color

I'm always thinking about color, and I'm doing some summer dresses and working out some dye patterns for them. My friends and I use to tie dye a ton of stuff in college - yes, I admit, I have a serious 'boho hippie' streak in me. My hair was always super long, especially back then. I remember hanging out in memorial park at age 18, and someone was putting a hair wrap in for me, using bright embroidery floss colors. It took 4 months to get it out!
I also made teeny tiny newborn sized t-shirts for S when she was a baby, and put hairwraps in her hair quite often too. Of course friendship bracelets. My dear friend Lori sat patiently teaching me all that she had learned as a camp counselor. I don't know why I didn't learn as a kid, but it's such a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
We made so many- some were even collars for our cats. This shop has some amazing ones:

anyway, aqua will be a prominent trend for sure in the upcoming summer line, right now I'm just trying to find the time to sit and work on it. Later this week hopefully, major progress will be made.

**********COLOR************
from an article written by Patrick McMurray...

On the subject of psychology: Colour affects your bottom line in branding, packaging, web design, interiors, product design and fashion.

Understanding your personal palette and how to surround yourself with your best colours, in your clothes and your home, will make you feel good about yourself and send your confidence soaring. Looking great is an inevitable by-product.

Black is the colour of authority and power. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless. Black also implies submission. Priests wear black to signify submission to God. Some fashion experts say a woman wearing black implies submission to men. Black outfits can also be overpowering, or make the wearer seem aloof or evil. Villains.

The most emotionally intense colour, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the colour of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme colour, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations.

Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention. The most romantic colour, pink, is more tranquilizing. Sports teams sometimes paint the locker rooms used by opposing teams bright pink so their opponents will lose energy.

And finally Blue; the colour of the sky and the ocean, blue is one of the most popular colours. It causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to produce calming chemicals, so it is often used in bedrooms. Blue can also be cold and depressing. Fashion consultants recommend wearing blue to job interviews because it symbolizes loyalty. People are more productive in blue rooms. Studies show weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms.

I'm yearning for backyard barbeques and days lounging on the patio, for a chance to wear some of these new dresses! pics coming soon!

pretty spring

my bustle shop was on the front page the other day, which doesn't happen as often as my other shop, just because I don't have enough items in there. It usually sits at around 20 items, whereas deciduoussoul is usually around 100.
It's just a baby still, but it's going to get a lot of love this summer.
I've finally gotten my serger back from the repair shop (who kept my manual and an actual piece of my machine! After 4 months of being in the shop and several phone calls from me reminding them they still had it, I'm surprised I even got part of it back)
The missing piece does not affect the functioning of the machine, though, so I've already made 2 skirts in 2 days with it.
Oh how I've missed the speedy whirring of that machine!
So, lots of new kids dresses and ruffle pants coming, maybe I shouldn't say 'lots', because I don't know how much time I'll have.
I haven't seen my little model since last summer - she's probably grown 3 inches at least!
More bridal slip dresses are in the works as well.
It's finally nice weather here, so I'm off to take a walk on my lunch break and enjoy the sun and the exercise. I've sat through so many freezing soccer games in the last month I thought it would never get warm again~ ta ta!

my dress form has all the fun!!!

Madame coco, which is what my curvy metal dress form was named, gets to wear the prettiest little lovelies:) She now has a new sister, who we'll have to have a contest for soon to give her a name befitting of her beauty, and she is pink!

Madame Coco won't be jealous though, because she is beautiful in her own sculptural way.
Finished another vintage slip skirt today, and the studio is trashed. Every time I get involved in a project I love, there ends up being snippets and piles of tons of things strewn about. No pics of the studio for you, but some of the skirt.


there have been some lovely spring brides lately!
ta ta

vintage goodness

My next door neighbor for the last 8 years is approximately 100 years old, give or take a year~ She recently moved in with her son, and her grandson moved in with his family. So they were purging the house of some of her old vintage linens...
She had given me some in the past, and I spied a clear garbage bag full of them sitting outside by the garage only a few days before our garbage day - I immediately flew into action. I put a purple sticky note on their door so that when they got home they would see it for sure. It was raining a bit, and I took a nap. I actually had a nightmare that when I got up the bag was gone!
I know, so silly. But fabric is so special, especially soft old cotton with pretty flowers on it!
So when I got up for real, it was still there... whew.
After all of that, they did give me the bag, and I found a few cute things to keep, but most of it was... not so cute. Oh well. The things that I didn't want to use or sew with, I still felt bad about ditching the rest. So I thought I would use the old sheets that I didn't want to put on the bed as pattern pieces. Whenever I draft patterns, I use muslin rather than tissue, but at times I have used other fabric that I don't want to make things out of. So I thought, why not use the sheets?
perfect.


now the sheets will have a new life, and I will think of my old friend every time I use them!

knowledge is power

photoshop power that is.... I love learning how to do anything on this powerful tool, and I have expanded my very limited knowledge just a little more tonight. My daughter showed me how to put a lot of pictures onto one document - don't know if this has a special term or not... Anyway, I've been adding a 4th or 5th picture to my clothing listings for a long time, to show customers what other prints and colors they can get things made in, but I wanted to show more.
I already knew how to add text, so it was pretty easy to do. I may need to tweak it a bit more, because I like how it looks like a beautiful quilt, but the two dark prints in the upper left corner seem unbalanced with the rest of it. It's kind of like a mosaic on flickr; it shows you what colors you really like by having so many repeated in that palette. Apparently I love greens and pinks (no surprise there). Grass green has been fascinating me as of late- I got the cutest terry cloth summer dress in this color and I can't wait to wear it. My plan is to wear pretty things this summer whether I weigh what I want to or not. so there!
So, if you want to make one of these pretty quilt grids of your own, and you have some sort of program that will let you do it, here's my simple (hopefully) explanation:
1} save pictures of fabrics you like~
2} in photoshop, FILE -> NEW -> choose the pixel size you want - I chose 1000 x 1000 so it wouldn't be too big, press OK --this is your NEW, UNTITLED DOCUMENT
3} in photoshop, FILE -> OPEN -> choose the one you want to start with and select it
4} you'll need to change the image size of your photo most likely, I changed mine to 200 x 200 so that I could fit five pics across each row, and five pics top to bottom (( if you wanted to do bigger pictures, just make the pixel size fit into the 1000 equally, like 250 x 250 if you want to end up with 20 photos total))
5} select the rectangle marquee tool ( top left, dotted lines square shape), then use it to drag across the photo you just resized from the top left corner to the bottom right.
6} under EDIT, click COPY
7} I then click on the MOVE tool (right next to the dotted line square you just used) and put the cursor on the new untitled document you created at the beginning..... then click EDIT - PASTE and your little image should now be on the blank document. You can move it around where you want it.
8} FILE, OPEN - choose next picture, repeat above process. Continue until all pictures are on blank document.
9} Use text tool to add alphabet letters on each picture
10} SAVE AS.... name your file - I've noticed it won't upload to etsy unless I save it as a jpeg, although I know I've uploaded png's in the past. It kept saying the file size was too big until I saved it again as a jpeg.
I don't argue with it or rip my hair out wondering why, I just keep clicking stuff until it does what I want. If all else fails, I call my teenager and she fixes it :)
But seriously, this was really easy! Maybe you all already knew this, but I thought maybe it would help some technologically challenged soul like me.
ta ta!

good advice...

I found this on melanie mauer's blog (a lovely photographer), and it credits the original author at the bottom. It's advice about aspiring to become a photographer or run a photography business, but I really love how it applies to other creative endeavors:
- Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don’t look outward for your style; look inward.

- Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It’s like money; you only have it when you don’t need it.

- Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus.

- Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don’t fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you’re stressed and anxious.

- Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can’t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.

- You cannot specialize in everything.

- You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.

- Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don’t, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that’s tough.

- Accept critique, but don’t apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn’t not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent.

- Leave room for yourself to grow and evolve. It may seem like a good idea to call your business “Precious Chubby Tootsies”….but what happens when you decide you love to photograph seniors? Or boudoir?

- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”.

- Gimmicks and merchandise will come and go, but honest photography is never outdated.

- It’s easier to focus on buying that next piece of equipment than it is to accept that you should be able to create great work with what you’ve got. Buying stuff is a convenient and expensive distraction. You need a decent camera, a decent lens, and a light meter. Until you can use those tools consistently and masterfully, don’t spend another dime. Spend money on equipment ONLY when you’ve outgrown your current equipment and you’re being limited by it. There are no magic bullets.

- Learn that people photography is about people, not about photography. Great portraits are a side effect of a strong human connection.

- Never forget why you started taking pictures in the first place. Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject.

- Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.

- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.

- Cheryl Jacobs

via Beyond Images

***what wonderful words of wisdom. I've been working hard on my photography skills for the last couple of years, and they are about to be seriously tested in some upcoming photo shoots (if you can call them that) for some of my new casual wedding dresses. My husband listens to my 'unsureness' ?? ( he used to have a darkroom in his old house), and just says, "keep taking more pictures", so I guess like anything else, I must practice.

as soon as I have time, my goal is to play around in photoshop by burning the edges of some images, and adding digi frames. I guess it won't change the actual image itself, but at least it will look prettier!

spring awaits...

aaaahhhh, these sun-filled days of 50 degrees tease us into thinking spring has arrived, but I know the cold hard truth that winter has not finished it's nasty reign of terror... Bring it on, midwest, because I've got my arsenal of wool mittens, warm hand-knitted scarves and leather boots waiting in the wings.
Anyway, spring has made it's arrival in my studio! Lovely chartreuse green, vintage baby blue, hot fuchsia pinks... mmm I love silk. I actually love heirloom cotton too, but it's twice the work, because I have to line it with voile or some other sheer dreamy fabric so that it doesn't become lingerie.

I'm just a fabric addict, always have been.
I've had some wedding sashes on the back burner for quite awhile, and some of my brides come up with the coolest color combinations :) I've had a few weeks of rest, after not taking any days off for a long time, and it's nice to actually have a weekend here or there where I don't work. Novel concept, I know. Here's a peek at a few of the satin ribbon sashes I've been making. The new ones are so vintagey special and colorful, with lots of lace, ruffles, and the most beautiful colors.... images of those are coming soon. Some of these sashes available here-




happy spring everyone!

loose ends

I'm spending this afternoon tying up loose ends~ I had to ruminate about them all for a couple of weeks and gear up for it, but I'm enjoying it none the less.
After painting the walls icy lavendar over Christmas break, I moved my cutting table, desk, ironing board and various craft cabinets about 120 times before deciding on a set up I could live with. I'm still contemplating rearranging it, but it takes too much time. So today I finally cleared out some of the piles that inevitably happen when moving the studio. I basically felt like I was sitting in the middle of a giant pile of junk before, so it was pretty overwhelming.
Then I started working on some hang tags for some of my boutique clothing:

pretty fun and easy to do actually~
I printed out my new logo, 6 to a page so they are about 2 x 3 (on white cardstock), then printed out fiber content, sizing info, washing instructions, etc. on a separate piece of cardstock, then used some lovely fabric scraps cut just a bit larger than the logo rectangle.
I left extra fabric at the top, so I can hammer some tiny eyelets in for hanging. I love sewing paper, and if there is fabric involved it's even more fun. I used vibrant aqua thread in a zig zag stitch. I forgot to put the price, so I printed those out separately and stitched below the size on the back.

I sandwiched the fabric in between, made sure the front and back papers were matched up on the sides, and stitched all the way around. simple, pretty, useful. Maybe this is like the fun cardmakers have when putting pretty papers together, etc.
I love the raw edges and tattered look. I'll put in the eyelets and add some vintage ribbon, and safety pin them to the garments. Hopefully I'll get lots of oooh's and ahhhh's at the boutique.
I also found a bag of feathers and fun embellishments that have been lost for a few months (another perk of cleaning :)
so I made a little aqua pair of feather earrings~ available in my shop

now back to my tags!

hibernating

sorry for my absence dear readers, I've been 'hibernating'. Oh how I wish. I have the Midwest - freezing temperature - dirty grimy car - can't make it up the hill to my house because of the ice - keep losing gloves so all I have left is mismatched pairs - can't leave the house with wet hair in the morning so I have to get up earlier because it takes an hour to dry this bird's nest - miss my flip flops and tired of wearing boots everyday - my little doggie has forgotten what grass looks like - I need more color in my life than WHITE!!!!!!!!! - winter doldrums.
Well, it's almost February, which means it's almost March, so I think I'll survive. I'm planning a moving to a more mild climate within the next couple of years. It's just not worth it to live somewhere this miserable. Life is too short!!!
I've been working on other things since etsy has been in the crapper lately. I cannot read anymore threads about the batch relistings anymore. Views and sales are terrible, so I'm working on bigger and better things.... just a little tease there ;)
so, for my spring collection, I've been working on some lovely neck bling~


and the feminine, vintage inspired spring collection:


these probably will just be sold in boutiques, I don't know if I'll put them in my etsy shop or not....

as promised...

I found some time today to rewatch "Duchess" with Kiera Knightley before I returned it to the video place. Kiera Knightley's costumes and adornments were such beautiful eye candy, and as promised, here is one of the neck corsages I made that were inspired by all the lovliness:


more silky colors coming...