The much anticipated finished samples of the Jabberdust project have arrived in Toronto, been photographed, and on the suggestion of Leah, I fitted them on illustrated models. Are you a retailer or an individual interested in purchasing any of these beautiful, hand-embellished accessories? Contact leah@jabberdust.ca for more information.

These are based on ideas I proposed, which Leah then developed. If you’re interested in the process of creating these designs from pencil scratch to embellished sample, check out these posts.

This is a really cool project – I was asked by designer-entrepreneur Leah Barrett to submit some ideas for her accessories line, Jabberdust – and as an added benefit, she’s encouraged me to blog the process.

You can see my original rough pencil thumbnails here, the refined drawings here, and Leah’s early spec sheets here. The first samples have just arrived back from India for review, and here they are, with comments from Leah and me:

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Reversible Tabard

Leah says:

Embroidery worked on both sides at the same time has turned out very interesting. You can see how the stitches have been picked up.. looks great. The new sequin made from wood laminate is eco-chic looking.. nice texture.

I say: I LOVE the look of the sequins on the reversible tabard, both sides! The fringe at the edge… not so much.

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Tuck Scarf

Leah says:

Perfect! soft chiffon ruffles hand sewn down while beading.

I say: The tuck scarf is perfect!

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Leah says:

I don’t like it as it is colour/beading, too Indian or too referenced?.. but will continue with construction and maybe the final will be better.

I say: not really loving the embellishment. Would love to see something more similar to the tabard. I’m really curious to see pictures of the tabard and the multi-hole scarf on a person!

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Feathered Capelet

The panel with trim before sewing:

One possible fabric – wool acrylic lurex blend slubbed jersey

Placed to show the result.

Leah says:

No cutting sewing has happened yet, Tell me what you think. As for me, I was thrilled, couldn’t be more pleased I’m really looking forward to the finished piece.

Front of shrug

Back close up.

Leah says:

Ice, spikes, crystal beads: The piece is stunning a real show stopper. It’s heavy, let’s see how the fitting goes.. have not met the sample maker yet. I hope she doesn’t bail. I had given up on this style, because I didn’t expect to find materials. This is where a visit to India can be helpful. After a 4 hours of walking through the worlds busiest embroidery findings market, we found this and I okayed it.

I say: I’d really like to see more variety in this one as well, and with lighter materials – long sequins, feathers, ribbon trim.

Overall, its quite incredible to see my ideas progress into reality! Looking forward to seeing further iterations. Thanks Leah!

This is a progress update from the collaboration with Jabberdust. The initial process of developing the concepts can be seen here and here. We’ve narrowed down the concepts to three. Now, Leah is creating specification packages to help communicate the ideas to the factory in India. At this stage, Leah is choosing colours and fabrics and embellishment details, and negotiating what is possible within the limitations of reality – a much different paradigm than the fantasy of illustration. She’s kindly shared with me (and you) some of her rough work and brief notes.

Tuck Scarf

1. Fabric quality, sewing technique, embroidery, scarf dimensions, colour ways, all in one sheet for an uncomplicated idea.

Feathered Mohawk Cape

1. Directions of how to modify above to make the trim we need that can be inserted into the seams. Fabric base, length and height of embroidery, seam allowance,  number of units, per sample (1+2). This is a one-sheet spec and order.

2. Embroidery technique reference, held “up” to help visualise the “mohawk”

3. Sample of choker with feathers and beads included for direction on possible materials

Multi-hole scarf/shrug

1. Spec with emb details. This is one layer of turquoise organza which I planned to have only the “leaves” of the design. (will be completed when leaves are sandwiched together. I’ve suggested gold on turquose.

2. Spec with emb details. This is one layer of fuschia organza which I planned to have only the “stems” of the design. (will be completed when leaves are sandwiched together. I’ve suggested silver on fuschia.

3. Design lines, adapted from last year’s scarf. (I’m a fan of not re-inventing the wheel unnecessarily). And swatch of silk organza for fabric quality ref. Insert photo: last years Gingko leaf scarf that did well.

Designer, entrepreneur, professor and blog reader Leah Barrett approached me with a project. Leah’s label, Jabberdust, is a line of scarves and accessories that features incredible handwork. Leah works closely with factories in India to showcase the possibilities of embellishment. Her background is in production management, and she surprised me with a rare proposal.  I’m paraphrasing here – Leah said:

“I’m very comfortable with the production aspect of the business, however I find the conceptual aspect of design more challenging. Would you be interested in designing a number of concepts and illustrating them – it can be anything you wish – and I will take those ideas to the factories and handle the technical development of the samples, and if they’re successful, the production?”

Even though I was in the middle of preparing to decamp from Toronto permanently, I said yes! I knew that any designer would thrill for the chance, because most designers I know (myself included, though I rarely design) are the exact opposite – they’d happily spend all their time on conceptualizing, but instead they have to oversee production.

Part of the deal is that Leah is allowing me to blog the process. It started with me just doodling a bunch of ideas, and then doing somewhat more refined doodles to discuss with Leah.

You can click on any of these sketches to see them bigger. Number two features a design I attempted to create on a necklace one craft night at Nathalie‘s, I’ve been waiting for a chance to do something more with the simple concept.

The pen is little notes for changes that we discussed. Number four features an idea inspired by Julian Roberts‘ tunnel technique.

And number five is a variation. I have no idea what number six is supposed to be.

Some of these ideas – like the reversible tabard on the left, seemed like they could just as easily do without embellishment – but that’s not very Jabberdust.

This last idea literally came to me in a dream. I was at my grandparent’s place and I remembered it at breakfast, and immediately interrupted tea and toast to run and doodle it.

Out of these ideas, Leah and I selected five, made some changes, and I developed some more finished drawings for them. That I will post soon, stand by.

I was invited to customize a pair of Brown’s shoes for the Frugal Fashion Week Gala at the Bata Shoe Museum on Friday.  The shoes I received were bright red patent, just like the Dr. Martens I customized with Ashley Rowe.  I wanted to try dripping instead of splattering and Ashley kindly indulged me in her studio.

She did a super-hot pair of boots which you just get a blurry peek of here.  Want to see Ashley’s and so many other customized Brown’s shoes? Best blog friend Anita is also doing a pair, among others. Buy a ticket to the gala on Friday here.

Upside Dive at 269 Queen Street East in Toronto is currently featuring my Trash Fusion paillette dress in their window.  So if you ever wanted to get a closer look at every little piece of plastic ephemera that I singlehandedly stitched, one by one, you should take a stroll down Queen Street East sometime in the next week or so and visit the shop.

Thanks so much Mike for kindly offering to give my effort in recycled fashion such a well appointed home for a couple weeks!

There’s lots of stuff to look at at Upside Dive – kitschy knicknacks, handsome housewares, vintage vestures for ladies and gentlemen, and soft spoken sibling shopkeepers.  Check out their blog for a taste.

Julian Roberts came en route from Kent State in New York to Ryerson University in Toronto this week to demonstrate his Subtraction Cutting technique.  This is an event I have been lobbying for, for a long time, and thanks to Sandra Ericson of the Center for Pattern Design, Robert Ott, the Chair of the Ryerson School of Fashion, and Charanya Bala of Balanche Communications, my wish became reality this week.  To say that it was a marvelous day would be a vast understatement.  It was so much fun.

Julian cut a dress live, in front of us.  The class was full of fashion design all-stars – Heidi Ackerman, John Hillifer, Adrienne Butikofer, Cristina Sabaiduc, and Canada’s own fashion fairy godmother, Linda Lundstrom, were all in attendance, among other students, teachers, and professional designers.  The cohesion and enthusiasm of the class was obvious once we all cut our own dresses – there was a remarkable atmosphere of playfulness but also the cool sense of proficiency you get only when you are surrounded by talented people immersed in something they find fascinating.

This is Julian showing his dress on his assistant, Rachel.

I made my own dress out of a length of white bemberg lining and pink plaid sheer sparkle poly organza, intending to create something light which showed the inner seams to display some of the construction of the garment.

This is the “tunnel technique” where the dress is made of a long tube, through which the body passes in and out as if through a winding cave.

I also used the tunnel idea to create two more holes at the front and the back of the bodice, but just for the white linear effect, these holes are too small for the body to go through.

It was such a thrilling day, it was almost overwhelming – and just like that, it was over.  Julian is now in Vancouver at Kwantlen, and then on to California. Thank you to Julian and everyone who made this day such a dream come true, and I hope very much that we can do it again.

This past weekend that I took my latest sewing project, the paillette dress for the Trash Fusion show in Barrie (as seen here, here, etc) to be judged.  I also got my brother, Jake, to take some photos.  Thanks so much Jake for the hospitality and the great photos!  My family was all there, including my Oma and Opa, and I am so glad that they were.

All of the entries were so lovingly crafted.  There were a lot of talented designers in the tent (it was raining), all with very different takes on the contest brief.  You can click any of the photos in this post to see them a bit bigger.  I especially liked the coffee-filter dress (second from left, above), I thought that this designer showed a great use of “trash”.  Some of the designers were teenagers, most were fashion students, and all of them exhibited a tremendous level of work.

Here is a little video of the final procession.

The winner was the big showboat float white dress made of (apparently unused?) paper towel.  Second prize went to the colourful doily mini-dress made out of shoelaces (with a jaunty matching beret) and third went to a previous winner of Trash Fusion Milton, a truly incredible post-apocalyptic tribal dress made out of busted inner tubes and scrap wire.

I’m not going to lie – I get competitive and I would have loved to get a prize, and I am very proud of my dress and I still think it was the best one.  I think it looks incredible on the body and in movement from far away, and close up viewers are delighted to see all the printed ephemera, consumer brands and logos, it is almost Warholian.  I received a lot of positive feedback, and the best was from my 2 year old niece who said my dress was “gorgeous” – so priceless.

You can see the winning entries for yourself from all three Trash Fusion events at The Rage in Kensington from June 15 to July 15.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed and supported this little project, and thanks to Jane Haselgrove for all her hard work putting the Trash Fusion contest together.

It is neat to get to show off a recent freelance project – a new business, MAVEN, asked me to come up with an illustration concept for their website.  I am pleased with how the illustrations were incorporated into the website design by Parade Creative – click on all the different menu options to see variations on the figures tailored to each category.  Thanks so much Erin and Marni for being great clients!

I have received several generous donations of post-consumer plastic objects from readers for the paillette dress I am making for the Trash Fusion contest, and this latest one of Metrocards came with a cute illustration of me by NYC connection and arbiter of adorableness, Joi of Stereoette.

Joi has captured the essence of how I plan to walk the runway on Saturday at Ecofest Barrie, though I do plan on wearing (customized!) shoes.  This week I am getting myself into top-model form, finishing hand-stitching every lovingly-snipped piece of plastic to the dress, making accessories, and otherwise anticipating what should be a very amusing/slightly nerve-wracking Saturday. The big reveal of the finished dress on the blog will come next week – hopefully with video because this dress has to be seen moving.

At this late stage, the project has reached a point of absurdity – no matter what, making something like this is a slightly ridiculous way to spend time. Making physical things is a tremendous amount of effort compared to working with pixels, and there is always the risk that it won’t turn out. Yet nothing is quite as satisfying as making a physical thing either, so I am having fun with the experience, no matter what the results end up being.

Thank you to Rachael, Helen, and Joi for donating bits of plastic towards a new life as a swingy, kicky eco-paillette dress.