the pandemic collection — o.nim

apparel by meenal patel

“country mare” top

A two piece top made of two gingham fabrics. My favorite thing about this top would be the detachable neck piece.

“le soleil” skirt

Yes, it’s the same fabric as “la lune”. Yes, they were supposed to be a pair. No, they don’t look good together. Yes, it’s because of the direction of the stripes. A funny aspect of this fabric is that it looooooves to fray and spread around in a million little specs. I acquired the fabric from my previous internship where it was used to make a bag, so it can give you a very very good idea as to how thick the fabric is. I also put in the black and white lace tape in the middle of the brown stripe which I forgot to mention for “la lune”. No, I do not want to work with this fabric again.

“stream ipanema” crop top

I absolutely love this print! This used to be a pair of pants I made for a class project that was definitely made haphazardly and so I decided to take it apart. I have more fabric of this print that I found out much later on so I definitely will be making a skirt/pant bottom at some point.

“la lune” crop vest

This top was made in the beginning of the pandemic in my less experienced phase of working with tiny scraps of fabric. I wish I had made something else out of this fabric but this top is what we ended up with. I do like the top regardless of the fabric usage but if given a chance to work with it again, I’d do something different.

“fantasia” top and “alienated” skirt

For clarification purposes I didn’t make the skirt but added the lace on the bottom after cutting it short. I definitely did make the top. My love for embroidery stitches is on full display here in bright yellow. I didn’t feel as strongly about this top when I first made it but now I’m really really happy with how it looks. The sheer lace ties on the sleeves are one of my favorite parts about it along with the sleeve silhouette.

“blue dirt” coat

I desired a beautiful thin coat and I made it. I love the blue contrast piping and the oversized aspect that this coat carries with it.

“pearl fangs” crop top

One of my favorite tops ever! This is another half repurposed garment as the top white print used to be a dress. I wish I had more of it to add to this top but alas I did not. I love every detail of this top from the lace neckline to the tiny pearls on the sleeves.

“sunstripes” set

A painstaking operation that was no small feat to achieve. From cutting small pieces of fabric to make little flowers to positioning them under long lengths of tape, this project was a beautiful headache. But I’m in love with it regardless as always.

“moonlighting” crop top

A two blue top made from some stiff but thin light blue denim fabric and some brocade fabric leftover from my school days. I think this is the first top I’ve made that has three different types of sleeves going on with three different qualities. I love contrast topstitching as well and the result on this top is very clean which is hard to come by in my case.

“flower bumper” strappy top

A top made out of a super stretchy t-shirt top. I really like the off-shoulder straps and had to add them here as well. Because of how stretchy the fabric is, the strap becomes really adjustable which I also like.

“fancy drew” crop top

I love a puffy sleeve top. A successfully repurposed garment, this top used to be a pair of pants that was too big for my britches. I loved the print a lot as I always do so in an effort to make it into something else I came up with this top. Added piping as usual to create contrast in the top and included the collar as a last minute addition which in my opinion really makes this one of my favorite tops.

“carnaval” top

Another addition to my love-hate relationship with unwieldy fabrics that just don’t stop fraying. I love the way this baby flows and glows and I love the ties on the sides as well. But my all-time favorite thing about it would be the black satin drop shoulder characteristic on top.

“next door” top

A double white whammy of an attack! This used to be a cotton fabric top that had immaculate pockets that I loved ever since I saw them. I always wanted to highlight these pockets somehow and after cutting the bottom section out in a bridge-like shape, I was out of ideas. After a few weeks, I saw the other white bedsheet linen fabric and it worked so well against the shirt fabric that this white on white top was born.

“letters origami” crop top

The fabric here is a somewhat structured printed denim that I loved at first sight. Only wish I had more to create more with it but unfortunately I don’t. I also used the frayed selvage edge on the sleeves again and gotta say I love the effect it has. The black and white tape was used to create a distinct opening for the buttons on the side which I also love along with the buttons.

“yardwork” top and skirt

I loved the print of this cotton fabric and really wanted them to be on full display with the design. I’ve already professed my love for piping and to create contrast in the print I added it in a very architectural and armor like fashion both of which I use as inspiration heavily for designing clothes. Not a huge pink fan but this print has changed me to an extent.

“mirror mirror” oversized shirt

Getting obsessed over the inside and the outside of any fabric comes naturally to me and a result of that can be seen here. This shirt was a pain because of its lovely ability to fray as much as possible the moment you cut it. It’s silk satin and obviously very luxurious but I was not ready to deal with a fabric such as this so early on in the pandemic. Experience is one of the most valuable things I’ve accumulated through my journey during the pandemic making different pieces and I’m hopeful that if I come across this fabric now, I’ll be better at handling it.

“blue, red and white” wrap skirt

This was another tiny piece of leftover fabric I acquired from one of my internships. I love striped fabrics and this one would surely be one of my favorite pieces that I’ve made from them.

“radioactive leak” crop shirt

Once upon a time I decided to use pillowcases as fabric and the result was this shirt. I don’t know why I wanted to use a pillowcase as fabric but I was determined to make something out of it no matter what. I love the neon tape on the sleeves and the lace on the collar and also I love the collar in general but I would probably not use pillowcases as fabric again. Probably.

“portofino rosso” gathered dress

This little baby started out being a long dress with a lot of fabric. I looked at that dress and saw potential for much more, so I went further down that discovery hole to find out it can look like a different dress with piping. Piping makes my heart sing because I love contrast and finding out how well that dirty crème shade of piping would look against all that red made me really happy.

“stairway to the stars” crop top

Another circle skirt reborn! The second garment I made this pandemic which was fairly easy to create. The best part about this piece to me are the sleeves and the print.

“wild hoses” mod dress

Another dress that I ripped apart from my school application days. I love prints so much that I can’t help but try and salvage things I’ve previously destroyed. I’m very impressed with the collar opening and I also wish that I had a lot more of the fabric to work with so that I could have created something even more kewl but this will do for now.

“overflow overflower” crop shirt

One of my favorite prints, this piece started out being a dress I haphazardly made for my application to fashion school when I didn’t know anything about garment construction. During the pandemic I decided to take that dress apart and make it into something else. Loving sporty shirt stripes since forever made me want to own one in the style I wanted which is print on print. I love combining the a sporty aesthetic with florals and I definitely aim to repeat myself on that design forefront.

“pink waves” babydoll dress

The Very First Thing I Made This Pandemic! What’s Even More Astonishing To Me Is That I Finished The Dress (Sans Lace Trim) In One Day! This Fabric Is Extremely Beautiful Because Of The Different Textures It Presents Throughout And I Wanted Something That Would Be Able To Highlight That Property In It And Therefore I Went With The Babydoll Dress.

“dancing blue” crop top (Part-2)

Here it is! It’s a reversible crop top! Because I used selvage for the sleeves the silver that is on the top doesn’t extend all the way to the edge and has a very uneven and jagged finish. While it bothered me before, I’m more accepting of it now.

“dancing blue” crop top (Part-1)

Another decorative stitch piece! I love decorative stitches obviously. This fabric had a really cool exterior and interior and so I decided to make it a reversible top. I love reversible stuff and especially when the two sides of the fabric are cool and fun to work with. The parts I love about this top the most are the collar and the buttons. Also used selvage edge for doing the sleeves as I hate waste of fabric and this one already had little to spare.

“velvet arches” black dress

Another decorative stitch project. One may say I have an obsession and one may be correct. Other than the decorative stitching on the bottom the dress made me also want big Elvira sleeves à la Meenal. Velvet is tough to work with and I run in the opposite direction every time I see it. It is therefore also wonderful that I have a ton of it in various colors.

“pink rage” crop top

This top is a button specific top, by which I mean it’s a top I designed essentially around the buttons. I bought some really cute wooden buttons and was dead set on using them. Along with that I also wanted to try out one of the decorative stitches on my singer machine which is what one sees here on the light pink grosgrain trim on the edges. This was a teeny tiny bit of red fabric which meant that I was going to have to use it sparingly on every part. I love doing big sleeves and appropriating enough fabric for a sleeve was challenging but I think the final result here looks very much not disappointing.

“rose cosmos” skirt and top

Another repurposed garment! This was a big beautiful straight dress that I bought from a thrift store and changed to this. I like frills and I like lace and I like buttons and this top has all of them. I also like to draw contrast and play trims against the fabric so as to make them stand apart which I think works well here on the bottom frill of both skirt and top. The lace trim was a much later addition definitely making this somewhat boring skirt-top pair a bit more interesting.

“neon pond” gathered top

Another repurposed garment! This time it’s a skirt that has been transformed into a gathered top. I wasn’t super into the skirt but I really liked the print which is such a fun mix of shapes and movements in an array of some of the brightest shades of color I’ve ever seen on a piece of fabric. My aim with the top was to make the two different types of patterns work together in a cohesive and unique manner. Puffy sleeves are a favorite of mine and I had to include them on this top after I realized that the other sleeves that I was hoping for were not gonna work out (☹️).

“emerald monster” ruffled dress

From fabric leftovers of a school project in 2016 comes this satin dress with tiered ruffles on the top and the bottom. Satin reflects light very well and looks incredibly luxurious but is a very annoying fabric to work. The dress has got a wrap around ruffled belt which I love along with a high collar which I thought would look cute with the tiers.

“solar panel” strapped top

One of the very first things I made in 2020 (6th to be exact), my understanding with the construction of this top was that I wanted panels and that I wasn’t going to give up until I had them. Going in a warrior like direction this time around, I also decided to include some decorative white top stitching on it to set aside a contrast. Also used the selvage on the fabric as the frayed edging on top because I like to waste as little part of the fabric as possible and because I was into that detail.

“the mage” tent dress

Long ago I had some desperate desires of being a powerful mage. That’s a lie I’ve never had any desires to be a mage. But if I did I’d probably wear something like this. This would be the last thing I made last year in December before I moved to the new apartment. I love to repurpose existing garments and give them new life and this dress would perfectly fit that category as it is made from a beautiful and long wrap skirt. Extensive research told me it was a sanganeri print wrap skirt which I acquired from my mother and changed to this. There wasn’t anything wrong with the skirt but it didn’t fit me as well as I’d like and I really really loved the print so I made this tent dress out of it. I also haven’t done many bell sleeves which this 360 degree print was perfect for.

“More stars” crop top

I don’t think I’ve ever owned any top made of denim fabric and I very much find myself fascinated with printed denim so I decided to give it a go. This was a small piece of fabric that I acquired when one of my past internships was throwing out their excess and unused past collection stuff. Working with it was as much fun as one can expect with any denim fabric considering how difficult it can be to sew through them. Despite that, I love this top and the off-shoulder strap which I wanted to implement in a design for a long time.