Peacocks preening ... peacocks round-up . . .

I'm usually drawn to reds - bright red, barn red, burgundy, maroon, brick red, and some pinks and purples.  I even wore 3-inch red Fluevog heels to my wedding, just to have some red to balance out the more innocent colors.  But this fall I'm being pulled towards the greens and blues - turqouise, moss, lime, teal, forest, kelly, and, most of all, that royal peacock blue.

It turns out that I'm not alone.  Remember those fall color trends from Pantone?  

 

AllThatZazz

Well, there's an unmistakable "peacock" / "art nouveau" feel to the cool section of the spectrum ... and I'm seeing peacocks everywhere right now!  

Snow in a Teapot

Here's a round-up of some of my favorite peacock fabrics.  I think I'll be making my own fall skirt and handbag out of some of these!

Groove On Dotted Dots Teal/Brown/Green

Brooklyn Heights Fan Green/Blue 

Timeless Treasures

Anna Maria Horner LouLouThi Coreopsis Moss

Tina Givens Opal Owl Magical Forest Blue

From Amy Butler's Soul Blossom collection, Peacock Feathers in turqouise:

 

 

Michael Miller Peacock Lane Parade Day Grey:

Today I did see live peacocks at the zoo.  My daughters simultaneously called, "Caw!" at the tops of their voices when they spied them.  These fabric make me want to do the same!



Fabric Designer focus: Dena Designs

My designer focus this week is Dena Designs, who has some warm and vibrant collections through Free Spirit.  Here's her bio from the Free Spirit website:

“Embellish your life,” is Dena’s motto, and her products, books and media exposure have reached a vast number of fans that value friendship, home, family, creativity and self-expression. As President and Creative Director of Dena Designs, Inc., Dena has simultaneously managed the roles of designer, businesswoman, and mom while crafting a hugely successful company, and lifestyle brand.

While many designers rely on perfection, Dena believes that it is the process that makes the project fun and memorable! Her book, Embellish Your Home!, exemplifies Dena’s love of helping people embellish their lives. She does not believe there is some unreachable standard out there to which people must aspire. “I’m always painting,” says Dena, “or adding bits and pieces to something. I love the process! I tell people there’s no ‘right way’ or ‘wrong way.’ If you don’t like it, change it. The whole point is to have fun doing it and get real pleasure out of your results.”

I like that phrase - "embellish your life" - making the small things around us special, unique, interesting.  Here are some of my favorites and favorite combinations:

Many of these would be beautiful for home decorating, or as a dress or skirt.  And I'd love to make a funky Anthropologie-style handbag out of the peacocks!

Digital magazine inspiration ...

If you're eating lunch at your desk (!) and you're surrounded by paper then ... be prepared to be inspired by paper and the sheer versatility of it!  From stationery to jewelry, artwork and beyond  ...  take a look at Paper Runway. Released online quarterly and packed with pages of inspiring images and ideas, easy DIY projects and gorgeous products, I appreciate their focused content (paper!) and how well it’s edited with just under 70 pages so it’s not overwhelming… Some of their spreads really appealed to me this month like these three below…

Read the latest issues as well as back issues right here!
(images: paper runway)

Who knew I had curves?

As some of you know, the skirt style I want to develop this fall is the shapely pencil skirt.  Which is a funny name, as a pencil is anything but shapely. 

I did recently did a body shape quiz and found that my body type is a ruler or rectangle: straight up and down without much curve.  This always made buying store bought clothes challenging (as it is for most of us) because I had to choose between hips that fit with a too-tight waist, or a waist that fit with ear flaps of extra material on my hips.  Finding a pencil skirt that fits would be extra hard as you can't get away with a poor fit - it must fit well.  I can well imagine the frustration of going from shop to shop in the mall trying to find one that fit, only to eventually buy something that almost did, and then feeling vaguely disappointed every time I wore it.

But those days are over for me!  So here's what I came up with, from skirt inspiration to skirt completion.

Diane von Furstenberg, Zip Megs Skirt at Saks


My pattern:

And, ta-da!, I have (some) curves:

I used lightweight dark wash Italian denim with a bit of stretch that I bought months ago from fabric.com (one of my favorite fabric stores).  Instead of putting zippers on the side seams, I put two in the back: one at the waist and one at the hem that unzips to make a back slit:

I so love this shape that I plan to make two variations, one with a wide waistband and one with a peplum at the hem.  I can't wait to show them to you!

Fall 2011/2012 Color Musings ...

“Designers take a painterly approach to fall 2011 by artfully combining bright colors with staple neutrals, reminiscent of how an artist would construct a stunning work of art,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute^®. “Much like a painter's masterpiece, there is a certain romance to this season's palette.”

What great colors!  I love the combination of glowing brights and muted cool/warm tones.  I'm no slave to "expert trends" but I'm very happy to get behind these colors.  Over the next few weeks, I'll take a stab at combining them in unexpected ways.  Here's one bright/warm combination I'm going to try soon on a handbag with some fabric I found at The Economy Shop in Oak Park:

It will be a mix of textures instead of my usual prints: mustard yellow corduroy on one side and burgundy linen on the other with a turqouise/teal felt flower.  I'm excited to put it together!

And on the subject of a "painterly approach" to color forecasting ... I stumbled upon the Sherwin-Williams 2012 Color Forecast.  According to them, 2012 is going to be a beautiful year.