( click for larger view.)

This past weekend I finished up yet another of my sketchbooks; this one I had been slowly filling since early Autumn. The beginning is peppered with scribbles about the wedding, lists and other things that were heavily on my mind six months ago. But as of late, I once again started to record garment details and create a visual wishlist of clothes I’d like to make one day. Recently, I had someone ask to take a peek into my sketchbooks, so I’ve pulled a few of my favorite pages from past books:

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Interestingly although I’ve taken numerous art classes in the past, I still tend to be very sketchy with my garment drawings. It’s a way for me to work an idea out on paper before it escapes my imagination forever, and things tend to get messy! I have literally a box full of these sketchbooks that I brought with me. Every few months I’ll go back and look through them, culling new ideas or rediscovering old ones. It’s fun to find some themes and motifs continue throughout several books as well; some of which eventually worked their way into a final project or garment design.

Do you like to sketch your ideas out? Or do you record your ideas and inspiration or prepare for a project another way? I’d love to hear how you keep your inspirations!

(A photo from our honeymoon in the Florida Keys (this is Key West). The sky was really that blue!)

Hello, dear friends! How was your weekend? Sailor Husband and I had a lovely first-Valentine’s Day (as a married couple). We spent the afternoon at the Tampa aquarium, dinner at a fantastic Japanese restaurant, and the evening was topped off watching our hometown hockey team (Washington Capitals) win against the Tampa team! Unfortunately, the camera we brought with us proved to have dead batteries, so no photos. Boo-hoo!

Over the past few weeks, I have discovered a few Flickr photostreams that have some lovely and inspiring vintage images. They have been a source of much inspiration for my daily outfits and sketchbook lately! I hope you enjoy these…

myvintagevogue




ladyday0_5

l to r:autumn-to-winter dress |
can-can pencil skirt |
tuxedo cardigan |
maturing sun coat |
herringbone shift |
midnight freesia headband |
carlsbad bag |
sovereign shooties

And yet wanting to be oh so bad! Yesterday I went on a shopping trip with my mom and her best friend, acting as the fashion consultant/personal shopper/token young female (the latter is just a joke! lol!). Despite the allure of many pairs of shoes and a striking yellow jacket, I resisted the urge to buy anything. However, coming on the heels was a notification of some new items at Anthropologie, which hasn’t helped the temptation to go buy some new things. At least, since I cannot afford them right now, I can be inspired by the details!

I’ve also been going through my massive collection (remember this post?) of Anthropologie catalogs. Perhaps it’s because I’m busily trying to pack things up that are littering my bookshelves, but I think it has more to do with lately feeling a bit drained in the creativity department. I’ve rediscovered some amazing styles and have had my inspiration jogged a bit back into action. I also just finished making the 1940s trousers–a completed project always helps get the inspiration mojo back!

My apologies of posts lately have been a bit fluffy. My mind is definitely being overrun with wedding related busyness right now! I’m frantically trying to prep posts for the coming weeks, ‘cause I just know that the Distraction Level is going to only get worse going forward! I pretty much plan on blogging up until the Wednesday before the Big Day, and then taking a three week break while I move and we go on our honeymoon (oh yes: and I “recover” a bit in there–lol!). And then, oooh!!! I’m so excited about the December/January plans I have for this blog!!! But as bad as I am about keeping surprises, I can’t spill the beans just yet…

I hope you all are having a simply splendid week!

Just popping in because I wanted to show you a picture of my finished shirt refashion! I love how it came out–I’ve been wearing it for days. lol. I’m not sure if it’s the stripes, or lace, or just the fit that keep me coming back to it again and again. But it sure is a versatile piece!

Also, last week the lovely Paper Doll gave me a blog award! She has the most amazing, vintage-inspired style, and I’m just tickled to pieces that she included me. And so, I’d like to pass on the love a bit and gift these blogs with awards:

      Alyson writes about a variety of design and style related topics at her blog Unruly Things, and always has the most beautiful photography to accompany many of her posts!
      Kelly just started her new blog I’m Nobody Too, and she writes gorgeous, inspiring posts.
      I just started reading Jennine’s blog, The Coveted, but I absolutely adore her variety of fashion-related articles!
      Betsy blogs about a lot of retro-inspired fashion that just makes me swoon at From Betsy with Love!
      Sally’s vintage-infushed style always inspires me at her blog Sally Jane Vintage.
      I just found that Ranna writes a lovely blog, Only Shallow, in addition to her stylish Flickr photostream!

I know for awhile I didn’t do these sorts of things, and suddenly it seems like I’m doing loads of them! But I really think it’s fantastic that everyone in the blog community can have the opportunity to be generous with each other. Not to mention it gives me an excuse to post about blogs I love to read, but you may not know about! hehe! And, because I’m always curious… please feel free to comment with a link to your blog–I’d love to see it!!!

Sometimes the design process is very straight-forward and easy. Other times, not so much! Yesterday I was browsing through the new, Anthropologie catalog when I spotted this beautiful top. I love how the lace is arranged on the front, and the dramatic scoop neck. I had a striped tshirt I thrifted a month ago, that was needing to be redesigned anyway. So I started to work on it, arranging some vintage lace from my stash on the front.

But then the little design “rabbit trails” started to emerge: should I do the lace bib, or a peter pan collar with a big bow instead? How about a ruffle? Or maybe a modified sailor-style collar would be cute! I kind of like the look of the lace on the stripe, but I’m also smitten by the sketch I did of the collar/bow combination. Oh the Design Agony!

This is how many of my refashions go: I get started, and often times am bogged down as the plans are altered, either by force of circumstances (such as the fabric not cooperating, or mis-cutting something), or just whims (like this one). Occasionally in all this I feel that it’s akin to being at the eye doctor’s when they have you looking through various lenses to see which is sharper: choice 1, or 2? *sigh*

For the record: I decided to go with the lace, Anthropologie-inspired version. As Mom pointed out: I already had a collared tshirt (though I argued that one can never have too many of a good thing!)… Now I just need to stitch everything down!!