Monthly Archives: February 2021

………………….SEVEN YEARS!!!!! By now I felt like an old timer….LOL…I’d seen new designers added to the roster…..and after two or three seasons I’d see them go. If you weren’t a success after a certain amount of time you were cut……Many times a designer didn’t get a chance for the customers to even get to know them….to try the clothes out and see how they liked the product…….Pamela, Victor, George, Marc and so many others came and went…..The May Anniversary group had many beautiful items starting with the LINEN/TENCIL  two button Blazer at the bottom left. This was a brand new fabric I had developed from an Italian fabric I had in my archives. It was beautiful. It had a weave like a Panama hat…..it had panache….It was weighty but had a beautiful soft languid drape due to the tencil. The blazer came in IVORY, GREEN and FUCHSIA. The black lace trims gave the jacket the punch and nuance it needed…It had 3/4 length sleeves with a curved hem and a button. The coordinating rib tank in the cotton/rayon also had the black lace trim…..The Bermuda shorts and the Trousers were in the Linen tencil and worked with everything in the group and everything to come. If you loved the look of linen than they were the new summer essentials. I’m not sure when the Bermudas became avail. but they were planned for this group. Both pants were in Ivory and Black…..The next stretch cotton shirt was a THREE FOR ONE! I loved doing those kinds of things. First you had your basic shirt with a button front, a small shirt collar with a stand, body darts for shape and a curved bottom. The sleeves were 3/4 length, but the split cuff went straight down with a single button. The fun part of the shirt was the TWO SEPARATE button on front pieces. One was a self cotton fabric pleated trim set into a separate band that buttoned onto the front buttons of the shirt……The second attachment was a little more frivolous. It was a DOUBLE LAYER of shirred tulle cut in two widths so one peeked out from the other. The edge of the tulle was finished off with a fine cotton piping. This helped to keep the ruffled tulle bouncy. Again, it just buttoned onto the front and no one would ever know they were separate pieces…..Again, three for one…….Starting at the top again was a short sleeve sheer rayon georgette shirt. I saw the picture of Jennifer Aniston wearing a similar shirt and new I had to do one for Linea. ALL OF THE SEAMS were FRENCH seamed so the shirt was clean inside and out…..NO SEAM ALLOWANCES…..even the body darts were French seamed. The sleeve had a very wide facing which made it look like a wide band. It had a round bottom, and came with it’s own tank. Some complained it was too sheer?????? That was the whole purpose of the shirt!!! This quickly became one of Jac’s favorite pieces. As soon as she saw it away it went to her closet! I had to BORROW it from her to do “looks”, and she quickly told me to return it. Jac eventually got tired of this borrowing business and started ordering her own clothes which she had to pay for. She only did this with things she didn’t want me to touch. Most of the time she was happy just to take my sample!….The next sweater tank had all over [front and back] small black sequin emb. It was finished with black tubular trims. The colors were Ivory/Black, Fuchsia/Black and Black/Black. These were fun layering tanks under so many things or just on their own…..The last item was a  flowing silk chiffon paisley print tunic. It had fine silk piping and a button front which, if so desired, could be left open to show the solid Silk CDC tank. It had side slits. It also had a piped handkerchief cuff that added to the movement and femininity of the tunic…It came in Black/White and Red/White…..The White and Black sequin top looked great under the black paisley for an interesting and unexpected mix….play, play, play

………………….May 07 was a very big group, so I’ve split it up with two collages….Starting with the top row there is a six panel emb. cotton skirt. It had a paisley and vine design, and each panel was separated with a vine. The top of the waist band and the bottom of the skirt were piped in black. The colors were White with Black, White with Green and Orchid cotton with Black emb. This was a fun cotton skirt to dress up or down with a tank and flip flops…..The next tunic shirt was made in a stretch light cotton. It had THREE DIFFERENT LACES sewn on to create the design. It buttoned with 5 loops and 5 jet buttons that stopped a few inches below the waist and then opened. It had inseam pockets….The colors were White with Black, Orchid with Black and Fuchsia with Black laces……The bottom shows some very special pieces starting with the layers of georgette. There was double layer tunic with bracelet length sleeves, side slits and a key hole in a ballet neckline. The under layer hung longer than the top and both layers were completely piped on all edges…..The “pant skirt” was a pull on. It was a crop pant with an overlay of georgette just a bit longer than the pant. The two pieces came in Black, White and Peacock….They were perfect take away pieces that could be matched or mixed with other things….The next sweater was completely hand knitted. It had a raglan sleeve and a ballet neckline. It was the intricate pattern that separated this sweater from others….The knitting pattern was very complicated, and stitches were dropped and added to give the sweater a shape. I was far from a box shape with two sleeves. It too came in the Black, Peacock and White. The sweater looked fabulous with the layered pant/skirt…….The next skirt was pure whimsy! It was in a poly georgette. The bottom had rows of laser cut “feathers” one row over lapping the other for fullness. It also had teardrop sequins mixed in with the “feathers”. When you walked in the skirt all of the “feathers” fluttered…….I realize it’s hard to imagine. You will just have to take my word for it that it was FABULOUS!……The last skirt was made in cotton. It was a three tiered skirt and each tier was totally different. The top tier was simply black….the middle tier had tiny pleats and tucks all stitched down with black thread creating the look of a vertical stripe…..and the bottom tier was a combination of thread emb and tier drop shaped black jet beads used to create the petals favorite summer skirts to wear with a black tank and flip flops. It came in Black and White, Turquoise and Black and Fuchsia and Black.

……………..From romantic March to North African April. I always tried to make each month’s new offerings totally different….. April 07 was all about ETHNIC and ARTISAN style. This was fun to create, but very very challenging to make! Almost every piece was complicated! Starting with the LINEN/RAYON jacket and pant on the top row. I called this the “DJELLABA” jacket. Djellabas are long loose fitting unisex garments mostly worn in North Africa……..They could be very simple or very elaborate, and some had hoods. This is my take on a djellaba made into a jacket. ALL of the black bands have  seams under them and then the bands were sewn on top to cover the seams….There were many pieces, front and back, to this garment and a LOT OF SEWING to make this garment. First all of the seams needed to be sewn together…then linen banding had to be made and applied to the jacket PRECISELY!!! You can see from the sketch all of the work that had to be done! Elaine was wringing her hands!!! She was constantly telling me we weren’t making “designer” clothes…but those were the only clothes I knew how to design! I pushed her to the limit, but she never broke. I knew she loved a challenge from the simple clothes she was making for others.The entire jacket was lined in a DTM very light weight cotton lawn to keep it as light as possible….The buttons were real Abalone shell DTM and used on the wrong side. The colors were NATURAL with BLACK, MOCHA with BLACK and SPICE with BLACK….all inspired by the colors of Morocco… LINEN, COTTON LAWN, and REAL SHELL BUTTONS plus all of the LABOR added up to one heck of a DESIGNER JACKET. I doubt any of the women who bought this really knew what they were getting, and all of the work that went into it…..I’m sure Elaine was happy when they were finally made and shipped. I’m also sure she was very proud of the final result. Maybe now you can understand a little better why I could not go on designing without my partner….A designer could be a “great designer”, but without the support of people like Elaine they are nothing……The pant was in the same linen blend and had an easy wider leg. Since it was in the linen and only had natural stretch we kept the trouser leg easy. It had a zip front,  elastic at the sides of the waist band and pockets……The next LINEN /RAYON skirt was Elaine’s second big challenge!. It was inspired by the photo of Jac’s shoe below. It was an 8 panel Linen/Rayon A-line skirt. It had a side zipper and elastic on the sides of the waist band. Actually, this was more of a challenge for me than Elaine!…..I had to design the emb.. It was a combination of appliqued pieces, thread work and hand sewn sequins and beads. It was avail in WHEAT /BLACK/MULTI and SPICE/BLACK/MULTI….The large black sections were black cotton that were cut into these specific shapes and sewn onto each panel [the panels were made separately and then sewn together]. The linen/rayon with the cotton had a very ethnic authentic look. The nomads would often sew odd pieces of different cloth together in different patterns. It was frugal as well as beautifully artistic. Of course the more the creative the individual woman was the more beautiful the final result. Nomads made clothes as well as cushions and ottomans like this.. On top of the black cotton thread work and beading was added. I recently found this skirt in my warehouse, and it is even more beautiful than I remembered. There are separate photos of it to follow.. When I handed the art work into Rowena…she looked at it and looked at me, and had a look on her face that said “I’ll show it to Elaine and then run!”…She said “OK I’ll show it to Elaine”. Elaine called me crazy but sent it over to China anyway. They did a great job of reproducing my emb!!!..and we could afford it… “if you don’t ask, you don’t get!!!”……The “glory days”….. The  tank in silk/nylon brought Elaine a sigh of relief!! One easy garment to make. It was avail in the WHEAT, POMEGRANATE and BLACK…..Next was the MIDI SKIRT in SILK CREPE de CHINE. It was approx. 27 inches long, a pull-on elastic waist with inseam pockets…. Now you would guess the stripes were printed…..you would be wrong. Each stripe was a separate piece sewn together! I LOVED these skirts they were so billowy and ethnic looking. All you needed was a simple tank and some fabulous jewelry! They were unlined and moved beautifully…..skirts to dance in……The little jacket next to the skirt was another relatively easy garment for Elaine to produce….however these simple little thing could give the biggest headaches! They had to be made perfectly because every little flaw screamed out! The jacket was in a beautiful silky blend of LINEN and RAYON. I used this fabric often. The jacket was short, unlined…had a flat shirt collar [no stand], side slits and 3/4 sleeves. It had one loop and button just under the collar. It came in three colors, BLACK, CURRY and COFFEE. These colors were all in the striped skirts, and the tanks coordinated with the two pieces…..It was a matter of mixing colors to create interesting looks……The next sweater was my nightmare not Elaine’s! It was a Moroccan inspired sweater in cotton/acrylic. It took me for ever to work out the design of the CHAIN STITCH and BEAD EMB. It was on the front…it was on the back and it was on the sleeves! It came in WHEAT, SPICE and MOCHA. It had a slight scoop neckline with a split, 3/4 sleeves and side slits. I very recently saw this sweater in spice on ebay and it looked like it was in beautiful condition. They had some beautiful pictures of the emb.. The only reason I can think of for selling it is they are just plain tired of wearing it after all these years, but what’s old for one person is BRAND NEW for someone else….and it was dirt cheap! It’s the type of sweater you would find in the Sundance catalog, or the Peruvian Catalog or even Soft Surroundings and maybe Johnny Was…….Catalogs that offer unusual pieces.

…………………….I loved this skirt for so many reasons…Of course the over all look of the skirt was pure fun. The ethnic, hand made. and artisan look of the skirt is what I truly loved. Yes, it was a challenge to design…..deciding the pattern the colors and where the metallic threads, sequins and beads should go was like a huge puzzle….but that’s the fun of designing….anyway for me. I know many designers would hand this project off to others to figure out. They would give them some sort of abstract inspiration and send them off. The minutiae of it was overwhelming for many. What I also love about artisan skirts or any apparel is there is no time or place……..they are never dated or out of fashion….because they are artisan……and that never goes out of style. This skirt looks as fresh and as much fun as when I first did it many years ago.

………………………..The Moroccan sweater has unbelievable hand emb in thread work and sewn on sequins. I recently saw this sweater on ebay for $29! I have seen sweaters in this vein in many catalogs including Soft Surroundings, Peruvian Collection and Sundance…..For me it’s a collector’s item because sweaters with this amount of emb…front, back and sleeves are not often avail at a reasonable price……and ethnic inspired clothes are never out of date. Some may be tired of wearing something like this after so many years, but to someone else it’s NEW and FRESH!