'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! :)