Manic Pop

Alright, everyone! Here is the tutorial I promised of how I designed and constructed the Trafalgar Dress! This dress isn't 100% perfect by my standards but I had never done this technique before this and am still getting a hold on it. But it's an exciting technique that has changed entirely how I design now. What you'll need: Pattern blocks (or a fitted pattern you like) Drafting paper Pencils Ruler set - straight, hip curve, french curve Pins Thread/fabric/sewing machine Muslin  Dressform I attended the webinar that BurdaStyle did mostly about the technique Japanese designer Shingo Sato applies to his garments. I'll eventually be buying his book. If you're a fan of the Pattern Magic series, then you'll definitely appreciate his work. First thing's first - you will need to make a muslin in the shape of the garment you're planning to make. Much of my pattern work consists of simple silhouettes with color design inset pieces. I just...

Sometimes people ask me things.... Things like, "Why do you use the same colors all the time?" (technically, I don't but people see a common palette .) "Why do you do lots of stripes in your designs?", and "How do you decide what to design next?" You notice that many well-known fashion designer's work is instantly recognizable (even if you're not particularly a fan): Donna Karan - famous for her wrap dress,  Missoni  - zigzag stripes, and Tommy Hilfiger - red, white, and blue, as examples. Well, in this post, I'm going to talk about my personal design philosophy/branding here at Manic Pop, and how you can develop your own cohesive identity for your work too! Manic Pop 2012/13 Playing Off a Theme/Inspiration: For Manic Pop - Stripes!   Myth: You don't need to "do it all" - focus on what makes your clothing, YOU and work from that.  The stripes element comes from 2 places for me: one is my mod rainbow rin...

Time for another installment of What's in my Sketchbook!  Note: I draw my flats by hand, Micron them so my scanner scans them efficiently, then I color/add patterns in Photoshop. I really *technically* should use Illustrator for flats, but... forget it.    This design has been in my head for some time now. Remember that beautiful psychedelic print I found at a boutique that was going out of business? This is the right dress for it! Only now, I must decide on a colorway with the stripes part. What do you think? I'm partial to the orange/lime version but that's just because I like loud things. Fabric sample. Coming soon! Also, while I was on the train to NYC and flipping through my InStyle magazine, I found a dress that I loved by Chloe in their fall collection. However, can I really afford that dress? I didn't even hunt down a price on it, but it's fantastic. (See dress on right.) Then I found this other version of it online -  So this...

A little under a month ago I received all of my supplies to take on one of the biggest long-term projects I have ever taken on - a self-designed latch hook rug. I don't know why, but I am clearly nuts. So beginning today I am posting photos each month, (preferably on the 1st of each month) progress of this gigantic shag rug. See how I started it here (scroll down past posting of my $10 dress).  This is a photo of it today:  Yes, I used the candelabra for scale. Haha.   This rug is really soft and is fun to run your fingers through.  It doesn't look like much was accomplished, but though the number of packages we have gone through of pre-cut latch hook rug yarn already I have calculated that  we've used over 2500 strands for this ie.) 8 packages. I also just ordered 10 more packages of lime green since that's what I ran out of first and 6 more packages of straw yellow. There is still quite a bit to go, but you see the blue row square...

 So this is another find from the other day at Sears - this dress! A whole $10 way on sale. The colors are some of my favorites. I am actually wearing black jeggings underneath yet again. This is something I wouldn't normally recommend aesthetically, however like I mentioned in my last post, my toe won't let me as circulation gets cut off very easily for me with tights. Bizarre, but what are you going to do? I'm attempting to show off my favorite mushroom necklace here... clearly not working. But this worked! I don't know why my grandmother ever had this necklace. By the 70s when this whole thing was popular, she was in her mid to late 30s, possibly early 40s. Hip grandma? My mom was just graduating high school in 1975.   Orange and black can sometimes look a little Halloween-ish but I think this orange isn't so bad because it's not that bright. I tend to wear much brighter colors in the winter due to lack of sunlight here in Chicago. I'm prett...

Here is my latest, crazy idea that I'm on a roll with this week: My own-designed latch hook rug! This thought first came into my head as a reality mid to late December 2012, however I did post this amazing DIY from a 70s book I had back in July:  70s rug hooking. Rug hooking is essentially a lost art if you ask me. Most kits that come in stores are super-dorky -  Tweety bird, Eeyore, a husky face.... I don't know. Odd, vague things like that. It doesn't have to be that way as you can see in the 70s blog post which includes a super-crazy geometric pattern. Me and Max are reorganizing the entire living room sometime next week and I really want a crazy area rug that will go underneath the small dining room table we have. This area rug is planned to be about 5 feet by 3 feet. Here are some photos of some shag rugs/area rugs that got me inspired for this project: And here is me playing with colorways on my own rug design: I think I'm really geared tow...

I've been doing lots of home re-vamping so it was only a matter of time before I got to doing a home tutorial! This one is a quilted pillowcase! For some reason or another, we had this pillow on the couch with this really ugly fabric. I actually don't even know where this pillow really came from either - things just appear in this house and beg me to improve them. The original pillow has the exact size triangles as my version on the right but the fabric is so close you can hardly tell! This pillowcase is also made from all scrap fabric in my sewing room. I guess I tend to really over-buy fabric. The brown was from a pair of menswear pants I made back in 2005 in college, the yellow (I really think I picked it up at a thrift store long ago) will be familiar if you've seen the top of my Mix N Match dress , and the green polyester is from when I constructed my mom's apron . This is my little sketch of the pillowcase before making a triangle pattern and an edging ...