The Gentle Waves

Designer at Work...

Mikayla has been working on her collection for the "Fall into the Stars!" teen fashion show taking place in August of this year.  Today we inserted a fly front zipper in one of the pant styles, this was Mikaya's first time constructing a fly front pant and she did a GREAT job!

Playing in the background as we worked...

The beginnings of a wedding dress...

Today, I was asked to design and make a wedding dress.  I absolutely love her ideas- classy, simple and very elegant. This dress will require draping to make the actual pattern and draping is my favorite part of designing! The wedding is a ways away, but I'm really excited to get started on this project.

Groupon madness!  Thank you to everyone who took advantage of the great deal that Groupon offered yesterday. I look forward to working with so many new faces!

Exciting Day at TDL!

The Designer's Lounge was on Goupon today!  You still have time, about two hours left, to take advantage of this amazing deal!  Check out the website www.groupon.com!

Today's Designer's at Work...

Creighton draped her dress last week, this week she hit the sewing machine.  Draping a dress using vintage fabric was tricky because once we cut into it, there was no turning back.

She is almost finished, next week it will be completed!

Ratna completed the Sewing with Silks class, whoo hoo!  She did an amazing job and made the perfect summer blouse!

Back view of Ratna's Silk Blouse

This evening we had Part II of the Pants Pattern Making Class, these ladies completed their patterns and quickly sewed their first samples.  Once the samples were completed we fit the pants and made notes of the adjustments.  Next week we will apply the changes to the patterns and sew another pair of pants!

I have two bride's maids dresses that need to be  completed by July 15th, Audria is learning to trace a commercial pattern in which we will use for basic fit and styling.  Next week we will redesign the pattern and cut out the muslin samples to start the first round of fittings.  Thank Audria for all your hard work!

♥ Fashion Illustration Workshop-Albuquerque Academy

What an exciting two days! I felt very honored to participate in the ISAS Arts Festival hosted by  Albuquerque Academy this year.  The ISAS Arts Festival brings students from all over the Southwest to participate in two day's worth of workshops focused specifically on the arts.  

I must admit, I was a little intimidated by the thought of teaching in a full sized classroom, but I had an absolutely lovely time and the students were so much fun to work with! 

Starting with a croquis.

The Classroom

Designing her own garment.

Me, admiring her sketch.

Amazing!

The gymnasium turned art gallery.

Thank you Michal and Albuquerque Academy for inviting me to this inspirational event.

♥ Today at The Designer's Lounge....

Well, technically it was yesterday, but here it is- a day at The Designer's Lounge.

I starting my morning with a dress, I'm testing this pattern and it may be a project that I will be adding into May's Class Schedule, it's an easy dress to sew and perfect for Spring/Summer.

I use whatever fabric I have laying around at the time,
this one is going to be made of a light weight wool gaberdine with pin-stripes
and a lace trim.

Designer's at work... My first lesson of the day!

Creighton is draping a dress using vintage fabric.

Marking her drape

Second Lesson of the day- Taylor drafted out her own skirt pattern, cut it out and now is sewing it together (this is her first time she's attached a zipper).

Sewing it together.

Voila!

Fabulous Job!! It fits perfectly!

Last class of the day, Pants Pattern Drafting.  In this class the students learn how to take their measurements, draft out the basic pant block, sew it together, do a fitting and make the adjustments to their final block pattern.  From that point they are able to design different styles of pants and have them fit perfectly.

Using a "Hip Curve" to create a smooth hipline.

Ratna and Julianna drafting their patterns.

Audria is our newest intern and I will be posting her bio on the website this week.  But she saved my life last night by working on a small project for me.  Today and tomorrow I will be teaching two workshops at The Albuquerque Academy for their ISAS Arts Festival on Fashion Illustration.  To be honest, I'm quite nervous, I've never taught a large class size (anything over 8 people is large in my eyes).
Audria, graciously helped create the hand-outs for these workshops and they came out GREAT!

Audria hard at work.

SO, that is a day at The Designer's Lounge, wish me luck today and hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of the workshops that will be taking place at The Albuquerque Academy.

♥ A Lady With Style, Grace and Beauty!

I have to write a little something about my grandmother, whom recently passed away, because she truly was a lady filled with grace, style and beauty!

 My love for vintage gems was inherited directly from Mrs. Georgia Sanchez.  I would come into her house, sit at the dining room table and say "Grandma, pull out your jewels!", she'd laugh, put on a pot of coffee and then out came drawers overflowing with costume jewelry for us to play with! She had a clutch and scarf to go with any outfit in her closet, in addition to her many stylish coats and shoes.
Though my Grandmother's house was not fancy and truth be told, tattered and rundown, her taste in antique furniture was impeccable and the house was filled with exquisite pieces.  She had a good eye and paid close attention to detail, for they were her "little treasures".
Georgia was very proper, she was feminine, delicate and a very strong woman.  She lived a difficult life, as did so many of her generation, yet she continued to carry herself with such consideration and poise. When she found a vintage broach, whether from a flea market or a department store, she wore it as if she received it from Christian Dior himself and you would never have thought to question otherwise.
She did the best she could with the life she was given and in the end outlived most.  Though I was lucky to have my Grandmother up until her age of ninety-one, I feel there was so much more I could have learned from her.  But what I did learn from her was this- what it means to be a "stylish lady". It was not the fancy jewelry or beaded handbags that made my Grandmother stylish, it was not her polished antique furniture, it was her ability to rise above the circumstances around her and continue to see the beauty in everything.

I could only hope to be half as stylish, graceful and beautiful as Mrs. Georgia Sanchez...

September 16. 1920- March 20, 2011

✂-Designer's Tip of The Day- A Piece of Cloth

Issey Miyake Coat- Spring/Summer 1995

Clear-pink pleated polyester monofilament
appliqued with red, blue and green pieces.

Miyake was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1938. He established the Miyake Design Studio in 1970 and started to show his line at the Paris Collections in 1973. Miyake's basic tenets for making clothes has always been the idea of creating a garment from 'one piece of cloth', and the exploration of the space between the human body and the cloth that covers it.

In 1976 Miyake presented the flat "a piece of cloth" design, which is in many ways the basic concept behind Japanese clothes.

In 1998, Miyake embarked upon a new project called A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) with Dai Fujiwara and a team of young designers. He is challenging the way in which clothing is made using new process that harnesses computer technology to industrial knitting or weaving machines to create clothing beginning with a single piece of thread. 

Pictures above show a coat created by this innovative technique, with a form that looks like a stage costume for a traditional Japanese No dance.

The question is, what could YOU do with "a piece of cloth"?

In recent events The Designer's Lounge would like to say our thoughts are with the people of Japan, particularly those who lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunamis...

Source: The collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute, Fashion A History from the 18th to the 20th Century, by Taschen Publishing. 

✂-Designer's Tip of The Day-How Do You Define Your Style?

With Paris Fashion Week wrapping up soon, I thought it would be informative to add a Designer Profile and as I was doing my research it prompted the question- How do you define your style?

Isabel Marant Illustrations

Isabel Marant, born in 1967, creates her own world of "melting mode".  Her French father, her German mother and particularly her west Indian mother-in-law, gave her a cosmopolitan education.  It is also while traveling in India or Africa that she finds her inspiration.
Isabel launched a first line of jewelry which would be the best way to finance her business. In 1990, she launched Twen, a small knitwear collection that would grow and become later the Isabel Marant we know today.
What makes this collection stand apart is the attention paid to textiles and texture: fabrics are washed and aged with boiled and wrinkled effects, faded, half-tone colors set off by bright highlights, seams are left raw and hems slightly frayed.
When asked- "How do you define your style?"  she replied "Urban, androgynous, contemporary, with a mix of world culture and inspiration from different ages".

Photos from the Fall 2011 RTW Collection

"My main source of inspiration is everyday life." -Isabel Marant

Source: Young Fashion Designers, by Marta R. Hadilgo.  RTW photos from New York Fashion Magazine.