Author Archives: Janice

GRAD COLLECTION: BLACK VELVET 1978

APRIL 30, 2020

In this group there are four designs. The common elements are black knit velvet and two floral challis prints, pink, blue and green on a black background. One is a border print. The theme is a folklore vibe with layering and mixing of challis plain weave prints with the plush knit velvet.

Black satin ribbon, 1.5 and 2 cm widths, and black lace create visual interest to the velvet because the open-net lace adds a layer of texture and the ribbon adds a layer of shine. The contrast enhances the richness of the velvet without adding colour.

left: jumper dress and blouse, right: pullover vest and dress

Jumper dress and blouse

The black velvet jumper dress has a U-neck, short bodice with one row of ribbon around the bodice line, two rows of ribbon, 1.5 and 2cm wide, at the hemline. There are racer-back armholes and a back zip.

The challis blouse has a ruffle neckline and self-fabric tie for the bow. There is a ruffle at the cap of the sleeve. The border fabric is placed above the wrist and finished with a drawstring tie.

Janice’s sketch, black velvet jumper dress, satin ribbon trim, racer-back armholes; challis blouse, neck bow, ruffle at neck and cap of the sleeve ©Janice Colbert 2020

black velvet jumper dress, challis blouse

Pullover vest and dress

The black velvet vest has a U-neck and short bodice with racer-back armholes.

The challis dress with button front closure, has ruffle neckline and self-fabric tie for the bow. There is a ruffle at the cap of the sleeve. The border print is placed above the wrist and finished with a drawstring tie. The single tier of the dress is finished with a border print hem.

Janice's sketch, black velvet pullover vest, racer-back armholes; challis dress with front buttons, neck bow, ruffle at armhole; contrasting border fabric for the bottom tier

Janice’s sketch, black velvet pullover vest, racer-back armholes; challis dress with front buttons, neck bow, ruffle at the cap of the sleeve; contrasting border fabric for the bottom tier ©Janice Colbert 2020

black velvet pullover vest, challis dress, contrasting border fabric for the bottom tier

Fun times! Jumper dress and blouse, vest and dress

Blouse and skirt

The black velvet blouse with button front and bishop sleeves has a satin ribbon tied in a bow and a lace ruffle at neckline, satin ribbon and lace at the wrists.

The challis skirt has three tiers, with two rows of satin ribbon, 1.5 and 2cm wide, on the top and middle tier. The bottom tier is finished with a border print hem.

Janice’s sketch, black velvet blouse, bishop sleeve, lace at cuffs and neck, satin bow tied at neck; skirt, challis print and border print on bottom tier, satin ribbon ©Janice Colbert 2020

black velvet blouse, tiered skirt with ribbon and border print

Blouse and skirt

The blouse with Peter Pan collar and placket front, has two coordinating challis prints on the front yoke and the same coordinating prints on the bishop sleeves and their cuffs. The prints have a narrow satin ribbon to cover where the patterns were sewn together.

The skirt has two tiers.

Variations:

The blouse fabric is a fine rib jersey with shimmer like the blouse in the Red & Green Collection (hot pants and blouse).

The bottom tier is finished with two fabrics, one floral and a horizontal stripe, not shown anywhere else, which finishes the hem.

Janice’s sketch; blouse, fine rib jersey with shimmer, bishop sleeve with challis print bands, collar and placket challis print, skirt, challis print and border print on bottom tier ©Janice Colbert 2020

blouse, fine rib jersey with shimmer, bishop sleeve with challis print bands, collar and placket challis print, skirt, challis print and border print on bottom tier

blouse, back view

GRAD COLLECTION: RED & GREEN 1978

APRIL 16, 2020

Remember we are looking at late 1970s fashion. Clothing was more relaxed and baggier. The folklore/hippie/ safari vibe was the look with lots of layering of clothes and prints and patterns; midi skirts and vests, maxi dresses, strapless dresses, headbands, green and khaki with their compliment colours. There were also platform sandals worn with hot pants, tube tops and skinny tops with high-waist pants and jeans with bell-bottoms. Fashion was so varied that anything could go.

I don’t have all the garments shown in the photos. Detail images are of the ones that I still have on hand. I felt fortunate to have sold some of the pieces after the graduation fashion show in the late 1970s. And I’m thankful that I had the foresight to save the remaining samples of my work.

red floral peasant blouse, front slit, narrow neckband, braid tied at sleeves

red floral peasant blouse (missing braid ties at neckline and sleeves)

In this group there are three designs. The common elements are red-floral plain-weave cotton similar in scale to Liberty patterns and green cotton twill. Trim includes 3mm wide green braid to match the cotton twill, green buttons and 2 cm wide fabric belts with brass buckles and eyelets.

left: back view of vest with racer-back armhole, blouse and skirt, right: long vest, tiered skirt and peasant blouse

Long vest, tiered skirt and peasant blouse

The model in the centre of the photograph is wearing a red-floral peasant blouse and tiered skirt. The pullover blouse with a front slit is shirred along the narrow neckband. A length of braid pulled through thread loops closes the neckline. On the sleeves braid is run through a channel and exits through thread eyelets where it is tied.

The skirt has braid on each of the three tiers. Cotton Swiss eyelet-embroidery is layered underneath the tiered skirt like the fabric in the blouse on the left.

The twill long-vest with red-floral belt has twelve 1.5 cm buttons down the front, a V-neck front with mid-armhole darts and racer-back armholes, self-fabric belt loops.

Variation: The addition of 3 cm wide cotton lace on each tier of the skirt.

Janice's sketch and fabric samples, long vest, tiered skirt and peasant blouse

Janice’s sketch, long vest, tiered skirt and peasant blouse ©Janice Colbert 2020

red floral fabric, green twill fabric, long vest, short vest three blouses, tiered skirt, dirndl skirt, hot pants

Featuring the centre garments, long vest, tiered skirt, peasant blouse

detail, green vest, racer-back armholes, buttons, red belt

detail, green twill vest, mid-armhole darts, racer-back armholes, red belt

detail, red floral tiered skirt, braid, 3 cm wide cotton lace

Vest, blouse and skirt

The red-floral vest with V-neck and racer-back armholes has buttons down the front and ties at the waist with braid. The dirndl skirt in midi length is twill with a front-button placket.

Variation: The blouse was made with cotton Swiss eyelet-embroidery. The scalloped border was incorporated in the collar edge, and for the sleeve cuff and hem.

Janice’s sketch, vest, blouse and skirt ©Janice Colbert 2020

vest, blouse and skirt

Hot pants and blouse

The pullover blouse has red-floral accents for the extra-long placket, the Peter Pan collar with rounded ends in front, and the cuffs. The collar and cuffs are trimmed with braid that follows the edges. A braid bow ties at the neck.

The hot pants with red-floral belt have a fly front, two pleats on each side of centre and self-fabric belt loops. The side seams are flat fell seams.

Variation: The fabric for the blouse is a cream-colour jersey with a fine rib and shimmer.

Janice’s sketch, hot pants and blouse ©Janice Colbert 2020

hot pants and blouse

hot pants, red belt

SUMMER BREAK: ALGO ORIGINAL, MONTREAL 1977

APRIL 2, 2020

I entered a competition and won an intern position at a dress factory well known for moderately priced ladies’ fashion dresses, Algo Original in Montreal. We didn’t have a formal name for what it was that I was going to work at there, like we do today, but it was an opportunity to work in a garment factory for six weeks or so.

I looked forward to a summer in Montreal. I was familiar with it. My aunts and an uncle and my grandparents lived there. I had been to Expo ’67 twice.

My oldest friend, who was at Fashion College with me, was also awarded a position at a lingerie manufacturer. My uncle heard that we were looking for a place to stay and offered the second bedroom in his apartment. He said he was never there anyway, working during the day and then out socializing or at a ball game in the evening, Vermont on the weekends.

My parents drove me to Montreal on a Saturday morning to meet Elliot, my contact person and to make sure everything was on the up and up for their twenty-two year old daughter. We had a look around the factory before I started work on Monday morning.

Sal and I lived in the Outremont borough and loved the old brick building that was our home for the summer. We traveled together on transit to the garment district on Chabanel Street.

I was silenced by this dream come true. Any trim you could imagine. Shelves stacked with enormous bolts up to the ceiling. Such an array of fabrics, any one of my choices could be lifted down for me. The flurry when the stylist, Lize came to the workroom to check on things, her voice booming above the factory noise. The friendliness of the pattern maker at the sunny window, her ease in pattern-making, her confidence with fitting the model or Judy at a time when patterns were drafted with rulers, pencil and paper.

The sewing room was right there too. I was used to Juki industrial sewing machines and sergers at school. In the hands of an experienced seamstress the clothing pieces just zipped through the machines. I gave it a try but could not keep up. And the needle caught my index finger; the women at the machine beside me gently reach over and reversed the hand-wheel to raise the needle. Oops!

Algo had a collection of “bodies”; dress silhouettes they knew were selling well to the wave of young women and recently divorced women who needed affordable office wear to join the work force. The fabrics, and things like necklines and sleeve details and length could be changed but the body measurements remained consistent.

At a sales meeting, I couldn’t believe how accepting the sales reps were of my two designs. I heard their endorsement by their projections, discussing how many of each they could sell.

Here are two of my designs that were manufactured by Algo.

party dress, with ribbon trim criss-cross consisting of three colours on the bodice, utilized as a long braid stitched at the shoulders and left to hang freely from the short bodice to knee length; jersey fabric

blue wool dress, roll collar, paisley print to line the cap sleeves, slash pockets, placket front and facing; paisley trim on the belt with a button closure each point

blue wool dress, roll collar, paisley print accent for the cap sleeves, slash pockets, placket front and facing; paisley print on the belt with a button closure each point

When it was my last day at the factory a sales rep expressed surprise, “What are you going back to school for? You’ve got this!”

I started my graduation year, in the fall.

ABOUT

MARCH 19, 2020

I played under my mother’s kitchen table with the fabric scraps left over from the pieces she sewed, aprons and baby clothes to donate for the church bazaar in Halifax. With three small children under the age six, she didn’t sew for her children; she took us to a dressmaker for bespoke and very British dresses with smocking stitch bodices.

Later she sewed my dance costumes on her Singer sewing machine when we lived in Key West in the 1960s. My knowledge of fabric names (chiffon, satin, fisheye sequins, tulle,) expanded beyond cotton broadcloth that was typically used for my smocked dresses. At summer camp my first sewing project was a Chicken shaped needle-storage-case. I think there was lot of help in making it because it was an advanced project for a six-year-old child that included rick rack braid sewn within a seam. I might have been able to sew on the buttons for eyes or slip stitch the final seam. Never the less, I took pride in my accomplishment and the root was planted.

A few years later, our house in Ottawa had a nook in the kitchen that was big enough for the sewing machine to be set up to sew whenever there were a few moments to spare. Mother continued to sew for home décor and special occasion clothing for herself. There wasn’t as much time for her to sew for her two daughters. I remember a wool plaid coat with fringe for me (a pre-Ralph Lauren country look) and Bouclé spring coats made for Easter. Pink for my younger sister and aqua for me.

I sewed most of my clothing as a teenager. Early on Saturday mornings while my family was still sleeping I would go to the living room and cut out a sewing project using the floor (protected with a pattern cutting-board) for a work area. I entered a tailored, fuchsia wool-suit in a Singer Sewing Contest. I won the prize, a turntable. I listened to Sonny and Cher in my bedroom!

I wanted to be a fashion designer. I read all the teen fashion-magazines and filled my sketchbooks with my illustrations and glued clothing details torn from magazines beside notations about what I liked about them. I did this because I loved doing it. The books became important because they demonstrated my early engagement with design and were a key component of my portfolio when I applied and was accepted to Fashion Design College.

Janice wearing chiffon and sequin ballet costume Key West Florida

chicken shaped needle case 1960s, Bohin needles

Needle case, cotton fancy weave, Rick Rack trim, buttons, 14 cm high x 12 cm wide, thread and Bohin needles

A note about the photographs: Where you see exclusively black and white images, it isn’t because colour prints weren’t available; it is because part of my fashion studies included photography. Not only were the garments designed and patterns drafted, from either sketches or draping on the Judy; the students sewed them on industrial machines. We studied photography, that included photographing our work in the photography studio and darkroom work where we developed and printed our images so as to create a portfolio. Most of the models were friends and students in the program.

FASHION SHOW: SECOND YEAR COLLECTION 1977

MARCH 19, 2020

The annual fashion show to highlight the Fashion Arts Programme graduate student designers, took place in April 1977. The first year designers exhibited one work per student. The second year designers were well on their way with more work to exhibit that included seven to eight garments each.

I received a phone call on the residence phone where I lived. There was one phone for everyone’s use on the floor. A girl came running to my room to tell me that there was a call for me. My mother had called; we were waiting for test results because she found a lump in her breast. She called to say she needed a mastectomy. I went home to be with her. My family was in shock over her diagnosis.

I wasn’t able to attend the final dress rehearsal on the weekend before the show.

I was in attendance for the night of the show to take a bow on stage. My parents were there; mum would not have missed it. Her surgery came later.

Here are the themes for each group of designs that was assigned to the class during our second year.

LOUNGEWEAR

The designs included baseball shorts, boxing outfit, hockey jumpsuit, two hitchhiking outfits, jumpsuit, umpire gear and jodhpurs. A sports theme was obviously the brief. What does hitchhiking loungewear look like? Not sure, but there were two students that showed them.

Janice's sketch, cotton knot t-shirts with racer-back; cotton knit boxer shorts; white cotton lace for racing strips down the side seam of the top and shorts.

Janice’s sketch, cotton knit t-shirts with racer-back; cotton knit boxer shorts; white cotton lace for racing stripes along the side seam of the top and shorts ©Janice Colbert 2020

cotton knit t-shirts with racer-back; cotton knit boxer shorts; white cotton lace for racing stripes along the the side seams

cotton knit t-shirts with racer-back; cotton knit boxer shorts; white cotton lace for racing stripes along the side seams ©Janice Colbert 2020

RAINCOATS

Raincoats included cape coat, wrap and jacket, navy coat, reversible coat, khaki coat, tunic, rose coat with green vest, green coat and a yellow suit. Mine was the wrap and jacket shown here.

raincoat, pullover and wrap waist, raglan sleeves, front fly conceals grippers, centre back pleat,

Janice’s sketch, raincoat, pullover and wrap waist, raglan sleeves, front fly conceals gripper snaps, centre back pleat, elbow patches ©Janice Colbert 2020

Fabric backed red vinyl.

SUMMER (Red & White)

Red and white fabric was the theme. It was an exciting assignment, quite a flurry in the classroom because we were getting free fabric donated by a fabric manufacturer! Everyone received the same amount of yardage. It was either two or three prints. We were to create anything we wanted but had to work within the limits assigned. No more fabric could be added.

Janice's sketch, red and white floral skirts and camisole

left: friend Sally’s garments, right: layered skirts and camisole

GARDEN PARTY

The descriptions are sumptuous, just to list them is enough: white blouson lace dress, yellow handkerchief print dress, blue floral dress, white ruffled dress, cotton strapless dress, beige chiffon covered dress, blue chiffon covered dress. See what I mean?

The blue chiffon covered dress was mine. Elastic thread was used to sew all those lines, to create a tube-top bodice on an ankle-length knit dress. The hem was finished with a narrow zigzag stitch.

chiffon cover, one-shoulder asymmetric neckline, starting over the right shoulder and extending diagonally to under the left arm

chiffon cover, one-shoulder asymmetric neckline, starting over the right shoulder and extending diagonally to tie under the left arm ©Janice Colbert 2020

(detail) ankle length dress, elastic-shirred bodice, polyester knit, zigzag stitched hem

(front detail) blue chiffon cover for ankle length dress, extending diagonally to tie under the left arm

SWIMWEAR

Swimwear was mostly described by colour for the show, copper, blue green, blue and print, peach and turquoise, a Tankini and another fashion-forward cowboy swimsuit.

Janice sketch, Tankini made in 1977, before Tankini became a fashion item in 1988

Janice’s sketch, turquoise nylon/spandex Tankini made in 1977, before Tankini became a fashion item in 1988 ©Janice Colbert 2020

TAILORED WOOLS

Tailored wool . . . I can’t believe I made this complex suit as a second year student. But to a great extent, some of the students that were in my year came to college already well versed in design and had been sewing and drawing for years. There were things that we learned like pattern making and draping. But the point was made by the instructors that when an early interest is demonstrated, some students have ‘an inherent design sense’ something special that can’t be taught. It’s just there.

The line up for the show included a man’s charcoal coat, knickers and vest, blue and grey stripe suit, brown gauchos, burgundy suit, cape and kilt, tailored suit.

Janice's sketch, wool bomber jacket, shawl collar, raglan sleeves, hand knit waist band and cuffs, double breasted, leather buttons; slim skirt, with centre front pleat; welt detail on pocket and sleeves

Janice’s sketch, burgundy wool suit; bomber jacket, shawl collar, raglan sleeves, hand-knit waist band and cuffs, double breasted, woven leather buttons, slot seam detail on pocket and sleeves; slim skirt, with centre front pleat ©Janice Colbert 2020

hand knit waist band, leather buttons

slot seam detail on centre back and raglan sleeve

FANTASY

Fantasy was an under-the-sea assignment. We had an octopus, jelly fish, fish, turtle, nymph, shell and of course a mermaid! I has a lot of fun creating my design. I still have all the patterns pieces. There was a great deal of them for the knapsack “turtle-shell”.