Experimenting with (subtle) colors...

It's all about the bows.

I'm making some lovely things to help keep you warm this winter....  will be in the shop soon. 

Woah, it's the end of October.

I'm working on some beautiful things for the end of fall and beginning of the holiday season, will share as things develop, but here's just a taste. 

First up, there's a new magazine coming out next month.  (pssst..  if you are the tiniest bit interested in fashion, gorgeous photography, and pop culture you will want to get a copy of this, i've had a sneak peak at some of the work in it and it is GORGEOUS.....  and look closely and you'll spot some of my work in it! can't wait to pick up a copy....or 5...)

I've been mildly obsessing over fair isle lately so I've been playing around with some ideas on my knitting machine.  Have some great ideas for the shop and xmas market coming.

Finally, I'm working on an outfit for one of the lovely competitors of the Face of Ireland, but can't show you what I'm doing for that just yet..  more soon. 

p.s. this year has just been positively flying by.  wasn't it just February???

Custom Dress for Beata Finished!

Totally ran out of time to post these pics before I flew off on vacation, but as i have a few minutes, I thought i'd finally edit & post them!  So this is Beata's dress with the new smaller yoke (see the previous one here).  She was very happy with it in the end, and I love the way she styled it with her leather belt.  My neighbor's beautiful kids love joining in the fun of pictures, so I just had to share that picture!!

If you are interested in a similar dress, get in touch and I'll pick up some gorgeous fabric while I'm here in  New York.

more soon! 

The Coolest Thing Ever!

This totally made my day!  Look what Kyeli from Freak Revolution did with my goddess postcards:

I LOVE it! I've been thinking about watercoloring a set of them, and after seeing this amazingness I'm all the more excited to do something more with them.  What a great way to really make them your own unique set of Goddesses.   Thank you so much Kyeli for sharing this with me.  Can't say it enough, I just LOVE them. 

Custom Dress In Progress: for Ailbhe

Working on an unusual draped dress for Ailbhe to wear to her graduation coming up next month.  The shape is based on a dress that my friend Korin and I made previously; we totally winged it with a few yards of silk and draped and pinned it right on my body until we got a shape we liked; and then I ended up flipping it around and wearing it backwards.  

It is a really unique shape, should be worn by someone self-assured and independent; definitely words that apply to Ailbhe.  Oh, and of course she's gorgeous too, which doesn't hurt. 

I'm glad that she was interested in this dress, because it forced me to reverse engineer this unusual pattern.  Took a little trial and error, as I didn't want to take apart the original; and it really made me look closely at how it was put together, and approach it from a new standpoint.  I've even improved upon the fit of the design.  Learning.  Good stuff.

The other challenge has been color.  I've been trying to dye silk to a very bright shade of coral.....alas to no avail.  No matter what I do it seems to come out too orangey.  The word that comes to mind is Pumpkin. ....BLEGH...  Over my dead body.  That will not go out my door, thankyouverymuch.

Hunting in the (very few) fabric shops have also been fruitless.  That is, UNTIL TODAY!  I found a lovely crinkle cotton in a salmon color.  A touch lighter than what the original plan was, but I think it works.  Of course, it depends on whether Ailbhe likes it! 

To be continued....

Custom Dress for Susanne Finished!

So here it is, Susanne's finished dress! I'm really pleased with how it finally came out! Toward the end of the process, I was struggling with the shoulder ruffle for some time, not sure exactly how to create the right look that didn't appear stuck on. Then I came across this picture, which i loved, and adapted it to my purposes. The ribbons that drape across the body were really necessary to give balance and continuity to the look.  Susanne loves the dress too which of course is really the point!   She's going to send me a snap of her in the dress so I'll post that up once I get it. 

Custom Dress In Progress: for Susanne, Part 5

This post is late as the dress is already finished, but thought i'd include this step as a separate post anyway. I hand dip dyed the fabric for this dress using batik dyes i bought at Cork Art Supplies (they are the DEKA brand, in case you are interested in trying a project of your own).  There was definitely some trial and error involved in this step as previously i've only used the dye on crocheted items; the experimenting was fun though, and i definitely look forward to dyeing silk again soon.  

Custom Dress In Progress: for Susanne, Part 4

Just had second fitting for Susanne's dress. Some small adjustments to bodice, but overall looking good.  The one-shoulder strap will actually end up having multiple flounces so it will really be dramatic.  Next steps, cutting and dyeing of silk fabrics.... :) 

One more time, with beads.

Beads and sequins added to crocheted flowers for Clare's head peice.  Hard to capture the way they reflect light...