Dear Jelly Sandals (Dress 192)

Dear Jelly Sandals,

I always wanted a pair of jelly sandals as a kid, but my mother was against them. Don't remember why. When I saw a girl wearing a pair of these on the tram the nostalgia was overwhelming- these were gorgeous swirly opaque ones... nom nom nom.

This dress CANNOT be worn without jelly sandals.

All my love,

IP

Dear Non-pop-Bubble-Mix (Dress 191)

Dear Non-Pop-Bubble-Mix,

You're freaking awesome. But it's difficult to find, and all the more difficult to have people take you seriously when you're 19 and blowing chewing-gum-ish-bubbles.

All my love,

IP
(This dress has blue tulle with flocked 'spots' on it. I saw this at the lincraft 50% off sale and did not buy it. Oh the folly of the stingy.)

Dear Hamletmachine Tech Week (Dresses 180-189)

Dear Hamletmachine Tech Week,
OMFG.

Exhausting.

All my love,
IP

Dear Graziella (Dress 178)

Dear Graziella,

Your support of your son is heart warming. For all that you don't understand a lot of what he does, you try, in your way, to encourage him in his love of theatre and film. I assume it is you that bought him the clapperboard.
All my love,
IP

Dear Idea (Dress 177)

Dear Idea
A) Day 150! I am most excited.
B) I have had to postpone the making of this month's dress. What with Hamletmachine eating my days, and trying to keep house while my mother is away, I have no time.
BUT.
C) If I do another 365 next year (after a couple of months break.) I want to do a jewellery 365. It's broader, so there is more variety in what I can design, and therefore more freedom. This dress is based on a ring design I had, which i've seen in real life since then (someone else thought as I did.)
All my love,
IP

Dear Casa Tsipos (Dress 176)

Dear Casa Tsipos,

You're a strange collection of roccocco, rustic and bizzare aesthetics. Everything is embellished or curliqued, embossed and engraved. There's always another inspiration point- always something else to find. Today: the embellishment on the coffee table.

Strange to find it there, but it's actually a sort-of nice dress.

All my love,

IP

Dear Catherine (Dress 175)

Dearest Cathi,

I miss you so much, I hope you're having a simply wonderful time in Italy, I'm sure you're learning stacks, and seeing all manner of amazing gorgeous things. From the things you said just before you left, I understand it'll almost be like you're the proverbial blank slate, your artistic understanding rewritten by a connection to the heart of all that you've ever learnt. That's how you say things- this intense love of the history of art. It's been wonderful to have seen you grow and mature and find love in this work. I'm insanely proud of you, furball.

(Starched cotton covered in a synthetic coat- white-board style.)

All my love,

Sister,
IP

Dear Jess (Dress 166)

Dear Jess,

You expressed a profound love of clothes celebrating the beauty that is underboob. This one’s for you, (http://somethingimpractical.blogspot.com/ or http://sideofcake.blogspot.com/ )

All my love,
IP

Dear Huntingdale (Dress 149)

Dear Huntingdale,
You are structurally unsound.
There is a tunnel under the tracks to get to the platform. This is not really the problem, but the drains get clogged, and then it floods, and then no matter what you are wearing you are going to have wet socks which is like purgatory, only worse.
You have bathrooms which are always locked, and benches that are always wet with fresh paint.
And no matter where you stand, you are always in the path of freezing winds.
BUT:

if you look out from Platform 1 at dusk, you will see a collection of streetlights, wires and poles washed in intensely beautiful cobalt skies.
and that is why, for all your faults, I really do like you.
All my love,
IP

Dear Neil Gaiman (Dress 147)

Dear Neil Gaiman,
I've been reading your books since I was a child- graduating from Coraline to American Gods, and thence onto the bizzare wonder of the Sandman series. Your mind seems to fit into a same pattern of those artists I admire- Stephen Fry's encyclopedic knowledge and immense respect for other artists (watch any and all interviews with the man. He is a god.) or your dear Amanda F***ing Palmer's intersongstuality, or Billy Connolly's scatterbrainedness, or your friend and mentor Terry Pratchett's hyper-referancing, or anyone else equally awesome.
You just won a CARNEGIE MEDAL!
(for the Graveyard Book)
freaking congratulations.
Two blind girls were on stage when you accepted the medal with a gorgeous speech (watch this also. It is sweet and lovely) and presented you with a braille copy of the winning book.
How ace is that?

Long time readers may know I have a deep love of Braille, I made the bf and myself matching rings when I went to Israel with our names on them. It's not as clingy as it sounds! It was more a piece of myself to leave behind whilst I travelled... This is a guy who wears a silver replica of the one ring; so it is very hard to take his jewellery seriously.

Anyhow, this dress would have to have little 'beads' implanted between the dress and the lining. might not be very comfortable. Would have something meaningfull written on them, but not sure what. Any suggestions?
All my love,
IP

Dear Brotherhood (Dress 146)

Dear Brotherhood of St Lawrence,
I miss you- when you were old-school. You were so messy and disorganised, which meant that if you put in the time and the effort you were bound to find a bargain/something interesting and reasonably priced. Now you're really just becoming a Retro store, which is such a pity, since I really wanted skinny ties to make a bow tie (Tutorial when I find some, design alert courtesy of @ilanacharnelle) and there aren't any, because all the hipsters shop there. And who wants to pay 8$ for a scrap of badly patterned polyester? I just want something I can take apart to take a pattern off... Silly.
If I found a nice cheap tie to take a pattern off, I might be convinced that this dress

was a good idea.

All my love,

IP

Dear Donnini's (Dress 132)

Dear Donnini's,

Your pasta is freaking amazing. You've been selling it on Lygon Street for who-knows how long... And every time I go in there I remember why I want a pasta machine. Gorgeous, delicious ravioli in every colour and flavour (my favourite: Beetroot and ricotta, purely for the aesthetic appeal of translucent creamy parcels with their vibrant fuschia filling.) I thought a ravioli dress would look ridiculous, but that's not all you sell! You've got regular hand-made pasta too, fresh and everything. There is nothing lovelier than bunches of pasta, half-looped- the neckpiece of this dress would be silver reproductions of that pasta (detatchable for use as a necklace), with three or four wisps around the waist. The dress would be cream crepe over a light blue cotton (inked version to come later.)
All my love,

nom nom nom
IP

Dear 1980's (Dress 129)

Dear 1980's,

Clothes then were sodding horrible. At the secondhand shops near my house they sell pattern sets of ready-made outfit-sets. Every. Single. One. Horrible.
All clashy prints and big lapels and really, really, really, really hideous hair.

And then there's games of the 90's- which are all strangely cool now, like Prince of Persia, which I remember playing on an ancient Mac... how things have evolved.

So in memory of big lapels, and the sands of time,

In affectionate nostalgia,

IP.

Dear Tom 'n Jess (Dress 123)

Dear Tom n' Jess,

You're ridiculously cute you two; both together and apart I'm really very fond of you. You're not one of those icky couples (to be honest, I didn;t know you were dating until a month+ afterwards!) but there is one gorgeous photo of Tom's birthday kiss that's just adorable.

In honour of your sweetness, and Banj's mad photoskills,

XOX
IP

Dear Darryl (Dress 122)

Dearest Darryl,

We used to go to your lifedrawing classes, my mum and I, every wednesday of my year 12. I don't remember his name, but there was a fellow there that did a lot of hypercolourful works in conte chalk and paint. I remember his teeshirts at the end of the three hour artwork extravaganza were covered in psychadelic smears of paint- the product of a brush absentmindedly cleaned in an almost feathery pattern from right hip to left shoulder. Why not make a dress a palette? I'd love to make this dress in plain white, and just let artists go wild in a range of them- have someone do action paintings, pollock-esque, or rennaisance oils, or dusty brilliantly coloured conte chalk.

This drawing is a little on the simple side in terms of colour, it's meant to be an example of what you could do with a white version of the dress.

The 'hole' on the right is meant to be a hole to the skin, but I think I drew it a little to large, if it were smaller i'd like it to show just a little of the under-breast.

All my love,

IP.

Dear Breaking Bad (Dress 120)

Dear Braking Bad,

You're a really awesome TV show, the first six episodes of which i'm rewatching to get the BF up to speed so we can watch the rest of it together (we ran out of Fringe. Don't judge me.)

All this science etc. got me thinking about all that dumb trivia- the heart is the same size as your fist, the skin in your lungs could cover a tennis court, your intestines could circle the earth

Ta Da!
Xoxo
IP
P.S. anyone that knows any more trivia? I got stuck after three, which seems kindof weak.

Dear Lucy, (Dress 112)

Dear Lucy,
The first time I met you you were wearing a man's shirt and a pair of tights.
Damn brave.
This one's for you:
(The 'tails' are the back of the dress. cotton.)
All my love,
IP

Dear Half-Way Mark (Dresses 102-111)

Dear Half-Way Mark,
You're killing me.
Honestly!




I) flat metal cutlery on a mesh strap. dress is white linen (like tablecloths at a nice restaurant)
also comes in chequered red and white and with a white napkin under the cutlery.



II) flat copper studs on a red dress, or black? opaque crepe.











III) wire reinforced hood in greyblue crepe on a grey crepe dress










IV) as inspired by PonyRider Bedspread







V) orange peeling. cottown with wire reinforcement and ribbon 'zest'









VI) linen and handmade matching buttons








VII) white opaque crepe with mesh windows








VIII) White cotton with fine ribbon over a reinforced hole .









IX) reinforced mesh shoulders and mesh panel








X) brown opaque crepe around the neck, covered in a crepe halter, cotton underlay under the major part of the dress printed with the message scroll.


All my love,
IP.

Dear Wright Bros. (Dress 88)

Dear Wright Bros.

I had a lapel pin of an early model plane, I'm not sure where it went, but should I find it i'll post a picture.

There is nothing lovelier than a pure blue sky covered in plane scribblings,

All my love,

 

Dear Maya (Dress 70)

Dearest Maya,
Even 'though you're close to twelve now, and almost taller than me,I will always remember you as the four year old girl who, when accompanying you to one of your friend's birthday parties, and the pass-the-parcel recipient of something pocahontas-related, you cried out 'wow! Pocahontas! Are you going to be sharing that?' with the innocence and 'out-of-the-mouths-of-babes' honesty of a child. You're growing up rather faster than i'd like, remarkably mature- but with the same sweet face I remember coaxing giggles out of when you were a baby. You're a scarily intelligent young girl (I can't say young woman. not just yet.) and above all, I'm just curious to see what you come up with.

(Also: DRESS 70! *happy dance*)
All my love,