If you like fashion, then I need your help...

Here we go. It's scary to get back into something you haven't done for a really long time. But, the time has come as they say, so we're going to give it a try.

The first old to new thing is this blog actually. I set it up two years ago. It was supposed to be where I chronicled the things that I created with my hands. I wrote one post. Then I had a baby. Then I had another baby. So technically, I have been creating. Just not with my hands.

So here it is, redesigned, looking fresher and with a new purpose. Well, sort of. It's still going to be about creating, mostly things from old to new. Maybe I'm the one with new purpose. I have a daughter now, and somehow that has birthed in me a desire for her to grow up with a mom who makes things, and teaches her to see something, then to see it in a new way, and then to make that vision come to life. There is magic in that, and I am hoping she will store up that magic as sacred memories.

So here for my first post, I go back to an old pastime. Many of you know I have a degree in fashion design. It's been a very long time since I have designed clothing. But, a favorite website, to be named later, is having a design contest of sorts. Their dresses have a very vintage feel to them and that got me to thinking about Dior, the New Look, the strong but feminine silhouettes of old.  I mean, just look at this loveliness.

Sigh.  Well, all of it was enough for me to dig out the prismacolors and give it a try. The trouble is, now I can't decide which dress I like the most. So I thought I would post them here and ask for your help. Which design is your favorite?








 Here are the first two designs.  Bear in mind that while they look like separates, they're actually dresses.  The one on the right would be a nice white cotton number, with cap sleeves, a tie at the neck and off center buttons.  The waist is a bold striped fabric in raspberry and white.  The dress on the left would have a navy strip, in a fabric with a bit of sheen to it.  The buttons on it are also off center and the tie at the neck is a bit lower down.  The sleeve would be pleated at an angle, into fitted bands.  And the skirt is a darker gray.  

The next few dresses are basically the same design, but with slight differences.  I am really having a hard time deciding.  The original design was sleeveless, but the guidelines for the contest requires sleeves.  So I had to do some reconfiguring.  What do you think?

On the left we have a pale gray dress with a gauzy cotton for the top with the sleeves.  And a raspberry colored ribbon at the waist.  The skirt is full with deep box pleats in the front, back and on the sides. 












And here it is in a more saturated blue with a gray ribbon...

And here it is all in one fabric.  A spring green, though, in this dress there wouldn't be the seam towards the top of the dress. 


So there you have it.  Have I got anything here worth submitting, or should I literally go back to the drawing board?  What do you think?