Tuesday, March 20

yay, she likes it

elizabethish frockatoria: black linen babydoll dress
This just in from the new owner:

"It's so so comfy and I love, love, love all the linen tiers and the wildly fantastic sleeves. They're perfectly sculpted and not too tight. It truly is a piece of art that I will love wearing!" – Bridgette

I admit it, even after all these years it's still a tad bit scary to put clothes in a box and ship them to a stranger. Or a friend. Or someone in between. Like going on stage, it gets easier over the years but there's still always a tension there. I don't mind it really, I want to care and I want people to be pleased ... but still,  it's good to know when everything's good at the other end of the mail. Yay!

Saturday, March 17

you do it backwards.



It's one of those things ... you know - makers, writers, musicians, lots of us have those little entry rituals that get us rolling - the traditions, or superstitions or obsessions - the things that help us enter into the process of making. For me it's getting my hands moving - not sewing, but folding or cutting paper or even just writing a list for the day. But it can't be any paper. Limp printer paper doesn't do it. It has to be heavy card stock, thick, unforgiving, sturdy. I need to feel the weight of it in my hands. So today I cut a dress out of thick gray letterpress stock, a favorite, wrote some ideas and sketches on it, and I'm off, into the wilds ...

For a long time I wanted to make up a ritual that would work for me - the favorite black-inked pen and square notebook for writing, the perfect cup of coffee before commencing - and I think a lot of people get stuck there, in the blank book aisle, panicked and wanting to attach the magic pre-emptively. But now that I've done this for a while I get that you don't choose it. You find your ritual by trying things, through flailing crazy trial and error, then you figure out what works and keep it. You do it backwards.

Friday, March 16

today in the studio ... plus-sized draping

It's a lovely gray and rainy morning, warm and delightful. I'm listening to Bill Evans and looking forward to a day of sewing but also plotting out some new patterns. I'm just finishing up a one-off navy blue linen dress. It's one of my best drapey plus-sized pieces so far, I think - with an asymmetric neckline and big floppy collar, and lots of curvy sculpted-ness.