My Interview with the Lovely Faye from Faye's Sewing Adventures!!!

April is almost over, can you believe it? I couldn't keep up. I promise you my absence from blogging has been due to some big projects in the works. I'll share more soon! I didn't mention I'm making a prom dress too in the middle of it all. LOL! Gotta love life. There's always an adventure around the corner! I'm extremely honored that  Uber Wonderful and Gratious Faye over at Faye's Sewing Adventures interviewed me and posted it on her blog. You can see the Interview HERE! She's been doing a series of sewing interviews on some talented sewers we all know and love and they're very insightful! Check them out! Thanks again Faye! It's a pleasure to posted on your wonderful blog! Well I've got to get back to work. Happy Sewing to you all!!!!

Chasing the Rabbit Down the Rabbit Hole

I don't know about you but chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole has always been a little scary. If you think of your creativity as that rabbit then you know it can potentially lead you to some unfamiliar and strange places or some cool one's. I'll admit, I'm often  a little bit nervous for that adventure. The main reason is I don't know where I'm going to end up! Sometimes that's a little too risky for me.  And when trying to explore my creativity directly affects a big project, especially a client project, I get even more nervous. Truthfully none of us want to make any creative decisions that lead to ruin or as I like to joke "the point of no return".  So the question is how does one chase the rabbit down the rabbit hole without getting into hot water? How does one explore the creative urges and inclinations without creating too big a mess? That's the biggest question and anybody's guess. Exploring your creativity is always a bit risky!  But one have to admit, if Alice hadn't chased the rabbit down the rabbit hole she would've missed out one of the biggest adventures of her life. She ended up in some really cool places! So to some degree our ideas can take us to some unexpected places and we just have to take the risk of following them.

A clip from a beloved classic. I found a little humor in this. Alice said it "Curiosity often leads to trouble!" . But she kept crawling! Glad she didn't let that thought stop her! LOLLL

The Father/ Daughter Banquet dress I made for my daughter (in my last post) proved this truth to me. I usually try to play things a little safe with my designs. But with my daughter's dress I felt compelled to do something different. The worst part was I didn't know what that was exactly but I have to admit I had the courage to jump down the rabbit hole this go around. And for that I'm proud! There were several days where I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do---even after visiting a few fabric stores a few times looking for trims and notions. But I kept at it and like magic I found the faux leather/chain trim and the ideas flowed from there to include the chocolate brown tulle. I then played with the asymmetry of the dress to shape it just the way I wanted. So for this project the trip down the rabbit hole actually turned out to be a fun trip! This dress revealed several things to me....

1.  I needed to trust my gut more. I'm an artist and have good instincts--- instincts I'm learning
     more and more about each day.
2. You don't always find what you're looking for but if you persist in your search you can make
     magic happen. Patience and persistence are key!
3. The truest creativity happens when you think outside of the box!
4. Don't let fear or risk stop your creativity! Otherwise you'll live a very boring life!

Again I'm glad for this project and how it stretched my creative muscles a bit more. This dress if by far my favorite of the 6 dresses I've made for her for the event. So from this day forward I vow to make a regular habit following my creativity no matter what it leads me. In the rabbit holes I'll go.....How about you, been down any creative rabbit holes lately? How did things turn out for you?

My Trip to Boston----Marketing, Sightseeing & BALLET COSTUMES!!!

Selfie in the Boston Ballet Costume Room---nothing but floor to ceiling beautifully---most in-house sewn costumes)

I spent  last week in Boston and had an amazing time!!! Part of my time was spent roaming the Boston Ballet costume department looking at all of the beautifully sewn costumes. But before I jump ahead to that let me back up a bit and start from the beginning. I was there on retreat with my Business Mastermind group (love these talented and driven ladies), attending the Inbound conference. Side note---if you have the chance to be in a Mastermind group take it. I'm in 2 and LOVE them. As a business owner it's so important to have the right support, encouragement and connections. Ok, back to the conference---there was about 14K in attendance and featured some awesome speakers like Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, Brene Brown and Sophia Ambrosa from Nasty Gal. To top off my trip as aforementioned I also got the chance to visit the Boston City Ballet Costume Department. My Draping teacher helped arrange this visit (she's done work with the Boston Ballet). I was SUPER EXCITED to have this opportunity. And the experience was AMAZING!!!  Pictures say alot more than words so here goes...

 Hanging out at Inbound---managed to sneak in before the huge crowds did!

Me and My Girls!!! These are some talented and hard working entrepreneurs!!!

 Opening talk with Seth Godin very inspiring---he has the best marketing advice

 Super excited to hear Sophia Amoruso---creater and designer for Nasty Gal clothes...

 She gave great entrepreneur advice about how to build a great business. I LOVED her dress---it's held together with hook and eyes!!!

 Comedian Amy Schumer stopped in.....she was her usual "unfiltered self" (clears throat) LOL

Chelsea Clinton was also a guest speaker in addition to many others and session speakers too! I learned a great deal from the conference.

Also, did some sightseeing.....

 Visited the Harvard bookstore....

 Saw this book there----it's actually going to be a movie. Would love to see it!

Was pleasantly surprised and moved to stumble upon the Shaw Memorial depicting the 54th Regiment --the first Black infantry in the Civil war (remember the movie "Glory" with Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick---which I LOVE---depicts the story) This statue sits across from the State house and is huge. The detail is magnificent made me teary eyed!!!

I got to go to the popular tourist attraction----The Cheers bar where the show was filmed. My Dad used to love that show LOL!

After a LONG week of sessions and learning I couldn't think of a better way to end my trip than by visiting the Boston Ballet!

 Exterior view...

 The building was huge consisting of several floor and lots of dancers in their various classes. The school is very prestigious and one ranking high in training excellence! It was great seeing the dancers!

 I was taken to the costume work room where I got to meet all of the talents behind the costume production, alterations and maintenance. Here's an underskirt that was being worked on.....

 Time out for selfies and smiles!

 This bodice was made impeccably with amazing skill and attention to detail:)

 Charles, who oversees and runs the costume department  took me into the costume closet where he allowed me to roam freely and introduced me to some great pieces. Here's one---there are a ton of ruffles on that can-can skirt.

 BTW, the black velvet trim was sewn on top of the orange fabric. Each strip! Amazing accuracy and lots of work!

 A lovely tutu! I like the layers and how it's engineered to stay up and flared! It has a "panty" built in which makes it easy and secure to wear!

 BEAUTIFUL ballerina costume! I couldn't stop staring at it. Pics don't do it justice....

 I had to touch it for myself!

 Love these bow details. Everything was sewn amazingly well! There were hundreds of costumes all with their signature detail!!! All so artistically beautiful!!!

 A stack of tutus! It's funny that making one of these can take as much as 22 hours!

 Men's tailored costume. Most are borrowed since the shop primarily focuses on  dressmaking 

 Hand painted and pleated---I forget the fabric but I believe that 1200yds total was painted and used to make a whole lot of these skirts!!! Talk about a job LOL!

 Printed Organza butterfly! What a great effect! They were spread out on this skirt.

 Another tutu with a TON of beading!!! Took several weeks to do!

Charles and the rest of the group were such GRACIOUS hosts!  I enjoyed seeing the work space, costumes and meeting such great people! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit!!!

Closet Auditions beginning at 4pm today!

I have to admit that last night was the LAST straw! Frankly, I love moments like these, not so much for all of the frustration they generate, but how they force me to face my frustrations and create a plan to deal with or remedy them. Last night I just stood in my closet glaring at my clothes unable to find anything to wear for church on today. Ok, this may look like a minor problem but it was magnified considering I'd had that same problem several times this month already. At this point the picture was PRETTY CLEAR!  And it wasn't until my mind drifted back to a magazine article I read on last week did I make the connection.

The July issue of Lucky had a pretty cool article entitled "45 Days of New Outfits: How to Remix your closet". This article showed 19 pieces and how they were mixed and matched to create 45 different outfits which could take you through Summer and into Fall.

(Here are the 19 pieces.....)

(...some of the outfit ideas.....)

(.....and some more. Not all 45 are featured but you get the point!)

I personally wasn't a fan of all the pieces and outfit combos, which is understandable since it wasn't a reflection of my style. But I do LOVE the point this article demonstrated. A wardrobe filled with great interchangeable pieces will definitely yield tons of outfit options. In my post just a few months ago I excitedly discovered my style and decided to only sew/buy items I felt that embodied my simple, effortless, and feminine style. I SO want getting addressed for ANY occassion to be EFFORTLESS!!!


So I've decided to revamp my closet---beginning with a GOOD PURGE! If I have any current pieces, with the exception of a few dresses, that can't be worn at least 3 different ways then it's got to GO!!!! In addition to that everything I sew has to not only fit into the "fun, simple, effortless, and simple categories" but it also has to be versatile. If I can plan 3 different outfits with it then I'm allowed to make it (of course special occasion dresses are exceptions to this rule). So everything that makes it into my closet has to audition first!!!! Trust me this isn't the first time I've thought about creating a versatile wardrobe but I have to admit it's the only time I've gotten drastically serious about it!!!

I've already started my purging and I feel GREAT!!! As things are heading to my church's clothing store I'll also get to work on planning some versatile pieces I can sew up and /or purchase. This may be a bit much, but I hope to create a chart of all my pieces so at a glance I'll know what I can mix and match. For the record I don't want alot of pieces (my emphasis isn't on quantity) but I want pieces I can get alot of use out of!!!! Whew.....breathing a sign of relief.....I love my new strategy and I look forward to making my wardrobe woes a thing of the past!!!

BTW got a quick 2 part question for you. Is having a versatile wardrobe important to you? If so, what steps do you take to accomplish this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!!!