Updates and Random thoughts

Ok ladies...I know I've been slacking a little (ok a lot) the last couple weeks.  I appreciate all of your feed back on my bags.  I sent one off as a gift and another got put to good use yesterday and received all sorts of compliments.
          This weeks plans include a size large bag with long handles made out of vinyl sheeting, a birthday dress for a lovely young lady (one of my adopted nieces, gotta love extended family) and possibly some work on a motorcycle seat I am recovering for James uncle.

While this weekend was very crazy and because of spending more time at my real job I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to on Friday to get lost in my creative pursuits although that didn't stop me from finding creativity in other ways.  My greatest creative accomplishment for the week was helping my closet creative husband re-do all of the straps on our riding saddles.  My saddle is synthetic materials and has always had nylon girth straps etc, but some were warn and one was missing (don't ask I dunno either) so we decided to visit one of our favorite places, TEMPE SALES the store where you can buy anything from spray adhesive to marble blocks with detours in between to cowhide, foam in all matter of thicknesses and shapes and all sorts of nylon straps in about 10 different widths in 5 different colors,and get the nylon strapping we needed to replace the worn ones on my saddle.  James saddle is mostly leather and even though the straps on his had been cared for the were a little on the worn side as well, so we figured while we're at it we'll replace them all.  I know you're all asking how does this lead to something creative. I'm getting to that part...it's creative because we turned 10 yards of bulk nylon strapping (think dog leash but about 13/4" wide) into 2 6ft long cinch straps, 4 22" rear girth straps and 2 20" front cinch strap (this is the one that the cinch is always attached to...the long one is the one you tighten so the saddle doesn't flip over).  Sounds simple right? Except that all of these straps have no less than 8 holes in them.  This is where the creative part comes in....James punched the holes using a leather punch (they work on nylon too) and the old straps as a template and then I used our  wood burning tool to seal the ends of each strap so they wouldn't fray and to seal the inside of each  hole (melting the nylon makes the holes stronger and less likely to tear out).  We were pretty pleased with our work, the real test will be on Saturday when we saddle up with my saddle for the first time to see if everything holds the way it should (if not I'll let you know how bad the bruises are in my next post).

At the beginning of this post I mentioned making a birthday dress for my niece (adopted but mine just the same).  Her dress like several others I have in the works are going to be the start of  my spring/summer collection.  I actually already have my first spring/summer order although I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm a total loser because I've been promising her pictures for 2 weeks and they haven't happened yet.  I'm a slacker what can I say.  I also have had a couple other requests but no solid orders yet so we'll have to see what actually materializes!

As always I appreciate your feedback and your support.  Thanks for reading!

Ok so I didn't wait a whole month....

Good Morning all! For those of you that are loyal followers you know I'm not real good at remembering to update my blog on what is anywhere near a regular basis.  The thought crosses my mind often but usually get pushed aside by another task, or something shiny or the fact that I'm actually driving when I think about it and have realized that trying to update right then even using the mobile app probably isn't the very best idea, but I'm here now and I have LOTS to share!

First and foremost, for those of you that have been following the wedding dress saga, last weekend was W day.  Brandy got married a week ago Saturday in her beautiful Quilted Elephant dress.  She was joined by her daughter Adrianna and our niece Odessa both wearing Quilted Elephant designed flower girl dresses.  There will be pictures coming soon, but the photography team took close to 500 pictures that afternoon and I am still waiting for my copies to add to the website, the Facebook page and of course this blog. I also created a couple of other looks by request for attendees of the wedding. All and all there were a total of 6 Quilted Elephant designs in attendance.

I have also started my Spring/ Summer collection.  Mostly simple wrap dresses, tiered peasant skirts and a sundress or 2, but it is only February (for at least a few more days) and until the weather makes up it's mind completely I won't be able to wear them much anyway. 

I have also received a couple of orders stemming from things that were posted during the wedding craziness.  If you have requested something PLEASE be patient with me. The last couple weeks have been really hectic and due to that fact I am just a little bit behind on a couple of my projects.  I will do my best to make sure that everyone get what they requested as soon as possible.

My final thought for the day is simple...PLEASE SEND PICTURES!!! If you received a Quilted Elephant gift during the holiday season PLEASE share.  I don't have form shots of many of the holiday gifts due tot he fact I didn't want to post them on accident and give away the surprise.  I am offering an incntive of $5 off your next order per picture.  For some of you this could add up to a freebie or only having to pay the shipping charges for your next order.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll add pictures when I can.  Have  a great week and remember...make something it's good for the soul!

Studio Updates.....part 3 (I think)

Ok ok ok.......I have been asked by a couple of people for pictures of the new studio and I do have a few to share, but you all have to understand I have been in it less than a month and during that month I completed a wedding gown and 2 flower girl dresses. My reason for stressing this is because it's a mess and there are some definite signs of disorganization.  I am working to overcome the mess and the disorganization but it's slow going because the sun is shining and my music is on LOUD (thank you Melissa B for the Grammy mix) and my creative juices are flowing.  I'm excited to finish the wedding dresses, the final fittings are this weekend and honestly I'm glad to be done with project. The stress of trying to keep the material clean and pretty and dog hair free and having to clean my machine 3 times more often than normal is making me NUTS!


Ok now it's time for pictures! Welcome to my studio the pictures basically pan from left to right around the room.  The picture to the right is my fabric storage unit. Currently it is also home to my heavy steam iron, my extra sewing machine and a shoe box full of patterns that need to magically find some sort of  organization. Above the dresser you can see one of my favorite pieces of art. A beautiful collage piece given to me by Mila Bowman. I suggest checking out her blog EncourageCreative.com. It follows her one a journey of creative discovery and a challange to herself to do at least one creative thing everyday for 365 days.

The picture to the left shows you part of why I enjoy working in this room so much. It has a HUGE picture window. I enjoy starring out the window while I work and I love the soft light that it provides to the space.The left of the picture is mu trusty ironing board that also does double duty as pin cushion and computer table and to the right it my cutting table.  Someday my cutting table will transform into a counter height surface that has lots of room to spread out, but for the time being this seems to be working pretty well, especially with the addition of the drawers underneath. That can be pulled out to hold scissors and pins as well as additional pattern pieces during the cutting process. The wall over my cutting table is VERY bare, but I have been toying with the idea of framing some fo my sketches in rimless acrylic frames and hanging them up for something interesting to look at. Ms. Bowman has also promised me a new piece of art (which she tells me will be shipped this weekend) and I hope to use it as a focal point in thise giant blank space!

This is my work station.  It gets great natural light and when I get frustrated  I can stare out the window and watch the world go by for just a little while. I found the box with drawers at a yard sale for $1 a couple of years ago and it has become a great place to store thread and elastic and all the other things that it helps to have close at hand. You may also notice the shiny thing hanging on the wall...yep you guessed it, that shiny thing is an over the door shoe storage thingy that I have tacked to the wall. It come's handing from holding everything from extra scissors to spools of ribbon and even beads and such for embellishments.

To the left of my work station is Stella my dress form.  She has on a new dress and has asked not to have her picture shared today.  Eventually I would like to put in a full length mirror as well so that my clients can get a good view of how they look.  I also have tailors blocks for clients to stand on in the even they are trying on a long dress and forgot their shoes.

I hope everyone enjoyed the tour.  I look forward to hearing from all of you.  Your feed back is very valuable to me.  As I mentioned Stella has a new dress, this is one of the first pieces of my Spring Fling collection, but I'm not quite ready to share so I guess that means y'all will have to come check out the blog another time!
Thanks for reading and stay creative!

3 dresses and a rainy weekend

I'm back! This is getting to be kind of a regular thing, but don't worry once summer starts to happen that will end I can almost guarantee it!
This week has been a strange one for me.  On Monday I went all out...I spent the better part of my day working on the dresses for Brandy's wedding. By the way that number went from 2 to 3 last weekend when I volunteered to make my nieces flower girl dress as well.  The pattern for hers is really simple and really cute so it's not really that much more work.  The main attraction Brandy's dress is just about finished, I have to install the zipper (yuck), hem the bottom and attach the criss-cross strappy things in the back (they have always been part of the design but I've become rather accustomed to seeing the dress as more of a halter while I've been working on it. Oh well to late to make that major of a design change now should have thought of it a month ago).  All total I probably have a couple of hours left on her dress. Her daughter Adrianna's dress is done except for a hem and any last minute adjustments that I'll need to take care of next week when she comes for the final fitting. My nieces dress is all the way cut out and probably about half-way put together, again maybe and hour or two and it's done, but I've lost my drive to get them done.  I'm not sure what the issue is other than my real job has been a little crazier than usual this week and I haven't been feeling 100% this week but I really need to get my self in gear and get these done.
While I have lost the drive to finish the wedding dresses I have not lost my inspiration.  I got a couple new patterns today and some really great spring material and can't wait to get started on my spring/Summer collections, but first I have to get those darn wedding dresses done!
I was hoping this weekend would turn out to be a great time to work since it's been raining here since sometime last night and it's foretasted to keep raining until sometime early next week, but with gloomy skies comes a gloomy attitude and little to no interest in pretty things.  Hopefully after a yummy dinner and a good nights sleep tomorrow I will actually feel like working (or I'll have to make myself because next Friday is final fittings). Wish me luck and keep watching for new pictures!

Studio Makeover PART 2

Wow 3 posts in less than 10 days! For those of you that don't follow regularly that's a pretty big accomplishment on my part! Usually my posts are more along the lines of 1-2 a month sometimes 1or 2 every 2 or 3 months. I'll be the first to admit I'm not always the best at keeping track, but since it;s a new year I plan on trying to be a little better.  As I mentioned last week (or maybe it was the week before) I am not only int the process of creating a wedding dress I am also in the process of moving my studio. As i mentioned before it is a little bit larger task than I first thought, mostly because I guess it's true you never realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it.  As of Friday all of the furniture except for one 4 drawer Rubbermaid storage cubby has been moved. All that is left now is some general organization followed by a couple really big trash bags (that will eventually actually make it to the trash can)
I have yet to take any pictures of my space mostly because to me it doesn't seem all that special, the room I have moved too is one of my favorites in the house because it has wonderful natural light and generally just a  good vibe for working. It also has a door...my previous studio space was part of our upstairs loft and that meant hiding my sometimes messy area from the world was a little on the impossible side, but the door seems to be helping and as of Friday when someone came over for a fitting they appreciated having the privacy.
In the weeks so to come I plan on starting a couple of new projects. The frist will be the next instalment in the bandana collection and the one after that will most likely be an addition to the sweet dreams Pj collection.  I am also starting a hard cover coffee table book sized portfolio with pictures and sketches and fabric details of some of my most popular designs. I also plan to do some updating to my wix website in the next month or so.  I would like to organize it by collection, the only down side to that is some of customers aren't always so good about remembering to send me pictures of their Quilted Elephant pieces, but maybe with a few gentle threats and a little cajoling I can get my pictures together and get my website better organized.
Hope everyone has a great week and I look froward to hearing from everyone soon!

Updates on a Dress (a wedding dress to be exact!)

As most of you know I have been working on a wedding dress for a friend. Since a wedding dress is one of the most important garments a woman will ever wear I decided to make a fabric mock up for fitting purposes before I actually start on the real thing. 
I used material that I can across cheap (and a lot of) so don't mind the print on the fabric it has little to nothing to do with the actual dress! Also when I create fabric mock ups like I have done here I don't actually sew the seams I use masking tape. .  The reason for this tactic is because I have a very strong aversion to seam rippers! This fabric mock up will be used for fitting purposes so that the final dress will only need slight alterations that can be done within the week to 10 days leading up to the wedding.

This has honestly been one of the most exciting projects I have worked on in a long time, not that every project isn't exciting, but sometimes I get the chance to be involved in something really special and the feeling that comes with that is almost as exciting as getting to wear such a special dress.
I will also be creating a mini version of Brandy's dress for her daughter Adriana to wear during the ceremony where she will be acting as a flower girl.  Of course I will have to make a few slight changes to Adrianna's dress to account for things like age appropriateness and fabric availability but since she's one of the easiest people I sew for I'm really not worried!
I would love some feed back and input regarding the dress. I will post pictures of the original sketch, the pattern I am modifying to use for the dress and of course both the mock up of the dress and the finished product.
Happy reading!

Studio Make Over part 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post I have decided to rearrange some things and move my studio downstairs into one of out extra bedrooms.  Oh my I had no idea how much STUFF I had. So far we have only gotten the really heavy furniture moved. (Hubby got ambitious and decided it had to be done RIGHT THEN), most of the fabric somewhat organized and about 1/2 of my pattern collection organized and accounted for.
The moving the furniture part wasn't to bad, found a really great program on Pinterest that allows you to put in a room dimensions and the dimensions of your furniture and more everything around electronically. I'm sure James was very thankful for this since I am notorious for the statement...."put it over there, oh wait I don't like that, can you move it over here..." and this allowed me to do that without him ever having to touch anything.The organizing of the fabric is taking a little longer, but that's mostly because I'm trying to develop some sort of system for how I store it so that I can find what I need without tearing an entire bin or drawer apart, so far this isn't working all that well for me but in time it will all get to where I need it to be (I hope). Organizing the patterns is a whole different nightmare.  I have a HIGE pattern library, but because I often mix and match pieces between several patterns to create one garment I end up with random pieces piled up on my cut table so before I could more said table I had to attempt to get all of the pattern pieces matched up with their correct envelope. I'm about half way through my patterns and about 3/4's of the way through the actual move. Keep checking back and I'll try and post some pictures not to mention keep everyone updated on my progress. Oh yeah and on the positive side I have managed to get all of my studio art work hung up. My pin board is by the door where I can keep track of current projects and my Mila Bowman creation is hanging proudly over my fabric storage cupboard. I'm hoping having it there will serve as a a source of inspiration for me when I'm digging through my fabric trying to find the perfect piece!

Off the topic of rearranging, I have also completed work on the muslin template for the wedding dress I am currently working on. The bride is coming for her first fitting on Friday. Hopefully everything works out well and we have no major fit issues so that I can start on the finished product next week.