Argyle anyone?

Diva MaryBeth at The Stitchery is working on an argyle machine knit pattern these days - I mentionned using teeny ricrac for the "X" in the argyle pattern. Here's a test swatch of a deconstructed argyle pattern for a knit top I did a while back, just so you can have a visual of the technique.

Carmel-by-the-Sea

This photo was taken at the chapel at Mission Carmel. A few of us went on a pilgrimage to Carmel-by-the-Sea to visit the Loes Hinse store. On the way out of town we stopped at the old Spanish mission. I have no idea how old this tile work is, but I felt it was heart-stoppingly beautiful. I thought I would share it with you, in this season, which is, after all, about mothers and babies. An everyday miracle, for sure.

L'amour in Glamour

Here is another metallic mesh made for Cynthia's Global Caravan show in Honolulu in November. This twinset did not sell, so it now languishes at Mimi's, a shop on Union St. in San Francisco.

One of my friends, an former fashion buyer with a long career advisng smaller stores on product, stated flatly "It won't sell, because you are not offering the pieces to go with it." Other people who ought to know, say that every woman has black pieces in her closet, how hard could it be?

All I know is that it is a great set, it came out beautifully, thanks to Mr. Magic Hands who sews for me occasionally, when I need the finest sewing and tailoring.

It is a "Go figure?" kind of thing. What's to not like? I don't want to give it away, I just want to make back my investment....having speculated on this fabric with Kashi at Metro Fabrics for another project, I figured making something up for the holidays was a no-brainer. If it was a 'big name' label, there would be no question, it would sell for 3 times the price. Arghh!!

Never a Dull Moment

I have been busier than the proverbial one-legged dog on an ice floe, and now tired as a dog too.

I finished all but the last dress of the 8 new styles that I had to produce in 11 days – I did all the patterns and got them cut and sewn, but the last dress was one of those that was too last minute and too hard to explain, so I sewed most of it myself. (Fortunately the head honcho was agreeable to sending it out to a sample service in LA to do the finishing bits. I would call it ‘the dress that whupped me’) I was up until 2 am Wednesday nite before leaving for LA on Thursday on the 8:40 am flight - then got up at 5:45 am.

I threw a few things in a bag and did manage to make my flight with all of the dresses in a large ‘coffin’ – (hard sided sample case on wheels) - flew back Friday evening and left at 10 pm headed to the coast with DD. We made it thru the driving rain and fog over the coastal mountains and arrived at our little bungalow/ motel room in Capitola at midnight. It was great to wake up there on Saturday morning instead of facing the drive.

I went down for a training session in PhotoShop on Saturday, while DD wandered around Capitola village doing some window shopping until the category 3 style storm broke. She managed to make it back across the bridge to the room, and was holed up there watching TV when I got back in the early evening. We had an uneventful dinner at the closest restaurant across the bridge ( a sort of Venetian Bridge of Sighs affair separating the wharf area form the village) and woke to the pouring rain again Sunday morning. After marching once again across the bridge to go get breakfast (too bad I didn’t have time to pack any food items, as the kitchenette was very cute and useful) we came out of the café to find the sun shining merrily once again.

So now I am back, the studio is sorta cleaned and I am getting ready for the next tidal wave of work. I have a helper 10-15 hours this week (yay!) - a design school student from SF who can do a few things under my direction. Good for me, and good for her.