Frank Mena Designs

03/12/2024

Sorry for being quiet around here and not producing much sewing content….. but I’ve just been offered and accepted my role as costume designer for the play “intimate apparel” by Lynn Nottage. This play takes place in 1905 and focuses around the life of a black seamstress living in New York and her life making corsets for well to-do women and prostitutes. One of the main characters in this story is the corsets themselves, and I’m so excited to take you on this amazing journey with me.

While this play won’t open till next year, I’ll be making all the corsets and undergarments towards the end of this year. So stay tuned as I build this new production!!!

02/13/2024

New Valentine’s Day shirt in about two hours thanks to my Baby Lock USA & Canada Victory serger!!! And the amazing Henley shirt pattern from Mimi G. Style and Norris Dánta Ford !!!! I cut a medium and still took it in, and I’m gonna raise the neckline by about 1/2 an inch the next time.

Happy early Valentine’s Day everyone!!!

02/04/2024

Step one: mark hem.
Step two: hem.

Simple Sunday tasks to get these MU**ER f’n pants off my table……..

01/30/2024

A big thank you go Shoutout Ohio for the interview!!! The link is below if you wanna check it out!!

We had the good fortune of connecting with Frank Mena...

01/16/2024

Pants are (mostly) put together, last thing is waistband, buttons/holes, and hemming!!!

I’m pleased with the pattern matching too!!!

That’s it for a good days work, now to relax and unwind.

Happy Tuesday!

01/16/2024

Finally starting on the pants!!! You know what that means? Hyper focusing on pattern matching even though I know it’s really not gonna be seen.

Stay tuned!

01/14/2024

Sometimes…. We gotta go back to basics.

I learned a lot of what I do by trial and error, by letting the fabric talk to me on the form. Whenever I feel like I’m getting stuck in a design rut, I’ll grab some scrap fabric and talk to my mannequin.

Hope everyone’s staying warm out there, it’s gonna get cold here in Texas next week!!!!

01/11/2024

All the pieces to my pants have been altered and are ready for mock-up #2!!!! The first one was ok, but I’d like to be able to move in these….

And I still gotta finish the waistcoat
AND I still gotta make these pants
AND I gotta finish the blog posts and final post about the black and gold dress cause HOLY CRAP THE PHOTOS MY PHOTOGRAPHER TOOK!!!

Luckily I have a three day weekend coming up!!

01/02/2024

2024 is starting off with a banger………… well, I guess we’ll just work on the waistcoat till I can get some replacement/different ones.

Stay tuned as I hack a commercial pattern into something vaguely more historical!!!

12/29/2023

And we’ve started!!!! Got the back pieces cut and sewn, now the hard part begins…. The front pieces.

The cotton flatlining has been basted to the main fabric, and the welts and center front edges have all been handbasted in. What’s left is to stitch in some interfacing into the fronts/shoulder and then do the same to the other side!!!

Still got a lot to do, but we’ll see what happens!!! Check back next year!!!

I hope everyone has a great (and safe) new years!!!

12/22/2023

After multiple mock-ups and alterations….. we have the waistcoat pattern! Many thanks to my Instagram friend Bruce for helping me with the draft, I am very grateful.

This is why we test out patterns friends. The devil is in the details!!!

12/18/2023

First up for 2024, a 1890s inspired 3piece suit out of some stunning Harris tweed that my friend Hailey-Ann got me from Scotland. But I realized I don’t know where my old Victorian shirt is, so let’s make a new one!!!

I found this really cool semi sheer striped fabric in my stash, so here’s to not buying fabric for this one!!!!

Did alot of photos, and this will be a write up on the blog so stay tuned for that!

Happy holidays to you and yours!!!!

Frank