You stare at the closet and there’s no outfit in sight. Over three weeks’ worth of dirty laundry and you’re left wishing for a sewing machine.
We’ve all been there. Sarah McIntyre thrives off of it, except she gets to create her outfits in a professional studio. McIntyre is finishing up her second and final year at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design this June. She’s been sketching, measuring and sewing for two years and will be showcasing her final work this Saturday at the Unearthed fashion show at the Fredericton Convention Centre.
“I’m super excited because it’s all this work and I just want to show off what I’ve accomplished. I want people to see the introduction to the rest of my life. I’m nervous but I’m going to make myself walk down the runway afterwards,” says McIntyre.
It’s been a whirlwind two years for the Hampton-born designer. McIntyre came to Fredericton after living in British Columbia. She credits her love of sewing to a small band of artists who ran a craft space in which artists could create and sell their stuff in an adjoining store. An old sewing machine McIntyre didn’t know how to use but had toted to Vancouver Island soon became her best friend. She began making accessories, hoods and other small items.
“I knew it was what I really, really liked to do.”
McIntyre loved making smaller things, but yearned to learn the fundamentals of clothing creation.
“It’s crazy how much I can see what I’ve learned and what I’ve been able to accomplish since coming here,” says McIntyre. “You don’t see it when you’re in it but now it’s the end of two years and I’m making these clothes and I’m like ‘wow there’s no way I would have known how to do this before.’ To see these designs that I’ve sketched out on the wall and then to actually see them come to life in a tangible item? It’s great.”
McIntyre’s line is called ‘Gypsy Couture’ – fashionable, made to measure, custom clothing for the wild woman. A few of her pieces are two or three-piece outfits. One features a lace up, subtly sexy corset that’s topped with a regal yet frilly topcoat. The Middle Age undertone is lightened by an elegant elf-dom theme and all of her models are barefooted when walking the runway.
Preparation for the fashion show starts in January, but NBCCD students are at it early. McIntyre remembers the inspiration boards they created in first year: the starting point for the creative process. By winter of this year, her inspiration board was jam-packed with ideas, but not necessarily outfits.
Fashion students are encouraged to pin up photos of buildings, trinkets, corkscrews – anything that they feel represents the spirit of their clothing line for Unearthed. This helps the artist define their line’s theme and color scheme. After March break, McIntyre displayed her draft pieces to a panel.
“It’s like a sounding board. It’s really good because you get so close to the things you’re making [and] it’s really good to get somebody else’s opinion or what they see.”
Even with all the sketching, shaping and planning, McIntyre says when a design doesn’t go as planned it still works.
“That’s how I get the really good designs at the end. Instead of sticking with your first idea you move with it and go with it. That’s how I operate as a designer, things will change and I’m good with that. I go with the flow in my general life.”
McIntyre hopes to someday operate out of her home selling sustainable, alternative clothing that doesn’t cost a lot. Since her love of creating was born in a community, she wants to give that back.
“All the clothes I make have so much love in them – made right here with these hands – I want to offer ethical clothing, eventually using organic fibers and dyes. I want it to be an alternative to what is already out there.”
Unearthed starts at 7:30 and tickets are available either through NBCCD or at Read’s for $15.
