Need Designer Fabrics at a great price??

You all heard of MOOD from Project Runway, but they can get pretty pricey. If you want good quality fabric at an affordable price for any project small or big, try METRO TEXTILE. They are about 1/20 the size of MOOD, but offers fabric 30-50% less than MOOD or any of the other fabric stores in the Fashion District. Why??

METRO is a secret amongst us fashion alums of F.I.T & Parsons. It's not a storefront that can be seen. They are inside a building and on the 9th floor. SO unless you know exactly where to look, you won't find them.

Their prices are the main reason why I drop by before ordering even from my wholesale venders.

But hurry, fabrics come and go at a blink of an eye here. SO if you like something, chances are some else will snatch it up too.

This is Kashi, owner of Metro. The nicest and friendliest man you'll ever meet.

I have a thing for beading and sequins. This is gold sequins with splashes of purples...I love. haha you won't find it there anymore. I bought the whole roll as you can see. (I'll show you how to tell from cheap and good quality sequins later on)
Tons and tons of fabric. For tights, curtains, pillows,wool coats, anything really.

This was end of the day. Messy after been touched by people who don't roll it back.

(I use to work at BR back in college and hated it when customers touch any pile of clothes, cus I know that I will be spending hours folding and stacking them back up. Worst when they pull from the bottom of the pile...haha then the whole stack tumbles over. good heavens!!)

This is what I picked up for myself on the last trip to see Kashi. Fall/ Winter fabric. I need new clothes..for myself, not for my line. :P yea....honestly, I really don't shop much anymore. Unless it's accessories: handbag, shoes..things I can't make...Sweater!! (they are a pain to knit. Envy those that have the patience to sit and count stitches) The most I can do is knit a scarf and with with chunky yarn so I can finish in one day.

Choosing Color Themes

A few brides will know exactly what they want for their wedding day so planning comes easy for them, while it can be a very stressful task for others. One of those decisions?? Picking colors.

You want colors to match, to compliment each other and not be all over the place. The key to any event planning is to keep to the plan. Don't wander too far away. Know your palette and stick to it.

MONOCHROMATIC colors are the easiest. Stick to a color and work from lightest to darkest of one color. ex: baby blue to navy

If you want to include a broader spectrum, my rule of thumb to make it easy, is stick to either WARM or COOL colors. Warm colors are colors with yellow undertone vs. Cool colors, a blue undertone.

COLOR INSPIRATIONS:

An inspiration can come from anything really. A bouquet, a painting, a postcard, or a photo. One of my clients will be using her ceramic art piece as her color theme. It then becomes something special, and a story within a story to talk about, even more meaningful.

Here is a photo I recently took from a hiking trip. I pulled colors from the photo. Any of these colors will work beautifully together. So go through your photos and create a story for the two of you.

Trending now for bridesmaids is for each to wear a different color dress, so if you can't decide and love more than one color, don't compromise. Go ahead and pick two, three or more colors.

What might be easier for some is to start by picking the bouquet. You can already see that those colors work together, then just pick out colors from the bouquet for everything else. Simple and as easy as that.

With the right choices, any color palette can and will look amazing. There is no bad color...although, I do admit that some colors do look better some people than others. Don't pick a color just because it's all over the magazine. You have to be comfortable, otherwise, you will be switching back and forth later on which can cause so much stress. Stick to colors you love.

POOL PARTY WEDDING from Justin

Custom request fromJustin:

Justin wanted a chiffon wedding dress with tiny flowers all over the top bodice. We took one of my designs, made it long and added gold accents. Gold beads fro center of flowers, gold chevron bugle beaded waistband and a barely there pale gold lining. She wanted just a small shimmer of the contrast lining as she walks.

What makes a wedding special are the people and the memories. When your guests had just as much fun as you did, you know it's a wedding everyone will be talking about. Take a look at JUSTIN's wedding

A picture is worth a thousand words. There's no question that this will be one of the most memorable weddings her guests been to. Look at all the smiles!!!!

Thank you so much Justin for sharing pictures with us of your precious day. Thank you for being an easy breezy client!

Chrissy & Marc Aug. 29th, 2010

Always exciting to get new pics. I got the O.K from bride to post pics. ENJOY!!!!

Chrissy & Marc Aug.29, 2010

We had fun, but wasn't smooth sailing. Never is. We had to do the ruffles twice, but happy with the result 2nd time around. I must say that Chrissy was the most relaxed bride I have ever worked with. Was a pleasure. Thank you Chrissy!!

My favorite pic. They are soooo cute!!

Loving the rich royal purple.

2 Maids of Honor, 6 Bridesmaids, 3 Junior Bridesmaids and 1 flowergirl. We decided to break it up and added the fuchsia color last minute.

The Maids of Honor.

Took the ruffle layer off. Time to party!!


Photo Credit: Jin Lee

FREE Wedding Dress!!!!! Asian Inspired

Requirements:

- Looking for a 2011 Indian or Asian inspired wedding will suit this dress. You don't have to be Asian. Just wedding Asian theme

- Bride must wear dress for the ceremony or reception..(we can talk about this)

- Must be local. in NYC, PA, CT or NJ area, because I will need to do in person fittings and take pictures along the way for my blog. (so if you are not shy about it, you'll be perfect!)

- Must be a size 0- size 8

- Dress will be as designed but we can talk about small tweaks here and there. Will be in shades of Fuchsia/red and gold.

- Please provide venue.

- Must be okay if I attend your wedding or send a photographer for pictures. OR might do a pre-wedding photo session. You can have all picture I or photographer take.

- I KEEP DRESS AFTERWARDS!!

Dress:

Sweetheart neckline. Fuchsia dress with red beaded lace over it to thigh. Lace will have areas with rip or burnt through effects, but still very pretty cus it will reveal the full fuchsia fabric underneath. Bottom flare full skirt will be stacked hundreds of layers of varying shades of fuchsia

The single tulle strap with gold beads and vintage brooch at shoulder will be the cathedral train

- DEFINITELY not for the traditional bride!!!

Ladies, this is a creative project I'm dying to start on!!!!

I attended an Indian wedding 2 months ago and been seriously wanting to create a modern cross-hybrid Indian inspired wedding dress. I love how ornate the Indian weddings were. The colors were amazing!! I was in heaven!!(thank you Aman for inviting us)

Recently, I did get an inquiry to make an Indian hybrid dress. I am sooooo thrilled about it, which makes me think that there's actually more people out there looking for designers to help make colorful hybrid wedding dresses like these. That's why I want to add more to my portfoilio!

Instead of making a wedding dress and putting it on a model and just take pictures, I want to make this dress for FREE for a real bride.

So if you or if you know someone that will be PERFECT for this project...email: creativeprojects@annlumred.com or leave me a note on facebook or here on my blog.

Ann & Emma- Prom Dresses

Ann & Emma
Nova Scotia, Canada
2010 Prom dresses

Ann & Emma are twins. Their mother, Cindy contacted me back in March to make the girls' prom dresses after Emma been browsing through my dresses online. Cindy was the sweetest lady. Her emails were always filled with kind words. The girls were her babies: the youngest of five children. So this was extra special for her and I felt honored to be part of it.
The girls knew exactly what shade of colors they want and so I sent them swatches to choose from. And the making process begins.......

Thank you for sharing Cindy, Ann & Emma!

All the colours

As I am super busy sewing up a storm in my workroom, I can't help but smile at all the pretty colors of BM dresses around me. I don't have time to paint anymore, but have you ever seen a more pretty and vibrant artist's palette?? Love it!!! big :)