The Savvy Sewer Salon at Sawyer Brook

Well, all things have come together for the next season, for better or worse. The first show will air on Lifetime Thursday, July 28th at 9:00 p.m. according to the website.

Much hullabaloo about Heid's photo shoot, but the show promises some interesting twists. The first show will feature 20 designers who must convince the judges they are worthy of the opportunity...only 16 are chosen.

I'll be watching, will you?

Hi All PR Reviewers,
Thursday July 28 and 9 p.m. Eastern will be the new Season 9 Project Runway. I have a list of people, ages, etc. And there is video in this article. Enjoy! (I like being able to see before the show some of the people on it, saves trying to keep track of everyone.) http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/features_ ... rdale.html with some videos.
Blessings,
JKW

Thanks for sharing...I watched the two videos in the article and will go back to Lifetime and watch more as time permits. I was intrigued with Anya's styling, but so disappointed to hear that her sewing skills were not up to snuff. I hope she can manage the challenges without too much drama...

Season 9 starts tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. EDT. There is a casting special on at 8:00 if anyone is interested.

Spoiler Alert
Did you watch it? I had to record it, but got to watch it over the weekend. I am on vacation this week with lots of fun family events, but I thought I would quickly get the conversation going. Feel free to post whenever you get to watch it.

Because I was short on time, I skipped over the Casting episode, but I've gone back now and am watching that in short clips. I think its helpful to get to know more about the designers. Overall I thought the judging was fair...at least more so than last season. The three finalists deserved to be there imho.

What do you think of Anya? Just learnd to sew???? I remember a previous season where one of the contestants was self-taught and produced awesome garments right from the start. I think it may have been Shawn?? But he had a lot of experience before coming to Runway. In Anya's case, she has so little experience, I wonder how she will do with the problem solving that inevitably arises as she tries different designs, etc. Her design aesthetic features simple, casual garments but if she has to produce something that requires more structure, I wonder how she will do? If she succeeds its a wonderful encouragement to those who have design aspirations and are willing to work hard to learn to sew.

Anyone out there who learned to sew that quickly?

As far as a favorite...none yet. I do think there are interesting designers to watch and will get to know more of them soon and come back to comment. Please join in the conversation and I will be back next week....

Fortunately, I viewed all of the designers on the Internet prior to looking at both the intro and the show. I thought the intro was confusing compared to the Internet which was awesome for each designer.
I agree the judges weren't so conflicted and out of focus. Thankfully.
As in the beginning of each Runway show, I wish they had a provision that they could take out 2 at a time. Sometimes it is warranted.
Anya was having a hard time learning the machine. I sympathize, put down in front of a sewing machine I've never seen before, I would have to review the manual first and as I go the first time. Just sayin. . . . and I've been sewing a very long time (since high school fashion show). Yes, in a way, the machines are that different in today's world. It's not exactly a sew and go world anymore.
All in all, I am beginning to get use to the show again.
Thanks,
JKW

Haven't watched Episode Two yet as I was on vacation. I will get to it soon. In the meantime, I found this announcement that will be of interest to PR fans.

Project Runway All-Stars

Thank you Barb, I hadn't heard about this. With Isaac, it has to be good. I do remember most of these returnees.
I haven't watched PR 2 either and it looks like I will have to tape PR 3. Really busy week.
By the way, I recently heard Michael Kors was getting married.
JKW

Hi all,

I missed the first episode the week it aired, so I had to watch it in the hour before episode 2 aired. Then I missed the first 5-10 minutes, so didn't see the elimination of the 4 surplus designers. That made some of the comments later a little muddy for me, but all in all I thought the judging was quite good. What bothered me, especially during episode 2, was how dragged out the whole show felt - I swear, each time they broke for commercials, it was 5 full minutes before the show resumed - I found it hard to stay awake and attentive! But, I agree with the designers who were sent home so far. I'm with Barb that Anya will have a tough time making it through challenges as time goes on, with such limited sewing skills, and Bert is going to have a tough time overcoming the judges' opinion of his "phoned in" less-than-spectacular-I've-got-immunity garment!

Hi everyone!
I watched the first two episodes back to back,and caught the stilts episode last nite. What an interesting concept, once I thought about fashion illustration, with the long long legs, it made perfect sense to me. A friend of mine was learning to draw fashion illustration and I wondered then why the ideal was to make exaggerated legs, when people do not really have them...but anyway I saw this as a tie between the stilts and the episode.

I first thought Bert's team ranked first because it was so feminine and dressy. I was surprised the judges did not like it. The fabric pattern was very home decor- ish, I do agree, but the silhouette was good in my opinion.
The matador ensemble was pure costume perfect for Disney/Epcot. They really missed the mark--and the red cape was way to small, it seemed out of proportion.

In the end, I did really like the red feathery one, it was gorgeous.
Overall, I am in awe of the sewing skills going on with this group. WOO HOO Anya!!! She is a fierce phenom of sewing! Such skills with only 4 months of sewing behind her!

I managed to tape an episode this Sat. at noon. This episode had costume like creations with models on stilts. It was amusing and/or bizarre . I certainly wouldn't call it professional. The time allocation and pressure is certainly a key factor. Keeping that in mind I understand why construction is not good. The show reminds me of theatre production. Back in the day when I had to be the costumier for an off broadway play many of the participants had 'unusual creative vision'. Until the next episode....

I finally caught up with the Pet Store and the Stilts. I'm with Heidi, I would have chosen the seeded dress. Very pet store/non fabric oriented. The stilts was very interesting and fun.
It appears this season obvious that they are designing to what they think the judges want (which is only somewhat true). However, they are not letting their inner designer come out.
Interesting how Fallene, albeit 29 years of age, didn't come up to any expectations. It surprised me. She seemed quite young and inexperienced in her outlook. Kooky is sometimes interesting but Kooky and smart can be fabulous.
I see a lot of times wherein they get their feathers too ruffled in coordinating and getting along with each other. I don't like to see a 2-team challenge because of that.
For the most part, I do like the designing this season. And I definitely prefer to see them go into a pet store than a grocery store. The judges are more consistent and direct.

Well, gee, after all the years of working at SB I have learned one thing for sure, a neutral palate does not have to mean boring.....it can mean exciting texture, and the one textural thing, the bronze top of Kimberley's, was the item Nina picked! The ensemble was wearable and beautiful.
The judges were emphasising, fashion should make you feel good...I just did not see much of that this time.
I thought the designs were SO boring this week, like waitress uniforms. Where is all the texture?????-- I kept asking the tv set! iIhave read where others thought the looks were very Ann Taylor, I would agree if it was the lunch lady waiting on Ann Taylor... all those side- slashed -with-color inserts... aka GROSS
I did like Viktor's architectural dress but I gotta admit, I thought like the sleeve caps looked like they had donut boxes stuffed inside...but the body of the dress was fabulous.

I felt Cecelia's mistake with color, colored the rest of her efforts. she just couldn't climb out of the hole she had made with her color mistake and could not rally. I felt for her!
I did not understand Julie's coatdress AT ALL. Lumpy, frumpy, and disheveled.
I also really wanted to see an ombre ensemble, The spotty fabric of Becky and anthony was close...

It looks like next week is going to be athletic, and there is no more Cecelia !

Hi All
I'm still hobbling behind, but I did watch the stilts show and so far half of the Nina show. I do think both these challenges are much better than past seasons, but i was disappointed that the designers didn't take full advantage of the challenges!!

The stilts challenge was all about proportion and most of the designers got hung up on fabric (and that's a comment from ME!) Way too much fabric imho! I would have chosen the tailored look from Becky and Kimberly. I thought it met the challenge in the best way...clean lines, pleasing design proportion and elegant color selection. I think the others missed the opportunity to bring their fashion illustrations to life.

I'll be back with comments on the Nina show...this one was right up my alley, but I haven't watched the runway yet.

I am not entirely sure that Cecelia wasn't color blind. I also think she was fearful out of her mind. There really doesn't appear to be any other explanation for her actions since the beginning of the show.
I did not like most of the fashion. . . but then Nina is a different type of person than these designers have met. She was interested in something that was not outrageous, looked somewhat like what she would wear, yet was very different. I didn't think they grasped the challenge.
Another 'team' challenge for next week, therefore, more Drama!!! Drama is one thing, communications with each other drama is quite another and I am not interested in seeing it. For example, the drama with the wrong color fabric - solution, dye it. Great job. Bickering, not so great, out and out fighting, definitely NOT!
Happy Designing
JKW