While I was working on completing my tailored coat and dress, I was also designing my senior collection, sourcing fabrics, writing my brand business plan, creating my mood board, and customer board. In addition to actually designing the collection we work on the business angle too. We had to completely map out our new fashion design company & brand. This included writing a 50 page business plan detailing market research, designing our brand logos and hang tags, as well as our plans for the company. We also had establish a theme for our collection and do a lot of trend research. My company name is “A King Designs” (a play on my name) and the theme for my collection is ”Country Lust”. Here’s the introduction to my collection: For Spring 2009 season “A King Designs” is presenting a collection of Country Lust garments that is inspired by elements of nature including feathers, butterflies, natural wooden buttons, and leather accents. The collection will include several knit garments as well as woven garments including silks and sheers. Country Lust color palette consists of rose pinks, vivid violets, copper, gold, baby blue, chocolate browns, and white. “A King Designs” will be producing garments that are free flowing and comfortable. These garments are fit for a vacation free from constraints.

I found a lot of my fabrics for my senior collection in NYC when I was there visiting McCalls, so I was lucky enough to be able to focus on my sketches and boards in this initial process. When I started designing I had to focus on what market I was designing for. “A King Designs” is a young designer, resort wear company. We design for a woman 20-30 years old who has upper class income. Our products are designed for the customer who is looking for trendy clothing to wear in resort destinations such as the Hamptons and Nantucket. Our customer is a woman who wants to be noticed and her style to shine through her clothing. “A King Designs” clothing is rich in texture as well as constructed from quality fabrics, for the customer who is concerned with detail.

For my senior collection I decided that I wanted to make two swimsuits with cover ups, two dresses, and two weekend wear outfits. We created our portfolio of designs and an amazing critic came in and choose what we were going to make for our collection sketches. Now I’m in full swing, completing all the patterns for the designs, and next semester all of these will come to life (after TONS of sewing!). Stay tuned for my next blog to see what my designs are!

Our TGIF Gifts contest has come to an end, and so has 2008. It has been an incredible year for the Creative Chicks of DIYStyle (and our resident male, Matt our video producer). We want to wish all of our DIYStyle followers Happy Holidays and especially a creative and style filled Happy New Year.

And it’s time to announce our final winner in the TGIF Gifts contest. The lucky winner is……..Helen! Thanks for your comment about how you started sewing……..sounds like many of us learned to sew making doll and Barbie clothes. Your Sulky package will be sent soon. A big thank you to all who entered. We loved reading your posts, and will definitely use your ideas in planning our shows for 2009.

We have some new things to reveal in 2009 at DIYStyle, and to keep on top of our latest antics, you can subscribe to the RSS feeds for both the vodcasts and blogs. And……..there are several new DIYStyle patterns from McCall’s coming in the New Year too………we’ll give you the scoop on that very soon (a new design goes on sale in January……whoo hoo)!

Cindy

Hi All!

So, who won the Clover Gift basket???? The goodies go to Angie. Congrats Thanks for your nice comments about DIYStyle, and the tip about using leftover wrapping paper to make pattern alterations–great idea!

And the winner of the “DIYStyle Tips” and the felting tools set goes to…….Cheryl. Your tip about making gathers easier (who hasn’t had the dreaded broken gathering threads to contend with?!), by stitching over a heavier thread or yarn like crochet cotton. Cheryl we love your tip!! Watch for Cheryl’s tip to be a segment on our next season of DIYStyle!!

And now, our final gift in the TGIF Gifts contest is from one of our very favorite sponsors, Sulky. Actually Sulky was the very FIRST sponsor we had at DIYStyle……they believed in our idea from the start (Thank you so much Jason and Fred!). So be sure to thank them for helping make DIYStyle possible (and for making such great products too!).

Here’s the gift(s):

We start off with a Sulky Stabilizer assortment starter pack. You know how we’re always talking about using stabilizers on DIYStyle, now here’s your chance to try out each and every one that Sulky makes……..

Then, they add their book “Sulky Secrets to Successful Stabilizing” to show you how to use several of their original and popular stabilizers, as well as some neat projects to boot.

And, added to the gifted loot, Sulky added their latest supplement book (this has info about their brand new stabilizers in it too) “Supplement to Sulky’s Secrets to Successful Stabilizing”. So together, with the book above, you’ll be armed with all the info you need to know about how to keep stitches from puckering, decorative stitches made perfect, embroidery, embellishment tricks, and SEW much more!

And as if that was not enough, they threw in a can of their super popular spray adhesive, KK2000. This stuff is fantastic for temporarily holding anything in place while you stitch, hooping towels and loose items for embroidery, and it does not make your fabric stiff (it disappears in 24-36 hours!) like some other temporary spray adhesives.

So, the winner of this week’s bag-o-xmas sewing goods will have quite the loot to get stitching on some new stuff in the new year. With that, we decided that we’d still love to hear your comments about what you would like to see on DIYStyle (give us your sewing how-to wish list!), and in addition (this should be fun!) we’d really like to know how you learned to sew in the first place. Just kind of short and sweet, something nice for all of us to read—each of us has a story to tell and this would be a perfect time to share and reminisce!

Happy Holidays everyone. All of us at DIYStyle are truely thankful for having such a great group of sewing friends and followers this past year. Keep up with DIYStyle………there is lots more to come………..and please pass the word to all of your sewing and sewing wannabe friends about joining the DIYStyle community. The more the merrier!!

Cindy

In trying to plan out what I am going to do for my long term career I have been doing some research into owning an online clothing business. There are many obvious things an entrepreneur must know before starting this endeavor such as Tax information, Copyrights, Logo’s, Loan’s or money to be used as start up, etc. There are also the things that one has to take into consideration so that your business can stay profitable and afloat. Right now my major concern for a potential businesses future is what products will make me most profitable and what obstacles am I probably going to face in the future. Knowing these two things helps an entrepreneur decide if it is worth starting now or at all or can help to problem solve for obstacles in the future. I have found that on obvious issue is the current state of our economy. I have to predict how a big event like this is going to affect my sales as a small business in the future. The only way to do this is to research. I have read U.S. publications as well as international ones to see how the Fashion Industry has been affected and what can be done to keep on top of the water with this (what feels like a) sinking ship.

At the beginning of this year some big name companies all ready started major layoffs. Behind consumers eyes departmental layoffs have occurred within some of our biggest clothing stores such as Wal-Mart, Eddie Bauer, Macy’s, Anne Taylor, J.C. Penney, Talbots, and Lane Bryant. Nordstrom is even concerned with their sales. To try to skirt around this crisis and market to the public they are taking on smaller designers to get fresh stuff in their stores. This way, customers might be provoked to come and see the new lines. And this is just the start of some big fashion industry changes! After New York Fashion Week, garment sales have stalled. It’s being attributed to one of the major trends that we saw in this year’s Fashion Week—very translucent clothing and the recurrence of 80’s silhouettes (pic above) and coloring. This may have been a “fashion suicide” for designers to try to pull off at this point and time.

Consumers are buying less and when they DO buy it’s something that will carry through many outfits and last a few seasons. A trend like “see thru” is most likely not on the top of the consumers fashion list right now.

I am in the process of designing my own spring collection for MegsCouture.ETSY.com. One of the major steps of the design process is to research like crazy. In my research process I have found that as stated above, fashion sales are not doing very well for a couple of reasons. Now how can industry (and I) move forward in these hard times? Keep it practical & simple this next season! It will be interesting to see how this crisis will affect the innovative and gutsy designs that we usually see on the catwalk….we will see!

Here are some styles from the Spring 2009 collections that were a bit more realistic for our economical crisis.  We will see how these designers pan out from the rest in terms of success!

(Pics in this blog are from www.style.com)

So who won all the loot from our 3rd TGIF Gifts post (in case you forgot it was a copy of My Style, My Place and a set of the DIYStyle patterns)? We had some great posts, but only one gets away with the gifts…………..Pamela you are our lucky winner! You’ll get a note from us soon asking where to send all of your lovely goodies. Congrats!

And, I’m sure you are wondering what is up next?! Let’s see, behind door (or should I say gift box) #4 is a basket chock full of wonderful tools and notions from Clover! This basket includes Clover’s neat felting tools & supplies PLUS some Pom-Pom makers to try out too. This gift basket of Clover Notions goodies is worth over $200!!

So, we’re ramping up the “entry” stakes a bit too! We still want you to post your comments to this blog post, about what you would like to see on DIYStyle, AND we’re also asking you to leave us your favorite quick sewing tip as well. We’ll still randomly pick the winner (so if you are a sewing newbie and tipless, that’s OK–you still get a chance to win the gift basket), but, we’ll also vote on which tip submitted is the best of the bunch, and feature it in an upcoming episode of DIYStyle. And we’ll even mention the Creative Chickie who submitted the winning tip on the show! The tip winner also gets a prize too, a set of Clover felting tools.

Get your comments (and tips) in……….somebody’s gonna get lucky!

Cindy

I picked up this new “fashion” book the other day, mainly because of it’s title. The “Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to be Fabulously Green” is a book devoted to how to be eco-conscious AND a style maven at the same time! In addition to giving the reader a primer in what an Eco Chick is…..”means doing good while having a good time doing it: it is NOT about depriving yourself, but about rethinking how we live our lives, and living better…..more creatively, more passionately, and more consciously.” Wow. I want to be an Eco Chick!

Really. With chapter titles like All About Eco Fashion, Reduce, Reuse, Accessorize!, Squeaky Clean and Toxin Free, Feed Yourself from the Earth (not a Box), and Pets and the Planet, this light read (can you tell I’m on a track of easy reads) is just the thing to inspire you to go green. The author, Starre Vartan, gives lots of resources and examples of how to really make the Eco ideas “stick”, in a way that does not shout treehugger. Now don’t get anxious here….while I do like my trees, I still want to look fab walking down the street, and have my nest well dressed too. Starre shows us we can live eco-conscious and not sacrifice our sense of style.

Even if you don’t have time to read the entire book (but once you start you’ll get hooked!), check out the “Green Shopping Basket” sidebars, chock full of places to pick up eco goods, and the “Eco Quickie” tidbits scattered throught the pages.

Sounds like a perfect set-up for my 2009 New Year’s resolution………”I vow to (try to) be an Eco Chick!” Will you join me?

Cindy

It’s time for us to reveal our TGIF Gifts lucky winner of the Dual Duty XP thread pack. Congrats to Kati, your present will be on it’s way to you pronto! And thanks for leaving us that nice comment about DIYStyle

Our next TGIF Gift is not one…………but two gifts!! Allyce is gifting a copy of her very own My Style, My Place book. It’s full of super easy fashion and home dec projects (kinda like we do on DIYStyle!!), just in time for your to create your own gifts for the holidays. AND…….we’re adding a full set of DIYStyle patterns (Lingerie, Coats, Dress and Tops) as the bonus gift! Yes, 4 patterns and the book. What a treat for one lucky Creative Chick.

PLUS!!!

Be sure to leave us your thoughts about what you want to see on DIYStyle on this blog as your contest entry. We love hearing what sewing techniques you need to learn, and what kinds of projects you would like to see on our vodcasts. So, get writing……..you could be our next winner!

 Cindy

This semester has been quite the challenge. Anyone who has done hand tailoring knows that hair canvas, silk organza, and twill tape is tons of fun (LOL) to sew with, especially in a coat. This semester we had seven weeks to hand tailor a wool coat and coordinating dress to create a full ensemble. Last semester we designed our coats and dresses and presented them to a critic. After the critic chose which one we would make, we draped and patterned our garments and had all of our fittings.

It seemed to take forever to find the right fabrics for the garments. The wool coating was the real challenge. I found an awesome chocolate brown wool coating from the East Coast online for $50/ yard. I thought that was a little bit pricy for my budget, so I waited and decided to look in NYC’s fashion district. I ended up finding my wool coating for $6/ yard in a “hole in the wall” in the garment district and……..BONUS….the fabric was on sale because the store was going out of business. I was so excited to nab this find! I originally wanted to make my dress out of a solid color but the critic wanted a stripe or print with chocolate brown and blue in it to match the wool coating. It was really difficult to find a silk charmeuse print with these specific colors. After lots of poking around the internet, I finally found a great print through Thai Silks.

So, after a lot of hand sewing and countless late nights I got it done! My boyfriend (patiently) watched me needle punch all the wool roving in the seam allowances, hand sew hair canvas in, and press (more like beat to death) my coat with lots of steam and my wooden tailor’s clapper. It definitely wasn’t the easiest project that I’ve worked on, but I’m especially pleased with the dress, it turned out even better than I pictured. And, in order to tie in all the colors, I decided to color blocked the inside lining of the coat. I think the colors will really help this outfit pop on the runway.

Now I’m working up all the designs and production patterns for my Senior Collection. I’ll check in with more on that later.

Allyce

The winner of last Friday’s TGIF Gifts contest, and the Anna Maria Horner book “Seams to Me” is………Tah Dah……..Rebecca!! Congrats Rebecca, your book will soon be on it’s way.

Here’s the next sewing “present” in the DIYStyle TGIF Gifts contest! We believe you can never have enough thread, especially when it’s the fantastic Dual Duty XP variety. Coats and Clark sent us this nifty zip pack full of their most popular colors, 18 spools in all!

Post your comments to this blog entry to win the thread pack (even if you commented last week, you’ll need to do so again this week to win)……..keep those suggestions coming! You just might “gift yourself”!

Remember, we post a new TGIF Gift each Friday until Christmas (and pull the lucky winner that following Thursday night, when that week’s contest closes). And, we might even throw in a few extra prizes as the weeks go on to “sweeten the deal”. If you have any question on how this contest works, check out our original blog post on November 21st. 

Good luck, and keep watching the blog…………there are more great TGIF Gifts coming!!!

Cindy

We’ve been getting in lots of great crafty/sewing loot around the DIYStyle digs, and now seems like a good time to start giving it away! It’s our “TGIF Gifts” contest. So, give a sewing gift to yourself this season–you know you deserve it!

Here’s how it works:

> Every Friday we’ll post a new blog entry, announcing that week’s TGIF Gift.

> To enter, leave us a comment on that blog post, telling us a project, garment, or technique you’d like to see demonstrated on DIYStyle. We’d love to get a peek at your wish list!

> The following Thursday, a winner will be randomly chosen from the entries. We’ll post the winner’s name in a post that night (and drop the winner an email, too).

A new blog post with a new gift will go up each Friday until Christmas. That’s 5 chances to win.

Note: One blog comment per TGIF Gifts post, please.

Here’s today’s TGIF Gift goodie:

A copy of the BRAND NEW
Anna Maria Horner book “Seams to Me”!

Anna did a wonderful interview with DIYStyle, be sure to catch the vodcast if you haven’t yet. This is a really cool book, chock full of great projects and full-size printed patterns.

OK, get those entries (comments) coming…and good luck!

Cindy

Oh my gosh, this Apparel Construction class is crazy. Since my mom and many people I know are great sewers you would think I would be a pro. Not exactly! I thought I would share some funny stories from my class.

Before we started making our first project (boxers), we were learning the basics about the sewing machine. My teacher was showing us how to thread the machine. She was about to thread the needle by hand until I showed her that the machine had an automatic threader. Really, my SEWING teacher didn’t know our machine had an automatic threader. It was too funny. Another thing I had to teach my teacher, and then the class, was the blanket stitch by hand. I taught myself how to do the stitch first and then showed my teacher. It was an interesting day.

Now my teacher is not the only one who makes funny mistakes. So far I have had some mishaps of my own. On my first pair of boxers I sewed the fronts together and the backs, so the boxers looked like they had cowboy legs. On my first pair of boxers I also didn’t check the hems to be sure they were the same length before I turned them in, Oops! One leg was ¼ of an inch longer than the other.

I am on my skirt now, so I hope things go better! More on that later.

Sarah

Hello all! My name is Meghan Petty and I am very excited to be one of the new Creative Chicks on DIYStyle. Just to give you a little bit of background about myself, I grew up in the small town of Pleasant Hope in the very Midwestern state of Missouri…I have always been very musically and artistically inclined through out my life…I proceeded to go to college at the University of Missouri-Columbia for Psychology changing my major officially and un-officially to Graphic Design, Business, Web-Design, and then to Textile and Apparel Management all in four years….hit a wall and knew I needed a more creative type of lifestyle…transferred schools to Stephens College for fashion design…completed a summer internship with SKIF International…graduated in a very full two years of catch up from Stephens College…moved to New York and I am now looking for a job and sorting out all of the possibilities that could be my future!

Along that very busy journey I have been published in Crochet! Magazine for a crochet cocktail dress I hand produced and patterned.  I have also been recognized with many awards for my designs through competitions at Stephens College.  I even had the pleasure of starting an annual fashion show at the University of Kansas with a good friend.  And on top of all of that, I have been keeping up with my own alterations and original designs business on the side.

So what is this small town girl doing in the great metropolis of New York?  This has been a question on my mind for the past three months.  My initial intent was to get a job as an assistant designer with some company but a lot of my being in New York has been turned into a great adventure of finding myself and all the possibilities I have laid out in front of me.  After interviewing with many companies big and small I have not found one that is willing to hire me with only a summers experience in the industry.  Many companies wish for an entry level design employee to have 3 yrs experience coming out of school.  You know how booming the fashion industry is in Missouri!  So, not only is my career choice in a creative field but trying to find a job in it has become a creative task as well. 

Three months and no permanent job…what does one do?  First and foremost, everything happens for a reason and our paths in life are laid out before us in mysterious but very obvious ways.  The first major thing I realized while being the city is you never know who is going to connect you to your next project in life.  I was introduced through a classmate to a new brand called Arcana that wishes to produce high end Men’s Suits.  They needed someone to help design, make patterns, do fittings, and produce the sample garments to be sent to buyers and manufacturers.  This would be great experience and potentially could make me a good chunk of money but all of my hard work to be put in would not reap the benefits until profit is made on the line.  So I now have a job that doesn’t technically pay me!  I then was trying to think of ways to work from home so that I can keep up with the demands of the Men’s line but also make money to pay my rent.  Through random circumstances I was messing around on the internet and found a website that is specifically for selling and buying hand made goods.  Awesome!  So I came up with a business plan for myself to see if I could really make this work and listed some of the garments that I have made just to see how selling could go.  You can now purchase several of my designs on ETSY.  I plan on selling my current designs and then in January starting my FIRST Spring line (to be sold on ETSY)!  This will be an investment of my time as well until I establish some inventory.  So great start for the future but not a great solver of the high cost of living in New York City!

This leaves me at my current state of still trying to find at least part time work in the midst of a falling economy and a tough fashion world.  I have lots of skills in many directions in terms of design so how do I prove that to others in the industry?  Do I just drop all thoughts of working for someone else and try to push through owning my own online business?  My next step is yet to come!!!  

To check out more about me and my designs please visit my website!

 Meghan

Halloween is creeping up very fast and I still have not decided on a costume to make! I’ve been helping everyone around me with his or her costumes, so hopefully when I’m finished, I’ll think of something clever to throw together! The other day I was working on my sister’s Halloween costume (she and her boyfriend are going to be Wilma and Fred Flintstone), and I got frustrated because I could not find any of my hand sewing needles. When I don’t need them, I always mistake them for pins in my pincushion and when I do need them, I can’t find them anywhere! So after I picked all of them out of my pincushion and off the floor, I came up with a really easy way to keep track of them. I cut off a piece of ribbon and tied it in a bow, leaving one leg of the bow really long. Then, I just stuck my needles through the ribbon and tacked the bow on the wall in front of my sewing machine. Now they are out of the way and I know exactly where they are when I need them. It’s so simple I don’t know why I never thought of it before! Wish me luck on my costume!

Christy

I just picked up a new book, perusing the shelves at my local Barnes & Noble, looking for something fashion minded and an easy read. Here’s what I ended up with…..”The One Hundred” is the new book by Nina Garcia, of Project Runway and Elle magazine fame. With the subtitle: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own, I figured I had better get the scoop on what these pieces are, and see how many of them (if any!) I already had in my wardrobe. Even if you don’t read & take to heart Nina’s fashion insight and advice, just the illustrations alone from illustrator Ruben Toledo are entertaining and fun.

To my surprise (and relief) I did have a few of the must have’s on the list in my closet, but I am definitely lacking in several areas. I guess it is time for some revamping on my part, and a good excuse to do some Fall shopping. The Fashion 101 sidebars sprinkled throughout the book give you a bit of fashion history and industry background, tidbits that may help you out the next time you hit that fashion category at Trivia night.

Pretty soon it will be getting cold here, and curling up with a good light read like this one will be a welcome treat. And, be sure to check out the interview we did with Anna Maria Horner that we uploaded on Saturday. Her new book “Seams to Me” is a cute spin from her already super cute fabric line. Find it on the shelves this month, as it makes it’s debut. Congrats Anna….it’s fantastic!

Cindy

I traveled to so many places this summer…it has been exciting and inspiring, getting ideas for my Senior Collection. My favorite place of them all would have to be New York City. The last week of my summer break I took a nine day trip to visit the big city. I had a few goals in mind for the trip. Here is my list”

1.) Shop for senior collection fabric in the garment district.

2.) Have a great meeting with McCalls.

3.) Use what I have learned in my Pre-20th Century Costume class to identify garments on display at the MET museum.

4.) Learn the subway system enough so I will ride it on my own.

5.) Add to my collection of 500 inspiration pictures that was assigned for my senior year (that has not been a huge challenge especially being in so many different places).

Boy was I in for a wild ride. First of all, I stayed with some amazing girlfriends (love ya Julie & Danielle!) who love the fashion industry and were so great about teaching me about the city. My adventure began at the MET museum. It had been recommended by Kathy (at McCall’s) to be sure to see the Super Heros exhibit. It was a very interesting presentation of garments that were inspired by the super hero movies. These were the actual costumes used in the movies. The experience didn’t stop there. I ended up walking around the MET for six hours pointing out to my friend the name of every garment from the Egyptian period through the 19^th century that they had on display. I had just finished taking a summer class in the history of costume, and it was really incredible to see in person what we had been studying in books. A few of my favorites: seeing a sheath dress from the Egyptian period completely constructed out of beads, a Greek Ionic Chiton (modern day tunic) and himations (a large cloth used as a wrap) carved out of stone into amazing statues. You may think I’m crazy but I had fun hunting down 3000 B.C. fibulas (the world’s first ever safety pin–before people even sewed clothing together). I also got to view a few of my favorite painter’s works. I love Andy Warhol and Roy Linchenstein, and seeing their work in person was really cool. One down, four more goals to go.

Next I spent two whole days shopping for fabric in the garment district. The first day was discouraging at first because I didn’t have good direction except that I was looking for knit prints. We went to a ton of stores on 37^th and 38^th street between 7^th and 8^th avenue. They were small “hole in the wall” type stores. It was great to get a lot of good swatches so that I could go back for what I wanted if I needed it for my collection. Towards the end of the day I fell in love with this one piece. Picture this: dusty rose pink tulle with embroidery that totally covered it in sage green, lavender, and dusty rose. Then the piece is covered in black and brown feathers with a natural color bead at the top of each feather. It was an exquisite piece! Feathers are so hot this season and I plan to design a cocktail dress…….this would be perfect. I thought I wasn’t going to get anywhere in these small independent stores but I did, and I bargained with the guy to get a great price. One main collection piece, more to go! After that I went to Mood Fabrics. There I found some notions that could be used on my garments as well as my mood boards for school. I bought a piece of leather that was a pink embossed alligator with a pearlized finish. I plan on using it for the cocktail dress bodice piece or small accent pieces. The next day that I spent in the garment district was with great success. I went to B&J Fabrics and found a great but pricey silk charmeuse print that made my day. It was the perfect color palette and the look I was going for. On this shopping trip I also was able to find my chocolate brown wool coating fabric for my tailored coat.

My next goal was not too hard to achieve. For my senior collection we were assigned to take pictures that would inspire us for our garments. It could be anything from architecture to nature to garments. Walking the streets of New York gave me lots of photo opps. The window displays were incredible. My favorite was Dior’s window! It had a carriage in the window with suits and dresses on display. Being a visual merchandiser would be fun but hard work! I also always get inspiration from Betsey Johnson, so I had to go to her store off of Madison Ave.  I almost camped out on their doorstep for the rest of the trip once I found out that she just lives right around the corner from her store! That would have been too cool to meet her.

I was super excited for our McCalls meeting. I felt like I had been preparing for the meeting for weeks. I prepared boards, sketched, and bought some supportive sample garments. I was so excited how my boards turned out and the great samples I found, I even found some great swatches of the fabric that I thought would be perfect for the garments we were proposing. Everyone seemed pleased with McCall’s decisions, so look forward to more great DIYStyle designs for 2009! Thanks to McCall’s hard work to making our dreams come to life! Only one more goal to achieve!

Julie & Danielle had explained the subway the first day that I arrived, so I was able to take the subway the whole trip. The girls live in the East Village so it was good practice taking the subway all over the city instead of taking cabs. I feel like being in New York for that amount of time helped me to prepare to be a better designer. Through inspiration, great fabrics, seeing in person a history of garments, and working in the offices of McCalls for a day really has helped my creativity and motivation as a design major. I will definitely be back in NYC soon!

Allyce

This New York trip was very special because I actually had time to explore the city! Many call it the city of opportunity, I call it the city of inspiration. It’s everywhere whether you find it in art galleries or museums, fabric stores or retail shopping, even just walking down the street and observing peoples’s outfits! Well the fashion capital of the world never lets me down, and neither do all the exciting people living in it!

I walked around Fashion Avenue, and visited with The Jones Apparel Group and got to see their innerworkings! It was great to see the day in the life of a fashion house! It helps to understand the important factors that go into being a designer. It’s a much larger process than what first comes to mind. But the people who do it, love it!!!

I found many treasures in the city but some that I must mention are the resale consignment stores in NYC. Take note of “A Second Chance” on 78th and Madison and “Michaels” between 80th and 81st and Madison. You can find great deals on the top designer clothes and even inspiration from some of their vintage collections. Even though you sometimes have to dig, it can really be worth it.

After the consignment shopping I headed down to Chelsea where you can find the most amazing art galleries! Galleries are a place where I get my artistic inspiration because I am an artist and painter myself! I saw some fasinating exhibits including pieces from Chuck Close. One of my favorite exhibits was one that was interactive. Besides the fact that you could play pinball and smash rocks that contained hidden treasures inside, I loved the color themes and the geometic shapes within the paintings. One display was done on multipe canvases which were strategically hung creating a beautiful collage of art. Another work that I took inspiration from was a painting of a distorted cityscape, I loved the urban feel and again the bright colors!

A piece I saw that sewers can relate to was embroidered wall art that pieced together differend fabrics. I was thinking of telling the artist about the Quilt Show!! I always hate leaving the city, but I am now returning to Portland fully inspired and full of ideas to be drawing, designing, sewing and painting with! Thank you New York City, I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Love,
Melissa