Dressmaker Forms Reviews

Dress designer Chrysal Parrot opens Demi Monde in Vineyard Haven

This might very well be a breakout year for fashion designer/dressmaker Chrysal Parrot. Although she's only just opened her own boutique on State Road in Vineyard Haven, she has been doing custom designs and alterations for a private clientele for years, and her designs have been the focus of much attention recently.

Last year, Ms. Parrot (pronounced like Ross Perot's last name) and her styles were the cover feature in the first issue of the new magazine Avalon. This past spring Ms. Parrot's designs, along with clothes from the store PIKNIK Art and Apparel, graced the catwalk for the preview event for next month's Martha's Vineyard Fashion Week. Earlier this month, her custom-made mother/daughter outfits were part of an item at the Possible Dreams Auction for Martha's Vineyard Community Services. Last week the designer did a fashion shoot for the 2012 issue of Martha's Vineyard Wedding Magazine.

Ms. Parrot's store, Demi Monde, located two doors up from Educomp in Vineyard Haven, features the designer's styles for women and girls. There are feminine sundresses in single or combination vintage-inspired prints and detail-rich costume-like pieces in lush fabrics with a nod to earlier eras. A rack of vibrantly colored cocktail dresses in iridescent silk dupioni with cummerbund sections in complementary colors and glimpses of tulle peeking from under the hem attest to the designer's eye for texture and color and her love of small surprising details. The most labor-intensive piece — an Edwardian wedding gown constructed from a variety of antique lace and muslin in ivories and pale sepia tints, hangs against one wall like the centerpiece work of art that it is. Prices start at $185.

Browsing through the lovely store is like sorting through a box of exquisite antique jewelry, where each piece instantly becomes your momentary favorite — until the charm of another grabs your attention. Nothing on display could be described as trendy. The pieces are all unique designs drawn from some of fashion history's most feminine and flattering styles. Ms. Parrot, who also designed the store's Art Nouveau style logo, says that she is inspired by everything, including costume dramas, which she is admittedly addicted to, but she has also recently designed some pieces using African print fabric that her father brought her back from Gambia. "Ideas just come to me in my sleep," she says, "or I see a piece of fabric and it just pops into my head.

Armorama :: In-Box Review: Dress Form by Charles Reading

This Easyline product comes packaged in a plastic envelope with a cardstock sporting the photo of the finished piece in black and white. The two pieces that comprise this kit are cast in grey resin with no casting flaws or bubbles. The casting lugs are placed so they can be easily removed with little or no damage to the pieces. The “Dress Form” is pretty self explanatory in terms of assembly, there are only two pieces. The ‘body form’ and its base, the base attaches to the bottom of the body form. Pretty simple. This interesting diorama piece would be seen in any nation, any time period (although the base/leg assembly might suggest turn of the 20th century through the 1960’s) Almost every small town had a dress maker/tailor shop where this piece would be at home. I remember as a child seeing something close to this at my Grandmother’s neighbor’s home as the lady always made her own clothes. Highs: Unique piece, reasonably priced that adds greater detail to urban or rural dioramas. Lows: Plusmodels/Easyline could have thrown something else in with the dress form, perhaps some bulk rolls of material (easily done in resin) or maybe a sewing machine? Verdict: If you are looking for a unique item to add realism and detail not normally seen this is a good inexpensive way to do it.

The Dressmaker

The Dressmaker, A Novel

Gaskell's compendium of forms, educational, social, legal and commercial, embracing a complete self-teaching course in penmanship and bookkeeping, and aid to English composition; together with the laws and by-laws of social etiquette, and business law and commercial forms, a manual of agriculture, mechanics and mining, and a complete guide to a parliamentary practice, the whole forming a complete encyclopedia of reference

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