Prada Inspired: Black Silk and Cream Striped Puffed Wrist Sleeve Blouse

So sometimes when your husband insists on piddling in the yard doing yardwork all Saturday and you've done all your housework, you decide to piddle in the sewing room.

A few nights ago, I watched the Prada Fall/Winter 2013-14 fashion show and was inspired by these sleeves:

Here they are in fur:

Also (and I'm ashamed of this one). but I love these sleeves on this coat of the character "Joyce" on the t.v. show Siberia.

Also, I'd been seeing all these black bodice and light colored puffy sleeved shirts in the New York fashion week show. Of course I can't find any pictures of them now, but most of them would have the bodice in black leather with lighter colored silk sleeves.

My aunt-in-law gave me this polyester silk material and told me she always thought it would make a nice blouse. (I didn't want to make a whole blouse in it because I thought that might look dated, so I updated mine):

I didn't want to make a bodice in leather because I would never wear it because it would need too much maintenance. I did have some silky black shiny polyester, though, so that's what I used. I also wanted to play with a squarish assymetric front/back hem and a bow at the neck. I'm really excited, because this shirt looks exactly how I imagined it!

(The slit in the neck line is also Prada-inspired.)

I'm really proud of how it hangs. It's not feed-sacky, but not clingy either.

I pinned the sleeve back here so you could see the hem better. Also, this is what the front looks like if you just tie the tie once.

I like it tied in a little bow best:

Now some close ups:

The End! 

Dolce and Gabbana Inspired - Red Lace 3/4 Sleeves Tailored Dress

Dolce and Gabbana is going with a Catholic/Byzantine theme this fall and winter. The show started off with dresses printed in mosaics with motifs of saints and priests. All the women wore little gold crowns and crucifix jewelry. The show ended with the flood of Cardinal red lace pictured below. Several of the dresses caught my attention. 

(When I found 4 1/2 yards of red lace and a red cotton bed sheet at the thrift store, I knew what I had to be done!)

Here is a Dolce and Gabbana advertisement in Vogue for September 2013. Notice how the dresses have red material behind the red lace. That's the look I was going for. 

This is the cut and style of dress that caught my attention. This one is kinda see-through, though.

Here is a close-up of the same dress. I used this picture to figure out the sleeves.

Notice the bodice. The flowers are symmetrical and placed above the breasts (instead of on them, which would be distasteful). I knew that symmetry and placement were important, so I tried to keep them as I was cutting and darting. If you can't see what I'm talking about, scroll to the next picture.

I circled the flowers I was talking about.

Here is my dress. I didn't iron it because I don't think you are supposed to iron lace. I will steam it before I wear it, though.

See the symmetrical flowers??? That wasn't easy. That's why I'm making you look at them!

I also got the sleeves as symmetrical as possible. See the flower right on the ball of the shoulder?

It's like that on the other one too.

I don't know what the back of the original dress looks like, but I know on Project Runway they say that if the front of your dress is high, then make the back a little lower and vice versa. If they are both high it looks "Madame" and if they are both low, it looks trashy.

More symmetry in the back--notice the flower symmetry. Oh, I forgot I was going to put false buttons on the back. I was too excited to post it! I will have to post and update later. I also kinda haven't decided if I want to take another couple inches off the bottom, because I'm kinda short. I'll definitely post an update at some point.

This is a picture using the flash. I put a cross necklace with it as a nod to the runway show.

No flash.

The End!