Ballgown: Day 10 (Or, Ballgowns & Hipster Headphones)

  

First off, thank you to everyone who has reached out to me on the blog, in person, or otherwise, with your encouragement and kind words - it's so great to know that you enjoy hearing about my process, and I hope my photos and thoughts inspire you as much as sharing them does for me!

Last night, I left my room a mess for the first time. I worked from the morning into the afternoon, taking breaks to help Sparklepants and Rockett with a few things to set up for their ballgown presentation. I hand-basted the back of my bodice together, and cut into my lace for the appliquéd front panel, and not much else: the end of the day came fast, and I left everything mid-thought to go watch the presentation.

Both of their gowns were absolutely stunning, and perfect for their design aesthetics, and so incredibly different from each other. It was really cool to see the gowns go from pieces of fabric on the table all the way to full outfits with hair and makeup, and both dresses really came alive on the body. I'm so proud of my ballgown buddies! I'm also excited (and slightly apprehensive?) for my turn to come up next.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying hand-basting things together. Someday the random pieces on my table will be a dress, too...

I looked like a total hipster yesterday, with my vintage shorts and crocheted top, Keds, and my big dorky headphones that I stole from Lumberjack so I don't disturb classes by blasting my music. Something that I've really appreciated about this process is how much music I've been getting to obsessively listen to, since I can't stream music at school and have to consciously choose new albums to load onto my phone every day. (Rdio saves my life omgggg)

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned it, but part of the reason this blog is called indie.knits is because of my love of music. Lumberjack and I used play guitar and sing together between classes, and go on dates to little indie music concerts around Seattle when we were in high school. (D'aw, our friendship is so old.)

I associate certain albums with very specific times in my life: finals of my freshman year of college was snowdrifts, calculus, and Radiohead's In Rainbows on repeat; the show at NYFA was steaming red wool crepe while listening to Sin Fang's Flowers; Iceland was insomnia and Phantogram's entire catalogue. I have an emotional - almost visceral - connection with good music, and the albums I've listened to while working on ballgown are almost like friends keeping me company. And, like friends, there will always be room in my life for a few more.

Happy Sunday!

<3
Cory