Story of this coat...
by Toni Carroll
Clermont, Florida
Florida has four seasons…Warm, Hot, Hotter and Blazing.
While the Winter is glorious, there is a certain monotony to the weather, and many transplanted Florida residents fantasize about changing seasons.
This garment was designed to celebrate the magnificent colors and traditions of Fall and the beauty of a Winter wonderland.
The front of the coat is splashed with the beautiful oranges, reds and golds of Fall leaves. Appropriate fabrics from Free Spirit Fabrics and Cheerywood Fabrics create the illusion of distant mountains, hills, bushes, and fields. The OESD embroideries depict a haunted house, trick or treaters, a display of quilts and baskets of apples and fall gourds. The custom designed house appliqués came from drawings I made of actual houses in my home state of Mississippi. The large tree, which acts as the front center focal point, gives foreground dimension with the use of fabric scrunching and couching of brightly colored cords and trims. Even the tree trunk has texture and dimension to give the illusion of bark. Fall leaf beads from The Beadery adorn the treetop. Beautiful decorative threads and cords from YLI and Quilter’s Resource carry through the blazing colors of Fall.
The sides of the coat transition you from Fall into a Winter Wonderland on the back. The landscape sides drift into browns and then white, with a hot air balloon race overhead.
On the back you find glistening snow with more OESD and Bernina designs of children building a snowman, a skater on a frozen pond, colorful packages, reindeer and a hound dog dressed up for Christmas.
The snow and distant mountains provide the perfect backdrop for a magnificent dimensional Christmas tree laddened with beautifully embroidered ornaments from OESD and sparkling Hot Fix rhinestones from Kandi Corp.
The top of the coat reflects a bright clear sunny sky with fabric from the Elements collection of Free Spirit Fabrics featuring Skydyes by Mickey Lawler.
The blazing, twinkling sun on the shoulder and sleeve adds dimension achieved by a fabric manipulation technique called “candling” on organza. Decorative stitches from the Bernina 200, beads and more Hot Fix rhinestones from Kandi Corp add the dazzling sparkle of a Spring and Summer sun.
The coat is lined with Soft Touch batting from Fairfield and free motion quilted to give subtle effects of hills, mountains, bushes and snow. The entire coat is then lined with a soft sunny yellow.
There now, you just celebrated Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer without having to pull any weeds, rake any leaves or lift a single shovel of snow.
Bernina Fashion Show 2003
This garment was created for the prestegious Bernina Fashion Show 2003, which premiered in Houston, TX in Oct. of 2003, at International Quilt Market/Festival by Quilts, Inc.
The show is a first class runway production with professional models, lights, music and commentary.
The show then goes on tour around the USA, Canada and Europe.
This garment was chosen, by Bernina, to be in their Bernina University show, and was selected to appear in a special exhibit in Calgary, Canada after the regular tour ended.
The garment can be seen in the publication covering this show called Bernina of America presents Fashion Imagination, Inspirational Wearable Art Designs, 2003, Published by Primedia Consumer Media & Magazine Group, and sponsored by Bernina of America, and Quilts, Inc.
For information on ordering this book, please contact Quilts, Inc. at http://www.quilts.com, or Bernina of America at http://berninausa.com, or your local Bernina dealer.