Malotke Sews

Pet Bed #1 With fabric swatches I created a funky blue and green feature that I could sew to a plain cotton rectangle. I laid out all the little swatches and worked on a few at a time. I chose to just do a zig zag stitch along all of the edges of the squares. Some overlap others and all of their edges are raw, no serging. I wanted to make something fun and colorful. I enjoyed mixing all of the patterns and prints together while sticking to a general color theme.  Pet Bed #2 My dog loves this bed too! I filled it with leftover tulle so it's not lumpy but more of a soft pillow for him to lounge on. Now my dog isn't big on sharing, so I decided to use as many blue squares as I could and make another little pillow for the cats. I sorted my swatches to see what was left and laid out all of the blue ones to see how they could work together. I sewed them in rows of 5 at a time to a large piece of cotton fabric. After I finished sewing the swatches I then finished the pill...

Organizing my last swatches A while back I was lacking in feeling creative. I was in a rut. No ideas, no exciting projects. I decided I needed some new fabric to help spark ideas. I went online (there are very few fabric stores where I am) and discovered I could get free fabric swatches from several different websites. I may have gone a little overboard and I ordered a LOT of free swatches. I tried to get a variety of color, patterns, and fabric selections. I think I ended up with around 100 fabric swatches varying in size. It was a rush to get them all in the mail, sort through them, and see which ones could work well together. I decided to do a few small projects with the swatches. I made a few small makeup bags with the colors based on the zippers I already had in my stash. I also made 2 dog beds for my pets. I created my own fabric by piecing the swatches together for one main side and then sewing a pillow out of leftover fabric scraps. I then filled the beds with leftover t...

Some quick pencil sketches Slowly but surely making progress on my sketches. My sketching process is a little time consuming. I like to use a sketchbook that already has figures in it as a way to sort of get out all of my ideas while they're still fresh. So I do some quick sketches and only use pencil. Usually my sketches involve a lot of notes jotted down around them too...A LOT.  The next step is deciding which looks I like more and which ones I think are main contenders for the final costumes. For some characters I just automatically know but with others it can be a little tricky with deciding on just one look. Then with the rough sketches I finalize in my mind the colors, fabrics, and accessories I think will be great for the characters. Once I've landed on a solid idea I make more final looking renderings. I really like taking outlines and using Illustrator to add fabrics, shading, an coloring. However, as of now I don't access to Illustrator or Photoshop so I w...

Color is a huge factor for me in my design process. I can read the show, I can do the research, and I can get a general idea of what I want the characters to look like- but I need the color scheme to actually make progress.  Image Source Linked For my current show, Servant of Two Masters , the director has set the time line (we're in 1952) and has set the way the show will go (think live TV set), but the set designer has the say so with color scheme. The director wanted vibrant and kitschy, think the Adams Family TV set in color (even though it was filmed in black and white). I for one am super excited, but I've been postponing sketching until I have the approved set colors. I have spoken with the director on characters and the generalizations for them, but I've only made lists and notes on what I think I'd like them to look like. Once I have the set colors I can figure out which characters are in which scenes with those different color schemes on set. Then I...

Slowly but surely making progress on my geometric print dress. I'm working with a commercial pattern and really wishing I had traced the pattern onto brown paper and customized it with my personal measurements. Right now I am making an XL and figure if it's a little too big in certain areas I will take it in.  At the moment I have cut out all of the pattern pieces and then got sidetracked with my current costume design job. I'm working on some rough draft sketches for character ideas. So my stack of cut out fabric pieces have been left in a pile in front of my serger waiting for the next step. After I serge my pieces I figure it'll take about an hour or two for construction. It's a simple dress but I want to take my time and not skip anything. I'm also still toying with a few design changes (think pockets, different thread color, added thread detailing, etc). After I sew it together I will post about the little details I've added to make the dress mor...

At the moment my full time job is so much more relaxing and stress free compared to my previous job. I am finally catching up on redoing my design space, unpacking my fabric, and getting to my list of must watch shows on Netflix.  One of the most recent documentaries I've seen is "In Louboutin's Shoes," directed by Michael Waldman. It's a great look into the way Louboutin works and how he gets inspired. Plus, the shoes are simply stunning even through the TV and not in person. If you love shoes or need a short fashion documentary to filly our time, I would recommend checking this one out. Next on my list was of course "Iris," directed by Albert Maysies. Honestly, I don't know how I waited so long to watch it. I've read about her and seen snip-its here and there, and she's truly an inspiration. I'm not huge into jewelry, but I love the way she combines textiles, colors, and patterns. I absolutely loved the documentary. It was a ...

Heads up, going to toot my own horn for this post... It has been 2 years since my senior collection and graduation from college. My degree is in Apparel Design & Technology, even though I slid my way into Costume Design.  I went into college thinking how I would love to work for magazines and end up being an editor. I thought having a background in fashion and knowing how everything should be constructed would give me an edge. While working for the theater department as a Costume Shop Intern, I remembered how much I loved theater and thought maybe I should switch gears. After studying abroad in London I decided I definitely wanted to go into costume design. I took on more roles with my second semester in the costume shop; I even got to costume design for one of the small productions. Since my lovely funky senior collection: I have worked for the Saint Louis Opera Theatre on 4 productions as a First Hand Designed Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...

I am a huge fan of black and white patterns, especially mixing them together. For another collar I decided to use some leftover black and white houndstooth fabric. It's a very sturdy collar, and maybe just a tad too thick for hand sewing. I added a solid black trim to one side, white ribbon for tying the collar, and topped it off with black suede strips for extra texture. As I'm making these collars I'm still a little unsure of how often I'll wear them, if at all. But I paired this one with my black and white polka dot shirt for a quirky look.

One of my favorite sewing projects is to find something at Goodwill and turn it into something totally different. It can be as simple as finding a garment and using it just for fabric and turning it into a new piece. For this project I took a sleeveless, simple, black knit dress and make it a new dress. On one of my fabric runs I came across a remnant that is black lace with denim flowers on it. I bought it with the though that I could use it as a hem addition or maybe pockets to a skirt. I bought it without a plan because I loved it.  I had snagged the black dress at Goodwill for $6 and decided it would be nice to dress up for work, or to add a little something extra. When I started playing around with the dress and the fabric I toyed with the idea of adding a little cape or an over skirt with the lace. I finally landed on using the remnant fabric for big sleeves. Then, after I added the sleeves I felt as though the dress was missing something. I headed off to Joann's to ch...

I have a huge stash of fabric, one that I will probably never get completely through. I tend to hang on to fabrics and accumulate a lot more than I intended to keep. A while back I found this lovely white, grey, and yellow geometric print fabric on sale at Joann's. I bought 4 yards and a grey zipper will the full intention of making a dress and a simple skirt out of it. However, it has just been sitting in my stack of fabric since. I have the 4th of July off work and it's supposed to be insanely hot outside. I've elected to spend my free day inside sewing and  finally work on this dress. At my current full time job I need to have a more business professional wardrobe. I love my dressy clothes but am always wanting to spice things up a bit. I tend to get tired of my closet every few months and check out Goodwill and other stores in town to find fun pieces to work on (think adding pockets, replacing trim, redoing hemlines, that kind of thing). Instead of heading out...

One day I decided I need a mini project just to get back into the grove of working on sewing projects. I landed on making unattached collars. It's not time consuming, I can use scrap materials, and it's rewarding to finish a few in a weekend. Here are some progress shots of collar #1: Pictured left: sewing on raspberry trim. Laying out buttons. And the hand sewing begins... Just one small section of buttons completed.