refashion, restore...

so, i'm getting ready to make a big, cross-country move from new york city to san francisco in one-point-five weeks. eep! so soon!! but before i leave, i decided that i would force myself to go through my closet and get rid of anything i don't wear/doesn't fit and fix what needs TLC/could use some restyling. i have a laundry basket full of clothes in need of small and big fixes, which i am diligently working my way through this week, in and among moving errands and the requisite packing.

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earlier this summer, i bought this madras/tie-dye sundress from old navy, because i was intrigued by it's unusual, mish-mashed fabrication/fabric treatment. it was sort of long, so i hacked it off, making it short enough to reveal a good chunk of a vintage nordstroms circle skirt i found some time ago at buffalo exchange here in brooklyn (williamsburg, to be exact). it's paired with a vintage navy blue ribbed tee with crochet trim, and i thought the outfit would look mighty fine with either the green or the blue shoes! i really like the idea of layering skirts over skirts, or skirts under dresses, to shake things up from a styling point of view...

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i found these citizens of humanity cropped jeans at goodwill, on e. 23rd street at the beginning of the summer. they had big branded snaps on the waist and pockets, and one was missing. i covered the remaining snaps and snapless areas with monochomatic yo-yos. i also hacked them off and re-hemed them, turning to knee length shorts (because as i've said before, things that hit somewhere between my calves and ankles make me look truncated).

i rather like how this simple refashion worked out. :)

i'm imagining the jean shorts above with strappy heels or heeled sandals, or with knee high boots and thick, colorful tights (perhaps printed?) once the weather finally cools off.

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last week i took eight pairs of my beloved vintage and new shoes and boots to a manhattan cobbler whom i read about in lucky magazine (twice!) many moons ago, for some much needed TLC. soles were wearing down, fissures had formed across the top of some parched vintage boots, and scuffs marred the surfaces of many pairs of my precious footwear. arty of arty's shoe service on 8th between 22nd and 23rd fixed my shoes up and has given them new life!! arty is apparently the second in a line of cobblers, and runs the shop, greeting customers and is totally the epitome of new york-ishness. i recommend him wholeheartedly...not something i do lightly! he replaced the soles on this particular pair, conditioned the leather, and replaced the dried up, scary insole. i haven't ever been able to wear these shoes, and now i can!

after bringing my cache of repaired shoes home yesterday, i was inspired to get out all my shoes (not a light task!), clean the insoles with soap and water (you wouldn't BELIEVE the dirt that inexplicably collects in one's shoes living in NYC, it's CRAZY! it never happened when i lived elsewhere), and conditioned and polished the leather on each pair. it looks like i have a closet full of new shoes. a little TLC for one's things goes a long way, and in the end it's cheaper than buying a bunch of new shoes (or clothes for that matter!)...

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i'm not officially participating, but there's a participatory blog entitled wardrobe refashion over at blogger, where members pledge for varying periods of time to refashion clothing they already own, rather than buy new, and they post the results for all to see. some of the results are quite successful!

no idle hands.

i can never, ever keep still. always doing, dabbling with this, that. ***

for starters, i decorated the front and back cover of my sketchbook/croquisbook:

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i'm taking a sweater design class at downtown yarns, a local yarn shop. i kind of know what i'm doing in that arena, but my knitting and crochet design legs are still wobbly, so i figured i'd take a class. it gives me something to do in this limbo period i find myself in of late. i like taking classes. if i could, i'd be a perpetual student. okay, maybe not... :)

anyhow...here's my preliminary sketch: the sweater i've designed, which i've nicknamed "the age of acid empires" sweater (due to it's acid-green color and shape), is the one on the far left in this sketch (with the front and back views). it's a tent-shaped, empire-waist affair, with a lace panel down center front. it's also got a loose low neck and small, short sleeves which shall also be a little on the loose side. i'm thinking floaty and comfortable. something worn over a brightly colored cotton camisole, whose printed fabric can peep out of the yarn-over lace holes in front and back.

i made some swatches, one with the leaf motif lace pattern i plan to put up the center front of the sweater: i had originally intended for the sweater to be white. unfortunately, the white was sold out when i went back to get more, so i ended up with a quite lovely acid-green. the yarn is blue sky yarn's 100% cotton worsted.

i'm a little more than halfway through the back of the sweater. i had to make some increases on the back as i was approaching the armholes, and the class instructor suggested doing them in a different manner (with one increase in from the edge, and others 14 stitches in), but i thought paired yarn-over increases looked more interesting and achieved the same end, while sort of echoing all the lace and yarn-overs that i intend to have in the front of the sweater.

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and lastly: i've decided to test my mettle as a newly-minted "designer" and have given myself the task of making a small capsule collection based on my own measurements, using almost all recycled (read: vintage, thrifted fabrics) from my own collection. in the end, each piece will be something that i can actually wear, and will be representative of what my design sense is all about. which is, in a nutshell, "cute". :P above are some of the fabrics i am intending to use.

lighten up, it's just fashion!

project runway 3 started this week. as with the past two seasons, i'm taking it with a grain of salt. i feel like a have a slightly different view of it, having been around/worked/studied in the industry, but it's still entertaining nonetheless. ***

been keeping busy the last few days:

wednesday and thursday, i went to a couple fabric exhibitions here in NYC, on behalf of a good pal from parsons and a client of hers. those exhibitions would be the turkish fashion fabric exhibition, and premier vision: european preview, respectfully. vendors representing major fabric mills have tons of samples for perusal and one goes around and flicks through the swatches, and then places orders for chosen swatches to be mailed to oneself. like what you see once you get the swatches? order hundreds of yards/meters of it, and have your clothes manufactured from it. two giant rooms of fabric that are available for collections that are to be delivered for fall/winter 2007-2008 (that's a full year ahead). displays of colors for said season (an abundance of muted tones and shades...the only brights they showed on the big color trend display were rich reds, burgundies, and red-oranges). big displays of fabric trends and color trends, together. extremely enlightening, a good experience. it tickles me that my ID said i was "head designer" of my own company, if only for a day (or two). IF ONLY i was able to afford to start something up right now. but it's not the right time (mostly because i lack experience, capital, and by extention, any sort of investors/investments or the potential for such, at this current juncture).

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drawings in my croquisbook/sketchbook: goofing off with mad ruffles and insane headgear/hairstyles, yo. just having a little fun and keeping my drawing mojo activated.

when i think of designs, i think collections. it's part of my schooling, definitely. a drawing/design inspires the next one, and so on. play with details, try this, try that, try it all. dump it all out before you forget it or lose it. out of all that, something amazing may arise. i feel it is akin to the photographer's penchant for shooting rolls and rolls of film or filling memory cards with shots: more to choose from, more chance for the one shot that's *just right*.

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oversized sweater dress i finished last night. top down construction. raglan sleeve increases based on glampyre's "minisweater", and the rest was my own idea. made of "galway" 100% wool yarn, and done completely in the round (body and sleeves). took me the better part of 2.5-3 weeks to complete. MILES of stockinette. LOOK at the WIDE skirt.

glad to be done, because my wrists/hands feel like they are going to fall off. i'm taking a break from knitting for several days, if not a week or more, lest i injure myself irreparably.

good thing: it's inspired me to do some other things, variations on top down/in the round construction, once i'm rested and have taken a holiday from knitting for a bit. if you haven't knitted from the top down/in the round, YOU SHOULD. i think it's one of the most malleable, flexible, creative ways to knit. you make it up as you go along. not saying other ways of knitting are bad, i just think this one is so intuitive and actually, really easy. i'm still exploring the possibilities, in my mind, and in actual, factual yarn.