Manic Pop

I don't know about you, but I don't always have a ton of time.  Well, ok -- maybe that was before the pandemic hit. But one of the things I have learned over time being a designer of sorts and loving fashion design was that it seemed I never had enough time to do/make everything I wanted to have available within a product line to sell. Especially not when I was working a full-time job either!  Bags! Shoes! And yeah, duh -- clothing! It seemed most of my friends who are designers made all of their own items from scratch on their machines and I just didn't want to sit at my machine after working 40+ hours a week. Maybe for myself only but not as a side hustle. But I always had requests from people - "Can you make me something? I want something designed by you!"  I really appreciated the sentiment, but often times it was just as confusing/hard for me as it was for them.  I would sit there and go "How should I adjust this for them? Am I even gonna find that fabri...

First off, I wanna say that I LOVE this dress.  It's been a long time coming -- a few years ago, I saw a photo of an Ossie Clark Dress that looked almost exactly like this, but I thought I would make my own and update it for current era and fabrics.  However, as you may be able to tell, there is a LOT wrong with this dress, which is my 1st sample. I'll go through what the problems are in this post AND talk about how to fix a 1st sample so hey, at least it still may be wearable for you!  This is the original Ossie Clark dress. Of course, I immediately loved it upon seeing it. Colorblocking and stars always got me (haha). The original dress here is made in a crepe with a much lower neckline than the one I designed. I made mine in a jersey knit (we will get to that in a minute.)  Who was Ossie Clark? Well, he was a 1960s fashion designer from England. He was involved in much of the Swinging 60s fashion we all know and love and typically is connected with surface and pri...

It's really amazing that I was finally able to release my 1st PDF sewing pattern -- a design I dubbed the "sport skirt" for some reason.  I think it's because it reminded me of ready-to-wear "sportswear" and I didn't have any other creative names at the time, but it stuck.  I have long had this skirt (shown below) which is a skirt from NYC brand, Brooklyn Industries. I used to work for them long, long ago and it was a fun time. This orange skirt has been a favorite of mine for many years -- I loved the ease of it and all-season wearability. It was great with graphic tees and even dressier tops!  So really, with my Sport Skirt variation which I created in about 2016-ish I sought to re-create the body of this skirt (super simple design) but adding another favorite of mine, these crazy contrast slash pockets.  The pocket design came off of a dress pattern that I called "The Mix n Match Dress" in which I was going to have various pieces for the bod...

I just noticed that Red Bubble has the option to create your own made-to-order face masks of your own artwork!  Of course, I had to jump in on that since people have been asking me for masks "of my own design". The truth is, I do not have a lot of woven fabrics on hand nor do I really enjoy basically being a manufacturer. Let the pros handle that, right?! I enjoy making samples of original garments but that's about where it stops. I would much rather put in the work to release a PDF pattern.  Either way, being on Red Bubble now effectively opens my designs up to home decor (which I never thought I would be as excited about!) as well as mugs, iPhone cases, tablet cases, and more. It's always been awesome to have things on clothing, so I suppose this was the next step. Check out MANY MORE new items via my Red Bubble shop, including more clothing items! All items are made to order and shipped directly from Red Bubble. 

Hi all -- SO EXCITED that I have completed my 1st PDF sewing pattern that is heading out to testers soon! Many of you long-time followers know that this has been a dream of mine for some-odd 6 years or so at this point, and the moment is finally here! It's honestly a blessing to have more time to work on patterns and design projects at this moment in time. I know it's a very difficult time for many, but I am extremely grateful to be able to pursue design interests and create some more fun things to sew for you all in the mean time! This skirt is slated to be my 1st sewing pattern release -- the Sport Skirt! It is a ponte knit skirt with slash side pockets that are hidden within the contrast of the skirt. Originally, this skirt came about because I had a plain orange skirt from Brooklyn Industries that I loved (and still have!) but I also loved the pocket design I did on what I called my Mix n Match Dress from 2012. Me in 2012 with the Mix n Match Dress The ...