When the Xu fits

Everything just came together so perfectly. Even the sunset on shoot day reflected the colors of Blossom Denim Diva.

My very beautiful friend Shayna reached out to me with the proposal that I design an outfit for her to wear for a shoot. I jumped at the opportunity because it would be the first time someone else other than I would be wearing something that I made.

I was inspired by y2k fashion but wanted to take it in a new whimsical direction, away from the low-waisted jeans and baby tees crowding the internet. Shayna suggested I looked at Savannah Hudson’s style for inspiration. Her style is transformative and unique as she incorporates lots of bright colors and unusual textures in her outfits. This was something I surely wanted to incorporate.

This outfit was made from 3 pairs of jeans.
The originally selected color palette for this look was going to be yellow, white, and the indigo hues of denim until I saw Shayna wearing a bright orange sweater. Color plays a big role in what we wear. The colors you find in your environment and wardrobe reflect the type of person you are and what you surround yourself with. I remember talking with a friend and they told me that they love to wear lots of browns and greens because they love to feel earthy and attract earthy things into their life. The logic is logic-ing.
I just loved how the orange captured Shayna’s warm spirit and instantly threw the yellow out the window.

Since denim is such an opaque fabric, I was thinking of using a sheer fabric that would bring the flatness to life.

I had seen a lot of tulle pieces online on my Instagram explore page and Pinterest feed and wanted to incorporate this concept into my look.
I had also thought back to how the tulle scrunches when I was hand sewing a denim tutu skirt, (inspired by a skirt that I had bought from a second-hand store), for my friend Kat.

I went to the fabric store to find they were out of orange tulle so I ordered 40 yards off amazon, giving me plenty of space to practice and play around with tulle’s livelihood.

Tulle can be difficult to work with. Being that it is such a lightweight fabric, it’s challenging to manipulate it. I found that it was best to lay the material flat and then pin the 2 layers of tulle together before I took it to my sewing machine.
I couldn’t figure out a way to handle the material and create straight seams without marking the fabric. I used the marking of the needle plate to the edge of my machine to create even seams between the tulle pleats. It took me at least 4 hours to perfect the spacing and fluffiness of the pleats using the machine.

The bra portion is made from strips of denim cut from a bleach-dyed pant leg that I had experimented with during quarantine. Following this bleached denim pattern, I went ahead and bought jeans in Shayna’s size for the skirt. I cut the legs off to bleach them. It took me a few days to figure out how to lay the fabric down so that it would evenly dye in the same fashion as it did during quarantine. I found that it’s best to lightly scrunch the denim in places where you don’t want the bleach and lay it flat in a large basin. Letting the fabric sit longer in a watered-down bleach solution will allow more of the indigo dye to leave the fabric, creating this yellowish-white abstract pattern. I then folded and began to pin the pleats in place.

I hand-sewed the pleated portion to the base of the skirt, maintaining a 5-inch pleated circumference.

Shayna and I make time one day a week to take a yoga class. After our upcoming yoga class, we held a fitting in the staircase. I found that the skirt was too long. I stifled at the fact that I would now have to rip up the 3 hours of tedious work I just spent the day prior. But hey, it is all a part of the process.

I cut out the underwire from a bra I don’t wear anymore and sewed it against some fabric to create a channel. The underwire gives the top more definition and well holds your titties.

After some time of struggling to think of a way how to keep the sleeves up, I saw an old pair of skinny jeans laying out and decided to use the pockets as a “sleeve”. I measured a couple of inches and sewed a chain from the adjacent edge of the sleeve to the bra to give the top this futuristic concept of a detached sleeve and add a little grunge flair with the chain.
I then made a chain belt by bending back the tack of these star studs I bought a few months ago.

I try not to spend so much time being exact with my measurements. I use my body as a guide as I am sewing. If a seam is off, I can just easily rip it. Hand sewing and using my body as a guide is surely more time-consuming but I just kept telling myself with every stitch I am just becoming more engrossed in the structure of clothing.
I had drawn out only a few sketches of the outfit before I started to work. Things are always subject to change. I accept the fact that certain concepts are not doable given accessible tools and time factors. I honestly had no idea how this was going to end up.

I started to keep a log of the time I spent working on this outfit after I sewed in the underwire for the top. From April 26th to May 14, I have 30 hours and 21 minutes of documented time spent hand sewing in my little notebook. I realized that it would take forever to hand sew the rest of the tulle sleeves. I bought myself a singer sewing machine towards the end of May.

Now let’s talk about it. Denim leg warmers.
Something I definitely see trending this summer. A super cute and easy way to add some dimension and flare to an outfit. These could easily be styled with a mini skirt and cut top. Stayed tuned for an easy-to-follow tutorial on how you can make your very own!
I cut the pant legs off some old jeans at the knee and got to work.

Seeing my work on Shayna was nothing short of magical.

I just thought back to all the nights I spent in my room accompanied by the ceiling-high bins of vintage clothing I sell and reusable bags of miscellaneous fabrics. My head would feel like the inside of a refrigerator as I would robotically sew listening to the same TLC song on repeat. I had many late nights after babysitting for 10 hours or a long commute returning from an exhausting school day. I failed only one course and dropped one in my second semester. I was so wrapped up in what I was doing I couldn’t care about my schoolwork the way I used to. It just did not feel right. I was not fulfilled. My soul ached for more. I was so motivated to keep working with my hands to bring my ideas to life.