Monday, January 31, 2011

Latest Special Projects - Week 4 2011 (a little late)

So I'm still not caught up on posts yet, but I'm still only one week behind...so that's good, right?
Anyway...I've been very busy with special projects, in between getting ready for a great little Valentine Trunk Show (www.glitterworkshop.com/craftacular) on February 6. For all you Madison-area fans you can hit the show early (starts at 10:00am) and still have plenty of time to get your party on for the Packers later that day!

A lovely Holiday Craftacular customer placed a special order for a long, twirly, Katwise-esque sweater coat. She was gracious enough to wait until after the new year. We recently met a few times to measure, exchange ideas and she even provided a lot of the materials! Here are some pictures of the fabulous, decadent, wonderfully rich and unique results! (As always, I apologize in advance for my poor photography skills!)




I'm wrapping up a few more special projects this week, so more coming soon!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Special Project Fun! Week 2 2011

Well, week 2 of 2011 ended on Saturday...and its now Monday, so I'm 2 days behind already! I think I'll have to get working on the post for this week (3) right away so this year doesn't get away from me!

Week 2 was spent working on several projects. I narrowed down my ideas for spring and summer skirts, created patterns and began sewing prototypes. I thought I would have them done by now and ready to photograph and solicit feedback. But....it wasn't meant to be. I got sidelined by several special requests for custom sweaters. Here are some glimpses of a few that I turned out last week.

The first is a super colorful compilation of aqua/teal, red, orange and some crazy color argyle with black. This was created for a new artists friend, Kim Geiser. I highly recommend you check out her blog at http://www.persimmonsgal54220.blogspot.com/ as well as her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/persimmonsgal . She wanted a bright, colorful, long, wrap cardigan...it goes out in the mail tomorrow. I hope she loves it!



The next two lovelies were created for a high school friend I recently got reaquainted with, via the products I sell at a great shop in Madison, WI http://anthology.typepad.com/. Alyssa wanted to "remake" a few of the sweaters she already owned, and these are the results! The Cowl Tunic on the left was a much plainer turtleneck sweater in its former life... I added the flow-y brown and multicolor bands at the neck for the cowl and spliced in some color at the midsection. The other is a great "katwise-esque" sweater coat made from two sweater dusters my friend already owned + some scraps of multi-color sweater knit I had leftover from another project. I left the neckline and sleeve cuffs alone because the fraggle trim was already super cool.


The last project was a custom creation for a repeat customer who is also a patron of an eclectic clothing/vintage/handmade shop in Appleton, WI http://www.daintydaisies.blogspot.com/. Kelly wanted a super colorful, bright, crazy color combo, long tie front cardigan. After emailing a palette of sweaters/scraps we came up with this rambunctious combination of bright orange bodice with splashes of yellow, kelly green, red, lavender, fuschia, black and that awesome argyle made its first appearance in this sweater. Kelly received her sweater last week and I'm hoping to receive some fan pics soon!



I'm working on several more special orders over the next few weeks and will keep posting the results. I love to collaborate with customers to create something unique and "just right" for them.
Happy snow storm to everyone in the upper midwest today. Kids were off school anyway for MLK Day and I'm going to head out and snowblow...then back to the sewing machine.