'Watch for the Illusion of this bliss'

Listening to Alice's 'Losing My Mind' mix. Features Sondheim and Sarah McLachlan. See Bernadette Peters' version 'Losing My Mind.' Youtube it now. And try to get hold of Sarah's Illusions of Bliss track from her latest album. It was beautiful. There's a full band version and then the piano solo one which is genius. Really. 


That's actually my most played song on my itunes. 

This is the atmosphere I sometimes create for myself while working, sewing, or hibernating and stewing the next stitch. At closing the shop last night- I though this moment was beautiful: 

I had sewn my medium back to my small front of my apron dress and left the shop like this:

What this will be is 3 of these:

Like the little technical overlay? I did that very fast... (again blurry phone pictures) Actually this mock up came out last Monday night after doing a mermaid (pictured below). I was up until 4am adjusting the pattern, then cutting and sewing this cotton sheet. The daytime was spent outside on my bike and featured my first double-dip (not just one run in & out, but two) of 2012 in the Atlantic Ocean. 


So this is the Apron Dress. I think her name is 'Buttercup' which I hope inspires a Robin Wright Penn aka Princess Bride reference. Last year I made a really lovely orange house dress and I wanted to evolve the idea. Mary had bought these amazing books, Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi. Her concept is all about thinking about patterns in different ways, connecting or disappearing pieces, creating dramatic shapes through the building of fabric. The architecture is fascinating and alluring. I was really taken with the Vanishing Collar, which I thought only fitting to connect to the modern day-dress, and to challenge myself further it is balanced with a vanishing apron. So it flows from collar to bodice to apron, buttoning down the back, with a back bow from the apron (pro-adjustability & yes there are pockets beneath the apron). It has square and trapezoid shaped godets (that makes the points at the hem) and when you hold the skirt out it looks like a 5-point table. The fabric is a yellow on white check sheer-ish nylon, lined in a white stretch silk, with trim in green and turquoise. I'm using the same 3-color top stitching from the WSS dress, and we will be rocking out a border and some tough flowers. Steel Magnolias anybody? I could go deeper...


But I'll save that for when they really are done :)


Here's the mermaid! I made 5 of these ladies. One is in Regina available at Seed Shoppe on 13th ave. That and 2 other watery gems were in the GLIDE Fashion show. It was a fundraiser for Shark Truth, Vancouver based non-profit organization raising awareness on ocean matters, especially shark finning. Was very glad to be part of this event. It caused some really great dresses to be made, but more than that, living on the ocean which gives so much to me, it was wonderful to give a bit of my art to this cause :)

Ok.
There's so much more to come! :)

Happy Sunday

I really like wishing people 'Happy Sunday.'


It's a day that everyone takes off. If you live in a big city you can feel the pace slow down. An edge of forgiving patience infiltrating the movement, the pedestrians, the drivers, the subways... Here in Ptown people walk their dogs. It's sunny and delicious. In the summers here, Sunday's usually equal for me a 12 hour shift at Kidstuff (381 Commercial come visit). It's a fast paced fun day for which I usually arrive just in time to grab a coffee, turn on the lights and set up the music. The day usually starts with Joni Mitchell and goes from there.


Anyway... The point of this entry is how the West Side Story Dress is done. And she is beautiful. There's only 2 of them- so please come see! Try on. The details that are missed by my phone are really beautiful. We worked hard on them. Here's some pics... remember you saw the mock-up and the table already... this is the real thang...

Here's the organza layer... We actually built the lining first (a stretch cotton), and then this. The seams are sewn by just overlapping the edges and three rows of topstitching in purple, orange and pink. Some bias zigzag details were added with purple and pink. 

Here's Rachel trying it on half way through. We put a piece of organza at the shoulders, and tested the twirl. The hem is done with a strip of 2.5" bias folded and topstitched in the three colors. The hem alone probably took an hour each dress because it's so full. Aka Delicious. From here I finished the neckline and armhole with some salmon silk charmeuse I dyed in 2010 for a client, saving the strip of bias I had left for this specific project. That's right. I'm admitting to never throwing anything out.

After cleaning things up I pinned up these pockets which is what gives the twirl it's kick-ass quality. These photos are teasers. There will be a proper shoot soon that displays these clothes and their movement properly.


If you want to talk about movement and 3D vs. 2D check out Comme des Garcons Fall Collection. Those paper dolls are beautiful and hilarious. 


And back to the theme- West Side Story. The mock-up earned the name though I had been imagining this for a while. Maria's little red shop dress... But this in real life looks like a war has been going on. There's an element of Phoenix in her; the raw edges on the seams, and the hem looks like a burst of flames that one could fly from towards a new and better land. Which is what Maria does: she rises from her dead lover and walks on- perhaps to devote her life to ending racism in her community. It's that lived-to-tell romance that we all carry. The best love that comes from hurt and the power to survive. 


Side-note: When people ask me my target market, I always find it difficult to answer this question because the answer is not so much 25-60 making X/annually as it just a group of people that have enough sense of self to rock and be proud of their experiences- good, bad, and heart-breaking, -wrenching, -warming.
They are my inspiration.


So thanks! :)

Sweats Monday, Sew Tuesday, Absinthe Wednesday, Think Thursday

Sweats Monday: Wearing sweats for absolute comfort. Sewing faeries, cleaning house, West Side Story Dress (looking so good).
Who knew the Stop & Shop closed at 8pm in the offseason?


Sew Tuesday: Sewing, Rachel's son's birthday, coffee celebration for side seams... more house cleaning, logo development, and a good sleep.


Absinthe Wednesday: Full production: zippers in WSS, Astro tanks sewn, Silk & Feathers crop-pants hemmed, Absinthe and apple games at night...


Think Thursday: Full day of sewing... Astro tanks being pressed... linings and wonders on WSS, Faeries completed...


I've been meaning write a new entry for the whole week and let the world know about my lunar faeries. 

They start as this drawing... which originated in Mexico, first as a sketch of my aunt at the pool. It was developed into a figurative drawing and then the outline is formed and mounted. 

An organza tracing is based to the tank and then I go to town with my machine, selecting a color story. After the sprite is completed I make little wings and we sew the tank.

Due to my new phone not having the best camera quality (I live on flip)... this is where it's at for faerie photos but you can see some close-ups of the face. I don't want to give it all away! Come to the store and see them! They are beautiful. The total height of the image is about 12".  These are like paintings for me. It's a pretty intense and concentrated process. All the steps are broken up but when I'm in it, I'm in it. It's unabashed creativity and absolute freedom. There's no pressure in sewing them (the embroidery I mean, the cutting and cover-locking is another story). They are feminine, but ultimately gender-neutral. They are a part of a fantasy series with Unicorns, Mermaids and Dragons... I started with the faeries because they have an omniscient view, being up in the moon. And I love the moon. It's a very comfortable starting point. I also understand drawing moons and bodies the best, as opposed to horses and dragons, and in order to accurately get a glimpse of their secrets, I need to be able paint/sew them well technically... so I just don't have to think about it. That's sort of how it works. If you can understand a technical process enough so you don't have to think about it, so you can break it, then you can just be your creative process. 

And on that note, it's not really me, or the artist, that is being  the creator, it's totally those creative spirits that bless us humans with Its presence long enough for us to bring some beauty into the world... 

Love Matters. :)

The Keeping On

The week has gone by incredibly fast.


Alice (my roommate & inspiration) went to Costa Rica on Monday for most of the month. I'm beyond jealous and excited for her journey- but the time alone for me equals an opportunity of absolute focused work. And of course when those come up I go through an initial period of utter distractions. Be they in technology or walks or lamenting about whatever I don't have.


However that said, Rachel, my seamstress goddess and owner of B.Xclusive- the shop which is housing Love Matters Creations at the moment, has been rocking it out with me. We made some sick shorts under Silk & Feathers brand. Black knit. Sweet Pockets. Elastic waistband. And we've started the much anticipated 'West Side Story Dress.'
The mock up:

 The Table at present with real fabric:

Yesterday we constructed the lining. I'm just trimming some bits before starting into the self. Details to come. Limited pictures because my phone is currently not working so I took these with my computer. 


This dress is called the West Side Story Dress because it inspires a pretty whimsical and optimistic feeling. (I really needed that this week) The color of the organza is pretty dead-on to Natalie Wood's dress in the 'I Feel Pretty' scene. The pick-ups throughout the bottom came from an idea based on Mary DeAngelis' bucket pocket vest (Spring 2011), a pattern I worked on with her. The pocket comes from turning up the front forward enough to make a pocket, but in a square tailored way. I wanted to try that idea with a wider hem and let those folds create some drama. Hope that made sense, the point is this dress has the best fucking twirl on the planet! When I have more pics of it I'll tell you more about the construction of it because there's a reason for everything.
Anyway.
Work time.
Love Matters :)