One of the few designers who felt Toni would opt for pants rather than a skirt shares these details about her designs:
Dress designs 628 and 630, I live in Grand Forks, Nd
1. What motivated you to enter the contest
1. I like designing clothing and when I am able to sew, I like to mix up pattern pieces to get the dress of my design, rather than one that the pattern company thinks I should sew.
2. Tell a bit about the inspiration for your design(s)
1. Toni likes simple things and is not a dress person. That is why I designed a two piece tress with pants hidden in the design.
2. The first dress #628 has large pleated pants that create the illusion of a full skirt and the blouse is long enough to hide the crotch area of the pants. This helps preserve the illusion that the pants are a skirt. The blouse has folds on the arms with slits that free the arms just above the elbow. The blouse fits Toni’s chest enough to show off her figure, but not so tightly that it is uncomfortable and too revealing. The outfit is white in color.
3. Dress #630 has a simple jersey tunic of the top with a self fabric belt/tie in the front. The pants are hidden by as mostly opaque/semi sheer skirt that it is easy to walk and sit in. The skirt has a white stripe on the bias to create an upward movement to lead the eye to Toni’s face. Both pieces are the same white color and the pants and tunic are made of the same fabric, the opaque/semi sheer portion of the skirt matches the white of the other pieces perfectly.
3. Share a little info about yourself: your aspirations, your occupation, etc.
1. I am a student at the University of North Dakota and would like to practice law someday. Of course I would not mind being a fashion designer. I got a nice compliment at the Liz Taylor auction in NYC a few years ago. I was admiring her clothes and talking to myself about the designs and fabrics when someone asked me if I was a designer. At first I was going to say no, but really my tailoring and design skills developed as a teenager really do make me a designer, so I said yes. The person smiled and said that he could tell and looked forward to seeing my designs in the industry. I floated a few inches off the floor (an expression meaning being very happy) for a few minutes after that.
2. Writing about this has raised my mood. Today I discovered that the few items I saved after my parents’ house burned were stolen from their storage location. They had a lot of smoke damage and did not have much value, except to me. The worst loss was my grandfather’s violins. He was invited to play for the King of Norway and used those instruments. I was going to give them to my cousin who has children to like to play the violin. Now there is nothing to give.