Tell Me Your Favourite Colour Garter Giveaway

Garter #1630 is the number that I am on today as I write this post. Don't ask me how many flowers or dresses I've made; I couldn't tell you. For some reason I started writing down each garter I made, and being a bit obsessive compulsive, I couldn't stop. If you have followed my progress, you will know these garters; I made my first one in February 1999 for a Valentine's Day show, and they have never stopped selling.

I recently opened my ribbon box to create a custom set for one of my long-term shops in San Francisco, and noticed that a ribbon order is long overdue. As I cut the last bit of powder blue silk ribbon off of the spool, I knew it was time for an order. I dread these orders. The silk has to be imported, I have to choose carefully, or I will find myself stuck with a colour I never use (hello, too cold silver that has been languishing unusable in the box since 2002). But I am always looking for the next new colours so I don't get bored making the same things over and over.

This time I am going to try something a little different; I am going to ask other peoples' opinions. Shocking, I know! As we creep into fall (and thinking ahead to spring 2012), I thought it is time to add a few colours. I am not one to follow trend, but everyone has their colour preferences. I have to serve the lingerie community that varies from traditional brides to burlesque performers. For your opinions, you will get a chance to WIN a matching pair of garters! Here is my collection on Etsy. What are your thoughts on the following additions?

1. Sesame (paired here with silver and a dark red rose)

2. Olive (shown with both rich gold and peach)

3. Sage (shown with cream and peach and matching pink flowers)

$. Navy (on the bottom band with silver)


So there you have it. Leave me a comment, and let me know what you think of any or all these as possible additions to my garter collection, and your favourite existing colours. I will choose at random one lucky person who commented here to receive a matching pair of garters to be made from stock on hand, and shipped to you via first class us post within 4 weeks of comments closing 8/31/2011. UPDATE: Thank you for your comments! I will be notifying the winner 9/2/2011. Comments are closed now.

some photos of the first incarnation

here are some photos of my new studio. i am still unpacking boxes, and trying to get into the swing of things. today i painted a screen that i have been meaning to finish for the better part of a decade (i know) and my a-board sign. i had help from my painter friend brent wear who is in charge of the art on the walls.


i am still on the fence about having regular hours, but i am available by appointment if you want to come visit. i will be posting my *by chance* hours on my twitter page.

fox fur collar

sometimes i get fixated on a particular thing, that i must make or find. for the last while, i have been searching for a vintage fox fur collar. i finally found what i was looking for from an etsy seller in canada, zaama. the box finally arrived over the weekend. it is a very plush creamy colour with chocolate tipped guard hairs. after decorating it with flowers and sewing on a new hook and eye, i have been wearing it ever since. it is what i am designing my fall wardrobe around. worn on the shoulders, it goes with anything; sweaters, blazers, winter coat, camisole, lingerie. i feel a little conflicted about fur, so my compromise is vintage. there is something glamourous and comforting about having this around my shoulders. and best of all it is cheering me up.

so much of my life and my business is looking together. being put together carefully. polished. fancy. it has become an art, my art. if you see me on any given day, what i am wearing serves two purposes for me; one is to look professional (since i am in the business of dressing people, how would it look if my dress didn't reflect that?) and the other is to make me feel good. things can't possibly go well if i am wearing the wrong colour or the wrong shoes. i craft my wardrobe to support the idea of my professional life and the ideal me.

there is nothing like hearing people complain all of the time; airing their personal train-wrecks. my pendulum swings the other way. i've been accused of being too stoic; when i have my own financial crisis going on i do my best not to show it, but i definitely am one to fight with myself over self-sabotage. not always knowing when to ask for help, stubbornly waiting for my receipts to come in rather than aggressively collecting them (which makes everything come in slower). everything always works out, right? there is nothing that turns me off as much as seeing people begging for money. i keep going. even when things are really discouraging, through starving, through so many months of getting by the skin of my teeth. there has been so many good things mixed in. i tend to do everything in my power to be positive or at least appear so. i find that having the appearance of being upbeat and successful does me much better than complaining and playing the 'poor me' game. there is no middle ground between being perfect or a total trainwreck/sad sack, and while i am really hesitant to discuss my down days at the risk of not appearing perfect or together, i think that it is too much pressure and a misrepresentation for me to act like everything is perfect in my little world. to be sure, i am not sure about how i have made it for so long, and this month (hopefully) will be no exception, but things are carved so close. but wearing my best clothes on a bad day makes such a difference, and everyone should have their own equivalent of my fox fur collar; whether it is a garment, a piece of jewelry or a favourite pair of shoes.

(this post was inspired by sewphisticate a fellow etsy seller in a forum discussion about how do you combat self doubt? photo by me)

piper ewan's tenth anniversary in the suspended garden of disbelief

it is almost may, which brings my tenth year to a close. i have come a long way from making custom weddings out of my studio apartment. i have gone through 3 miles of ribbon, survived ten wedding seasons, put on 15 holiday sales, made over 1200 garters and i don't want to know how many flowers! please help me celebrate my tenth anniversary by coming by to say hello this month. the official date is 18 may, but i will be offering 10% off my accessories line and 30% off regular price ready to wear clothing (excluding sale and custom items) for the month of may. bring me some champagne, and i may be persuaded to make a better deal, no promises...

which brings us to:
First Friday May 2nd
6pm-12am
FREE! ALL AGES!!
OPEN TO EVERYONE!!!

the egg

534 se oak street (at grand & 6th)


Featuring LIVE MUSIC at around 10 pm by The Rostropobitches, an all-womens side project of the Portland Cello Project, sets by DJ NEALIE NEAL, DJ B.HILL, MR. ROMO and a special secret live music guest!

AND UPSTAIRS: more paintings by brent wear, fashions by piper ewan, faith jennings and a FANCY MAMMAL SUPER SALE

“For this group of paintings I have abandoned my usual practice of putting characters in my work, and allowed myself to explore the subtle abstract imagery that is present in many of my paintings, but not always noticeable. For me it is a return to the true nature of painting, to stream of conscience over composition and representation. The resulting images reflect not only complex dreamscapes, but also organic and machine like structures.

The idea for me is to create images that encourage the viewer to spend time in meditation, as if visiting a sublime, lush garden, and that the viewer will have their own emotional experience with the paintings.” ~Brent Wear

come see me first friday or by appointment. looking forward to seeing you!

xoxo,

kirsten a. moore
www.piperewan.com
shop: www.piperewan.etsy.com
blog: www.piperewan.blogspot.com

biding my time

this is what a week's worth of work has looked like lately, give or take. all the special orders have been made and shipped, and etsy's replenished stock is hidden away in its plastic box lest it be confused with the rest of the menagerie. this has been my best month by far on etsy, and i have replenished my ribbon stock, and i even have added a few new colours to the mix. big porange flowers with feathers will be ready for next first friday. the ribbon that i make the garters has just offered new colours for the first time in nine years. i finally got that turquoise and red combination that i have been wanting to make since 2001, and i have lilac now too.

but this week of making garters and garters and garters has made me feel like i was biding my time. the accessories line has been taking off, and that is what i will be focusing most heavily on (russian birdcage veiling here i come!). no big announcement here, it's just what people are buying now. it's not like i can sell big couture gowns in portland, oregon during the big recession. after so many months of struggling, i have gotten to a place where i can start to feel like myself; which is an entirely foreign feeling. i am so used to being under constant duress, that i don't always know what to do with myself when the biggest thing i am obsessing over this week is whether or not to take the loan i have been offered to do that last big ribbon order.

at the cusp of my tenth anniversary, this isn't where i pictured myself. i am not complaining (i seem to be saying this a lot to myself lately). i am not sure where i thought i would be. i am not entirely out of the woods yet, but not struggling is a good place to start.

the big O

more publicity! i have been talking a lot lately about trying to market my stuff overseas while the dollar is weak.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1203731749171220.xml&coll=7

barometers and crisis panties

because my brain cannot be counted on to be a very good judge of my own situation, i tend to rely on barometers to tell me what sort of state of crisis i may or may not be in. lately it has been my body. severe sugar cravings are a sure sign of depression, and puking my guts out is severe duress. i am not sure where my wit's end is. i may be at it, or have passed it up a long time ago. true a part of me is dying, but i have been wanting to kill her off for a long time. she is a bad ally. she contributes to my odd insecurities, self-destructive tendencies, self-doubt, and worst of all apathy. but i am so used to hiding behind her (and her keeping me hidden), i am not so sure what happens without her.

lately i have been on the slippery slope of gathering momentum of success, and it scares the hell out of me. i don't quite know what to do with myself. it is everything i have worked so hard for over the past ten years, and absolutely so unexpected, i don't know how to handle it. being the centre of attention may be fun at parties, but it is a whole another story when it is real live legitimate publicity. i know it isn't out of nowhere. i have been cultivating this image of my business that suited the facade of my ego, but that ego is leaving me as i fight to pull her out sinew by sinew with every last drop of bile that gets purged into the toilet in the middle of the night. i still make the same sort of things, live in the same house, work in the same studio, talk to the same people, but everything is different, raw, unfamiliar and slightly disconcerting. i am turning into the person i am in my dreams, but the waking world isn't quite as accommodating. and my tolerance for disingenuous interactions is no longer waning, it is gone. this should be really interesting.

above is a photo of my first ever pair of panties. i have been thinking about it for long enough. i haven't tried them on yet, but this begins the long design process of a possible new line; provided that i can find time for development in between accessories orders (thank goddess for etsy!) i am NOT going to call them crisis panties, btw. look for more lingerie and more accessories in the near future.

piper ewan is a featured seller on etsy!

i am really excited and a little nervous. you can see the interview here: www.etsy.com/featured_seller.php

if you live in portland, come see me on first friday at the egg.
534 se oak street, pdx 6p - 12a all ages
it is the love show. for more info on that see www.launchpadgallery.org

xoxo,
kirsten
www.piperewan.com

fascinator!

i learned a new word a few weeks ago on etsy. the word is 'fascinator.' a fascinator is kind of like a hat; it is a larger piece made of flowers and/or feathers worn on one's head attached to combs or a clip or a headband. hmmm, i make those! i never knew what that was called! i ran back to my listings and retagged the appropriate pieces. i love a new word! and this one was a good one.

about two years ago, my friend cate handed me her grandmother's pincushion to decorate. it has been sitting in front of me forever atop its spool of chosen ribbon; just waiting for me to make it that special cocarde flower. yesterday was a kind of nothing day, where i had to tie up some loose ends after being out sick for a week. i caught up on my flower and garter inventory, and cleaned off my desk with an hour to go before my client was to show up. what to do? the pin cushion! this pin cushion was a tomato shape, and i made a pointy petaled flower whose petals curved around the pin cushion (sorry, no photo). maybe the flower is too big, but what if i made the same flower in larger ribbon to fit over someone's head? definitely not a brooch (i gave up and started making all of my flowers on brooches so that they could be worn on things as well as in hair), definitely for the head.

here is the first one. i am not sure what i will be sewing to the back. probably a comb.

size does matter

through years of custom work i have gotten to be reasonably good at fit. the transfer from my mind to a two dimensional sketch to a three dimensional garment with all of its curves and movenment is more than enough to confound even many designers. i actually enjoy the challenge of the female form with all of its idiosyncracies. the biggest challenge is to fit within a size chart. as you may have guessed from trying on mountains of clothes (how many friends have called me crying from the dressing room of the local department store):

there is no such thing as an average woman.

we are reduced to 3 measurements: bust, waist, hips. no account for height, nor proportions relating to the three, nor length of limbs nor torso. fit can be a nightmare. setting a sleeve to lay flat AND be able to move withour benefit of stretchy fabric is a definite skill. so what happens when one is forced to make pret-a porter off the rack clothing? there are always the people on the peripheries of average size X giving me advice. oh how i hate the "you should," but i do listen. i may ignore, but i do listen. i have been developing an everyone corset for months now. i think i have gotten it satisfactorily made in its curves and adjustability +/- an inch.

the challenge was first grading it into multiple sizes. this process is usually put off as long as possible. it is really tedious. i won't bore you with the details, but it involves making that perfect pattern into every size considering those size chart boundaries of bust waist hip. i have finally managed 4 sizes: 1,2,3,4. but what to call them? they don't exactly correspond to bra sizes or SML. come try one on!

PRETTY GIRL HOLIDAY SALE
16 november 2007 artists' reception and sale 6-9
17 november 2007 sale 11-5
at the egg
534 se oak street (at grand & 6th) in portland

www.myspace.com/prettygirlholidaysale