Peaceful Crafting

Spending my day crafting...

Even though I don't concentrate/ advertsie on my little girls dresses anymore, I am lucky to have loyal customers keep coming back to me. So how can I say "no" to such warm hearted souls who support me all the way? I just can't!

I love crafting my girls dresses. I call it crafting because they are like craft projects. It doesn't take too long, not like adult dresses. They are sooo cute. well, everything is cute in toddler sizes. I think this is the 4th time this client ordered this dress. 2 this time. Must be for Christmas gifts...HOLIDAYS, best the of the year.

hmm.... I think I will add girls dresses back to my new website in the future.

Carelle & Nelson Wedding Part 1- Maui

PART 1- Maui

If you think one wedding is tough, Carelle and Nelson had to plan two weddings; one in Maui and another one for NJ. But, everything is easier LOVE. Carelle and Nelson are the cutest couple. They compliment each other like no other couple. AND MOB, Eleanor, whom I adore sooo much because she has such a personality that you don't think of her a mother, but a hip young friend. It is so wonderful to see such a connection amongst the three of them. The LOVE for one another will stir some green envy.

We started the process early 2010. Carelle and Nelson knew exactly what colors they wanted their 3 MOH, 5 bridesmaids and 3 junior bridesmaids to wear for their Maui wedding and needed to pick just the right shade so that they will also blend well with an early Fall wedding back home for NJ too. They ended up with what I called "the Papaya" which is a beautiful golden yellow with a coral orange. Then we chosen a watermelon for mom, Eleanor and and peach blush for grandma.

Photography by Ron Solimon. ENJOY!!!

Carelle's beautiful custom heels from the Philippine.

I love this picture.. so Maui.

Getting ready.

The lei flowers. A beautiful deep fuchsia

A beautiful setting for a romantic wedding.

Carelle's grandparents
The Juniors.

Loving the happy colors.


This is my favorite pic.

Carelle & Nelson Wedding- Part 2 -NJ

Part 2- The Venetian, NJ

Carelle and Nelson's NJ wedding back home was exactly 1 month after their Maui wedding. I don't know how they did it, but the wedding was amazing considering the small amount of time in between to breathe!!! The decor and details were all done to perfection by "A Touch of Elegance" . The funny thing is that Carelle said it was Nelson that has the creative eye when planning this entire wedding. He was the one putting the colors together. Needless to say, I am more than impressed by his keen eyes. Lucky girl!! Finally, a guy that understands. Most guys don't even want to be part of the planning (my husband thinks purple and blue looks the same..hmf)

Thank you so much for letting me be part of your special day!! I had so much fun.

Enjoy these amazing photos by photographer Ron Solimon

Love this shot of her dress. Shows off all the layers

Carelle's dress was amazing. Fit for a Queen. She had it custom made in the Phillipine.

I added beaded jacket and beaded applique for grandma's dress after their Hawaii wedding for NJ. Has that 1920's look which I love.

MOB dress in fuchsia and gold sequin bodice. I can't get enough of that sequin fabric, so good thing I bought the whole roll. ;) Gold with purple splash dots. I also added to the sleeve cuffs.

Added a little wrap for the girls. You never know with the early Fall weather....

The girls so cute in my flower headband. I love it!! So girly.

I love the Vaulted ceiling. So dramatic.

A very happy MOB!!

Do you know exactly what you are getting?

This post is long past due. I promised I write about this. I roughly mentioned it on my ETSY hand-made site about silks and polyester.

I had to take a class (part of the curriculum) at FIT my freshman year..(gosh, it's been more than 10 years ago). Very helpful I must say. The only thing I learned from the class that I use constantly is the fabric test. I use this when I go shopping for fabric in the fabric district. The fabric sellers know by now to do the burn test to show customers the true nature of the fabric..that is if they think you know your stuff. If you don't, they can claim, but how would you really know what you're buying is exactly what you are getting???..you don't.

I have once purchased some silk brocades from an online vender from China...thinking that it was 100% silk since the site emphasize on 100% silk products. It wasn't super cheap, but cheaper than buying the silks here. When it arrived, I did the burn and only to find out that it was polyester...which for the price, I could have bought it here in the States. Why would I need to buy from China and pay the shipping. duh! Lesson learned.

If in person, most of the time I can tell what the fiber is once I touch it or by looking at the threads. This takes a lot of practice though of course. Designers who have worked for a design company that mass-produces as I did will get tons of swatches in everyday, look at it and approves the quality and color. Not much fun at all. Very tedious, but essential part of the designing process.

The burn test will identify most fabrics. Can't determine the percentage but will let you know if it's natural or synthetic.

Natural Fibers-

100% WOOL: Smells like burnt hair. Very hard to ignite a flame. You will most of the time see the edges burn, but with no flame. Doesn't bubble, just burns clean.

100% COTTON: It burns pretty clean and you can blow out the flame quickly. The burnt edge ashes pretty easily at a touch. Smells like burnt paper.

100% SILK. You can see the edges bubbles a little when burning but ashes when you touch it. Smells like burnt hair. Also a little harder to blow out. DO remember that qualities such as chiffon, satin, taffeta, shantung, organza..etc. do come in silk or polyester fibers. Pricing is a big difference. DO not assume it's silk.

Synthetic Fibers:

NYLON: is made from Petroleum. It hold a steady flame. The end will bubble and curl as you burn and will be hard after cool down. Does not ash.Will smell like plastic.

POLYESTER: have a very strong plastic smell as it burns and melts. The burnt area will bubble and very hard after cooling.
ACRYLIC & ACETATE: both are usually used only for linings. Acrylic is a little better quality than acetate. Acetate will shred if you use bleach at all. Both will be hard after burning.

Blend fibers are hard to identitfy. If it's nature with synthetic, I have notice that it will burn ans ash, but the edge of some threads will be hard and scratchy if you rub against your skin.

Please make sure that the burnt area is cool before examining with hands.

To sum it up all natural fibers will ash when burnt. And only one man-made fiber(RAYON) will ash.

All man-made/synthetic fibers EXCEPT for rayon, edges will be hard after burning.

Why is it important?? Well for one, if you paid a lot of money, you don't want to ruin it under the iron. Synthetic fibers usually burn very easily, meaning you can never have the iron on high when ironing.

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!