Friday, April 26, 2013

BPR Interview with Michelle Lesniak Franklin

Project Runway Season 11 Champion, Michelle Lesniak Franklin talks about her experience on the show.


A highlight:

BPR:  I was at the show and watched all eight collections.  When it was over, the piece that stood out most in my mind was your heart sweater.  Any plans to put it into production?

MLF:  I wish I could but I don't own it....

BPR:  ????  Weinstein????

MLF:  Yes.

BPR:  You could probably sell a thousand of them today....

MLF:  Probably a million.

BPR:  Yes, I love that Joe helped you.  He is so talented!  Please tell us about the process, how much instruction did you give him?

MLF:  Joe is amazing and he is one of the people that I wanted to work with, but we didn't have the chance to work together on the show.  So afterward, I called him on the phone and we talked about some ideas.  I sent him sketches of the wolf and the heart, color swatches and the actual pattern pieces of the shapes of the pieces, the sleeves, the front and back panels...  Then he sent back a sample and then "Oh let's change this and that..." and we made some adjustments and then he made it up.  It is a computerized knitting machine.  It came to me a flat pieces and I sewed it up.

I had no idea how the process worked.  It was fascinating.

We are definitely planning to collaborate on some projects in the future.

BPR:  Oh please keep us posted.

MLF:  I certainly will.



Click here for the full interview.

Click here to visit Michelle's website.





Congratulations, Michelle!