Headed to The NotWedding, 2012

On my plate for February - making two wedding gowns for actual brides, making plans for a third gown and wedding party-full of outfits for another bride, odds and ends of alterations for local customers, a couple of costumes for my alma mater's production of Aida, aaaaaaaaaaaand...making this.

Yep, I'm headed to The NotWedding (happening March 8 in Atlanta - would love to see you there!), and am so excited to be a part of the fun happenings with other fantastic vendors and once again provide the bridal gown (see last year's here.) The inspiration photo we were sent for the event showed a sleek, dark-haired woman on a deck chair in front of a gigantic, pale coral Asian parasol. She wore a light-colored swimsuit and a modified cloche/bathing cap - the whole scene was fairly minimal and quite early-1900s-influenced. I loved the parasol with its spokes, and the turn-of-the-last-century feel, and decided to incorporate some of that into this design, while keeping a bit of modernity with the low V back and a few details with the buttons and sash that I didn't put in the sketch.

The whole thing will be sewn of my favorite tissue linen (it's such gorgeous, soft, lightweight-but-crisp stuff!) with pintucks and fan-pleats galore. I decided to let you all in on the process this year - so I'll warn you, there may be some publicly expressed angst coming up as I get down to the actual pattern development and construction of the gown. Things might change along the way. I might have to dye the sash five times (oh mercy, I hope not.) I might have to enlist assistance finding the exact buttons I want (so far, the shopping list of attributes in my head includes "square", "fabulous", and "sparkly but muted".) But whatever - it's going to be fun!

...even if I get no sleep during the shortest month of the year in order to get it all done. 

Texture

I'll be showing a few of my Laurel & Fife gowns as well as several Triggi Designs pieces this Friday and Saturday at the Clothesline Art Show at the St. Elmo Fire Hall. The work I'll be displaying will showcase the use of remnants and scraps as embellishment - one of my favorite things to do, as I use so many lovely fabrics and hate to let the last bits go until I've used them up beautifully!

Petals in various shades of coffee-dyed hemp/cotton weave, on a background of tissue linen...
all leftovers from bridal and baptismal gowns I've made this summer.

Come out Friday night for the artists' reception (with refreshments...hmmm....what shall I make?) or Saturday to view the beautiful work of several local artists and browse for possible holiday gifts or items for your home. Despite the "Clothesline" name, this is mainly an art show, and most of the work represented isn't clothing or crafts. I'd love to see you there!

-Bekah

New Friends

Lovely peoples,

The new site is still in the works, but I've left you far too long here without an update. I promise that soon I will do a little sketch-to-reality post on my newest creation - probably as my first blog post on the new site! - but for now, some lovely, lovely photos by several of the new friends I made last week in Atlanta at The NotWedding.

First, a stunning little teaser from (once like a spark) photography (click the photo for full article)-

Second, the beautifully evocative portraiture of the long farewell (I was privileged to attend this shoot, and it was truly delightful to see the team in action!) -

This is Caroline, y'all - such a gorgeous, happy, lovely, hard-working, beautiful gal!

The custom veil, belt, and floral hairpiece are by my new friend Jessica at Fine & Fleurie. Major crush going on between me and her work.

Hair and makeup design by the sweet and ridiculously talented and laid-back Claudia Mejerle.

And this is why they call it Hotlanta.

Meet my new friends:
Claudia Mejerle - www.claudiamejerle.com
Fine & Fleurie {Jessica} - www.fineandfleurie.com
the long farewell {Chad & Tina} - www.thelongfarewell.com
(once like a spark) - www.oncelikeaspark.com

Shifting

Friends,

Things are being moved and shifted all around me, and while I still know which end is up, it's all a leetle disorienting. A recap:

• I've dropped the Clever Fingers shop and name. It served me well, but for several reasons, it was time to move on. You'll notice that it's still in the banner heading of the blog here - I'll get to that in a second.

• I have a new website being built around my new brand, Laurel & Fife. I'm very excited about this - besides getting away from the unreliable-ness that *ahem* has plagued my current blog, the new website will be much more functional and sleek. (I'll still have a blog because, let's face it, it's not enough for me to post photos and information - I have to gush over how much fun I get to have doing this stuff, and love showing y'all inside looks at how it's done in the hopes that several of you will take the plunge into making your own clothing, too!) Anyway, the site will be going live within a month, so I'm just leaving everything around here as-is until we make the move. I won't just delete this blog without warning, but if you want to know when the new site goes up, you can sign up to be notified at www.laurelandfife.com.

• I think I can say this again now without squealing and jumping around the living room...I am participating in Atlanta's The NotWedding in a week and a half. "Participating" in this case means "providing the sole wedding gown for the occasion and having a blast at the awesome party that is The NotWedding."
  
  (....yeah, nope, there were some undignified noises and bouncing in my seat.)
  
  So - I'm not making the design public yet, but here's a little look at the pattern-making stage of it. 

(Can I just say that water-disappearing fabric markers are my BEST FRIEND at the moment? I mean, apart from my superfantastic Gingher shears you see there, that a friend gave me, that make me giggle when I think about them. Cutting with those things is like buttah.)

So, yes, things are moving and about to move more, but I will keep you all in the loop!

Some links of interest -

My new Laurel & Fife Etsy Shop

Laurel & Fife on Facebook

Laurel & Fife on Twitter

My re-stocked Triggi Designs Etsy Shop

Triggi Designs on Facebook
Triggi Designs on Twitter

Polished Ivory

And they're finally here - the lovely photos from The Studio B Photography of my hemp/cotton Ivory Wicket Gown at a recent style shoot by Fine & Fleurie! It is such a privilege to have joined with these talented women for so much collective prettiness =).

Seriously, I want to go back in time to 1986 or so and tell that little girl, drawing floor plans and making clothes for her paper dolls (because her mother wisely wouldn't buy her the uncreative preprinted ones), about the real patterns she'd make and real dolls she was going to get to dress up one day!

Hemp and Cotton

This happy bride (look at them glowing!) wore one of my custom Wicket gowns at her recent wedding. She wanted a dress in eco-friendly, sustainably produced fabrics, and chose my gown because of the hemp/cotton outer fabric.

 "Everyone was amazed by the dress at the wedding...
they couldn't believe an organic cotton & hemp dress could be so beautiful!"
- T.G.S., Green Lane, PA

It's an absolutely delightful fabric - not as wrinkly as linen, soft and breathable while still being sturdy and substantial. I love working with it.

Congratulations, you two, and all the best in your new marriage!

How A Dress Happens

 It has been a month of hard work. I don't have the official photos yet of this recent custom wedding dress job, but I promised the bride a little mini-documentary on how the process went, so here it is for all of you!

First I gathered supplies - fabrics (silk, lace, lining, interlining, interfacing), pins (several hundred of them), and my design drawing and customer's measurements for reference.

More photos and full description ~>

The Only One Like It In The Whole World

One of the reasons I so enjoy custom sewing is that everything I make is unique. Even when I do several of the same item, say for a bridal party, the custom fit to each person creates enjoyable challenges. Sometimes, to get a dress to look the same on different body types, I actually use very different base templates to generate my patterns. It's a game I play, with no hard and fast rules, to make unique items look like each other.

But often, I have the joy of making something that is really unique - I won't ever make something that looks exactly like it again. In this case, I had an unusual order; to design and make a dress for a beautiful young woman as her Christmas present (from her then-boyfriend! Fellows, take note!)...no inspiration photos or guidelines given, so that I had near-complete creative freedom with it. Yes.

More photos and full description ~>

Fine Linen

I recently had the opportunity to create a baptismal gown for some dear friends of mine. Their first child is five months old, and her baptism was a wonderful celebration with both sets of grandparents and several friends present.

More photos and full description ~>

Retrospect

My dear old friend Courtney is visiting, my dear old friend Emily is over too, and we're sitting around talking about what idiots we were in college. I expect when we're all post-middle age we'll sit around talking about what idiots we are now.

And look! A prototype dress I developed (coming out of my fascination with architectural stained glass, Frank Lloyd Wright, and such) and made a few months ago fits Courtney! I want her to live here and be my model.

The bodice is partially pieced and partially appliqued; I'm currently working on a wedding gown design based on this concept, but in shades of white, ivory, and deep champagne (if anyone is interested, I would love to make it for an actual bride rather than my mannequin.)