Change

I'm feeling so much better about my photos now that I finally got around to changing the background. So now instead of this...

There's this...


Wheeeeeeeeeeeew! I like it so much better. Me and that off white just were not vibing.

The green chiffon was purchased in order to become a long, flowy dress.
For now though, it's been repurposed. It's not the fabulous walls at my old place, but I'm pretty pleased. I need to have some color, man! Plus it helps bring the look of my shop back to more consistent flow.


So beyond the backdrop change, I'll be updating my shop today to add...

This one has been done for a month, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it
..whether I should put it in my etsy shop or sell it at the local boutique. I decided to go ahead and put it online, because the people who buy my garments at the boutique seem to exclusively like more simple, elastic dresses that fit a range of sizes such as...


So this one will go over there this week. I mean..unless someone here wants it. :-D I really love the dress and thought about keeping it for myself. That's quite common, but I never end up keeping anything. Well, except this.

I've added the above picture to my flickr page.You can also go there and see another simple lil (blue) dress and some random shots taken within the past week.

When I was home last weekend, I got a whole bunch of fabulous material from a thrift shop, so this week I'm gonna start working on some new items. Be back soon...

:-)

Picture This

**WARNING: Ability to visualize is required from this point on.** :-)

I spent 4 days back home with family recently and was forced by my mother and cousin to make something for them. I'd told them that I was gonna bring my sewing machine and supplies with me, but at the last minute I decided not to. I like to travel light, and that was just too much stuff to carry.

Of course they were not at all phased by this. Especially considering that my aunt has a machine. So I ended up going to her house to procure her machine along with scissors and a seam ripper. They went (or rather sent me) to Wal-Mart to get some fabric and thread, then I got started. Now the thing about it is that the scissors and seam ripper were all the supplies I had. No pins. No tailor's chalk or marking pencil. No ruler. No pattern. No nothing. (However, not having patterns wasn't such a big deal since I rarely use them anyway.) I didn't even have a hard surface or even a large enough carpeted spot to cut the fabric on. My mother was in the kitchen cooking a big feast, so the floor in there was out of the question.


I ended up cutting everything out on her bed, using a sharpie to do some outlining on my mom's dress (it was black material), completely freestyling my cousin's, and finding a single safety pin to use to hold fabric pieces together in tricky spots such as the sleeves.


My sewing station was the nightstand at my mom's bed side. I had to sit at an angle in the chair so my knees wouldn't keep bumping into the thing. This shot was taken by my little brother.

Safety pin sticking outta my mouth.

The sad thing is that I didn't get any pictures of my cousin's dress. It's really cute, though, and similar to this one.


Instead of multi-colored chiffon, hers was done in a pink and white striped knit fabric and had a tie under the bust.

The reason I didn't get pictures is because my batteries were dying. She has a 1 yr old that likes to be carried around...or I should say that she likes to carry around. She didn't want to get candy or food all over it, so she changed into some more "child friendly" wear before I could get new batteries. I could have got her to put it back on for me, but I never got new batteries. :-/ She's also pregnant with her second child, and the dress looked nice falling over her lil belly. :-)

My mom doesn't like taking pictures, but her dress is something like this one and has sleeves (it's a little bit longer, too).


2 of my other cousins wanted versions of my stepping razor hoodie dress, but I told them I'd have to make it and send it to 'em. That would have required way too much cutting, measuring, etc. in such a limited sewing space.


Family members are always getting on my case saying I never make anything for them. They have a point. I'm gonna do better, though. Besides, they can serve as my (non-paid ) walking advertisements back home. :-D

*Blush*

So, as you may have previously read, on March 8 I had a style show downtown as part of the local Grinder: Creative Arts Expo, which is held every 4 months. The models and I showed off many of my garments to a packed house, and it was great! I have several shots but will mostly only post those of myself to protect the innocent.


It's so funny how a camera can catch you with the funniest expression on your face. Yes. Feel free to laugh at my expense...



The, "La la la la la." look. I normally just go out barefoot, but someone had some shoes I could get my feet into. They were a 9 and fit me perfectly. I wear a 10!

The sleeper.


The, "Ok, T. Don't fall off the ramp when you're leaving the stage" look.


The, "Y'all don't want none!!" look. lol!

The near flasher shot. And of course the crowd goes wild. This ain't Bourbon Street, folks! ha ha! I don't have tops to go with some of the skirts, so we just wrapped fabric around. Apparently this time it wasn't secure enough. It's so funny that she caught this shot.

Maybe I'd said something funny on this one. Everyone's laughing, and I have one of my, "Da hell!?!?!?" looks. Oh, and check out the free from Circuit City New Amerykah tee. Much love to the sensational Erykah Badu for the wonderful new album!

I always end up modeling in my shows due to a lack of willing participants. People get so shy when you ask them to model. I don't mind, though, cause I get to show the garments the way I want them to be shown while cuttin' up with people in the crowd. I talk to people, wave at people, everything when I'm modeling.

Including me there were 6 this time around. Two of the ones who helped me out in November couldn't make it. It's always so fun since there are various other things going on. Live art (the guys painting in the background), a dj and drummers, several artists vending their goods, a very enthused audience. Just a good ol' time. Judging from my expression in most of the shots, it seems as though I was a bit perturbed. They just caught me at a bad moment, though. ;-)

The last model to the right in the final photo flew all the way from Chicago to be in my show! :-D

Ok, not really. She's the younger sister of one of my good friends who's from Chi-town but lives here now. Thankfully, she was here visiting that weekend and agreed to be in the show. She's so tiny and could fit some of my x-small garments such as this.

Thanks for the helping me out and for the photos, Nikel!! :-D You can see several more photos on the Grinder website.

Stay tuned for the July show!!

Long Time Coming

Yes! It's true! I've created something new for my "flytie" etsy shop!

Wanna see?? Wanna see?? Wanna see??



:-D

I'm not real big on prints, but every now and then there's one that I just love. The above is an example. Another can be seen here. That fabric has been in my stash for months, cause I couldn't figure out just what I wanted to do with it. Sometime Friday, after regaining my motivation, this idea for a floor length halter dress came to me. I've always loved long dresses and will definitely be making more soon.


The top was supposed to be my size...34 inches. Sometimes my rationale for what size a garment will be is based upon whether it's one that I really wanna keep for myself. If i really love it and would really like to keep it (which I rarely do), I make it my size. ha! In the end, though, this turned out to be 36 inches up top. How that happened I do not know.

I had the hardest time finding a place to take photos in this new spot. I've never lived in a residence with so many electrical sockets! I mean, there are at least 2 on ever wall in here. That's great for someone who has a lot of stuff to plug in, but not so great for someone like me who uses the walls as a backdrop for photos and doesn't want sockets in the pictures. Since I couldn't find a big enough spot that was electrical socket free, I ended up sewing together two large pieces of muslin, pinning them over the closets in my bedroom, and voila! Instant photo shoot spot. (See these are the things you have to do when you don't have readily available models the work with, and when you just have the camera set to the self-timer and propped up on a box or something.)


I'm not that thrilled with that background, but it gets the job done. Now the issue's gonna arise when I have to take shots of white garments. I'll have to get several yards of colored material for that.

If you want to see more recent creations, check out my flickr page. You can tell the new stuff by the background.

In "sewfly" news I've decided to add some of the numerous "art tops" that I have to the etsy shop. Yeah, they were supposed to be for consignment at a couple places, but things don't always work out like they're supposed to. Now I just want them outta here! So you should get one. They're really cute. :-D

Greatdayindamornin'

^^ c/o D'Angelo.

Lack of motivation, insecurity, self-doubt, anxiety, frustration, over thinking, confusion, laziness, uncertainty, procrastination and all that other stuff that causes me to do nothing where creating is concerned, suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!! :-/

I'll try and make this my only post like this. (I've done well up to now considering that I go through these moods quite often. Very frequently.)

Tomorrow will be better.

Peace, y'all.

Homegrown

Yes indeed. My manfriend's parents have a lemon tree as well as an orange tree in their back yard, which I only just now found out about...5 yrs. into being together!!!! I can't believe he never told me that. I knew about the fig tree, but we're talking citrus here. Citrus is my love.

So anyway, while we were there yesterday his father went out and picked some for me and a guest who'd been visiting them for the weekend. I'm so very thrilled by home grown food. While I've tried to grow various things, nothing really turned out the way it should/could have. :-/ But in all fairness, I didn't really give the plants the time or love they deserved. Well, I'm in my new place now with more "growing space", and I'm definitely gonna be puttin' some seeds in the ground (or rather, in pots) here really soon. It's getting to the point where this is something I have to do. Produce at the stores and even lately at the farmer's market is so pitiful looking and overpriced. So, yep. I'm gonna have to get busy growing my own. There's a kumquat tree out back that I've been enjoying since moving here. mmmm mmmm mmmm.

And for the record, there's only one orange in that picture. (One of those lemons is super huge.) Apparently some dude has been stealing the oranges off the tree, so there were only 2 left. I got one and the guest got the other.


In other news, my Monday night bellydancing classes have ended, so tonight I'm gonna get in my sewing room and do some organizing. The place is a bigger mess than before. Last week was a chaotic one, so I didn't get to tackle it the way I wanted to. Not only did I not tackle it, I contributed further to the drama.

I was checkin' out Etsy's most recent featured seller and was really admiring her studio. I love seeing other people's sewing spaces. Mine has never been all "decked out" the way one might assume. As previously mentioned, this is actually my first time having a separate space. Before this residence all my work was done in my bedroom. In the apartment before that it was in the dining room. Now that I'm here, I really look forward to hookin' things up. We'll see what happens.

Schoolin'

I wanted to blog about my experience in design school today since I get a lot of questions about that. After typing 3 long paragraphs about the situation with maybe 4 more to go, I decided all that wasn't necessary. Let's just say it was interesting. 2 years into the program, I was beginning to feel like my creativity had been sapped. My confidence in my work was pretty low, and when I graduated in May 2005, I didn't even consider that I could be a designer.

My relationship with the head design instructor was pretty shaky a lot of the time. We just butted heads a lot. Ironically enough, we have the same birthday, ha ha!

In the end though, I must give her the props she deserves. I was pretty much forced to teach myself to sew since the program was to teach design, not sewing. She told us that the first day and never wavered, If you didn't know how to do something with the machine, you'd better either figure it out, read a book on it, or pay for private lessons. Between trial and era and occasionally referencing Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, I eventually worked myself up to where I am now. And I must say, I think I'm pretty darn good where actual sewing is concerned. Y'all couldn't even imagine how far I've come, lol!

Although she wouldn't teach sewing, she knew her stuff when it came to designing. Despite our tension, I picked up a lot from her on the subject. The functionality of clothing. Which materials will and won't work for various designs. Design aesthetics. All that type stuff. The basics are so essential. You can have the most gorgeous drawing of a garment that you want to make, but If you can't figure out how you're gonna get in it or what type of fabric you'll need to make it drape the way the picture looks, then it's just a pretty picture. She was excellent for that type of guidance. And over time, as I grew in what I was doing, I'd break some of the rules of designing. But when you've got it down, you can break some of the rules and still make it work. That's the main thing I learned from her: how to break the rules and still make it work. :-)

So now I'm in a very comfortable place with this. I'm still learning new techniques all the time via trial and era. It's an ongoing process.

I was moved to write about this today because of something I was told last night. One of the models who was in my style show is currently in the design program at the university. She informed me that my former design teacher's oldest daughter was recently killed in a car accident and that she's been out of class for weeks. I just can not even imagine. She spoke about her (3) daughters often in class. One was even in the program. Even though the one that died lived out of state and we'd never met her, it's like our class "knew" her through her mother.

The model was telling me how the program is basically in a state is disarray. She didn't even have to say it, cause Dr. Robeck is that program...aside from the students of course. There are only 2 design teachers, and she does all the actual hands on design courses. I know there's mass confusion over there right now. Supposedly the other professor is attempting to fill in, but it's just not the same. Not at all, and without even being a part of the program, I know that for sure. I was looking on the job board last week--the thing I do sometimes when I'm annoyed with this whole "struggling designer" thing--and noticed there is an opening for a a fashion design teacher. I was curious about it, but didn't really give much thought. So now I know that's why that opening is there. My model suggested that I should apply for the position, since I know the program. My response was like, "Uuuuhhh, no." lol! For one I don't have all the qualifications and for two, the responsibly level Dr. Robeck has is something I'm not sure I'm ready for. Check out her resume! I mean, I could teach a course, but the "professor" title would be a bit much at this time.

I just wish her all the best, cause I know it must be hard.

After a little searching, I discovered that she still has pictures of our class on her site.


From the 2004 costume project for draping course. I was a Kemetic queen. For whatever reason I look a little stiff there, so here ya go.

Not as clear but a better pose.

And if you look at the picture on the top here, you can see me at the computer in the back with the afro puff. CAD. Cool stuff but tedious as ever.

Sometimes I wish I hadn't gone to school for design, because at times I do still struggle with the restrictions education can sometimes place on you where creativity is concerned. In the end, though, a lot was obtained from the experience. And perhaps some day a book will come out of it all.

For All You Local Folks!!

Style shooooow!!

Tomorrow night...

Grant Street Dancehall downtown Lafayette, LA...

In conjunction with the Grinder: Creative Arts Expo...

Doors open at 8 pm....

My show starts at 10:30 pm...

$5 cover...

You don't wanna miss it!!

Check out more info at lafayettegrinder.com...

Read my post concerning the last expo here.


And because this post feels so bare without a picture, here's a glimpse of some of the newness that'll be making its debut tomorrow.





Now, you might notice that some of that is just uncut fabric. Whether or not it makes it in the show is gonna depend on me turning it into something by tomorrow. I'm running on 3.5 hours of sleep as it is, but I'll do my best. All that moving stuff took up a lot of my creating time, so I'm in the process of catching up.


If you're in the area, hope to see you there!

peae

So, Here I Am...

in the new spot. And when I say "new" I mean new. I hate to even put a nail in the wall. Everything's so...fresh. My last place was pretty "broken in" when I moved in there. It was also more artsy, I guess. Very colorful. Wooden floors. I did love it, but due to circumstances out of my control (read: unruly neighbors and a case of revenge driven arson--towards a neighbor-- that could have killed me and everyone in the building...had I not woken up at 5 am to realize the situation), I had to bounce. I mean, I do wanna live.

This place is cool, though. Plus I have a separate room for sewing, which I've always wanted.

I'm a bit saddened that I'll no longer wake up surrounded by green-ness. :-(

Than again, there are trees all around, so it'll be there....just not in my bedroom. Plus, spring is coming!! :-) An abundance of greenery is in the works.

No more green walls means y'all can expect a new look in my photos. I haven't decided whether to just use the neutral, tan-nish walls or hang something up as a background.

I took a shot of what my sewing room looks like now for your viewing pleasure.


So, yeah. That's what I'm working with at present. :-/ I'll get it together soon.

I've got a style show to put on this weekend, so I must get in there and get to work so that I'll actually have some garments to show! I've been so very busy y'all. But my mind's been working. It'll all be translated to fabric reeeeaaaaal soon...