Staycation for Spring Break - Marimekko & Ballard

Yesterday as part of our Staycation during my daughter's Spring break, her and I went to the Nordic Heritage Museum. This is a museum in the Ballard area of Seattle. It's main focus is the Nordic people who moved to this area of the NorthWest and it is presently located in an old school. It is a very informational museum and I love the fact that they quite often have exhibits related to textiles in some manner.The draw for me this time was the Marimekko with love exhibit.

This exhibit is on loan from the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. This is also an excellent museum tho it seemed I never made it there often when living in Ontario, I guess my excuse is it was approx. a 3 hour drive from home. Marimekko is a Finnish home furnishings, textiles and fashion company based in Helsinki. They are known for their graphic bold prints, we both fell in love with the x-large beanbags that were situated around the exhibit. I am thinking I shall have to put one on my wishlist.

Pictures were not allowed in the main exhibit area, but there was a variety of fabrics and clothing on display along with a short film. One area I found interesting was the bios for some of the head textile designers over the years along with examples of their work. It is on until July 9th so if you happen to be in Seattle and like textiles check it out.

After the exhibit my daughter and I walked down to the Ballard Locks, first stopping at Totem Red Mill Burgers for lunch. The locks are nice but the novelty is lost on us. We come from an area in Canada referred to the Land O Lakes with a lot of waterways and canals so are quite accustomed to the workings of a lock. Will probably go back once the botanical gardens are in full bloom as it is a very nice area to walk around in.

Before heading home we decided to wander around a bit in downtown Ballard. We discovered a cool little art place called Push/Pull which carries indie comics and local artists work. They have a couple of pinball machines, something which we both always approve of. It looks like they also do a variety of comic and drawing classes which I may have to look into. Another place we had fun wandering around in was the Ballyhoo Curiousity Shop, if you ever have a need for some taxidermy, skulls, bones or  quirky antiques this is the place to go. From here we went to Space Oddity Vintage, here I was tempted by test tubes, flasks and some vintage card catalogues. Our last stop before catching the bus was Lucca Great Finds, here I purchased some new pencils and was tempted by a pair of Merchant & Mills scissors.

My New Pencils :)

Our day in Ballard was a nice way to spend part of our Staycation and the weather even cooperated.

Getting Established in Seattle

In the last while I have been reworking things for my business. The first hurdle was to get an employment card in the US so I could legimitely earn money there. It has been a bit of a learning curve sorting out immigration status,fillling out it seems scads of paperwork, filing for a business licence, getting a US social etc. Something the average person doesn't really concern themselves with, though in today's culture is becoming more common. 

A nice view of Seattle from Kerry Park outlook

For the last while I have been continuing with my some of my established clientele in Ontario but customs often throws a hurdle in my way there. When shipping items across country and into a different country, customs and other shipping costs throw a whole new expense into your world. So keeping those relationships viable is sometimes a challenge. I do greatly appreciate my Ontario clientele but we all have to admit I am no longer residing in Canada. Made In Canada has long been one of my selling points and it is no longer true presently. Also Made Locally does not work in that sense anymore. I am a strong supporter of Made Locally so thus while in Seattle, well Seattle is my Made Locally :).

Another focus of my business is ethical/eco fashion and I have very mixed opinions on shipping when I consider this. Are you really maintaining a small carbon footprint when you include all the shipping that is often part of creating and supplying ethical/eco fashion?

Sourcing Supplies - Our Fabric Stash

Since moving to Seattle I have been constantly looking for new places to buy my supplies. I admit I had been a bit spoiled before as I had a wholesale account with H.A. Kidd who I got my thread from along with the majority of my basic elastics. Something I still have not discovered here in the US. It is very strange but no one in Seattle seems to carry Gutterman thread which has been my favourite thread for years. Thankfully I had done an order just before moving but certain colours have come to an end or are nearing that state. Coats seems to be the standard carried by the shops here, I have given in and bought a few. They are better then I remember but the spools don't work as well on my machines.Well enough lamenting my thread habit, I know the average person would think I had enough to last years if not decades. 

This is where I store my many colours of thread, approx 75% of the drawers contain them. The other 25% is made up of lingerie elastic, underwires, bra sliders/rings and underwire chaneling. I am so happy with these drawers(IKEA) as they keep many essentials conveniently by my sewing machines.

During my search for supplies I came across a treasure of a store. Our Fabric Stash which has a location lower level 3 in Seattle's Pike Place Market  http://www.ourfabricstash.com/
If you happen to be in downtown Seattle and are a lover of fabric make sure you drop by. It is always a mystery of what they may have and give yourself minimum 1/2 hour to just dig amongst the textiles. I have been quite lucky at times, one time I found some offcuts of cotton t-shirts which I then used to try a variety of underwear designs. Here is a sampling.

It was a wonderful way to have an assortment of colour options and it was also keeping fabric out of landfill where offcuts often end up.




I have also found a variety of vintage fabrics at Our Fabric Stash. It is so exciting when one of her vendors have decided to part with some of their stash. I love vintage fabrics. I must admit I have a few totes of them in my basement but that doesn't mean I can't get more. Often they are small pieces but they have been inspiration at times for me to create.

 

This Marlborough Bra was created using a late 60's perhaps early 70's printed floral that I discovered at Our Fabric Stash. It sat for a while in my studio until I discovered some vintage lace I had overdyed when tidying. I am quite happy with the combination the only issue is that it is a small fit partially due to the fabric ;). The next thing on my worktable is the colourway of the recommended fabrics to try a true test of the pattern. One of my best and worst characteristics is that I am not a strict follower of recommendations. Having this trait means I need to get better about doing an accurate stretch test of my fabric when experimenting. Not just a quick one but actually measure stretch and then compare with standard fabric I use. It would have been a tragedy if this was meant for a client and it hadn't fit. Though the positive side is I have enough fabric left to do at least one more bra and it has reminded me to be more stringent with doing fabric stretch tests.

Perfection of Style - Yves Saint Laurent

I have been to see The Perfection of Style - Yves Saint Laurent twice now since its opening at the Seattle Art Museum. Once just to check it out and see how it had been curated. I always find it very interesting to see how individual curators decide to display fashion exhibits. This exhibit is done exceptionally well it is a wonderful combination of decades through clothing, collection boards, fabrics, costume jewellery etc. The second was to attend a workshop on Fashion & Identity with the YSL exhibit being part of the discussions. Pictures following are some of the outfits that caught my eye often because of the structure, detailing and draping.

Detail of ivory evening dress which could easily double as a wedding dress 1971

More complete view of ivory evening dress

One of his simple but striking ensembles
rive gauche collection 1977

                

One of my favourite dresses due to it's simplicity
1965

Side view of black silk crepe dress

One Sample of many collection boards on display

rive gauche collection 1991

Wedding gown 1970
Personally I think it would be an amazing jacket

My favourite decades from Yves Saint Laurent are the late 60's and the 70's. He did an amazing job of including many aspects of pop culture into his designs throughout his life but I feel he did it the best during these times in his collections. 

EMP Museum - Hello Kitty

The EMP Museum Seattle WA

The EMP(Experience Music Project) is one of my favourite museums in Seattle. It has exhibits like Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Indie Games plus more. It even has a whole area with various sound booths so you can jam and record your session. Since moving here it has had a special exhibit on Star Wars costumes, Chuck Jones, Jimi Hendrix and now Hello Kitty. I personally have not been a big fan of Hello Kitty. But I have always thought it has had a large effect on fashion and counterculture. The exhibit covers the history behind Hello Kitty and its parent company Sanrio. What I was mainly interested in was the Fashion. So what you will see in the following pictures are some of my favourites at the exhibit.

Hello Kitty

Kitty McQueen from America's Next Top Model 2012

Some of the clothing inspired by Hello Kitty

Alice in Wonderland meets Hello Kitty

Pink Samurai from America's Next Top Model 2012