Manic Pop

Hi everyone! Now that we know how to sketch and put our designs in the computer, let's go ahead and talk about collection planning! In fashion design school, planning a collection is discussed throughout your time there, but it is perhaps the most important during your Senior Collection where in the first class you do the sketching, concepting, and planning of your sewing patterns. I'll be getting into sewing/patternmaking shortly after this post. For my own personal process, I start out with images - inspiration photos, seam line ideas, photos of a particular place, etc. Here is an inspiration board I did in 2009. I personally like to do digital collages as I can edit them as I see fit, but you may want to use a corkboard with images. Some people cut images out and make collages in blank books, others even make Pinterest boards. This board (or whatever method you choose) should be what inspires you! It can be about anything. Some really good visual resources tha...

Believe it or not, this is a brand-new inspiration board for an upcoming (fashion) collection that I whipped up today in Photoshop. I've decided that it's long been overdue with updating my portfolio, so I'm getting some flats/croquis/inspiration boards together at the moment to be completed throughout winter! Knit hood update: ALMOST finished! A few more rows (I've been slacking) and some stitching together as well as snaps and buttons and it's done! I just have to figure out how I'm typing up the pattern for follow-along instructions.

  So I recently finally sat down to look through this little book I have. It's about a magazine size and I think my mom sent it to me a while ago. I originally thought it was just a sewing how-to manual (which it kind of is) but it has some awesome full-color photos! The publishing date is 1969 and is right around the time period of much of my design inspiration. My favorite decade range encompasses about 1965 to 1975 and 1969 is almost smack-dab in the middle!  This magazine is perfect for a beginning sewer as it shows you how to measure yourself, body types/shapes, fit & fabric, helpful hints/tricks and illustrated step-by-steps. I'm not sure of it's availability anymore, but I am always on the hunt at thrift stores for how-to sewing books, craft books, interiors from 1965-75. There are many to find!   In this post, I thought I would share some pages from this for design and sewing inspiration!  This book actua...

The other day me and Max went over to a relatively new thrift store in our neighborhood (which is a mess - not sure if they are planning on fixing that or not) but I unearthed a Seventeen magazine from March 1968. At first I was like, "Oh, Seventeen magazine... whatever." But as I flipped through the pages, I began to be delighted over the ads and how sophisticated the fashion actually was for a teen magazine. (Nothing like today's teen magazines.) Seventeen really looked like a fashion magazine - on par with today's Teen Vogue - or perhaps even Nylon. As I leafed through the pages, I got so excited that I nearly was hyperventilating. I plan on using ideas from this magazine for more things I am making in the future - so much amazing inspiration! I hope I'll find more magazines from the 60s as I wish fashion and photography looked much more like this today. So here I bring you a very photo-heavy post from Seventeen's March 1968 issue! Note: The magazi...

Ta daaaaa! I cannot remember the last time I did a mini fashion collection, illustrated it, and "released" it. Generally, I have an inspiration board for these types of things but this time I just went with fabric inspiration first and played with sketching silhouettes, using the same color palette throughout. The fabric on the right here is my "soundwave" repeat that I drew out with Prismacolor marker initially and then played with a repeat. I used this print in the "collection" here.  And below are the flats (no, I did not draw out the back - haha) and colorways of the collection. I like how it came out! I realize that technically, I should use Illustrator for all my flats, but I tend to be a rebel. I am Illustrator capable (and have posted flats with Illustrator prior) but I have much more fun when I can draw, ink, and then scan them in for coloring in Photoshop. But nearly 10 years out of fashion design school, I hav...

It's weird to do blog posts with mostly phone photos at this point, but this is how I documented my most recent collaboration with SPRADA. I made the finale look for her show with a show that runs every year called Lipstick and Lyrics.  And here she is...! And here we both are! (Sorry dudes, had to use flash.) This isn't to say that getting to this point was easy, however. I basically made this dress twice due to the type of fabric I was using; a super-stretchy, super-silky 4-way stretch knit. And while I have worked with stretch knit prior and know the basic tips and tricks with them, I would almost say this was my biggest challenge yet.  Thankfully, I learned quite a few things (as I always do!) Let's talk about behind the design a little! First, me and Spencer met up to look at old looks we collaborated on when we did our webseries together in 2011 where I was the wardrobe designer.    More looks from 2011. Our inspir...