A Pineapple a Day

Sometimes we get sick of dressing humans and we decide we must start decorating our much ignored friends...fruit!

I decided to decorate a pineapple for a friend as an edible gift. It was a fun and eco way of using the present as the wrapping :-)))

From a design standpoint I must admit that pineapples are one of the most interesting fruits out there. I just adore the shape of the oval body juxtaposed to the jutting plumage of the stem. If I were to design clothing inspired by edibles, a pineapple would one of the first...followed next by a star fruit, then perhaps by deformed lemons!

In many ways this posting is much more of a Martha Stewart moment, but sometimes we must seek inspiration outside of our normal boundaries and seek it in prickly objects!

Underbelly Inspiration

Today I am displaying another example of unintentional beauty. The design of different colored threads are the backside of a new type of vest-like garment I am experimenting with. I like how the hand stitches create a simple, almost childlike expression on the back of this fabric.

The front side is very complex and busy, so it is a nice juxtaposition to think about what is created below the busyness!

Here is a pic of what the front-side texture is like. Although the pic here isn't actually the finished garment of the piece that is pictured above. But almost.....

Collage, Collage, Collage

Besides creating clothing, collage is probably my next favorite artistic medium. In many ways I approach clothing design much like making a collage....except that it must be made of materials that you want to put on the body. This creates fun constraints--for me! However,in the end the freedom allowed in collage is very rejuvenating.

A little side note about me is that I almost never--might I dare say NEVER---buy greeting cards. I have almost always made them myself, and use birthday, holiday greetings as a great excuse to get to collaging.

Therefore, I thought I would post one of my most recent letters. This one was made for the artist Nick Cave (one of my personal heroes) and I decided to finally write him to tell him how much I appreciate what he brings to the world.


Pictured here is the front and back of the card. I ended up writing on it, but I photographed it in its pure form.

I also had a great deal of fun creating the envelope. I used a pair of denim pants as the container and I used my sewing machine to embroider the addresses. It was a bit tedious, but I really like the result. For the name "Nick Cave" I used a freestyle sewing foot which allowed me to create the name in a more organic form, in comparison to the the programed address part.

If you like what you see click HERE to see other collages by me.

Inspiration in Texture and Color

I thought I would share some images I took from one of the projects I am working on. Every so often--or perhaps more often than I admit-- I get inspiration from a garment as it evolves. Or in other words, in the act of creating a garment, the garment itself takes on its own surprising identity. That is, you really never know how something will be until it "is". And often, it "is" very different than imagined, and often even better than originally designed.

If you haven't gotten the gist yet, I like to philosophize about the creation process!!!

Anyway, back to the images at hand. The first image is a picture of a an acordian sleeve of a mini bolero jacket. The fabric is hand dyed silk by Ana Lisa Hedstrom and it is backed by a blue metallic silk organza. As I sewing it I was so taken by the inside of the jacket that I had to take a photo. I love how the organza adds a hue and a stiffness to the silk below and gives it a painterly feel when seen up-close.

The second pic is a pile of seam allowances that were trimmed from the same jacket, and I love how all the colors blend together in this little pile.

The Latest Blazer Vests Cont....

As usual I am posting one of the next vests to be created, plus an awkward photo of me wearing it. It is hard to take a good photo of yourself without any help!

Varda's Women to Debut at the W Hotel SF!

New Vagadu Labels

Been away for a while because I was working on my Aug. 30th deadline for the photoshoot for the "Varda's Women" fall gown collection. The last two weeks have been really intense working at least 10-12 hour days to get the dresses ready! But now that it happened and went well (photos to come soon) I am working on the little details for the dresses.One of these details being the all-important LABEL!!!!

I mean, without a label who are you?
So, I got crafty and came up with an idea for the next series of Vagadu tags. I may have mentioned this before but I love working with the heat press and doing dye transfer with it. The heat press is often used for T-shirts, but Ana Lisa Hedstrom and I have been playing with this machine using shibori techniques for months now and having some real fun!

I needed a Vagadu stencil so the easiest solution was to use one of my hangtags that have the Vagadu stamp on it (these tags are great because they are made of a nice heavy duty stock) and use an exacto knifee to cut the letters out of it.

Then, I used it a bizzilion ways on my fabric (which once was a little girl's bridal dress). You can see in the pic how much fun I had. And, so the next step will be to cut the individual labes out and seal the edges ..... although if I were a label-whore I might have to make these Vagadu fabrics into a bag or hotpants ;-)))) !!!!