Deconstructika Grand Opening Giveaway!

I am having a Grand Opening for my etsy shop! On Sunday the 13th, from noon to midnight, everything in my shop will be 30% off with the Coupon Code, ezralove. The code won't work til then so go mark your favorites now! deconstructika.etsy.com

To add to the excitement, I am also giving away free stuff all day tomorrow from my facebook page! This is how the giveaway works:
These are the items for the giveaway! There is a wool scarf, a necklace, a pair of earrings, and an oilcloth makeup bag.  Grand Giveaway Photo Album on facebook
Each photo has a trivia question. Answer the question- an incorrect answer will get you entered in the drawing once, a correct answer will get you entered TWICE! And, to make your chances even better, you can earn two more chances to be entered......

1. If you follow my blog- just click "follow" above right, you earn one more entry for yourself in the drawing of your choice.

2. If you can share my event page for my Grand Opening with your facebook friends, you will be entered AGAIN for the item of your choice!
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134782003295304

**After you do either of those things be sure to come back to the item you want in the Giveaway Album and tell me you want to be entered for that item!!**

Let me know if you have questions! I will be doing the drawings throughout the day tomorrow. And if you don't win, you can still enjoy the 30% discount in my etsy shop, deconstructika.etsy.com with the Coupon Code, ezralove

Have fun!

Deconstructika

Duality Vest, reversible silk vest

 I have been trying out some interesting vest designs lately. It occurred to me that I had never seen a vest with a scalloped edge before so I decided to give it a try. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I made it in silk dupioni so it has a nice crisp body. I decided to make it reversible so you get two fabulous vests in one. One side is a warm toffee gold silk, the other side is iridescent lunar blue with flashes of indigo.

The blue silk is really spectacular. The vest is a cropped length, perfect for petite women. It has darts so it is nicely fitted with a slightly tapered waist. No closure; it is meant to hang open and show off the unusual scallop edge.

This is a great vest for layering for fall and winter, but also cool enough to wear with a tank top in spring and summer. Find this vest and my other designs at deconstructika.etsy.com

How to easily hem a pair of pants like a pro!

Hemming your own pants is easy, and you can save money by learning to do it yourself. For those who find it a bit daunting, here is a step-by-step explanation to show you how easy it really is.
1. TRY THEM ON. Try on the pants and fold up the cuff to the right length. Put a couple safety pins in to hold it up where it should be.
2. MEASURE UP. Use a ruler or tape measure to determine how much shorter the pants need to be (measure the folded up length of the hem). You need to allow 1 inch for the hem. So if the folded up portion is 2", subtract 1" for your new hem, and you have 1"--- that's what you need to cut off, 1".
3. CHOP CHOP. Turn the pants inside out. Hold a ruler perpendicular to the hem to measure as you cut. You could even mark the cutting line first with a light colored magic marker if you are nervous, then cut.
4. PRESS ON. Use your iron, set at the correct temperature for your fabric, to press up 1/2" on the hem.

See how the top edge of the fabric has been pressed over 1/2"? It's ready for the next step. That handy tool I'm holding called a seam gauge. You don't really NEED it if you're just doing one or two projects, a ruler will work fine.

5. PIN IT. Turn up the hem another 1/2" and put in pins to hold it. Especially take care to line up the side seams. If it's a striped fabric, try to keep the stripes aligned as you pin.

 *A word on choosing thread: if you are having trouble finding the right shade of thread for your fabric, always choose a shade lighter, rather than darker- it will blend in better.*

6. SEW IT. You can either hand stitch the hem with a needle and thread, or you can machine stitch it (which I prefer). If you are sewing a heavy fabric like jeans, definitely switch your sewing machine needle to one made for heavy duty fabrics, to avoid frustration. If you are sewing jersey, use a jersey ball point needle and don't stretch out the hem as you stitch. Whatever the fabric, the process is the same- simply stitch around the hem, close to the edge, and backstitch at the beginning and end. Press the hem one more time from the inside to give your hem a professional look.

See my clothing creations at RosieRoseDesigner.etsy.com

Butterfly Punk Collection

Check out my etsy shop, Deconstructika.etsy.com.

This spring I was asked to be a part of a fashion show in Fayetteville, AR, put on by Ozark Couture. The theme of the show was "Nature as Muse", and was part of the "Garden as Muse" themed Artosphere during May at the Walton Arts Center. The runway show was to take place in the lovely Rosen Memorial Rose Garden behind the WAC.

I started thinking about finding a sub-theme for my collection- what about nature inspired me most? I considered several themes including birds, animals- specifically predators, wind, water, and plants. At the time my baby daughter was about 9 months old and starting to want to explore the world, including the outdoors, so that may be why I began to think about my own first experiences with nature as a small child, as a possible theme. My memories of spending time outdoors as a child mostly centers around our sprawling country garden where I spent many happy hours picking flowers, turning over rocks looking for snakes and lizards, and hiding behind the forsythia bush. I loved to pick off just the heads of the most beautiful flowers, and turn them upside down so that they looked like ladies in dresses. The first flowers of the year were those hopeful harbingers of spring, the delicate crocuses that popped up in the stone footpath- yellow, purple, cream, and a few white and purple striped. Then later there would be red and yellow tulips, purple and white irises and deep purple dutch irises, sweet William, creeping phlox with pale blue and purple star-shaped flowers, and a dozen different varieties of daffodil. There were peony bushes, hot pink peonies, that smelled so sweet and always were covered in ants, stealing their sweet nectar. And last but not least, the wild white and blue violets and renegade grape hyacinths that had sneaked past the rock borders of the garden and into the yard, yearning for freedom.

Right away I began to get dress ideas. The first design I came up with was the Butterfly Dress. It would be made by piecing together strips of black and colored silks for a butterfly wing effect, with the textures magnified as through a child's eyes. I also incorporated some upcycled slips into the piecework. I hand-dyed the silks and the slips for this dress. I left it unlined so it would be light and breezy and glows when the sun shines through it.

Find it on etsy- Silk Butterfly Dress

The next dress that I designed was the Spring Fling dress, which would feature an appliqued border around the bottom of the dress which would include all the flowers from my childhood garden. For the appliqued flowers I used the silk scraps left over from the other dresses in this collection. The dress itself is off-white silk noil (aka raw silk) with a periwinkle blue silk charmeuse ribbon tie. The dress is fully lined with white china silk.

I designed the Rose Garden dress as a way to incorporate deconstructed lingerie, and also nuno felting, into my collection. I decided how I wanted to construct the skirt- an over-skirt of silk chiffon with nuno-felted roses, over a silk skirt of a contrasting color. I went over a few color schemes in my mind but chose the chartreuse with pink as it seemed really fresh and lively, like the bright green buds of new things growing in springtime. The contrast of the pink and the green is really playful and fun. Gray seemed like a good choice for the over-skirt so there wouldn't be too many colors competing. I hand-dyed the silks and the slips for this dress.Find it on etsy- Rose Garden Dress

The Rainy Day Dress began with the fabric. I had been hanging onto this gorgeous vintage blue silk organza with chenille X's for several years. But as I designed the dress it took on enormous meaning to me. I wanted to make a full over-skirt reminiscent of rain coming off of an umbrella, but with a slimmer dark blue skirt underneath. I began to dwell on that feeling of a September rainstorm, when the magic of summer is over.... and the rain washes away the summer heat and some of the joy as well. There is a melancholy there but there is also a strength.

The last dress was sort of a wild card, I hadn't made up my mind completely. I thought I was making a purple blouse with an asymmetrical hem that would go over a pair of stem-like green silk pants. At the last minute I changed my mind- I kept the asymmetrical hem but changed the whole concept and made a really fun ruffly purple mini dress with an abstract flower sewed to the bodice. I did some nuno-felting on the "petals" of the flower as an unconventional method of gathering the ruffles.

Find it on etsy- Purple Silk Fusion Dress

Well, not everything in life goes perfectly, and the day of the show NW Arkansas was hit with some torrential rainstorms. So the show was moved inside of the Walton Arts Center instead, *sigh*. It was lovely but not quite the same. However I really enjoyed creating these dresses, and it gave me a tremendous boost of confidence about showing my work to people. Check out my website, Deconstructika.etsy.com to see more of my work.

See photos of the fashion show on my facebook fan page- Ozark Couture Spring 2011 Fashion Show

See more photos of my spring collection on my facebook page- Butterfly Punk Collection

Visit my facebook page- Deconstructika by Rosie Rose on Facebook

See more work by my photographer Amber Herrera of Framed by Amber photography- Framed by Amber on Facebook

Personalized Christmas Stockings By Rosie Rose

You can order customized, personalized Christmas stockings from my Etsy store, RosieRoseDesigner.etsy.com. I have a wide variety of designs to choose from or I can make something specially to your request. Here are some photos of stockings I have made (and me at work on them). Enjoy! -Rosie

Each stocking has many layers to sew down, and lots of colors, which means switching thread color frequently.

stitching down the tiny pieces

fantasy/medieval theme
Left, Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake; center, princess with dragon; right, pegasus on Mars.

One of my favorite themes, are these Grandma Moses style primitive rustic villages.

the yarn stitched down to form roads, I actually spun myself by hand.                              

Teddy bears

                           

cool teddy bears

Bears have a pieced stripe background.

                                 

basic Teddy Bear style

fairytale themed--- L to R, Jack and the beanstalk, puss in boots, goldilocks, and the Wizard of Oz

Goldilocks

Wizard of Oz

Jack and the Beanstalk

Puss in boots

for the owner of a Boxer

Cavalli the cat with his stockings

(portrait of Cavalli the cat on stocking above)

Forest animal family... Reindeer, raccoon, fox, and bear.

Mrs.Claus, for a school teacher, including all her interests- gardening roses, sports, and King Charles Spaniels.

family portrait stockings can include all kinds of hobbies and interests.

For every stocking I do a sketch to be approved by the customer before I begin sewing.

FABRICS
include linen, silk, wool, cotton, and vintage print fabrics.

for a little girl who loved shoes and her babydoll

upgrade to a size XL for $10.

family portraits

the family dog, a Chow

Mom decorating the tree

little girl skating on a silver satin pond

Hanging loops reinforced

for a little boy who had a birthday near Christmas and loved football and his dog.

stylish portraits

Under the mistletoe, a holiday scene

basic Santa

Satin stitch branch arms, applique snowmen, with beadwork on the hats... the lady's hat has a tiny veil

basic snowman

This shows how even a variety of styles will go together very nicely!

Edited to add my own daughter's Christmas stocking that I made last Christmas! She loves it.