Tiny Dress Factory

I don't care much for children really, they're messy and loud and have complete disregard for anyone else's feelings or obligations. But boy are their clothes cute! There is something about a dress or a pair of pants that is just so much better when in miniature form. So in light of this, I've turned my sewing station into a one-woman factory of tiny dresses. Of course holding a full-time job, looking for new employment, planning a wedding, and being an all-around awesome person does take up most of my time, but I've managed to squeeze out four of these little adorables so far, and I don't intend to stop anytime soon. They will soon be sold at a store in San Francisco, which I will disclose the location of once the dresses are actually in-store, but until then, or during or after, I am selling these for $65. The second dress in line is refurbished from an old button-up plaid shirt I no longer liked to wear, or perhaps never wore at all. Point being, if you have an old shirt you don't like the fit of, but love the fabric... I'll turn it into a baby dress for you!

New Things, Old Ideas

Every now and then we all feel as though our lives have been turned upside-down. This has been one of those months. Apparently when my life is on it's head I travel at 1000 miles an hour, feeling as though there isn't enough time in this life to accomplish all of the things I need to do. And, of course, when you're trying to do everything at once, it seems as though nothing really ever gets done. BUT, I've managed to accomplish three things this week!

The first, which was really the second, is a tiny little dress for a tiny little person who hasn't poked her tiny, yet completely disproportionate little head into this world yet. If she grows like most little girls, she should be able to wear this dress at around 4-6 months or so. And it even has a little pocket for her to put things... like car keys and a cell phone.

Secondly, which in real time was finished first, is the fourth painting in my series of Haitian women. I'm not titling any of these, I want their feelings to speak for themselves, or for you to speak for their feelings on your own. Whichever. I've really been enjoying painting these ladies, I'm kind of sad to move on. Maybe if I'm lucky another natural disaster will occur somewhere in the world and I'll be able to paint about it. Oh a girl can dream.

And thirdly I ordered new business cards! No visual though, just in case they don't turn out the way I hope. It's not superstition, it's ego.

Distressed

I thought that since I'm successfully putting off all production of wedding business, due to a severe case of procrastination, I'd share some of the paintings I've been working on. I have been extremely moved by the images I'm seeing coming out of Haiti recently, after the earthquake to be specific, and I thought that I'd probably like to take advantage of the people who are taking advantage of the distressed people there. If you know me at all you know I cannot even think of a painting not containing some sort of winged or furred animal, so I've incorporated an indiscriminate sort of bird into each piece to tie them together; as if the theme of distressed Haitian women isn't cohesive enough. One, or possibly two more paintings are on the way. When I'm finished I'll paint a chicken, then I'd like to have a showing somewhere. I'm leaving that in the hands of someone more skilled than I at public relations.

Hopefully soon I'll resume production on wedding junk, because we all know how quickly 13 months tends to fly by when you have way too many things to do. I'd also like to learn how to play golf, because I'm fairly certain I'd be good at it.

Key Words

I'll make this brief today, I have things to do.

I'm working on a series of paintings inspired by the earthquake in Haiti, so of course I'm spending hours searching through thousands of photos posted online of various Haiti-related things. I type into Google "haiti woman covering face"... and among other images, I am presented with this.

Neither is this woman Haitian, covering her face, (that I can tell) or relevant in any way to the subject matter of which I am searching for. But I guess they got one of the key words right. I've gotta give Google credit for that.

A Productive Day

Recently I purchased a huge box of scrap fabric from a wonderful little boutique in North Beach. At the time I was thinking that I may have paid too much for it... until I looked through it! I've struck gold! This box contains the finest silks, wools, linens... it's a treasure trove of amazing fabric. Some of the pieces are smallish, too small to make a dress or a skirt out of anyway, so I've made these terrific brooches! Here are just a few of the brooches I've made today, two of them already have homes, but they're so fun and easy to make that I'm sure I'll have an army of them by the end of the week.

Lesson learned today: Scrap fabric combined with mixed bag of buttons = AWESOME!

Another tiny creation as of late is this little dress I made for a 1 year old. Fun, stretchy fabric combined with snaps at the shoulders to accommodate giant baby head. And buttons of course.

Bits From a Mini Vacation

We did it! My fiance and I finally got out of town last weekend, for a mini vacation in wonderful wine country. Here are some bits... because we didn't manage to take many photos, they're all from one (of many fabulous) dinner.

I wish we could escape like this every weekend...

This and That

Hi friends. It's Monday again. And with that I've decided to throw in a colorboard, which is pretty much all thanks to the many hours I spend browsing the blog 100 Layer Cake. I love this blog, I love everything about it. Even if you have no interest in weddings, or the planning of them, it's worth giving a look just for all the visual and creative stimulation. And it provides links to so many amazing blogs out there.

Anyway, my favorite colors have always been brown and seafoam green (which can easily be confused with seafoam blue, although very different)... and white. White is not a color, of this I am aware, but I do love it so. That being said, choosing the colors for our wedding was the first thing I actually accomplished. Piece of cake! I also happen to enjoy each of these little pictures individually.

I'm also going to report today that I've decided to make my own wedding dress. Initially I wasn't going to, but one fateful day last year brought me to a "discount" wedding gown shop, where I was forced against my will to try on some of the most hideous wedding gowns you have ever seen. One of them actually fit me perfectly and was hilariously fun to wear. I could have had a flock of sheep under the dress and it would have been my little secret! But it was shortly after that day that I decided the only way I was going to get the perfect dress was if I made it myself.

And that's when I discovered Elizabeth Dye of the English Dept. Elizabeth is a designer in Portland, Oregon (hello friends!) whom I am just so impressed with. All of the designers at the English Dept. make gowns that are so tasteful and well thought out and not your typical gigantic wedding gown billowing with a thousand yards of fabric. Who wants to wear a 50 pound dress in the middle of July on the one day you've been working so hard to look your best for? Yuck. Here are some of the dresses that I really like, but you should just really check out the website. They design regular clothes too, the ones to be worn on a day when you're not making life-altering decisions and feeding everyone you've ever met.

I kind of want to stand in a room full of paper lanterns now too. Looks nice.