks down the carpet.

Every aspect has to be covered.
The shaping of the dress is cut to flatter and highlight her figure and is reminiscent of the corsetry worn “in her day”.

The skirt is sheer and flowing moving with her as she walks, and hanging beautifully. Her shapely legs can clearly be seen through the black chiffon.

Now to the Shopping!
So, the basic design is in the bag, it is time to go shopping for fabric. I have a lot of fabric and accessories already but needed some black chiffon. I always think it is a good idea before you commit yourself to the design to have a look at some new fabrics and have a rummage in some cheap jewellery shops.

Whilst looking for the chiffon, I found two types, a plain black, and a crinkled. They both looked good but the crinkled won the vote as the scale of the crinkles was tiny.
I initially intended to use black velvet for the main body of the dress but had concerns about doing so many panels which would cause thickness around the seams. Also the shop had the most luxurious silk dupion in a deep rich red which solved my reservations about using velvet.
I found the black lace ready beaded with tiny black beads, (saves me a bit of a job) and bought a variety of beads and sequins.

The pattern was the next job, I wanted the panels shaped and fitted perfectly.
This involved lots very small pieces of paper pattern, shaped and fitted to Gene’s body. Checked constantly for the fit.
They were cut out in the red silk dupion and black lining fabric. They all went together very easily, checking each seam as I went along and pressing each one flat.

Then the skirt was added sewn between the silk and the lining. The skirt was pretty full with lots of gathers around the top, which looked ok, but, I wanted to be able to see through the skirt to give it a more up to date look. The skirt came off again and was re cut and shaped so that it hung more or less flat down the front and then gathered round the back to allow it to fold and drape better.

The inside was finished off, sewing the lining down over the raw edges of the skirt keeping everything neat , hooks sewn down the back and the eyelets worked in chain stitch.
Before I sewed the lace to the dress, I tried out a few ideas.
If you put the lace straight on to black fabric, the whole thing just disappeared, this also happened when the black lace was overlaid on the dress fabric.

However, when red ribbon was behind the lace the detail really stood out and as I wanted a touch of red to come through the black lace, I have sewn red satin ribbon to the dress where I want the lace to go.

The bottom edge was sewn in place and the top one pinned into position before sewing to get the shoulder straps in the correct position, not an easy job as the back has to be deeply plunging as does the front and the straps have to sit in the right position and it all somehow needs to flow seamlessly!

Time to add the beaded lace.

The black lace already had black beads sewn on it so all I had to do was sew on the red beads and the sequins.

I used the bevelled sequins as they glitter more than the flat ones and two different kinds of red beads. I also used droplet beads just to give a little more movement to the dress and make it a little more eye-catching.
To work out how the beads were going to go on, I laid out the lace and just placed the beads on top of it until I decided it looked right.
Then the ipod was turned up full blast and the beads were sewn on, very relaxing actually!
Now the dress is just about done, one final, and quite tricky pressing and that’s it.

Time to move on to the accessories.
I wanted to keep these to a minimum, the shoes were very simple black strap shoes with just a bead and sequin trim to match them to the dress.

I decided she would need a handbag, one usually needs a tissue and lipstick at least when attending red carpet events!

I had to check and make sure Gene would be able to hold a handbag with a strap.
I didn’t want a chain as this would have to be either gold or silver and would not go with the dress so a beaded handle was decided upon.


The bag was made in red silk from the dress fabric and trimmed with the beaded lace to match the dress trim.

Jewellery was actually quite tricky, it looks as though a ribbon choker would go, but this immediately dates the outfit, making it look very old fashioned.

A necklace no matter how plain, just detracted from the neckline of the dress, so after several attempts with different styles of necklaces, I decided not to bother at all, the dress has such a detailed neckline that it really didn’t need one.

Because of this her earrings had to be quite large, small ones just looked like she hadn’t bothered.

So earrings were made with tiny black roses and red Swarovski beads.

So now it is time to get it into the post and send it on its way.
It was posted on the morning of the last day!
Now the worry starts again, did I get it right?