PUCES

I'm gonna be here, it's true. Working on finishing up some pieces today and tomorrow for the event.

Here's the deets:

What: Puces Pop Winter arts and crafts fair
When: December 18 & 19 (that's this Saturday and Sunday), 11am-6pm
Where: St-Enfant Jesus church, 5039 St Dominique (That's right at St Dominique and St Joseph)

Please stop by and support independent artists and designers. Numerous amazing holiday gifts (and the sorts of gifts one likes to give themselves) are to be found.

TABARD REVISITED

I just posted my last two navy blue wool Tabard Cardis on Etsy. The photos I took are just horrible quality (I'm too lazy to take them again) but the garments themselves are beautiful. After this I have absolutely no more of this gorgeous Japanese fabric . Get 'em while you can.

SHEARLING GLOVES

I've just added some shearling sheepskin fingerless gloves to my Etsy. They're 100% lamb shearling with thick black zippers up the side for easy access. Perfect now that *surprise* it's suddenly winter in Montreal. They're $40 a pair and, oh I dunno, would maybe make a nice little Christmas gift for someone. Please visit my shop for more details.

SMART DESIGN MART KINDA PARTY

Smart Design Mart, a fantastic curated sale of local designers, artists and vintage collectors has come and gone. I had the pleasure of spending this past weekend (my birthday weekend!) amongst a group of truly talented peers and I feel really pleased to have stepped out of my comfort zone and participated in this event. Here are my favorite things about Smart Mart:

1) Having an excuse to build furniture, including my log garment rack, branch chandelier, and a table made out of an old window I found on the street. Where will I find the time to begin my new industrial design career I wonder?

2) Having an excuse to wear something other than the leather leggings and black sweater that I wear EVERY DAY when I work from home. Oh, and also to put on makeup and perfume and wash my hair. Oh....except I'm basically wearing a black sweater and leather leggings in the next photo.....um, just imagine how good I smell.

3) To be grouped amongst such talented individuals and have a chance to expand my knowledge of what people in Montreal are making. I've reached this point in my life where most of my close friends are, or are approaching, being self-employed full time and I LOVE! the chance to talk with people who live off their skills and find a way to make it work. Building those relationships is integral to any sort of happiness or success and I really enjoyed meeting more people with whom I can communicate about business, creativity and the like.

4) To be surrounded by best friends and new friends I can't wait to get to know better. I was lucky to be placed between my main girl, Genevieve Savard, and the super talented Audrey Cantwell (the sweetest girl you'll ever meet). I also loved having a chance to visit with Katie and Regine from Victoire (and I even got to hold Eloise(!)) as well as a wealth of other just seriously awesome people.


Pretty Genevieve. Go check out her blog here for more photos of the weekend. And then go buy something from her online shop, she does fantastic work.

Delightful Audrey Cantwell. I'm so pleased to have met and befriended her after so long coveting her work from afar.

Lovely Regine, one half of Ottawa's very best shop, Victoire. I wish I had a photo of her business Partner Katie as well, but I'll just have to make a point of having a Katie photoshoot next time I see her. These are two of the greatest women you'll ever meet.

5) Seeing old friends and meeting new people. It's such a pleasure to have strangers come up to your booth and tell you they like what you're making. I met a lot of people that I really hope I'm able to share future conversations with. I loved being able to talk about my process with people who are interested in that sort of thing, and also to talk about my business with people who are interested in that sort of thing. And the stylists! I'm happy just to look at them.

6) Buying things!!!! And though I was very restrained this time around, I did pick up a little something for my littlest girl. Loyal Luxe was selling these cardboard cat teepees and chalets and, what can I say? I'm a sucker for baby gifts. My baby just happens to be particularly furry. As soon as we brought it home she jumped on the box (they must put catnip in this shit) and she's barely budged from her perch inside it since. Behold Cleo's ghostly visage in the photo below, have you ever seen something so cute?

Anyone who wants a cat teepee for Christmas let me know, I'll try and bring one home for you. I'm hoping Loyal Luxe will also be at Puces Pop in two weeks which, oh yeah, I will be too!

Thanks again so much to everyone who spent so much time organizing, participating in and visiting this event. These are the sorts of things that make for a truly special community.

WATER TOPS NOW ONLINE

I just added two of the hand-dyed silk 'Water Tops' I made to my Etsy store, one pink one and one blue. By all means head over to check them out!

Now I need to make one that I can keep for myself....next up? black dye!

DYE JOB

My first two years of university were spent in the textile/fibre arts program at ACAD and that's where I learned everything I know about dying (the fabric kind, not the no-living kind). It's probably also the last time I dyed any fabric until this week, which is weird cause I LOVE dying.

I'm so happy with how these pieces turned out, I hardly want to sell them. I used a shibori technique I learned in school on a habotai silk. The process is a lot of work and destroys my fingers but I totally think the results are worth it. The pattern is a super loose tank top I made myself last winter and which I love to wear thrown over black skinnies. The pink top is double dyed and it came out that perfect shade of pale peach that puts roses in your cheeks, which is good, I was worried it might turn out orange. The blue tank is my favorite though, I'm finding it hard to let it out of my sight.

Now I just want to dye everything.

Here's the before shot:

And during:

And the great reveal:

Though it pains me a little, I'll have four of each for sale at Smart Design Mart and will be putting them in my Etsy shop early next week. I know I'll be making more of these soon.

LOG DRIVER'S WALTZ

OK, so these are obviously not the photos I promised last week but I still haven't finished that project so hopefully I can show it off, completed, in the next two or three days. In the meantime, here's a glimpse of what I got up to this weekend.

I've had this project in mind for awhile and, what with Smart Mart and Puces Pop fast approaching, have found myself much in need of a garment display rack. I think RB and I were also in need of an adventure so Saturday afternoon we took a drive out to the country in search of fallen branches and natural building supplies. We stayed away from the sugar maple lots (no need to get shot) and ended up finding some really nice pieces of wood by the side of a country road just across the Quebec/Ontario border.

Amazing what a full weekend one can make out of a windstorm, a full tank of gas, a handsaw, measuring tape, 4" screws and some addictive treats from Andalos bakery.

Like I said, this is just a glimpse of the finished project, I still have a lot of work to do. Nevertheless, hooray for things coming together so effortlessly and hooray for organic solutions.

SNEAK PEEK

Hopefully I can post full photos of this project tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a tiny sneak peek of a new style I've been working on. This one reminds me of my friend Amelia and vintage underpinnings turned bad.

JOINING THE RANKS

Oodles of overthinking and two months of hemming and hawing later, I've finally made the leap to Etsy and officially have items in my shop. I hope to upload more photos this week as well as continue to make new styles available directly to you.

Etsy is such a great resource in that it allows independent designers and business people to link into a fantastic network of like individuals and to get their creations out to the public in one of the most direct ways possible. It's quick, it's painless, it allows me to continue to develop my line in the organic way I crave and it's a great sounding board for new ideas and designs. It's good for me and it's good for you!

I invite you to come visit my shop regularly, especially over the next month as I crank out more styles for Smart Mart and Puces Pop. Follow the link to the right to explore more and keep your eyes open for specials and promotions.

SIDESWEPT

I sampled this Sideswept top in a linen knit yesterday. I love this fabric, it's kindof sheer, kindof nubbly, has the slightest sheen and it's 100% linen, the cloth of Egyptian royalty. Anyway, just a pattern I've been playing with for awhile. I want to make some more simple pieces that I can retail for under $100. I'm going to wear this one around today and see how I feel about it. And modeling, ughhh, not my favorite let's just say.

SHE'S GOT LEGS

After what feels like a million pairs of leggings later, I finally have a stockpile of sizes for sale. They'll be available at SMART MART and also directly from me anytime you please. As I mentioned previously, the back leg is a soft bamboo/cotton french terry, the entire front is made of supple black calf skin. The waist is finished with a 3" elastic band which sits at the natural/high waist. I wear mine constantly.

I've just sent out packages to both Nokomis and lovely Kara in Vancouver, keep your eyes open for them friends.

10.27.2010

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately. My husband recently quit his blog for a few reasons, one being he realized that an hour and a half of blogging a day (which, honestly, after conceptualizing, photo taking, editing, uploading and writing is a pretty true estimate) X 261 working days in a year means that one spends 16 DAYS a year blogging! Who has the time?

Truly, though, my reasons for not updating recently are because my mind and hands have been busy with other things. I've been madly sewing more styles for sale at Nokomis as well as preparing new designs for an upcoming sale I'll be participating in here in Montreal called Smart Design Mart. I'm getting really excited (and terrified) about showing off some new pieces to a new audience and I'm all but consumed with work, work, work! I just received a ton of beautiful fabric in the post as well as muslin for draping and, yes, I've actually been draping which is a fantastic development. Flat drafting be damned. Except sleeves, I think I'll always draft sleeves.

Things are happening, slowly but surely, and for proof here's a glimpse of stuff I've been working on in recent weeks:

Leather leggings in various states of production. I bought some new jersey for the back of the leg, a mid-weight bamboo/cotton french terry that should work really well through the winter months. I wore mine around in Halifax last weekend and I'm glad I did, leather makes a great windbreaker. I'm excited to make a new pair for myself too using this fantastic, soft knit. Four pairs of these will (finally) be shipped out to Nokomis this week, just as soon as I finish sewing them.

Also made another run of wool tabards, two in the same soft grey as before and a whole bunch in a rich, dark, navy version of the same fabric. I'm really happy with the colour, it gives the piece a whole new depth and will complement amazingly a pair of blue jeans. Two of these new tabards, as well as the two grey ones are enroute to Nokomis as I type. If you want one of the remaining ones you'll just have to come see me at Smart Design Mart or send me an email.

Last, in my 'spare time' I've been working on a few new patterns, including this dress which I've yet to name or sample in it's intended fabric. I'm hoping I can get to that tomorrow, though life has a funny way of interfering with my work lately. Oh well, a girl's gotta eat.

Promise I'll post more photos soon.

10.15.2010

I can not believe it's already the 15th of October, this thought is simply terrifying to me. I haven't been able to get too much work done these past couple weeks but I did manage to ship out my olive blazers and wool multi-cardigans to Nokomis and Victoire (hopefully with more styles to follow soon!)

So what have I been working on? Well, I slapped together this shearling wristlet prototype on Wednesday and have been wearing it all over the house since then. I'm not sure how or if this project will develop and, yes, it looks a little like a black cast, but it's cozy as hell and mean looking to boot and makes perfect sense in Fall thrown over bare hands or a pair of woolen or leather gloves. Another fine feature? It makes me feel super tough and fills me with a desire to box everything (and everyone) in sight. I call it my power gauntlet.

We shall see what comes of it.

9.30.2010

Exciting developments! My new labels arrived in the mail yesterday and I've been busily sewing them into all my finished garments. What a difference this little loop of twill makes, elevating what was once just a bolt of fabric on my cutting table to a real honest-to-god piece of clothing. I now feel these garments ready to be seen and enjoyed by the world outside my studio.

My friend Jeff Kulak designed the URSA MINOR logotype for me earlier this year and I've been dying to mark my work with it ever since. I'm so glad to finally be able to make proper use of this perfect logo.

I also ordered URSA MINOR hangtags to attach to finished pieces - it's almost like I'm professional. Can't wait to send some garments out my door!

9.29.2010

Genevieve snagged us some free tickets to the Valerie Dumaine show at Montreal Fashion Week last night. We got dressed up (OK, we got dressed) and met outside the Marche Bonsecours in old Montreal before the show began.

We picked up our tickets inside and watched the city's fashion elite schmooze and glide by in a sea of black. Some very stunning people live here, a starkly different scene than fashion week back home.

The show itself was wonderful to see. It opened with a cover of 'Some Velvet Morning' (the same song I opened the Nokomis S/S 2009 fashion show with!) and a model in a beautiful, lightweight cream tunic with grey brushstroke detailing. There were a couple pieces we thought were obvious standouts: diaphanous, flowing mini dresses in navy and cream and a flouncy fantasy baby-doll dress that Genevieve said she was going to wear to her wedding. Can't wait. Also, oversized colour-blocked tops and little fitted dresses which I could see on any number of young Montreal beauties come next Spring. My favorites were definitely the loose, draped shifts, soft silk pants and easy blazers which would all blend seamlessly into my own wardrobe.

Afterward we walked towards home and stopped for a late sushi dinner.

I wore the leather leggings I made earlier that day (two pairs to be included in my Nokomis care package!)

And Geneveive wore her new Black Mold S/S 2011 purse. Who loves leather? We do!

Thanks for another great night Genevieve.