Slouchy Beret

Yes, the gray alpaca/silk had been transformed into a slouchy beret!




The same fate was intended for the maroon merino, sadly the man at the yarn store told me to use much bulkier yarn than I should have. The hat is huge! Even after I felted it, it needs a larger head than mine to cover.

Knitting

After leaving my needles untouched for about 15 years, I've been enjoying the comfort of soft yarns and mt couch. What am I making?







I'll post more tomorrow. . .

FNO Thrill!

Fashion's Night Out gave me quite the thrill. Not only did I snag one of the limited edition re-released Rosette dresses at the 3.1 Plillip Lim boutique, but I met the genius himself! Thanks to one of my well prepared companions I got my hands on a sharpie and both Phillip and Irina signed the inside of my Spring '09 Phillip Lim jacket!
Swoon!

Dress Progress

Wow, I've been slacking with my posts!
Apologies!

Here is the dress I was working on for Fashion's Night Out. I ended up not finishing and wearing it due to the cold temperatures predicted for the evening. I'm glad I bundled up!

I have to try and work the deep purple taffeta into the asymmetrical neck. There will definitely be some pipping, but I think there may need to be a little something else too. . .

French Dot Impetus!

Suddenly as I consider my wardrobe options for exploring the events of Fashion's Night Out in NYC tomorrow night, I fear I have noting to wear in the possibly dreary weather. I think I'm going to try to make a little dress from the black cotton French Dot I posted about recently. Lets see if I can do it! Her is a VERY rough sketch I just did of my foggy idea. . .

More Scarf Love!

Three more. First inspired by the Marc's Fall 2009 Runway show.



I love the idea of wearing a scarf over my earmuffs. I have a really cozy pair of black sheepskin earmuffs, and I think this scarf looks so cute tied around them. Perhaps a bit too literal, but cute nonetheless.

Scarf Love!

I got this beautiful Marc Jacobs scarf today! I was so excited that I started experimenting with it right away. I find the pattern very intriguing.

First, a scarf-shirt.


I made it asymmetrical by adding my giant safety pin from Marc's Spring 2009 collection.


Back to plain cowl-neck with a blazer.


And a cardigan.


I also tried knoting it, I did a kind of messy job though. Not sure if I like this option.

New Specimens

My most recent trip to the fabric store was decadently fruitful. Let me know if you have any suggestions for these amazing specimens.

The most beautiful olive velvet.


Two types(cotton and silk) of french dot, and a cool vintage piece.


This magenta taffeta looks amazing with the green/rust silk.


This cotton is heavenly, and I have quite a few pipping options that will look great with it . . .


Like this perhaps?

In the works

This particular dress is still in the works. I made the bad decision of cutting the skirt on the bias which I instantly regretted. Then after I set in the zipper I realized that it was too stiff for the design and just looked wonky. Now I have closure problems. I'm putting it on the back burner for now since I'm not totally thrilled with it. I love the fabric though so I went back to the store and cleaned them out!

Bad Pictures of Fun Dresses

This dress was a bit of an adventure to make. The original design was quite different, and as I edited the design things became interesting. The interior is a deep plum silk silk which was horrible to work with. Originally the plum was intended to be seen as side panels, however when I tried it on it was WAY to intense and pushing hard in the direction of Herve Leger(not that that's a bad thing). I ended up almost completely covering the Plum panels with the sheer striped fabric that you see in the close up. It's definitely a fun party dress!

More Bad Pictures of Fun Dresses

You can't tell from these pictures, but this may actually be the most beautiful silk I have ever had the pleasure of working with and/or looking at. I couldn't get over it, and I was just grief stricken that there were only 2 yards of it at the store. I used an amazing large plaid silk taffeta to pipe the edges and create a shadow/peekaboo affect along the hem(you can see it in the close-ups teaser post). Its truly inspired by Summer evening in Vermont. While most people would consider that twilight, a dear friend of mine refers to it as "that tricky light". So this is officially Tricky-Light Dress.

More Bad Pictures of Fun Dresses Continued

Fantastic emerald green silk with a mixture of taffeta and crape creating the blue details. I was originally going to do some sort of large scale bow thing along the side of this piece, it then developed into ruffles, but in the end this simple geometric/origami detail seemed like it worked best.

I couldn't help but pair with a fab Marc Jacobs Sapphire Cecillia.

Teasers

Here are a few close up images of dresses I made
from fabric in that last post.
To be more accurate, the bright green fabric
was from that batch.
The rest I think I cut up before I could even take photos
of it (I suppose I was rather eager!).
I will try to post descriptions and images of the dresses being worn
when I sort out a good set up for modeling shots.

Welcome to Space

Space is a place to consider visual inspiration, obsessions, and conundrums.

I'll start with some of my favorite indulgences: beautiful textiles.

I bought these way back in March from the incredible "Delectable Mountain" Fabric store in VT.






Below is what this lovely black and white cotton became:



Cut-out and piping detail on the skirt. The piping is all bias but black silk with an off-white polka-dot pattern. It was perfect since the cotton check(or crossword puzzle as my hubby calls it) has almost invisible little off white squares within the design.



Next, these two gorgeous fabrics became a funky little cocktail dress inspired by a new desire for some really bright colors in my wardrobe. I actually set down a fluorescent yellow cardigan next to the plaid silk one morning and that was that. I had to make it!