magic

I spent yesterday into the night with a very dear friend who was not only willing to do more modeling for me, but to welcome me into her home and allow me to shoot the pictures with her new camera. Ah, technology... My camera and laptop were bought in 2005, and I'm still using them. Well, sort of. After shooting more than 1200 pictures, we sat at her Mac and used her Photoshop to check out the pictures and how to edit them. Oh my God, my brain hurt when I watched her with a few quick flicks of her index fingers alter the shading in a picture and highlight her body in a halo-like lighting. By the time I left there last night, I was anxious to get home and show Dan the few pictures we downloaded onto my flash. And of course, going to my older Dell after my experience at her house was like using an abacus to do calculus. And -- AHHHH! -- the pictures wouldn't come up on my computer.

That being said, I only have four pictures from that photo shoot yesterday because Rose, the model/techie extraordinaire, emailed those to me so I could put them on our etsy site.

Not only am I so blessed to have such a valued friend as Rose, but also to have her so willing to help me in this business venture that Dan and I have taken together. To have her such an integral part of this means so much to both of us, and it was really nice of her and her husband to paint their kitchen just the right color to accentuate the dress!

Here's the part about yesterday that has truly brought me to my knees in amazement and gratitude. Back in 2008 I had a reading done by a clairvoyant/channeler/seer, etc. from Australia. I knew she was divinely in tuned before I ever approached her (through email) to do a reading for me. When I received my reading via audio tape and listened to it more than four years ago, she told me that I would meet my Twin Flame and together we would make clothes together. She said I would sew these garments and they would alter those who wear them. At the time I was not dating anyone. I was sewing clothes that didn't seem to alter anyone, but I was optimistically looking forward to meeting this person and making clothes together. She said the energy that we put into the clothing would be like nothing else. I remained intrigued for years about this reading. I questioned, but not once did I think it would NOT come true.


Yesterday Rose told me how magical the dresses felt. What was interesting to me was how different she looked in every one of them. It was almost like she took on a different persona with each change. Today we spoke on the phone and she mentioned the magical quality of the dresses again. I just know that when I finish each one, slip it over the dress form, and then step back and look at it, I just absolutely fall in love. My heart just opens up. There are many times that I just hug them. It's a love fest in my studio. I feel like these dresses are the best things I've ever done, and looking at them on Rose and her daughter made me realize that I am on the right track. Working alone all day sometimes gets to me, crazy doubts about my own creativity might seep in and I wonder if I should be doing something else in my life. Oh, the craziness sometimes that goes on between my ears. What I do know for sure is that the most amazing tie-dyes come my way, and I lose myself in cutting them up and sewing them into dresses. Hours go by and I don't even notice the sun going down. And, by the time I look at what I've put on my dress form I am so deeply loving the latest dress. I just feel myself opening and filling up with the most extraordinary love. I wish I could explain this better, but I'm discovering the more I try to use words to describe it, the less potency the feeling has.

Thank you to Rose, to her daughter, to Dan, and to Ananara in Australia. I could not have done any of this without you.

Studio Craziness

When I'm laying in bed trying to sleep, I think of all sorts of things to write. As a matter of fact, sometimes I can do nothing else but think of all sorts of things to write -- and sew. I've never known myself to become so obsessed with these two passions -- writing and sewing, but they now take over most of my thoughts and almost all of my dreams. I wake up some mornings exhausted because I've been "working" in my dreams -- making new dresses with belts, staging photo shoots, and of course writing about it all. Whew...

And if I'm not thinking/dreaming about making dresses, then I'm thinking about selling them. Every time I finish a dress and sit it on my dress form, I can feel that it belongs to someone. It's a matter of getting the dress to that very person that it's for. The last dress was for someone in France. I'm not sure what path led her to the dress, but the dress is now on its way to her.

Here's the dress winding its way across the globe to reach its final destination. What's really interesting about this is that the model in these pictures just took her husband to the airport yesterday to fly to France. Hm, never thought about that until just now...

Images of dresses meander through my mind at all times of the night and day. It's a never-ending movie in my head. I just go into my studio, grab a pile of scraps, and just serge until I can't serge anymore. There are so many times that (most of the time, actually) I have no game plan whatsoever. I pick up the piles and serge. I go into a serging mode that releases my thoughts to another world, and when I decide to "come back" to my studio I discover the pile of scraps have disappeared and the dress that they have turned into is heavy in my lap.

As a matter of fact, the end of September was a turning point for me. I had a birthday, and for a week I sewed until I couldn't. I sewed. I cut fabric. I dreamed. I thought. I mulled, and here are the results. I call these The Birthday Dresses.

These are all different sizes too. Dan, my partner, and I go to rummage sales, garage sales, bag sales, and anywhere else we can find amazing bargains. After bringing home our finds and looking at each one of them (and are there ever oohs and ahs over many of them!), he tie-dyes them in lots. As you can tell some of the above dresses are in golds, yellows, and browns so that I could mix and match the pieces. Once they're dyed and dried, they come to me in my studio where I pick a top to start with (at least that's what I did with the birthday dresses) and then slice up other shirts for the skirts.

Yep, from fabric to dresses. That's how it goes. Last step is drinking my coffee and putting my feet up!

But that was back in September. October's been a new month for me in every way. I've lost my mind in fabric, and I have one of my latest to prove it.

Looks not so crazy, right? Sort of? And then there's this...

Now that's what I'm talking about -- still crazy after all these years!