Squeezing in Some Design Time

Summertime is my super busy time at work. I work in production at concerts in the Bay Area, and we're having a great season. My main gig is at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga as production runner. It's great to be fully emplyed, but hard on a creative chick like me who can't seem to make time to make stuff, so I decided to start taking my Magic Bunny (she's my silly stuffed bunny) to work with me. Over the past week I sneaked an hour and decorated a pair of Charmed Life Day of the Dead style hi-tops for her and they are adorable!

Well naturally, Magic Bunny has to have cute Day of the Dead outfits to wear them with, right? So yesterday as I headed out the door I grabbed my wardrobe assistant sewing kit, my scraps, beads & sequins bag and a piece of fabric featuring dancing skeletons. During my standby time I started designing a little Cha-Cha dress for my bunny, and put it together over the course of my day. It's a feel-good project for me!  Here she is modelling at my "desk" in the crew room.

Here's Magic Bunny backstage with Marcello & Chris, touring  guys with the Goo Goo Dolls. The guys thought she was so cute. I'm just really glad they didn't think I was off my rocker!

So here's one more shot of Magic Bunny, my little stuffed alter-ego, conveying my feelings,
"I want a road trip! Let's go on vacation!" I'll be bringing my design bag along the rest of the week, and try to make a few more pieces. It's a productive way to pass my stand-by time, and it fulfills my need to create something fun. Who knows, maybe there's somebody else out there with a Build-A-Bear friend who'd like for me to make them a little outfit... 

Excitement, Frustration and Discombobulation!

I'm getting a lot of great reaction to my work and lots of interest from friends and friends of friends who want to have cardies and kicks of their own. Exciting, right? Well, yes, of course it is! Wonderful and fabulous even!

At the same time my jobs are keeping me really busy, also a good thing. However it's a bit frustrating because I need time to put into my designs, which of course, are very time intensive. 

Several friends are interested in a pair of hi-tops. Steve is waiting patiently for a pair of custom kicks that have just not come together in the design center of my mind.

I keep thinking about all these pieces and maybe I'm getting a bit discombobulated trying to figure everything out. I'm sure other designers have experienced the same type of concerns so I'm not all alone in this, right?

I just want to say, if you're waiting for something from me, I'm working on it, even if it doesn't really appear that way. Thanks for your patience!




Lisa in her birthday gift!

 

Lisa Rocks her

Lucky Cardie!

Lisa loves her new cardie. She calls it her "Lucky Sweater". She wore it to class on her birthday and her teacher let her go home and take her birthday night off! That first night, she wore it with jeans. Next she wore it to the office with a pencil skirt and dress pumps. She gets compliments whenever she wears her cardie, but I think her personal fabulosity has something to do with that!

My Marty Cardie

Don't get me wrong, I love my violet cardigan, but everybody needs a few options in the closet, right? I decided it was time to make a new top for myself, especially because I just adore this little flower coifed skull motif. She's just so cheery and cute! I used her on Cynders' kicks and fell in love.

I've been asked why I like using the  Day of the Dead theme so much. You know, we all live with death every day. Everyone at some time or other has lost someone important in their life. I can't count the number of conersations I've had with each of my grandparents, my dad and my brother since they've passed over. My great grandmother Carrie Leona Miles Shumake, we all called her Marty, (even her children did!) loved to wear beautiful hats. For a Texas farm wife she was quite the fashion plate! These two little skulls remind me of Marty and Daddy George, and make me feel  so happy whenever I see them! I enjoy this little connection to them.

Here's the back detail of the Marty Cardie. Flowers for joy and life, bluebirds singing happily and butterflies for rebirth and regeneration.

The photo below shows the early part of the applique process. I baste the skull motif in place, then outline it by stitching tiny black beads around the motif.

Cynders' Kicks "In Action"

Cynders sent me this picture of her "Too Cool for School" hi-tops in "action" in her classroom yesterday. Don't you wish Cynders was your middle school teacher?

New Lavender Cardie

Well yes, I stayed up half the night and then slept half the day, but I finished the lavender cardie I was working on last night, and it's very cute! It's a size 18-20, same size and style as the turquoise one shown in the "How to Wash a Cardie" photo. I changed out the buttons it came with for some pretty multicoloured shell buttons. I just love this cardie!

Working After Midnight!



 

Sitting up late tonight, listening to the great sixties girl groups and singers on YouTube while stitching a new cardie. The past few days it's become pretty clear to me that I need to get a rack full made up! My sister Kathleen and I hit a couple of my favorite second hand shops (it's really called "junking") today where I was fortunate to collect ten great cardigans to work with. They're all washed and clean and ready to work on, so here I am. Just my little queen cat, The Shangri-Las, Pet Clark, The Marvelettes and me. And Patsy Cline. She's the real deal! What I would've given to have Patsy wear one of my cardies!

So, maybe you'll give the Girls a listen, and wish me well in my quest to construct a collection!

Here's my new Coral Cardie!

It has a jewel neckline and just enough detail. It's a size small, Misses 8. I just think it's super cute!

My Charmed Cardies!
I love those cute little cardigan sweaters from the '40s, '50s and '60s, you know, the ones with the beads and sequins. So a few months ago I decided to make some with my own twist. While studying Fashion Design at West Valley College I fell in love with a course called "Couture Embellishment".

For some of my favorite class projects I used print fabrics featuring Day of the Dead sugar skulls which I embellished with lots of beads and sequins. It was a natural design choice for me to take some of theses motifs and turn them into appliques for recycling cardigans. I embroider the motifs to the sweaters and embellish the motifs as well as the neckline of the sweater. I always add a little detail to the back of the cardigan too. Sometimes I change out the buttons. I really like shell, mother-of-pearl buttons.

Here are some pictures of my Cardies (which pre-date my Kicks!).



The violet is my own, the green scoopneck is for my future daughter-in-law, Lisa. Yes, they are time intensive, but I love to make them and I love how they turn out!

Thank yous to my Couture Embellishment teacher, Robynne Anger, and to my Mom-in-Law, Gary for suggesting the back detail. I love that! Cardies modelled by Mathilda, an old friend!

Who is this Jamie with the Charmed Life?
My name is Jamie and I have been sewing and making things as long as I can remember. My Grandma taught me to sew when I was a very little girl. She always encouraged me to use her scraps and all kinds of found bits and pieces to make, well, stuff! Of course, mostly I stitched by hand but Grandma also taught me to use her old iron Kenmore sewing machine, and when I was about nine Mom bought me a machine of my own. My life course was set! I still do plenty of hand stitching and I adore using all kinds of charms, beads and other fun embellishments to add plenty of detail to my work. It takes lots of time, but I think the results are worth every moment. My designs often include recycled and vintage materials, but just as often all materials are new. I love to Road Trip and find my inspiration around every twist and turn in the road, from San Francisco's Mission District to the California Coastal Redwoods to Joshua Tree National Monument and on throughout the entire Southwest! I've never met a campground a beach or a sunset I didn't fall in love with! I like to make clothes and jewelry that are comfortable and fun to wear on the road, and if they're distinctive and special, so much the better!

Cynders' Kicks!
These high tops were designed and made especially for Cynders, one of the Seven Sisters. The design is fabric applique on denim high tops sneakers, embellished with bead and sequin embroidery. Each pair of shoes is designed individually and embellished completely by hand. Every pair is an original! Photos by Kurt Miller