Project Runway Take 1

Oh how I love television. And TiVo. And Project Runway. I started watching Project Runway last season (3) but thanks to Bravo's marathon reruns I have compulsively watched all four seasons, some multiple times. Over the fourth of July weekend my husband took our "hard" kids out of town for several days, leaving me with a six-month-old and time to persue my more selfish hobbies. I watched the entire first season and somehow decided I could be a seamstress too. This is what my kitchen looked like over the weekend.

My husband will be shocked - I've done my best to convince him that sewing machine was just a paper weight . I was quite disappointed when the "1 Hour" skirt pattern I bought was only half-way finished after three or four hours. I guess I need to brush up on my basics.

And I figured the best way to brush up on basics was to watch the Project Runway Season Five Premiere last night! I thoroughly enjoyed it, possibly because it was finally a new episode, but am inspired enough to start a weekly recap here on my blog. Because The Well-Rounded Woman certainly should know how to design and construct beautiful clothes!

First stop this morning after watching the premiere, Bravo's website for PR. I could have spent hours and hours there, good thing I have needy children to pull me out before I was completely sucked in. But if you hanker for more PR news, please check it out. They even have all 14 episodes listed for this season, complete with titles, airdates, challenge, and guest judge. I think that takes some of the anticipation out of it, but maybe TiVo-less people will make sure they catch their favorites.

I didn't think the PR premiere was overly exciting - it's hard to care about 16 people you don't know much about. Tim said this is the most diverse group of designers they're ever had - I suppose so, but there seems to be a bit more grunge/goth/far-from-couture stuff. I suppose we'll see how versatile those people can be.

I just finished watching season one on TiVo so it was fun for me to see Austin back - and I didn't mind the re-run challenge either. It sure gives the designers a chance to show their creativity, but like the judges, I was disappointed with the range of materials. I agreed with the judges on the best and worst dresses, but would have chosen differently for the winner and loser. Here are my picks:

I thought Daniel was wildly inventive and the dress is beautiful; it looks like patent leather. Stella's garbage bag monstrosity was a huge cop-out and ugly to boot. But here are the judges picks:

Congratulations to Kelli, whose innovative design brought her the first win, and we say Auf Wiedersehn to Jerry. I agree that his outfit looks like a costume for a pyscho movie. But at least he made something. If he lost the gloves it would have been better.

As for my sewing projects, I might need to stick to pillowcases and pajama pants for a while.

Thanks for Bravo TV for all the images!

Check out all my Project Runway Recaps.