I love the layers in this look. This designer is so full of color and fun in her designs. Gudrun Sjoden's site is full of lovely information and images of travel and design. The company has a good business and environmental policy as well.
"My basic belief is that the first step towards reducing negative environmental impact is to minimize the use of resources. Which is why I think we should think long term and wear clothes that are hard wearing in timeless designs".
It is Fashion Week in NYC. I always like to focus on independent designers in the shop and here on line. Since I have been into yarn lately I love how this designer uses touches of crochet with here great mixed fabric pattern designs.
The is Annie Briggs
I teach art and design, at a private school, to middle school age students. It is a challenge to come up with creative ideas for projects and still allow for the students creativity. I never show a finished project, since everyone would try to make their finished work look just like mine. To me this is a huge problem in the education system in the US. All student are expected to learn and do the exact same thing at the exact same time through 12 years of "formal" education. It stifles so many student early and they loose interest in learning at all. I am so happy to have the freedom where I teach to offer a wide variety of learning options to my students.
I love how my students take off in their own direction with just a few materials and a basic pattern. That is the challenge for me, to keep the patterns and suggestions simple enough to not overwhelm some students while leaving open the possibility for more creativity from other students. These are some of the latest pieces from the morning class.
I am in the process (along with my friend Sasha) of expanding the knitting supplies and samples at the Red Thread. I am not really a knitter, I can knit a little and I love to use yarn and thread embellishments with my accessory designs. It has been a busy but exciting few weeks-meeting with yarn reps, researching and planning new design patterns. I can hardly wait until the yarns start coming in and I can actually touch and feel and use all the beautiful fibers.
I did find this lovely pattern designer in the UK. I just love her concepts, Thrown Together by Kim Hargreaves.
A great color on this sweater and a lovely feminine shape.
I teach a design class for fiber art students and we are working on color theory these next few weeks. I love the research on Flickr and this is a lovely group with greena dn grey as the focus colors. Enjoy.
1. Spring, 2. Green and Gray, 3. Every night for a hundred years the angel of dreams came to the town & splashed the walls with bright colors that stayed until the first light of day., 4. Path, 5. Nantucket, 6. Lines and Circles, 7. Driftwood, 8. Global Warming and Climate Change, 9. JL_507ra, 10. Pigeon, 11. tree girl, 12. Pods
Last week was the big fashion week in New York. I love clothing and design, but I find it harder and harder to really look at some of these fashions designers with big budgets and big sponsors and big price tags and really feel like it relates to me at all. You can sometimes find some inspiration in fabric or an unusual cut, but it is so commercialized and flash.
Since the online world has made it so much easier for people to connect in many ways, I find independent designers and people creating clothing for themselves much more interesting and creative. Plus you can get so much insight into their design and thought process by reading blogs and other web sources.
This is a wonderful garment form Martha at Uniform Studio. Her blog logs are so interesting and thoughtful in design terms.
I just got this great book from Etsy Shop Pompadour. Japanese construction techniques have always been useful in my garment work. As a silk painter I use the Kimono style jacket to show case my painted fabrics. This new book is so fun and has some great ideas for cutting and draping fabric that should be great with the painted designs I have in my collection.
I have always been a DIY in clothing construction and create my own patterns, so even though the book is written in Japanese I can work with only the photographs and I think these are going to be very interesting. For the time when a little more information might be nice, I found this great site, Moving Hands, like a glossary of Japanese words/symbols.
It is very interesting to see many television shows that are so stylish. From the clothing to the sets designs there is inspiration galore. For some reason I been watching more commercial TV this summer than usual, I just have it on as background noise while working late at night. I have seen a little bit of everything from "Gossip Girl," "Lipstick Jungle," to the great dancer's costumes on "So You Think You Can Dance" the programs are so commercial with "designer" brands and the shows are a little to night time soap opera for me, but I think it is a great opportunity for creative independent interior and fashion designers and sewers to be inspired. I do miss watching "Project Runway" but it is nice to look at the designs on line after and not be influenced by personality from the show. I am influenced by clothing to create my interior design accessories, mens wear fabrics are currently important for the fall.
I have made a couple of items of clothing for myself this summer. We still have many days left of warms weather here in Southern Virginia so I still have time for another sewing project or two. Plus I still have some extra fabric laying around. The fall is going to be especially busy for me at the studio as well as teaching, so I will need some new things to wear. I don't know about you , but I always seem to be making things for the shop or a show, but never much clothing just to wear. These Amy Butler inspiration garments have me inspired. Maybe there will be photos soon. I think the dark peach/coral color with a brown will be great to go into fall.
I have been trying to make some clothing for my own use/wear. It is hard to find the time, but every time I go shopping I come back frustrated. I do not have a lot of choices here for great fashion and I need it to be practical and functional for my life. I have been searching on line and found some great designers and inspiration.
These pieces are from Chazaszcz in Vancouver. I use linen in my accessories. I love their easy cut and colors for late summer and fall. I guess it is back to the design drawing board for me.
