glam.spoon: fashion blog

Remnants of the Past Vintage Show + UrbanFarm Naturals

A few weeks ago my friend Tamila, owner of UrbanFarm Naturals and soap-stress extraordinaire, told me she was invited to the Remnants of the Past Vintage Show in San Luis Obispo, California. I am absolutely thrilled for her! These specialty vintage shows are a feast for the senses with amazingly creative vintage, antique, folk, farm and cottage themes. Each booth is a thing of beauty. Then Tamila asked me to make her a Saturday Market Dress, branded with her company's colors. Challenge accepted! 

UrbanFarm Naturals' branding combines rich hues of orange and yellow with chocolate brown, and to add some bohemian flair I incorporated this floral print. She added the orange leggings, and of course, just happened to have a vintage bicycle with potted plants in the basket available for the photo shoot.

I also created a tunic length version of the Saturday Market Dress, again branded in UrbanFarm Naturals colors, this time focusing on the play on orange and chocolate. This top is feminine yet functional with the shorter sleeves, and Tamila can wear it over a pair of skinny jeans while she's running around setting up her booth.

If you happen to live in the San Louis Obispo area, or if you're up for a road trip, consider stopping by the Alex Madonna Expo Center this weekend. The Remnants of the Past show runs Saturday, June 2nd from 9-5 and Sunday, June 3rd from 9-3.

You can also expect some special guests including Jo Packham, Creator and Editor in Chief of Where Women Create and Matthew Mead, a celebrity lifestyle and entertaining expert.

 

Locavore ... the big reveal

Locavore happened last Saturday. It was such an inspiring and creative event, I can't believe I've been able to restrain myself from posting these images until now. Carlynne is such a graceful and lovely model, I'm absolutely in love with all the photos I took of her... but I truly attempted to narrow it down, I promise.

In the photo with Carlynne is Rachel Sumner, our photographer for the day. I'll probably post her images once I get my hands on them.

 

Locavore event at Kirkland Arts Center

Another sneak peek of my garment for Saturday's event (below, left). I was paired up with Dawn Rogal, who is - among other things - a plush artist with mean hand-stitching skills. We quickly found common ground with Alabama Chanin and decided to pay homage with a skirt covered in applique. Click over to Kirkland Arts Center's web page for ticket information. The garment worn by Katie Joy (below, right) was designed by my model, Carlynne, who is a designer/model/inspiring woman! 

 

west elm hosts pop-up flower shops just in time for spring

West Elm stores around the country are planning pop-up flower shops just in time for spring!

In Seattle you have two opportunities to get in-person expert advice and pick up everything you need to bring a touch of the garden indoors. On Saturday, May 5th and Saturday, May 12th head to the still new West Elm on Westlake in the up and coming South Lake Union neighborhood. From noon to 3:00 pm, local experts from Marigold and Mint, the little jewel at Melrose Market, will be on hand to teach the floral-arrangement-ropes. Check out West Elm's blog to find out if there's a pop-up shop in your city!

There's something so civilized about fresh flowers in the house. It brightens up even the rainiest of days.

Locavore update

On Sunday a few of the designers and artists participating in Locavore were treated to a print making class with Mary Mac Dahlke. This lady is an artist after my own heart. She takes her inspiration from the relationships between sisters, twins, and girlfriends, which manifests itself in lovely dresses and girly images. She's a southern girl paying tribute to her roots with white tights and gloves, red Mary-janes, and vintage sewing patterns. Below is a shot of a few stencils and examples she brought to class, but for the full Mary Mac experience, you should take a look at her portfolio.

I had never been to the Kirkland Arts Center before. The amazing building is over 120 years old and has great character. The gallery is on the street level, printmaking above and ceramics below. There is an unbelieveable ceiling installation at one of the entry ways that I couldn't help but photograph.

In class we learned to carve small plates and ink them up to make one of a kind hand printed designs. It was a lot of fun, but the highlight of the day was printing our fern designs on fabric with the big printmaking press! I'm pretty lucky to have Dawn on my team, since she's been printmaking for some time and knows exactly what she's doing. She designed and carved two large linoleum blocks with the fern motif, dyed the silk a nice ombre color, and then we printed on it! This fabric will be used for the train of our dress design. Can't wait to put it all together!

 

blog spot feature on seattle met

So many thanks to Laura Cassidy for featuring me on her blog, Wear What When, in the series Blog Spot. 

Laura Cassidy is a local fashion icon, Style Editor of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine who blogs at WearWhatWhen, as well as Editor of Seattle Met Bride & Groom. She takes fashion risks and embraces that in others. I've never seen her look like she didn't belong on the cover of a magazine. You may remember my post about her Doposcuola class at Cafe Lago. It was such a treat to talk Italian fashion with a true fashion enthusiast. If you have a girl crush on her too, just follow her on Twitter.

Suede at the Sew Expo

No, I'm not talking about suede fabric, I'm talking about Suede, from Project Runway Season 5!

 

Jennifer and I got the chance to chat with Suede at the Simplicity booth during the Sew Expo earlier this month. He was super friendly and even agreed to sign the sewing patterns that I bought. He designs patterns - and fabric coming this spring - for Simplicity under the name "Suede Says!"

There is an abundance of fabric, trim and tool booths at the Sew Expo, but this year there was one booth absoltuely overflowing with gorgeous trims at very reasonable prices. I bought yards of lace for $1-$3 per yard, as well as a few beaded appliques 5/$20 at Trims on Wheels.

It only happens once a year, but this is the only sewing expo in the country, so save the date for next year. How lucky are we to live in the Pacific Northwest?

The Good Exchange for Change Fashion Show and Clothing Swap

If you were watching After the Runway last Thursday, you probably also felt the absence of Mondo in the room. Turns out he had a great reason for missing the taping. 

Project Runway All-Star Mondo Guerra Judges Goodwill Fashion Show!

In case you're not familiar, Mondo Guerra is a 32-year-old Denver native, who got his start in fashion by transforming thrift-store clothing into his own designs. He rose to national fame competing on season 8 of Project Runway and he is in the final 4 of this season’s Project Runway All-Stars. He is so creative and I am really surprised that he was only runner up of his season. 

On February 8, he joined Goodwill Industries of Denver for an evening of fashion, food and fabulous finds at the second annual Good Exchange for Change Fashion Show & Clothing Swap. Such a cool event that I wish we had here in the Pacific Northwest. I would have been first in line to purchase a VIP ticket to get the opportunity to mingle with Mondo before the event.

The fashion show featured original designs using repurposed Goodwill clothing by students from Goodwill’s youth programs at Denver School of the Arts and CEC Middle College in Denver. All of the students designs are made from materials they found at Goodwill and then repurposed with mentoring from Mondo. Fellow Colorado Project Runway alumni Fallene Wells and Julie Tierney helped Mondo with the judging.

Uriel modeled his own winning design on the runway. (he looks like Mondo's little brother!)

More exciting than that, Mondo auctioned off an original outfit from his collection! The other two judges, Julie and Fallene, created high-fashion looks repurposed from Goodwill clothing and auctioned them off as well. All the proceeds went to benefit Goodwill’s youth services programs in 28 metro area and Northern Colorado high schools. Goodwill Industries of Denver seeks to reverse the cycle of poverty for at-risk youth, struggling families and individuals with disabilities. Discover the good at www.goodwilldenver.org.

 Above photo from left to right: Uriel, Fallene, Julie and Mondo. All photos by Kevin & Betty Becker from Allée Photography

Discarded to Divine 2012

This event is fun, challenging, creative and supports the efforts of the San Francisco St. Vincent de Paul Society in helping the homeless. It doesn't get better than that.

I participated in 2010 and the timing was right that I even got to see my garment on a dress form in the de Young Museum at the preview. If you live in the San Francisco area, or plan on being there in April, save the date and mark your calendars. It's the seventh annual event!

Discarded to Divine

 Presented by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco

April 13th - de Young Museum Preview

April 26th - Gala

 

You can visit Discarded to Divine starting March 1st to purchase tickets, or contact Event Coordinator Heather Ripley for questions or to request an invitation be mailed to you.

make a statement

The Melanie Necklace by Samantha House via Luxist

The bib necklace trend has been going strong since early 2009 as reported by Who What Wear. I'm not one to jump on a trend at the beginning - I like to see it play out and watch how it refines over time. Then of course, all you have to do is look to history to determine that it's not an original idea afterall. Cleopatra was sporting a golden bib necklace in ancient Egypt, and the bibs Liz Taylor wore in the movie were a bit more modern.

Designers have been recycling ideas for centuries. The true mark of an artist is someone who takes the historical or commonplace and reinvents it with a modern sensibility. Thankfully, the bib necklace morphed into the statement piece and you can find dozens of options out there. The first time I fell in love with statement jewelry was when I discovered Kelly Framel, the fashion blogger known as The Glamourai.

What I like about her necklace designs are the bold choices: a tight collar shape, chunky feel, and the mixed texture of chain and beads. This gorgeous chunky choker-style Moroccan cascade necklace (below, sold out) has a bold mix of stones, pearls of different sizes, chain, etc. It's a real inspiration.

via Kelly Framel

Here are a few other recent inspirations...

 

Luckily, this Ranjana Khan Lapis Bead Bib Necklace from Saks Fifth Avenue is no longer available (originally $1100) otherwise I'd have to pawn something to buy it. I love the bold color, the seemingly fused gems and the collar shape.

 

The use of ribbon is a really romantic element that gives a statement piece that vintage feel. The above champagne necklace is also no longer available (I'm kind of good at finding those) but it was lovingly handmade by an Etsy Seller in Canada, and is a great inspiration for DIY'ing your own. I have boxes of broken vintage jewelry just waiting for a job like this.

The Olympia Necklace via History and Industry

And then there is this little gem from Irene Wood. I first discovered her many talents a few years ago through a coworker. She's also a painter (check out my favorite piece; I'd like to put it on fabric), but she has so much creativity bursting out of her she has to channel it somewhere, and luckily for us, she channels it into jewelry. The Olympia is made of three strands of painted gold, beige, silver and mauve wooden beads that create this thick bib necklace. It sits high like a collar. Big, bold, regal, lightweight. $175 and worth every penny. I'm currently selling shoes on eBay in order to buy one of Irene's necklaces. 

So after absorbing all this inspiration and while waiting for my eBay items to sell, I decided to take a tip from the hordes of DIY sites out there and make my own.  There are dozens of sites that will show you how to copy an item you see in a magazine (P.S. I Made This, Thanks I Made it, Copycat Crafts... you can read about the make it don't buy it trend here). Although I totally respect the skills and appreciate the resourcefulness, I've always had a problem with the whole "knock off" aspect. In my DIY practice, I prefer to use an item as inspiration to fuel my own creativity, and then make something totally unique with a nod to the original. 

First I pinpoint the different qualities of the item I like, then I gather up my materials and start playing. I buy most of my materials at thrift stores, preferring to use recycled bits whenever I can, but I do go to Fusion Beads for stringing wire, toggle clasps and crimpers in order to put it all together.

I found these funky brown wooden beads at the Everett Goodwill and decided to incorporate them into a chunky statement necklace. I also snagged these amazing semi-precious turquoise burnished agate beads at 40% off during Fusion's end of year sale. The chain is recycled and I used small silver discs as spacers on the ends of each strand. 

 

I like how it turned out so I made another using the same wooden beads, a recycled necklace of faux pearls as an accent, and a recycled oversized toggle clasp.

Finally, I wanted a statement piece using only chain, so I dug through my stash and came up with this. It came together from 9 different recycled necklaces and a recycled metal chain belt for the clasp. What will you make today?