the ever-expanding blog post

Wearing a handmade silk tank, dyed using cutch

Recently Tara-Lynn of Good Night, Day tagged me in the Ever-Expanding Blog Post, a call to makers to ask themselves four questions, then pass the interview along to fellow makers and designers they admire.

Silk dyed with logwood

What am I working on?

Currently I am finishing up my fall/winter collection, to be released in the next couple weeks (I'm always last-minute about this stuff). This season, I'm experimenting with natural dyes like logwood and cutch as well as sewing with new fabrics like ethically-sourced knits and hemp blends.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There is no one thing about my designs that makes my work different, I think it's the combination of factors that makes it so - weird yet wearable shapes created from hand-dyed fabrics, inspired by things that I surround myself with like Asian art, southern history, even video games and sci fi movies.

Why do I create what I do?

I honestly wasn't all that into fashion until college - and even then I liked some strange stuff, little girl dresses found at thrift stores mostly. I skipped the runway/major label love stage altogether.

I fell for clothing and sewing when I realized that what you wear can make you feel not only beautiful or comfortable or desirable, but empowered. Clothing gives its wearer not just the ability to enhance, but to reinvent his/her shape or look. Nowadays, I try to approach design from the way a piece feels when worn. I create clothing to empower the wearer.

How does my creative process work?

It works however and whenever it wants to! Ideas will pop up at the strangest times, and rarely when I actually have time to sit down and sketch them out. If I sit on an idea for too long, it will slowly come apart. The best thing to do when I have an idea is to sketch, then make a muslin, then make the piece as quickly as possible.

Also I usually wait til the last minute to get my new designs on a model, but I need to stop that and skip to that step sooner. When it's on a human being, it all makes sense. More so than on a mannequin or in a sketchbook. The first time a piece of mine is worn is one of the most gratifying parts of my job.

I'm happy to keep this post going and tag illustrator Jessica Duthu of Strawberry Moth, jewelry designer Christine Young of Young Frankk, and fiber artist Allison Volek Shelton of Shutters & Shuttles.