Challenge ten; Art

I had so many inspirations for this challenge, but the biggest challenge of all was being historically inspired! I love Georgia O'Keeffe's cityscapes, I love the colors and impressionistic shapes of Marcel Duchamp's paintings. Sadly both of these leave me envisioning very modern garments, not historical ones.

I settled for a combination of pieces for my inspiration and made a blouse. I love the neckline shape and the floaty ties on the dress in this painting by Marie Laurencin titled Portrait de Madame Paul Guillaume. The shaded cool colors are also lovely!



My second inspiration piece, which I also love, is shown in two paintings of the same woman, but by two artists; Suzanne Valadon's and Robert Delaunay's identically titled Portrait de Maria Lani.



I like that both art blouses are similar in shade and shape (sleeveless, mauvy pink), for my blouse I used the leftover voile from the Pink challenge dyed to be more mauve, I did not however dye the ties. I cut it out as a wrap blouse from the bodice of a vintage 1940s pattern, but altered the neckline to be more of a curved boatneck and I cut it longer in the hips. I lengthened the wrap ties at the waist. I can wear it as in the first painting with a curved neckline in front or with the wrap in the front as in the Maria Lani portraits. I did not add the collar because I could not wear it like the first picture with a collar. I did try unsuccessfully to add the collar as a facing type piece which could be folded under, but it did not work.





Here it is worn over a blue blouse as in the Maria Lani portraits, it's a bit large, has sleeves and doesn't have the white collar, but it still gives the same impression.



Also a shot with it wrapped in the back. I like this blouse quite a lot because it can be worn in an historical context or in a modern one. I did have one dye related incident in which there was a spot of unmixed dye on the bodice. I used this defect to test a dyeing technique I've been working on. Now it has a darker watercolory area on the right bust (when worn with the wrap in the back) which I quite like.



The Challenge: Art

Fabric: Pink cotton voile

Pattern: A very altered 1940s dress bodice

Year: 1929ish

Notions: Plum and Warm Black procion dye, thread

How historically accurate is it? Fabric and style are spot on, but my pattern is 1940s, so maybe 75%

Hours to complete: Not including the drying time from the dye bath, around two hours

First worn: Not yet

Total cost: Free! All from stash again.