Fog Lifted, New Listing, and Letters Cut

The fog ended up lifting yesterday in the early afternoon, so I ran down to the patio and took some pictures of the Black Roses pair of pants. I edited the photos and listed the pair up on the store.



I think today will be totally devoted to present making. I know I keep saying that, but I really need to put the shop on hold for a little while to get these gifts made. I do have to day that some good came out of the circular cutter debacle a month or so ago. I bought several sizes of circular cutters to try to make a circle template work. I was rather upset to find that I needed the special cutter made by the template manufacturer. What was I going to do with four different size cutters? Well the smallest, 15 mm cutter, is working perfectly for this current project and cutting out letters. I hope to get it mostly completed and take pictures for you all to see what I made. I also have to do day two of week two of my jogging program. I have found that talking about it here is kind of like a confessional. If I don't end up doing it when I say I will here, I feel bad. Oh the inspirational value of guilt. I hope that today stays foggy, so I can indulge in pots of tea while I work, but that seems to not be the case. Well since the fog is lifting, I guess I should go and get some work done myself.

Sore, But Ready for Work

If you have been keeping track of me on my Twitter account you know about my current muscle soreness. I am going to tough it out though and get down to the gym after I get this blog entry finished. Yoga and dance last night seemed harder than usual, and I would like to think this is because my current state of being out of shape and starting an exercise program. I am determined to work through this though and get stronger and more able to dance without getting tired. The iPod has been beaten by my husband. It now works, and I cannot wait to use it today when I go for my jog.

In the shop today, I am going to get to work on that pair of pants I cut out yesterday. The Black Roses fabric is simply fabulous. I cannot wait to see what the finished pair will look like. I also have some retakes of the "I Dream of Asia" Jakarta Pants that need to be edited and uploaded. I also need to take some quick rough pictures of all the new fabrics I have gotten into the shop. Once I get those things done today, I am going to prep and hopefully cut out the new brown brocade fabric I have. Here is a picture of it, although it really does not show the colors too well:



It is a darker chocolate colored fabric with a thatch pattern of golden fibers. I would not have really picked it out myself, but it caught Dan's eye. He pulled the bolt out for me to look at, and I decided it was a winner of a brocade. I hope to get those done and uploaded for fall and winter purchasing in the next few days. This evening, I think I will start working on a birthday gift for one of my nieces. I want to stay ahead of the curve this year on gifts. I will post pictures when it is finished, and her birthday is over. Well I guess I should quit procrastinating and get down to the gym. Remember you can follow me on Twitter for smaller updates if you are so inclined. I also updated the Flickr feed today as well. You can check in there for pictures of new fabrics I get into the shop and make special tailoring requests then before I cut them into pants. Ok, enough procrastination... off I go.

On the Plate for Today

Today I am going to work on the Lime Peacock Jakarta Pants. I got them cut out yesterday after doing quite a bit of computer work. I got a bunch of pictures uploaded to my flickr photostream. Feel free to friend my photo stream to keep up with all the pictures I am taking of new products. I also post new fabrics there, and that is one of the few times I can be contacted about custom lengths on pants that are longer than the standard 36-38 inch outseam. I hope to get the lime pants totally finished today, so I can photograph them tomorrow. I also want to retake my photos of the "I Dream of Asia" pants. In my haste to open the original ebay store, I took pictures with out ironing out the pants completely. Amateur hour I know. So I am going back and retaking the photos of the pants that I originally made when I am taking other pictures of pants with the same color falls. I also am replacing some of the tags in th pants. When I first made these pants, I made all the tags with my own handwriting. I now hand stamp them with the Fabulous Pants font stamp instead, so there are still some old labels floating around that need to be changed out. If I have time before I have to head into the city to Japan Town for a going away party, I will cut out either a brown pair or a black pair of pants. I am leaning toward the black sari pants, but the brown fabric is also stellar. Pictures of the brown fabric is forthcoming, but I will leave you today with a picture of the black sari fabric that is most likely next in production.

Cloudy Day = No New Pictures

So I am putting the finishing touches on the blue daisy Jakarta Pants, and I was really excited to get them listed today. There is only one problem, the weather is finally changing here in the Bay area, and the constant sun is not there now. The first rain of the season is moving in tomorrow, so the early clouds are already here. That then means no product pictures today out on the patio. If the clouds lift long enough for some good pictures, I will run down there to take them, but that looks rather unlikely. The pants really do need to be photographed in full sun for the fabric to look anywhere close to the actual color. So, this puts my plan to list every other day in jeopardy. I have decided to put the lime pair on hold a bit and get the extra long purple, black, and sliver hairfalls finished up. Those can be photographed on a plain white background since I do not have to model them. It is also a Thursday, so that means time to go over to 826 Valencia for tutoring sessions. I also think I will try to hit the two thrift stores on my way there to look for some other items I need for holiday gift creation. I think I am going to pop on a movie and get some braiding done. Hopefully some day I will be faster at this aspect of costuming craft.

Finally.... Purple Pants!

I am so excited and pleased to be able to offer these purple pants for sale. Purple is my personal favorite color, so it is always hard for me to part with any purple items, but I would like for these to go to a happy home. They were a joy to work with, and while I loved working with some new fabrics for the Jakarta line for my recent custom orders, I was happy to get back to saris. There is just something magical about the way the light plays on the fabric, and the colors it creates. Yet, what is great and wonderful about these fabrics is also what is horrible about photographing them. I am never quite happy with the results of my amateur photography skills, and the pants require just the perfect conditions for me to be able to get them on film. Even when I do get some pictures that turn out, I feel that they miss the luster of the fabrics in most cases. So, here is my humble submission of my photography, modeling, and editing skills on display for you.



For today in the shop, I am going to work on that blue pair of pants that got cut out a few days ago. I hope to get those completed today, so I can get to photographing and listing them tomorrow. If that gets done early enough, I am going to get some lime colored pants cut out. This fabric was really intriguing to me, and I think it will look great on someone with a darker complexion. Here is a quick picture of that fabric for you.



The hubby is working late, so I hope for today to be an extremely productive day. If for some stroke of the imagination I get those things done, I will then work on more fortune cookie promotions. I am in love with them, and the new tool I got to help me with making them. After all the disappointment and frustration with the cutting tool I bought that did not work, I treated myself to a great circle cutter from Olfa. It is taking some time for me to learn how to use it, but it makes things so much easier. I can churn out circles much faster. I need to get as much in for the shop as I can now because Holiday crafting season will be here before you know it, and I will have to turn my attention to the family gifts. I am already doing the research for the gifts this year, but I need to start construction soon. I am determined to not be crazy this December. Well I think it is time to get down to some ironing and pinning...

Supplies Run

I worked on the purple pants yesterday. I got the fabric all ironed out, and folded for cutting, and then cut to only find out I could not sew them up. In all the recent supply runs I have filled in all the gaps for colors of thread, or so I thought. I went into the thread pile to find that I had only three feet of purple thread in the color of the pants I wanted to work on. *SIGH* So, I moved on and worked on ironing out, folding, and cutting another pair of pants in a beautiful light blue. This fabric also has the binding on one side, but the delicate shade of blue was also too good to pass up the day I bought the fabric. It has great little daisy type flower details all along the design patterns. I also like that the gold embroidery on it is a more subtle shade of gold and less bright in spots. It looks almost antiqued. So, on the plate for today is a quick run to the fabric store for more thread. I am also going to hit some thrift shops to look for certain supplies I need for making some of my holiday gifts for family this year. I am trying for once to start my gift making now, so I am not a crazy person come December. I find making stuff for the eldest niece is getting tougher and tougher as she starts to get older, and the thought of her being too old for toys made by her Aunt just gets to me. I need to go and visit them sometime this year while they are all still little and not too cool for me. Well there are many places to get to and my feet and BART only travel so fast. I will leave you with a quick picture of the blue daisy fabric for the other pair of pants I am cutting out.

Inspiring Weekend

This weekend I decided to recharge the creative batteries. I went with my husband and a friend to the De Young museum to see the Chihuly exhibit. It was full of beautiful glass works, and it was nice to see someone else who seems to love vibrant colours. He also has a very whimsical view it seems, and his love for natural forms was also something I connected with. Below is a picture of his glass ceiling. It was a great piece and seemed to be a gigantic "I Spy" picture made of glass. If you go to the above link, you can see pictures of the entire exhibit. I highly recommend it to anyone who can see it when it comes to your city. Pictures just do not do this exhibit justice. It is something that must be experienced in person.



After that, I went with my husband to see Lewis Black in Berkeley. It was a great night. The show was really funny and rounded out my day nicely. On Sunday, it was back to finishing work on some pairs of special order pants. They are finally finished after much wrestling and wrangling, but I think they came out beautifully.

Yesterday was filled with house cleaning. I have let it slide for too long, and it really needed to be done. I tackled it all yesterday. Who knew such a small apartment could take so long to clean. It is great though, and I love having a sparkling clean house. Now, I can mess it all up with pants making! I have some great fabrics I bought a week or so ago and some older ones that I can finally get to. Today I am going to work on the purple moon flower fabric that I have. While the sari binding is only on one side, I could not give it up. I thought it was too pretty of a pattern and colour to pass up. Here is a quick picture I took of it. Hopefully I can get these made today and photographed tomorrow. It is all weather dependent on that. I want to get them up for sale by Thursday though. On that note.... off to iron this great fabric out to get it ready to cut!