Jillian Lewis of Project Runway Season 4 teams with Brother International
Designer offers tips for fashionistas looking to create their own style!

Brother International Corporation recently announced a business relationship with Jillian Lewis, one of three finalists of the hit fashion reality television show, Project Runway, Season Four. Lewis was recently a keynote speaker at Brother’s annual Back to Business event, where she explained how her own Brother sewing machine helped in developing her dream to become a fashion designer.

Lewis began sewing at the age of 16, on a Brother Pacesetter 2300. This Pacesetter model carried Lewis through her collegiate career at Parsons School of Design, and was used to create her first complete line shown on Project Runway, Season Four. Lewis notes the Pacesetter 2300 “will go down in history” as a huge asset to her for creating clothes to wear to school, developing her senior thesis and preparing for Project Runway, Season Four.

“Brother has come a long way in 100 years, especially in the last 50. I see my own story as parallel with Brother’s,” said Lewis. “I share the same vision in the realization of my dreams as a designer and in the history I have with my Brother machine.”

In addition to aligning herself with Brother, Lewis is launching her new clothing line, which she calls “ultra-feminine, sexy, colorful and unique to my vision.” Inspiration for the line came from many avenues, including graffiti. Lewis comments that her designs transform an irrelevant art form, making her collection abstract, sophisticated and chic.

“Jillian Lewis has such a great brand heritage with Brother,” said Dean F. Shulman, a senior vice president of Brother International Corporation, and head of the company’s home appliance division. “It speaks volumes that she created such intricate and revered designs using a Brother machine and we feel proud to have her as part of the Brother family.”

For those that want to make their own fashions, Brother has recently introduced the C-Combo series, a line of affordable, feature-packed combination embroidery and sewing machines. The line features the Innov-ís 900D and SE-350, and starts at around $399*. Both models boast advanced sewing and embroidery features in a compact, lightweight design, making them perfect for aspiring designers looking to discover their potential.

For those looking to create their own individual styles, Lewis offers the following tips:

• Designs should express individuality, personal style, comfort and point of view. As long as the intended wearer feels great in the design, it will look great too.
• Follow fashion week coverage for Spring 2009 designer collections online and in magazines for inspiration. Never copy other designs, but learn from what trendsetters are doing and identifying as the next hot styles. Also, take a trip to a designer store and study the construction techniques used.  Learn from what already exists, improve it, take it further, and think about how designs can enhance the lifestyle of its wearer.
• There is a lovely artsy trend in fashion right now. Experiment with an airbrush, creating a Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired watercolor wash on clothing and add layers of embroidery with built-in designs from Brother’s Innov-ís 900D or SE-350 for new textures. These touches can transform a tired wardrobe, but be sure not to overdo it!
• Toward the end of a season, you can create clothes for a new wardrobe by stretching the use of seasonal clothing with manipulations. I look at everything as raw material. I went through a phase where all of my fiancés shirts were taken apart and made new and unrecognizable for me into tunics and things! I have purchased head bands from the convenience store and embellished them with feathers.
• One major lesson I took away from my experience on Project Runway is that when it comes to creativity and design innovation, the sky is the limit. Any idea, no matter how over the top, is achievable. As long as the ideas are there, so is the opportunity to create. So do it!

For more information on Brother’s extensive line of home sewing and embroidery products, visit www.brother.com. To learn more about Jillian Lewis’ new line, visit www.jillianlewisny.com.

Reprinted from SQE Professional, November 2008