She has emerged from the bookcase and has demanded some lovin'.







Now I REALLY have to go do some actual work...

Yesterday was New Cat day - Josh and I went to Pet Orphans to pick up our pretty new baby whom we have decided to name Zoe. I wanted Norah and Josh wanted Charlotte, so we compromised! He also wanted Erzbet (after Elizabeth Bathory) but I feel that having one cat named after a murderer is enough. Bob was named after Robert Beausoleil long before I met him, or I would have had something to say about that as well. I do have to say that he has redeemed the name by being such an awesome cat, though! Bob has been GLUED to our laps. He's sniffed around the door, but nothing else. Usually he takes a closed door as a personal affront and bangs his head on it till we give in, but there's been none of that so far.

Zoe has been hiding in the bedroom - under the dressers and on the bookshelf - since yesterday afternoon, poor little dear. We have been leaving her mostly alone to give her time to adjust. We took turns last night sitting on the bed & reading so she could see that we weren't going to hurt her. As soon as she's a little more adventurous I will post pictures! She is three and mostly white with little caramel and black patches, and a cute black nose!

We spent all of Sunday and Monday moving around the shop & packing up the corsetry stuff. It's all there if I need to access it, but it's not spread all over the place taking up space now. Now I have a brand new shelf for fabric, and a third table for two more machines! The back room is all cutting tables and ironing boards. Pictures soon!

Happy May Day all! I hope everyone has survived Walpurgisnacht and is enjoying a nice protest for the labor movement. In one of the hippie bakeries I worked in as a young person, we were closed on May Day in solidarity, and I remember one of the women I worked with getting into an argument with a veteran about how she was not a communist by supporting the labor movement.

The spring schedule is trucking along nicely, and I'm up to eight positive reviews on Yelp! It's really great to get such lovely feedback, cause sometimes I feel like I'm killing myself here. Jocelyn did my astrology chart, and it was really interesting to see what came up, especially with the combinations she told me about - Sun/Libra combined with Moon/Aquarius and Venus/Scorpio combined with Mars/Virgo. Intense! My friend Melissa is going to start reading cards for the public at a bookstore in N. Hollywood - that is so cool! I would be terrified, but then again I guess that standing up in front of a classroom full of students and sounding like you know something is terrifying to most folks.

Here is the latest corset:





Black coutil lined with Kona cotton, internal boning, bound with an incredible cotton sateen from Robert Kaufman. Luscious to work with! I hand sewed the binding on the inside so it lay really smooth. It was nice to have the time to do that - I was finishing it up while my customer was taking her dress class! She was very laid back about it and a pleasure to work with. Tiny! But quite squishy. Here are some closeups, before pressing and de-cathairing:





Looks like I won't be able to take that extra day off in June when my sister is here :(
Josh didn't change the schedule fast enough and I had someone sign up for a class that needed to be moved. After a little back and forthing, she realized that if I did move it she'd miss two classes, so there's no way I'd move it. That just means that we'll have to do something a little more local to celebrate summer!

1. It is very difficult to pick 8 bolts of fabric from a few hundred.
2. I could watch Valley Girl, then rewind it and watch it all again, anytime.

That is all.

I wish I had more time to post here - it seems that by the time I get a day with a bit of free time the laundry has built up to shameful proportions and I can't find my kitchen sink for all the dishes. Sigh.

Working really hard on the classes for the summer schedule at Sew L.A. currently - I'm trying to guess what people will be interested in sewing once they have made some pajama pants! There have also been some good requests from students, so that helps a bit. I have to find a pattern, make the class sample, get the supply list together, write the description for the web site, take a picture and then write the class/handout. Phew! Here are some of the new classes:

Beginning Home Decorating: Pillows & Curtains - teaching how to make these items from measurements.

Basic Tee Shirt (to start learning stretchy fabric) - I found a good simple pattern with a longer body, McCalls 4872, view B but no shiny fabric allowed: http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M4872.htm?search=4872&page=1

Essential Summer Dress (I mostly have had dress classes with a pattern that looks good on my hourglass figure, this is an attempt to branch out to other body types, along with the Jumper Dress class) Vogue 8468, view A without the fake pockets: http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V8468.htm?search=8468&page=1

Pretty Baby! - children's clothing. The first level is working with woven fabric and the second level - fall - will be working with knits. The pattern I liked best was unfortunately a Simplicity pattern, so everyone is going to need to get the pattern somewhere else because their wholesale department is from hell. Unlike McCalls/Butterick/Vogue, where I can order size runs of specific patterns, Simplicity requires a store to order their entire catalogue. Great for huge stores like Joann, but death to the small crafty business! Simplicity, get your head out of your ass! Anyways, here's pictures:





I know, they are pretty darn cute so it's worth all the hassle. Grr! Argh!

Later on in the semester, I'll be adding two Patternmaking classes: Working with your Basic Block (to make different skirts, tops & dresses) and a Vintage Patterns Workshop, to start teaching people how to actually use the vintage patterns they have been collecting. Fun!

My cat Bob is asleep on the chair next to me. He gets mad if I put anything on it when I computering! It's so cute. The second week of May, Josh is taking some time off work to help me move the whole shop around, and the last day off we will head out to a local shelter to meet some young cats. I think Bob will be really happy to have a little sister or brother - he has been crying at night much more often lately. Poor little bunny.

We'll be packing up most of my corsetmaking stuff to make more classroom space, so I can have 6 students in the front room. The back room will be the cutting tables and irons. I have placed an order with Robert Kaufman fabrics for a bunch of organic cotton and cotton/bamboo blends - SO exciting! I have to get together an order for Alexander Henry today - there is so much amazing fabric that it's really hard to pick the best stuff - fabric that I know will sell well in my tiny shop. There is some other exciting news that will have to wait a bit...

Meanwhile, the corset and skirt I made for Allie:





She chose the colors. I like the corset, but because it is so high in the bust it suffers a bit from "wedding boob" - it's really hard to give that much coverage with metal boning and have it look natural. Corsets tend to look better when the cup is not so high, but what can one do for a wedding! The skirt had to be cut cross grain due to the length, and I'm not too happy with how it hangs. The lining is too short. But Allie was happy, and so was Mike, and that's the most important thing. And I got an e-mail from one of Mike's sisters asking if I ever thought about how much money I could make if I produced corset style cell phone holders as well! (?) Josh googled and found that, alas, someone else jumped on that hot market before me.

I'm constantly astounded at how fast everything goes. It just seems to get faster & faster! I remember summer vacation feeling like it lasted for years when I was little. Now it feels like we celebrate the seasons a month apart.

Work has been going very well - no complaints there except for I'd like a little more time off! Alicia is back this Saturday to start teaching some of the beginning classes, so that will mean a bit of a break to start planning the summer semester. I'm working on a yoke skirt class (for those of us who have big butts) where students will learn how to put in an invisible zipper. Also, the patternmaking students have asked for a class about how to use their finished sloper patterns to make clothing from, which I think is a great idea. We can talk about how to figure out how much ease to add, how to move the lines around, and how to change darts into princess lines and such. I love stuff like this! Skinny Pants will show up again, and this time hopefully there will be enough students at that level for the class to fill up. The beginning classes are selling out like hotcakes! I had to add two Machine Intro classes to the March schedule and will have to add 2 or 3 to the April one as well. Lots of people have been looking at the website, and I have gotten reviewed on Yelp a few times. Woo hoo!

Bob and I just took a break to play with his "house mouse" that Heather sent us. He is enjoying his status as an only cat, especially now that he has his own human to play with - my friend Jim. Who is staying on our couch while he finds an apartment/job here. He'll be watching Bob when we go to San Francisco for a brief break next week - vacation plus wedding - and we get to see Suzanne and Caylee! I'm very excited and can definitely use the break.

It was amazing as usual to see Slim Cessna's Auto Club here on Monday night. The guys stayed over and got to sleep for a few hours before heading off to Arizona. I hope the South by Southwest thing goes really well! It's so cool to finally hear the studio versions of songs that we have been hearing live for the past year & a half.

Off to work!

I actually have three more projects to officially finish up, then I'll be doing some stuff on a case by case basis. This is a black and silver dupioni 18th century (modified to be more modern obviously - merged with a modern lower portion). The dupioni is quite fragile so I fuse it to coutil and it behaves beautifully after that. My client is in the process of losing weight, and I warned her that if she loses more than 10 pounds she'll need a new corset!





Later on I'll have some in-progress pics of the next project (corset & skirt for wedding gown) and some of the class samples I'm working on (hobo bag and jumper dress). Yay sewing!

I wanted to post some pictures of the class samples I have been working on for my shop, Sew L.A. - so here they are! This journal is going to be much more about sewing in general I think than about corsetry in specific, although I'm sure the odd corset will sneak in. I have been Lovely Creature Corsetry for over 10 years now and really, I'm ready to focus on something else. Hence Sew L.A.! It has been going very well - many of the beginning sewing classes have started to sell out and I'm slowly but surely increasing my fabric selection. Here are some of the latest:

Vintage Sundress



Built by Wendy Skinny pants (cropped version)



Pencil Skirt!



Tomorrow is the third Intro to Patternmaking class, where it all starts coming together - we take the fitted muslin and learn how to make an oaktag pattern then a paper patter. Voila! A skirt that actually fits!

When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thoughts,
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay,
For the joy that the day has brought,
Do you thinks what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to a tired heart,
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray
And the dear friends have to part?

- Carrie Jacobs Bond

Rest in peace, darling bunny-cat.

Since returning from visiting my family over the Christmas break, things here have been pretty dramatic, and by that I mean traumatic. The day after Christmas - I had just come home - we found a lump on my beautiful kitty's back leg and after three weeks of testing and waiting for lab results he was diagnosed with lymphoma last Tuesday. My sweet Baby kitty! There has been a lot of crying at work so as to not upset the cat too much.

Today is really the first time I have felt like talking about it, cause we went to the acupuncture vet instead of the nasty vet and both of us feel a little better. Dr. Limehouse is absolutely amazing and Baby was so relaxed and blissed out. I'm SO grateful that we live in LA and this option is available to us. Daddy Josh went with us today and it was so much better than going alone. Baby has two homeopathic remedies for his spleen and lymph nodes, and the acupuncture will make him as comfortable as possible for the next few weeks.

We decided against chemotherapy almost immediately, because the prognosis was only 4 - 6 months with extensive treatments, and they would make him really sick with his diabetes. He is 14 and was picked up off the streets of Buffalo in the middle of a bad winter as a tiny kitten. He has had a good long life with people who love him! We are keeping him home with us and are watching carefully for when to schedule the doctor to come to our house for euthanasia. When he starts not being able to keep food down, when the swelling in his leg prevents him from moving - we have to decide and stick with it so he isn't in pain.

I have been taking a lot of time during the day to hang out with him, stopping in to eat lunch, and taking tons of pictures - Baby with me, Josh and Bob. I'm confident that we are doing the right thing, but I'm really worried about Bob and how he will handle being an Only Cat. Dr. Limehouse advised we give Bob Rescue Remedy along with Baby (and me and Josh, he said!) and also star walnut Bach flower remedy (for transition). It certainly won't hurt. All I want is for these next couple of weeks to be relaxed and comforting for Baby, my sweetest bunny-cat.

Eeeuuu... stomach flu. All I can say is how amazed I am at the amount of vomit my body produced. The worst is very over, although I'm still shakey and rumbly and not really eating solid food yet. Lots of naps. Thank the stars that this happened on a Saturday night when I had a guest teacher coming in on Sunday! I was able to drag myself to the shop to open up for her, then leave everything in her more than capable hands to go back to bed. Liz, you totally rock! It feels like I will never want to chew again, but we have dinner at Urth Cafe tonight with Jeanne & Dan so I have to actually put clothes on & drive us to Santa Monica. I'm not fond of being sick, but this came out of nowhere! Colds I can work through but this really knocked me.

I'm home today trying to finish the class schedules and write-ups and supply lists for the Jan - March semester. All in all, I'm really happy with the way Sew LA is progressing. I have had only one student in a few classes, but mostly it's two - three students which is perfect for the space. Over the New Year's break, I'd like to move things around so all the machines (6) are in the front room and the cutting tables and irons are in the back - this leads to...

Cutting way back on the corsetry. I knew it would happen at some point. I feel like I'm pretty done with it and I really need the space for Sew LA (which is actually making money, unlike the corsetry). It's an economic decision, but it's also mental - I have been doing this for 10 years now and I'm ready for a change. That change is teaching and that's what is making me get up in the morning. So, yes, corsets still for people who really want them like past customers and all, but no stupid wedding corsets for demanding people that I don't like. Great that this coincides with a massive busc order. I'm sure I'll use them cause I'm still teaching the corset classes and of course will still make custom stuff for nice peoples. I have had a few bad experiences lately with selling stuff online and trying to get payment, and it's just not what I want to struggle with anymore. Meuh! More later, I'm sure, when I have more energy. Now, back to your regularly scheduled scheduling!

I'm starting to feel like myself again. Today was a day off, I actually got to sleep in a bit. It's amazing what the requisite amount of sleep will do for you! I am committed to watching my diet better for fall - it's been nothing but sugar and dairy and of course I feel like a big slug! Mela gave me a fall diet which allows for some heavier grains once or twice a week, so wheat, rye and spelt occasionally, which are my biggest comfort foods. Blame it on working in bakeries for ten years! Mmmm... toast... I love quinoa, but I get a little sick of it in summer with the grain salads. I also have fall root veggies - roasted organic garnet yams, roasted parsnips, eggplant, artichokes, asparagus - getting hungry! Tonight for dinner I'm making brown rice penne with acorn squash/walnut/roasted garlic sauce. Yum!

( cut for length, but there's a picture! )

I can't believe how fast it's all going! Usually for the solstices and equinoxes, I try to take a day off to be in some nature but yesterday was the second photo shoot with Saryn and Sindel. A ton of work, but we got some amazing images! Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have a day off and I'm planning on cooking good food - carrot ginger soup, spicy eggplant bharta and rice, extra-cinnamon apple crisp - and that will be my equinox dinner. Josh and I have been two ships passing in the night lately, so I'm really happy to be home early for some time together. Our anniversary (sixth!) is on October 2nd, and I would SO love to have a two day getaway near the beach to restore a bit. I'm seriously exhausted from working so much. And there is so much pressure to get everything done - all the class stuff, all the classroom & studio organization, and we can't have people over for dinner because the dining room table (and floor, and my computer) is completely covered with stacks of paper. Yuck!

Fall has always been my time to Get Stuff Done. So I'm feeling good about all the work, but I think a break would make it all a little easier. I usually feel much more clear-headed and able to organize - when it's hot like it has been, I have no mental ability whatsoever. The trick in moving forward is going to be balancing the two businesses - I'm sure that as one gets more demanding the other will too.

Caylee, my amazing store helper and friend, is moving to San Francisco in November so I'm going to have to start looking for store help soon. Where will I find someone like her? She has other jobs, so she's not dependent on this income, she has her own work to do when I don't have anything specific, she's happy to get $10 an hour, she is self taught and absorbs knowledge like a sponge. I'm starting out so small that I can't afford a full time employee, but the goal is for this person to become the store manager with a good salary and benefits. Sigh.

I have plans to write much more about the whole Lovely Creature / Sew LA shift soon. Probably when I finally get a laptop!

Shaerie: I think my tape is wearing out.
Josh: I'm sure I can find it online - what is it?
Shaerie: Michael Brook
Josh: Oh, yeah. I'm sure there are some other weird geeks out there who have it.

Today was really nice! Even thought I overslept a bit. I got up & did my meditation, then went to see my doctor Mela to talk about diet and store-opening stress and she gave me this oil for aromatherapy with lavender and bergamot in it that smells amazing. I love nice smelling things beyond reason sometimes. Then I went to the sign place to order my huge SEWING CLASSES sign, and not only were they easy to work with, they were very complimentary towards my door sign and my business.

I drove out to Van Nuys to visit a shop called Handmade (http://www.handmadegalleriesla.com/) and drop off postcards. They were very happy to hear of my classes and want me to bring them schedules! I met Cathy of California (http://www.cathyofcalifornia.com/) there and she ate lunch with me at Baja Fresh and we talked about being a one-person small business. It's fantastic to talk to someone face to face who knows what you are going through. She had some great suggestions for dropping of schedules and it turns out she knows a lot of folks I do. Handmade was HUGE and overwhelming - packed full of really cool stuff. Small local crafty artists can rent space there and sell their stuff, so it was all over the map from sock monkeys to high end jewelry. I took a bunch of their postcards for my store because people have to go there and buy stuff!

Then, I treated myself to a break and went to the Getty Center to look at the Weston photo exhibit (amazing) and to visit my favorite paintings:

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=842
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=911
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=140425

It is soul-renewing for me to visit the Getty. The building, the views, the garden, the collection - it's all so beautiful and relaxing. I am a true Libra in that beauty is like oxygen to me! Then I went to the SAC and taught the 5th dress class out of 6. All of my students are doing so well - we are past the challenges of fitted sleeve and fussy collar so they all feel pretty accomplished as we move into the skirt which is easy - a-line or pleated. It's incredibly rewarding to watch them start out as complete beginners and then by the end of three classes they can make a whole dress! Everyone is happy and planning next projects. This is the reason I teach, absolutely. Sigh of contentment for today!

...and everything will be okay. I am made of panic, for the next week at least. Store opening on the 6th, with the first class being the evening of the 5th and Caylee starting part time on the 7th. I have an entire notebook full of lists that are slowly being checked off. Things forgotten then remembered so far include a cash register and a pricing gun.

Yesterday I took the afternoon (of the hottest day of the year) to walk around and talk to some local stores and introduce myself as a new business. I'm SO glad I did - everyone was super nice and very encouraging! I really enjoyed talking to Britt at Show Pony in Echo Park - there are some great little stores that I can't wait to promote on my very own 'community' board. I found a place that only makes custom jeans! How cool is that! (Maybe I can get them to teach a class...)

Icing on cake: mother and younger brother arrive at 2:25 today for a five day visit. So, tourist stuff in the midst of store panic! I know my mom is only going to want to help, so I'm stocking up on the Jane Austen movies to distract her. She was here last year at the same time, when the whole Farthingales thing blew up and I was a total wreck - trying to find a job and not able to pay rent - and I think that some of the current underlying panic is that I'm wondering when someone will come along and say "you can't have that!" and take my store away. Deep breath! Meditate! (hasn't been that easy to turn off brain)

Nightmare: I was trying to teach a class, in a barn, with no machines. Everyone was just standing there saying 'This is a terrible class!" I couldn't get back to sleep for the rest of the night. It might be time for vodka nightcaps.

psycholibrarian just sent along a new picture of herself in the pink dupioni corset I made for her, photographed by the lovely Alyz of Visualyz - http://alyz.deviantart.com/gallery/ - wow! I love the little sparkly bits...



In other news, I had my loan meeting for Sew LA yesterday and I find out about the $ on Monday. I worked on the business plan non-stop all last Fri/Sat/Sun and what I handed in was the best I could do. I'm still exhausted from it all, but I think the meeting went really well. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed! I'll be spending some time tonight working on the class schedule for September - mostly beginning sewing classes with a few fun things thrown in. I found a great hand-pieced pincushion pattern for the learn to hand sew class - so cute! I'll post pictures as soon as I get my hands on some sawdust to stuff it with. Any ideas?

Costume College went tres smoothly this year, and now I am exhausted. My treat for working so hard (and not seeing the boy for like a week straight) is that tomorrow I'm taking the Native Tour of the LA Fabric District, even though I live here. I'm excited to see all the little stores that I never have time to get to cause I'm always trying to beat traffic or get back to sewing something.

The Modern Sewing class went really well, I think next year I'll describe it as a class for beginners and also anybody who wants to pick up some tips / streamline their sewing / get motivated / get back into it. So much has changed and there are so many good tools now!

The Altering a Corset lecture was confusing for some folks as they thought I was demonstrating how to re-fit an existing, already sewn corset. Even thought the description says corset PATTERN. So I talked a little about when you can & can't re-fit & went on with the rest of the lecture. Fortunately, there were a bunch of people who were really interested and took pictures & asked very good questions. I was able to demonstrate taking it from a pattern to a muslin to an oaktag to a final pattern and also give some construction tips. Not bad for 2 hours!

The one to go part is my business plan for Sew LA. I have been pre-approved for a loan by the Women's Business Center (I had no idea my credit was so good! Woo Hoo!) and now I just have to do the bit with the projections by the 14th. So, amidst teaching, corset fittings, and writing up an entire class schedule for September that won't even matter if I don't get some funding - this is my next hurdle and the one that could change a whole lot in my life. Stomach cramps, anyone? But, you know, in a good way...

Hey everyone! Hope your summers are going well. I have been super extra busy, as usual, but I now have something (albeit small) to show for it:

http://www.sew-la.com/

That's the new website for my sewing lessons & classes, and I'm really happy with the simplicity of the layout. Big thanks out to the boy for all his help and putting up with my beyond-stupid requests! He has the patience of a saint, mostly. We'll be tweaking it and actually finishing it shortly, and the Sewing in LA website will be reserved for Los Angeles local fabric/supply stores and crafty people, groups & events.

Classes at SAC have been exploding - all the ones I'm teaching are filled, with 10 - 12 students in all of them. Private lessons are full of kids on their summer breaks. Santa Monica parents seem to really like their kids educated - many of them go to summer school then it's sewing lessons, tennis lessons, soccer lessons... when I was a kid we just ran around all day! One of my 8 year olds almost fell asleep in class the other day, poor thing.

One of my girls wanted to make a sock monkey! So we went over the supply list and she came for the lesson - I didn't think that I should have specified *clean* socks. When questioned, she said 'Well, I only wore them today.' Hee hee! So we'll make them next week instead. :)

( cut for pics & length... )

I have been working very hard to get my studio back up and running after moving! There are lots of pictures I want to share with everyone once I get them organized, but here are two of the newest custom corsets I have made:



( more this way... )