I traveled to so many places this summer…it has been exciting and inspiring, getting ideas for my Senior Collection. My favorite place of them all would have to be New York City. The last week of my summer break I took a nine day trip to visit the big city. I had a few goals in mind for the trip. Here is my list”

1.) Shop for senior collection fabric in the garment district.

2.) Have a great meeting with McCalls.

3.) Use what I have learned in my Pre-20th Century Costume class to identify garments on display at the MET museum.

4.) Learn the subway system enough so I will ride it on my own.

5.) Add to my collection of 500 inspiration pictures that was assigned for my senior year (that has not been a huge challenge especially being in so many different places).

Boy was I in for a wild ride. First of all, I stayed with some amazing girlfriends (love ya Julie & Danielle!) who love the fashion industry and were so great about teaching me about the city. My adventure began at the MET museum. It had been recommended by Kathy (at McCall’s) to be sure to see the Super Heros exhibit. It was a very interesting presentation of garments that were inspired by the super hero movies. These were the actual costumes used in the movies. The experience didn’t stop there. I ended up walking around the MET for six hours pointing out to my friend the name of every garment from the Egyptian period through the 19^th century that they had on display. I had just finished taking a summer class in the history of costume, and it was really incredible to see in person what we had been studying in books. A few of my favorites: seeing a sheath dress from the Egyptian period completely constructed out of beads, a Greek Ionic Chiton (modern day tunic) and himations (a large cloth used as a wrap) carved out of stone into amazing statues. You may think I’m crazy but I had fun hunting down 3000 B.C. fibulas (the world’s first ever safety pin–before people even sewed clothing together). I also got to view a few of my favorite painter’s works. I love Andy Warhol and Roy Linchenstein, and seeing their work in person was really cool. One down, four more goals to go.

Next I spent two whole days shopping for fabric in the garment district. The first day was discouraging at first because I didn’t have good direction except that I was looking for knit prints. We went to a ton of stores on 37^th and 38^th street between 7^th and 8^th avenue. They were small “hole in the wall” type stores. It was great to get a lot of good swatches so that I could go back for what I wanted if I needed it for my collection. Towards the end of the day I fell in love with this one piece. Picture this: dusty rose pink tulle with embroidery that totally covered it in sage green, lavender, and dusty rose. Then the piece is covered in black and brown feathers with a natural color bead at the top of each feather. It was an exquisite piece! Feathers are so hot this season and I plan to design a cocktail dress…….this would be perfect. I thought I wasn’t going to get anywhere in these small independent stores but I did, and I bargained with the guy to get a great price. One main collection piece, more to go! After that I went to Mood Fabrics. There I found some notions that could be used on my garments as well as my mood boards for school. I bought a piece of leather that was a pink embossed alligator with a pearlized finish. I plan on using it for the cocktail dress bodice piece or small accent pieces. The next day that I spent in the garment district was with great success. I went to B&J Fabrics and found a great but pricey silk charmeuse print that made my day. It was the perfect color palette and the look I was going for. On this shopping trip I also was able to find my chocolate brown wool coating fabric for my tailored coat.

My next goal was not too hard to achieve. For my senior collection we were assigned to take pictures that would inspire us for our garments. It could be anything from architecture to nature to garments. Walking the streets of New York gave me lots of photo opps. The window displays were incredible. My favorite was Dior’s window! It had a carriage in the window with suits and dresses on display. Being a visual merchandiser would be fun but hard work! I also always get inspiration from Betsey Johnson, so I had to go to her store off of Madison Ave.  I almost camped out on their doorstep for the rest of the trip once I found out that she just lives right around the corner from her store! That would have been too cool to meet her.

I was super excited for our McCalls meeting. I felt like I had been preparing for the meeting for weeks. I prepared boards, sketched, and bought some supportive sample garments. I was so excited how my boards turned out and the great samples I found, I even found some great swatches of the fabric that I thought would be perfect for the garments we were proposing. Everyone seemed pleased with McCall’s decisions, so look forward to more great DIYStyle designs for 2009! Thanks to McCall’s hard work to making our dreams come to life! Only one more goal to achieve!

Julie & Danielle had explained the subway the first day that I arrived, so I was able to take the subway the whole trip. The girls live in the East Village so it was good practice taking the subway all over the city instead of taking cabs. I feel like being in New York for that amount of time helped me to prepare to be a better designer. Through inspiration, great fabrics, seeing in person a history of garments, and working in the offices of McCalls for a day really has helped my creativity and motivation as a design major. I will definitely be back in NYC soon!

Allyce

This New York trip was very special because I actually had time to explore the city! Many call it the city of opportunity, I call it the city of inspiration. It’s everywhere whether you find it in art galleries or museums, fabric stores or retail shopping, even just walking down the street and observing peoples’s outfits! Well the fashion capital of the world never lets me down, and neither do all the exciting people living in it!

I walked around Fashion Avenue, and visited with The Jones Apparel Group and got to see their innerworkings! It was great to see the day in the life of a fashion house! It helps to understand the important factors that go into being a designer. It’s a much larger process than what first comes to mind. But the people who do it, love it!!!

I found many treasures in the city but some that I must mention are the resale consignment stores in NYC. Take note of “A Second Chance” on 78th and Madison and “Michaels” between 80th and 81st and Madison. You can find great deals on the top designer clothes and even inspiration from some of their vintage collections. Even though you sometimes have to dig, it can really be worth it.

After the consignment shopping I headed down to Chelsea where you can find the most amazing art galleries! Galleries are a place where I get my artistic inspiration because I am an artist and painter myself! I saw some fasinating exhibits including pieces from Chuck Close. One of my favorite exhibits was one that was interactive. Besides the fact that you could play pinball and smash rocks that contained hidden treasures inside, I loved the color themes and the geometic shapes within the paintings. One display was done on multipe canvases which were strategically hung creating a beautiful collage of art. Another work that I took inspiration from was a painting of a distorted cityscape, I loved the urban feel and again the bright colors!

A piece I saw that sewers can relate to was embroidered wall art that pieced together differend fabrics. I was thinking of telling the artist about the Quilt Show!! I always hate leaving the city, but I am now returning to Portland fully inspired and full of ideas to be drawing, designing, sewing and painting with! Thank you New York City, I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Love,
Melissa

I have been lucky enough to be able to travel to some popular fashion spots this summer. It was exciting to be able to go to different parts of the US to get a good view of trends for my senior collection. I have been to Portland, Las Vegas, Chicago, and will be going to New York here soon.

Just a few weeks ago I was in Las Vegas for 10 whole days! This meant I could go shopping, sketch, get color ideas, and note the interesting way the designers manipulate the fabric. I went window shopping pretty much everyday. My favorite spot for this kind of “research” shopping is The Fashion Show Mall. With a fashion show that rises out of the floor (everything is a show in Las Vegas!), this place is a mecca of shops. I feel it has the most variety featuring high end to low end stores. When doing research you can’t just relay on the high end stores like Neiman Marcus or designer boutiques to get a complete picture. You have to understand where the trends are going. Whether they are widespread enough to have hit the discount stores like Target, or if they are still in designer stores. A mall like this one has it all, making my research a bit easier.

The Wynn is another fashion sleuthing haven. I found some great inspiration visiting the Chanel store there. They had done some amazing fabric detailing. Some of the sweaters on display had small chain that was woven into the knit fabric so it made the sweater completely two toned. I also tend to get a lot of inspiration from shoes! I don’t know if it’s when I look at shoes I design as if I am making an outfit to match, or if they just set a look. There were SO many garments that used large overwhelming prints combining odd florals and geometric shapes. I was really intrigued by the combination of prints in a really cool dress that had a leopard and floral combination. And animal prints have stuck around and seem to be getting larger! There was this amazing Dior belt that was really inspiring… it was made in a zebra fur print with a huge grommet with a bar and chain to hold the belt closed. Another trend that is sticking around and I feel keeps getting more and more exaggerated are garments constructed in a origami pattern. It seems to be in all the high end clothing, from pockets that look like middle school fortune tellers to interesting design lines with lots of pleats and gathering.

Las Vegas shopping has definitely inspired me to sketch a lot of garments for my senior collection and give me a good view on what trends are hot! If you get to Las Vegas, be sure to fit in some shopping..it’s some of the very best around!

Allyce 

We have had such a busy summer, including the long awaited trip to Chicago! This event was something that DIYStyle has been planning and looking forward to for months. Our very first DIYStyle party was held during the American Sewing Guild convention…..we thought it would be a great place to debut this new event.

The Chicago trip was a BLAST! At the party there were four different project stations…a panty station, where we had more material than you could have wanted (courtesy of Vogue Fabrics!) including our lingerie pattern for making the scalloped edged panties. Another station was distressing denim using sand paper and everyday objects to create an interesting look. A really popular station involved reconstructing tee’s. Digging into a huge pile of tee shirts, attendees made anything from a purse to a skirt to a tubetop. The last station was our DIYStyle eco friendly tote. Overall, people loved the day long sew-in and we personally think it was a hit with the girls our age who came.

Many girls were combining supplies from different stations to be a creative as possible. We also had a great DJ (thanks Matt–we never knew you could DJ too!) that made the whole event really upbeat. And to make it even more exciting, we had two fashion shows that featured original designs from local Chicago designers. It was so much fun for us to greet people at the door and show off our DIYStyle McCalls patterns (we were wearing our own designs of course). Some at the party had never sewn in their life and they loved the experience! We hope everyone who attended had fun creating and partying. Stay posted…there may be more DIYStyle parties coming to other cities soon.

The rest of the trip was good too. We even watched Pati Palmer (Melissa’s Mom) give a keynote speech to hundreds of people at the convention, where she was also inducted into the ASG Sewing Hall of Fame! All of us had a chance to do the tourist thing too, walking Michigan Avenue and around downtown Chicago. It is a really beautiful historic city and we can’t wait to go back to visit again!!

Thanks to everyone in Chicago and to the people who came to the DIYStyle Party…hope to see you all (sewing) again soon!!

Allyce & Melissa

xxxooo

I had so much fun at this seasons Quilt Market! I have gone to all the quilt markets (two per year) for the past few years and this one was especially interesting. It was also memorable, because I got to spend time with Melissa in her hometown. It was neat to see some “faces” (usually we’re on the phone or email from across the country!) I catch up with only at this show.

My favorite fabric designer, Phillip De Leon from Alexander Henry Fabrics, had some really great prints that were new for the upcoming season…young looking cotton prints great for a little pop in your wardrobe. I was honored to do two demos of projects from my book at Krause Publications and Brewer distributing. I showed buyers the projects from My Style, My Place and gave away signed copies. It was really cool to talk to people about the young customers that come into their stores and what they have to offer our age group.

I also got to catch up with my good friend Mark Lipinski the editor in chief of Quilter’s Home magazine. I’m not skilled at quilting but I love his magazine (if you haven’t checked it out, you should)! I was also really excited that Robert Kaufman debuted their new line of knits! I love working with knit fabric. They are a fabric company that specializes in wovens, (I even used their fabric in my book) and now they make knits too. My favorite part about market was doing my very first schoolhouse presentation! I had the opportunity to present my book to buyers, show the projects, and Melissa and I presented our McCalls patterns.

Market is a great way to connect with what’s new in sewing, and this trip was perfect for that. If you ever get a chance to attend a trade market, GO! It’s really cool to see all the new stuff that will be in the stores in the coming months, and to talk with the people who design all of it. Too cool!

Allyce   XXX, OOO

Have you started planning your trip to the Windy City, yet? While there will be tons of fun things to do at the DIY Style Party…you may want to plan a little side trip to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, Illinois, which is just north of the City.

Oh, my gosh!!! I was lucky enough to visit there this past weekend and in an instant I knew I had made it to fabric/notion utopia! There were silks, woolens, cottons, knits, bridal, home décor, machines, buttons galore, trimmings, ribbons, patterns from many unique designers as well as the standards and remnants…a whole magnificent area devoted to remnants, large enough to make a garment, all organized by fiber content. Need I say more…I sure could because there was so much more! Well, I did restrain myself and only walked out with two pieces of fab, but I had to use sooo much self control!

So, pencil in our Style Party on your calendar now and treat yourself with a visit to Vogue Fabrics, as well. Then afterwards, head over to the Lake and chill! Are you diggin’ the snappy little beach towel I used? It was a piece of fab I bought at Vogue Fabrics for an “Eco-Friendly” beach tote (episode 6).

Wow!

Our second season of DIYStyle vodcasts have wrapped, and we are celebrating with a DIYStyle Party in Chicago! We will be having a day long sew-in, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, right in the open area of the hotel. Join in the fun on July 10th, from noon until 8pm, and create your own DIY fashions. There will be design labs and stitch stations set up with everything you need to make your own goods. Grab your girlfriends and make some Panties from the new DIYStyle Design It Yourself pattern from McCall’s, distress some of your own Denim jeans, perform T-Shirt surgery, and make an Eco-Bag for all your shopping finds. Project Design will take the stage, showcasing Chicago indie designers and a Fall Fashion Forecast will give you the scoop on what’s hot and what’s not! Upbeat music will keep everyone in the party mood. And….here’s the best part………it’s only $20 for everything!

Watch our website for more info to come soon. And, if you live in the Chicago area and want to help us get the word out, drop us a note. We want to show everyone how much fun we can have “Designing It Yourself” with DIYStyle!

 See you in Chicago

Cindy

We just had a fantastic week together in Portland… and boy…was it interesting! Although it was exhausting, we sure did a lot. And here’s our fantastic news: we were on LIVE TV!! On May 16 we had the awesome experience of being featured guests on AM Northwest, Portland’s ABC affiliate, KATU Channel 2. We had so much fun, and the biggest smiles on our faces all day after the show! We were invited by the AM Northwest producer to be interviewed by the host Helen Raptis about our new DIYStyle pattern line with McCall’s. Going to the show we were only told to be at the studio at a certain time and we would then be informed of when to go on. So, we brought samples from our lingerie and knit top patterns and our (out in July) Fall jacket and dress patterns. There was even a live audience, with some kids that giggled (especially the boys) when we talked about how easy it is to sew up panties and bras. And we wore our own knit tops we made from the patterns so we could show the viewers how cute the finished product is and that it REALLY can be done.

I (Allyce) got to talk a little bit about My Style, My Place and explain a few of the featured book projects on air too. Our segment ended up being fairly long, considering the other famous guests that were on the show before and after us. Can you believe we were on the same show as Time Bandit Captains Jon and Andy Hillstrand from “Deadliest Catch” (all of our guy friends thought that was pretty cool!), Dr. Stan Love, astronaut, Oregon Congressman David Wu, and Miss Oregon America?!! We were so honored to be featured on the same show as these prominent people. I (Melissa) unfortunately then had to go to class (Ally is lucky, she just finished her semester–I have a few weeks left this term), and back to reality.

Doing a live television show can be nerve-racking, and definitely not like doing the vodcast where if/when we mess up we can get another chance, but we feel it is a big achievement after having successfully gotten through it. Be sure to check out our interview on AM Northwest’s website. We have more to tell you later about our experiences with at Quilt Market, and something we did with a high school sewing class in Oregon City! So stay posted to DIYStyle!

Allyce and Melissa XXX000

I just got back to Portland from New York. I was there for four fantastic days with my mom. It was also a very productive trip. We initially went so my mom could present her new cookbook, The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner, to IPG (the Independent Publishers Group) representatives. The purpose of presenting it to the reps was for them to learn about the book so they will be able to sell it to the bookstores. We also met with McCall’s so my mom could see their new building and I got to see how a sales meeting works for my mom’s patterns, which is something we have not yet done for our patterns. They also showed me the design picks for DIYStyle’s patterns next year, it was cool to see the direction they wanted. AND the most exiting news from McCall’s…our Fall 2008 patterns are going to be on the COVER of the catalogue!!!! I was so surprised and exited that I screamed!!! It looked fantastic, almost like a high fashion magazine!! I’m still in shock I can’t believe they chose our designs to be on the cover!! So keep your eyes peeled for the Fall 2008 McCall’s catalogue!

I had such a great time with my mom walking around the city, shopping for inspiration, and meeting with old friends. I had a ball walking down Madison Avenue looking and not buying (that’s for sure)! My favorite stores to look in are Dolce & Gabanna, YSL, and I also really enjoy Bergdorf Goodman’s even though it’s a department store. As well as shopping and walking around, we got to go to a show Saturday night, Mamma Mia, it’s based around ABBA music, and the music was great!

Probably the icing on the cake was Monday morning, before we left, I got to see the workings of the fashion house of Jones New York and Anne Klein. It was amazing and also pretty similar to what we do in the pattern industry. I felt right at home! Besides picking the brains of the masterminds of the company, we got a very special treat in seeing the show rooms for next years lines… the clothes were BEAUTIFUL. That part of the trip was an experience in itself! Now before I go let me not forget to mention that… We ate like KINGS!!! Which is something you just do in the city.

Ciao!
Melissa

We got back from the International Textiles Show in Las Vegas last week. I think I’m still exhausted. We had the big release of our DIYStyle pattern line with McCall’s Pattern Company and it went beyond our expectations! There is a mix of feelings of total excitement and joy to major relief to see all this hard work come to fruition. When you work really long and hard on something — and with a pattern, there are SO many elements, it takes 6 to 7 months for a pattern to be published and distributed to the public — it’s hard to imagine how you’ll feel when it’s completed.

But there we were at a huge trade show with tons of people, and our faces were larger than life on blow-up banners of the pattern envelope covers for the new DIYStyle “Design It Yourself” line of patterns. (Look for them around April 15th in stores, and they’ll have it online at McCall’s, too!) We also played the DIYStyle vodcasts for visitors, and talked to a lot of wonderful shop owners, textile manufacturers, designers, costumers, and other folks. It went over great, and all the hard work was totally worth it!

The second day we were in town, Melissa and I spoke on a panel with two other women in the sewing industry, Amy Stalp from Sew News mag, and Jessica Johnson from American Sewing Expos. Cindy Cummins (our head Creative Chick, and my very own mom) lead the discussion and we talked about sewing from a 20-something point of view.

Bright and early next day (our call time was 5:30am — yawn), was the BIG International Textiles Fashion Show, and we got to kick if off! It was an opportunity to showcase our pattern line in high style for everyone! We modeled the pieces from all four of our patterns (two are coming out for summer and two more for fall). Melissa and I spent a lot of time choreographing our segment of the fashion show and helping pick out the music. (I’d had great practice in this from my fashion show production class a few weeks before!) We wanted to make a statement that this pattern line is fashion forward and geared to a younger generation of hip chicks! Wait until you see the adorable lingerie we’ve done. Too cute. Everyone loved it and we had the time of our lives! I can’t wait to see the McCall’s pattern book in stores with our designs in it. Just a few more days….. eeee!

While walking the show I found wayyyy too many cool fabrics to use in projects for design school as well as for our own DIYStyle pattern line, and on the vodcasts. I spied some great cashmeres and wool blends for my critic presentation this week. Right now I am in hand-tailoring class with all the “hair canvas”. Tons of fun, right! (psst — only five more weeks to go and the school year is over.)

In our vodcast this Tuesday (same day as our patterns debut!) we’re doing a recap and special up-close view of the Textile Show. Be sure to check it out to see all the behind-the-scenes drama, and as always, we love to hear what you think, so don’t be shy!

xoxox
Allyce

As I write this Allyce and I are in the airport waiting to get on a plane to Las Vegas. This is the most exiting part of my spring break; we get to model our DIYStyle designs for McCall’s Pattern Company in a fashion show at the International Textiles Expo. Over spring break we filmed more vodcast segments, caught up on some of Ally’s homework, and rehearsed for our BIG fashion show. I am very excited to be getting a nice little break in Vegas. I’m planning to go to the Fashion Show Mall and look around, maybe some shopping for pattern ideas. Vegas is an exiting and outrageous place to be, their fashion “idea” is absolutely one of a kind, sometimes so original that it could not be worn outside the city limits of Las Vegas!

I’m hoping to meet lots of interesting people at the expo and get them interested in participating in DIYStyle. I know Ally and I can work a crowd, so this event is going to be a groundbreaking one for all of us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us girls and I think it’s a great way to introduce our new DIYStyle pattern line from McCall’s. We’ll be showing the patterns in some up-and-coming vodcasts, including tips on making the sewing go really easy, and how to make it a “Design It Yourself” garment. I hope you all will go out and try one of our new patterns, and tell your friends! Our first two patterns will be out April 15, and (guess what!?) one of them is LINGERIE!!! Its SOOO fun to SEW! The other pattern features CUTE knit tops.

Stay tuned for more posts when we report back to you on our Vegas experience!

Always,
Melissa

I have a lot of great memories wrapping up my winter break, and now am getting back into college mode. I worked a good part of my break for a store in Portland called The Mercantile. They sell high fashion women’s clothing and accessories. I always miss being in a retail environment until I start working again! It really is fun though (I get to see all the neat trends as they arrive in the store), and I have continued working there on weekends. I’m getting heavily into schoolwork and finishing our next McCall’s patterns, so I’m afraid I am going to have to put retail on hold for a while.

During the break I also had the great opportunity to fly to St. Louis and work on the next season of DIYStyle vodcasts. I finally got to see where Allyce grew up…..it’s quite different from Portland! The whole experience was fast paced, entertaining, and we accomplished a lot! The first day we had a professional photo shoot with Allyce and me, pics for the website and our sponsors. I have not had “model style” pictures taken of me and it was a really a fun girly day, with the help of a stylist doing our makeup and coordinating how we dressed up! It felt like our photographer, Lance Tilford, shot hundreds of pictures. Watch for some of them to show up soon.

For the rest of the week we filmed the episodes that I was hosting and we also got to go “on site” (as they say in the film industry) meaning we went to some really neat places in St. Louis to film. We went to the famous Gateway Arch, walked around downtown, and visited a really neat historic district in St. Charles! I stayed in this great hotel that had a shopping mall right across the street, so needless to say Ally and I fit in some quality shopping time together.

I flew back to Portland on New Year’s Eve and finished off the year with family and friends. It was a great end to one of the most exiting years of my life. SO much has happened in 2007 that will never be forgotten, and I have made friendships so amazing they will surely last a lifetime! Now I know Ally and I are back to the grind stone trekking towards graduation, and it certainly cannot come soon enough! I hope everyone is as exited as we are to see what is to come in this next season of DIYStyle vodcasts. We have some great projects for you all to make, and some fabulous designers and places to visit, so stay tuned to your creative side and we will see you soon!!

Melissa

Last week I was invited to visit a fashion design class at Kirksville High School, in Missouri. It was really exciting for me to talk with students who are interested in fashion and sewing. In my presentation I spoke about my book, “My Style My Place” and showed lots of projects. I also talked about the junior collection that I have been working on while at Stephens College. I explained the design process that we go through, from conception, to sketches, to design boards, to jury, and then creation, in order to get the final product. I also showed them the CAD project that I had created this semester. They were really interested in the new DIYStyle pattern line that Melissa and I are coming out with in April, for McCall’s. Since they had been working with patterns in their classes, they were aware of some of the designers and brands. I brought a sampling of my patterns that we draft by hand at school so they could see the difference between what I do in school (for production) and what the store bought patterns for home sewing look like.

When I asked the class how many of them wanted to work in the fashion industry, I had a few hands raised and then asked them what they wanted to do. Some wanted to work in fashion marketing; some wanted to major in fashion design. I shared with the class how I got involved with all my projects–including the DIYStyle vodcasts–and how I was able to write a book (all while going to my college classes!). My goal was to show that sewing is not something that has retired and YES, sewing can be young, fresh, stylish, and creative. It was really refreshing to see their teacher Mrs. Liebhart very excited and knowledgeable about the industry. Thank You SOOO much for letting me share my experiences about my career and school! I had a lot of fun meeting you all!

YAY!! Finals are finally over, this week felt like it went on for a month. Yesterday, on my first day off, I went up to my mom’s house where they are shooting pictures for a cookbook that she’s publishing. My roommate and I spent the whole day up there making and sampling recipes from the book, the food is amazing. We made three different types of pizzas from scratch–even the dough by hand! We also made cookies, cinnamon rolls, tortilla soup, and chili. These recipes are going to be so helpful for cooking for us college students, it is less expensive then going out to eat, and it is so much healthier for you. Cooking and sewing is a great way to get all my roommates and friends together, not only to give us something to do, but you get great things out of it, either delicious meals or clothes!
For Christmas presents my roommates and I are going to make lingerie for our sisters, mothers, and girlfriends. Some of the best presents you can give are things you’ve made yourself, and what girl wouldn’t love a cute and sexy piece of lingerie!? I don’t think that either of my roommates have been to fabric stores many times before. If you can, try to get your friends familiar with the fabric stores in your town. They will gain a better idea of the creative things they can do with sewing when they know how to look for and how to buy patterns, fabric, notions, sewing machines and whatever else for projects they may want to make. To get some great sewing/project ideas, I look at the American Apparel website. Their stuff is simple to sew, and I love the simplicity of the concept behind their designs.
I am so exited for this break, as I’ll be working on the guide sheet for our summer pattern designs the rest of this week. I might be working at a clothing store called the Mercantile in Portland that I used to work for periodically when I’m not in school. I am addicted to being around clothes and fashion, it’s in my hobbies, work, jobs, life! And the best part of this break will be getting to see Allyce! The day after Christmas I’ll be flying to St. Louis and filming the next episodes of DIYStyle with Ally! Its going to be a blast! Hope to hear from you all!
Love, Melissa

This past weekend was Quilt Market in Houston, where all the people in the sewing and quilting industry come to show their new products, and the shop owners buy merchandise for their stores. This was my third Market. I remember going to the show for the first time having a preconceived notion that the products sold and displayed there pertained strictly to quilting. Oh boy, was I wrong! Yes, there are a LOT of quilts on display, but there are patterns, machines, threads, and fabric, fabric, and more fabric!!

I was especially excited to attend this market because it was the “official” release of my book, My Style, My Place, which is published by Krause Publications. I did presentations in both the Krause and Sulky booths showing some of the projects from the book. I also had a little bit of time to walk market and talked to some really interesting people. My favorite booths every year are Michael Miller Fabrics and Alexander Henry Fabrics. We used a lot of their unique prints in the book and on our vodcast. Michael Miller introduced their organic cotton line, and they have some really neat eco-friendly fabrics I can’t wait to use. I was able to spend some time with Kathy recently, so watch for an upcoming episode of DIYStyle where Kathy is our interviewed designer.

I get SO excited and inspired talking to Phillip De Leon, the designer of Alexander Henry Fabrics. He’s incredibly creative and talented. All of the prints in their line are hand-painted by him, and they also do all the repeats for the fabric by hand too. Phillip designs prints for home sewing fabric and does custom design for several famous designers including Anna Sui (one of my favorites as you know from a past post!). Here’s something really interesting. My professor was talking about the book, Print In Fashion, by Marnie Fogg, Thursday (before I left for Quilt Market) in our Computer Aided Design class. As it turns out, this same book was in Phillip’s booth on display. When I asked him about it, he said several of their prints were included and his company profiled. Phillip is quoted right alongside designer Tom Ford…and I was right there in Houston talking to Philip live and in person. How cool is that! My professor had encouraged us to buy the book and now I have a really good reason. Maybe I will send it off to Philip to get his autograph! He’s invited me to visit his studios in Burbank, and I think that it would be amazing to actually see the whole design process from such a forward thinking designer. Keep watching DIYStyle…we may do a segment at their studios for next season!

Even though I’m back at school, and homework and project deadlines are keeping me busier than ever, I can’t seem to get the fashion boutiques of Soho out of my mind. They were so unique and so COOL! There is no shopping in the world like Soho in NYC. I don’t think there’s a better place to find inspiration for designs. Melissa and I went to all the great shops like Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Betsey Johnson, Anna Sui, and tons more. Just LOOKING at the different styles and interesting fabrics gave me some direction for future designs of my own. I tried to keep a mental note of my favorite pieces, then later on I sketched them out like mad in the notebook I always carry with me. (It’s a Moleskine notebook, I highly recommend!) By the way, don’t yank out the sketchbook in the store, unless you want to be escorted out by the cute doorman!

My favorite designer of all time is Betsey Johnson. That was the first store I looked up when we got to Manhattan. I have always loved Betsy’s style and use of color in her designs. Her store was decorated in her signature color–Hot Pink! With lots of other bright colors. She has some of the cutest shoes this season and some really fantastic silk dresses. I love their “Betsyville” line (easier on my budget), and even have one of her clear tote purses.

I was SO inspired by Prada. Their new line had a lot of dip dyes incorporated and great textures. To be in a store actually touching the clothes that I’d spied in Vogue magazine just the day before was too cool. My favorite was a dip dyed green suit. I’ll be working on my junior collection that features careerwear next semester, and the designs that I sketched after visiting Prada will help give me a springbooard for new ideas when it comes to designing my suits.

Kisses XXX, Allyce