Paper & Fabric has moved....

to the Fire Repubic Blog.

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it's been a really long while. if anybody still stops by or gets an rss feed, please
check out

www.firerepublic.com

that's why i've been mia forever. i'll be getting back on track soon. if you are on facebook, please check out the Fire Republic group. thanks for your time and see you there!

i mentioned last fall i helped a friend style a photoshoot for his magazine. the link to his photo site is on the list on the left panel. here are some enlarged preview pics for your perusal. make sure you pick up a copy of ariztos mag to check out the full spread (and other insightful articles!)

it's been a long while. happy new year again! things have been busy, in a good way. i finished my most recent client's shower and wedding invites. i'll post pictures up soon. here is the only pic i have so far:


i have two potential paper jobs coming up and i get the pleasure of designing a birthday invite for my mom's 55th! exciting....

on the sewing end of things, i finished jobs (dresses) for 2 clients. i need pictures! i'll try and see if i can get those and put them up soon. i also had the chance to work on a nursery for one of my former bride client (invitation). how cool? here are some pics.




i've been so out of touch i don't even know what's going on with my favorite bloggers anymore. hopefully, i can get to make the rounds soon!

later!

working on paper material prototypes for a potential client whose wedding is next may. it will be inspired by these colors.
pretty, huh?
not sure if i mentioned this but last weekend, i worked as a photoshoot stylist for my friend's magazine issue coming out this nov/dec. we had two spreads and i'll talk more about them when the issue comes out but here is a sneak peek ©ariztos magazine:
on a side note: i love this magazine: gd usa. as a designer working with cloth and paper, it is full of ideas and resources. they talk about hot pantone colors in fall and spring fashion also in relation to paper designs. good find by my husband. i'm going to start my gd library with all our back issues!

the new show you might have missed. and if you did, you should catch up on before next summer: amc's madmen. racism and sexism aside, this show set in the '60s was very interesting to watch and it was incredulous to see the things that were done that would not fly in today's world. what really grabbed me was the fashion and yes, the bullet bras! lol. there are three well dressed ladies on that show: betty draper, rachel menken and joan holloway. these are their character names. joan's body is to die for. very marilyn monroe-esque and she knows what works for her. rachel does work wear very well and betty does fashion and home clothes superbly. for betty just because you're a "housewife" doesn't mean you should be drab. the men are equally well dressed too. i tried to find lots of pictures to no avail but you should check out the show's photo gallery here. below is a picture of betty at home. ok, heels at home might be overkill but i want a pair of those. now!

the invite:


in the meanwhile, i made 3 outfits for 2 clients. i'll put up pictures of the fabrics. beautiful. i don't have any pictures of them in their clothes. will work on that. personal sewing has been on hold as i have 2 more outfits to finish. slow and steady, i guess.

of note, there was a miscommunication between me and one of my client. she requested a two dresses with full skirts. really full. and you can't get any fuller than a gathered skirt which i sketched with lines coming down from the waist to the hem. she approved the sketch. so i sent her the clothes and she said she didn't think it would be gathered. so i said well, the original skirt of the pattern was a full a-line which she saw and wanted more fullness. so, i guess she really wanted the original skirt but didn't know that was what she wanted. so it got me thinking... how full can you make a skirt without doing gathers? will it just look heavy at the bottom if you did an a-line skirt with a ridiculously wide diameter? i smell experiments coming my way!

ps: client was cool about it though.

sorry, it's been a while. i have been busy with invitations for my cousin. i'll put pictures up soon.

i've read blogs and seen people and pictures. and it has been on my mind to say. it's about bras. yes. if i must say, a good number of american women are scared of bras. i mean, they wear them but are scared to wear those that put the breasts where they actually should be. at chest level. i've seen girls both slim and not slim wearing bras that don't do much other than make them look even bigger. because the bras do not give any lift. and the funny thing even with some people i know, is that they aren't that big in the waist area. the droopy breasts just widens their girth. i remember my mom being appalled at the bra my bustier, older sister was wearing. she had been living on her own in the us for about 2 years. during one of her visits my mom took her to the store to get a "good" bra for her. and the girls were lifted and perky! my sister joked that her boobs were pointed like guns. we had a good laugh over that. but her clothes fit so much better and she looked slimmer instantly. even the really huge ladies back home wear bras that lift. and when i say lift i do not mean miracle bra. so i think before you start lowering the bust point of your patterns, it's a good idea to first do a bra check and maybe everything will fit so much nicer. we should be proud of them in any size and use the right bra to help them enhance our features!



coincidentally, the bra turned 100 this month so we should all celebrate by going out to get a new bra!

busy with midterms.

i love a great rtw outfit. and i found some at target to help build my "teaching" wardrobe. this brown and white polka dotted shirt dress fit nicely. i unleashed it last friday and as i was getting ready to go give my lecture, i found myself with a bunch of dry erase markers with nowhere to store them. i started fumbling with the side seams hoping a pocket will come out of nowhere. and what do you know??? it did! the dress had pockets which were sewn shut but were easy to open up w/o a pair of scissors. you'd have thought i found gold! so i stuffed my markers, keys and my flashdrive into both pockets and ran off to class!

ps: i was reminded of the a dress a day blog whose author is totally in love with dresses which have pockets. i'm seeing why now.

gele (gay-lay). that's what the headwrap of our traditional is called. it's made out of damask or heavy duty cotton/silk or some paper/cloth hybrid. i finally learned how to tie one properly about 3 years ago. i guess i wasn't trying to learn before that.

so at this wedding, i changed from my bridesmaid's gear into my traditional wear and did my gele. the other bridesmaids wanted me to help them with theirs. i willingly obliged. as i was working on my second one, in walks mr segun aka shecy. lol. people in the nigerian fashion scene should know of him. he owns the bride's escort and is super awesome at tying geles. he was flown in mainly for the bride and her mom. any other lady who wanted her headtie wrapped, he'd tie for a nominal fee. i'm like wow. "dami... do not freak out. don't be intimidated. try to hold your own". lol! too funny. infact, he was the sweetest person and gave me some tips when i started working on my 3rd gele. now i have to stand in front of the mirror and practice, practice, practice! he jokingly called me his disciple. i'll take protege. he gives classes by the way =)

here are some of my work. the left pic is my signature work. the right pic, mr segun helped me eliminate the twisted knot that is always in the center of my signature work. at least, i'll have two styles now.


in honor of the gele, i leave you with this video from lagbaja, a nigerian artist. enjoy.

the wedding was great! she had been planning for about 2 years now. i'd know because we sorta started together and i got married last november. we were each other's bridesmaids and i was so happy for them.

it was for this event i sewed frantically away. if i am to work with clients, my time management skills should kick into overdrive. anyhoo, i got the fabric and gele and pondered for a while what to sew with it. i thought of sewing a skirt and blouse (ibo-style) and bought some nice pinkish-peach crepe back satin to sew as the top. the satin looks pinker in this picture.

but i was runing out of time. so i decided a dress will be it. so i scoured the catalogs for a nice dress that won't be so casual and not so stuffy. so i decided on vogue pattern 2720. crazy, huh? not quite. i envisioned it as a short dress with short sleeves. it was fully lined (i had to basically sew it twice) and i think it came out great! working with these kinds of lace fabric has it's challenges. first off, there are HUGE holes and what happens when your tailor's tack falls in line with a hole? the stones were ridiculously abundant too. all in all, for the fabric and the design, i think it came out good. it'll look even better is a slinkier fabric.


a tip i learned from the tailors back home is to try to make the edges of your lining from the selvages (if cotton). it's neater and you have one less step to do (hemming)

the secret world of dressforms.

so, one of the last dresses i sewed highlighted my need for a dress form. i had too much to ask for. a really sturdy one like that on the 3rd page of this this catalog but adjustable as i'm starting to sew for people and people aren't "standardized". my search led me to the adjustoform company. in case you didn't know, they are the ones responsible for the dritz dressforms in america. they carry similar models but sell them in the uk under better names such as the diana and helena... and my personal favorite "supafit" - just because it reminds me of supafly! anyhoo, i want the lady valet dress form in ecru and in sizes small and medium. oh yeah. it's a bit pricey. ok. a lot pricey. but i figure if you are gonna buy something for such purposes, you should buy the best you can get. so it's free shipping within the uk and i called to ask for shipping prices to the US. around a 100 pounds. almost the same cost as the form itself. so i said to myself... i smell a trip to london in my near future... free shipping and a vacay! lol. drew and i were already contemplating a trip and this just filled up my pro column!

say it with me: tonight is he-roes!

i said in one of my earlier posts that one of the things i liked to do was to alter clothing i already had to extend their use. so, my husband really wanted to wear "anko" to our friends wedding early in august. that's a term for couples wearing the same outfit/fabric. it is derived from "and Co." in business. we have lots of funny borrowed and modified english words in my language. anyhoo, i searched through my stash of traditional wear and came across some old iro and buba my mom-in-law passed on to us. it is basically a boxed shaped shirt with raglan sleeves worn with a single piece of cloth used as a wrapper (skirt). i figured if i messed it up it won't be that bad! it started out as a long version of v8229 without sleeves and with the flounce at the bottom. i was hung up on making the grey lace detail into the neckline. i didn't think to sew v-seams into it to make it curve but i have a feeling i may not have liked the fact that the lace was not continuous all around. anyhoo, the only thing that remained was the basic silhouette of the gown. i changed the neckline and made the lace into straps. (all freehand cutting by the way). i made the lining exactly the same way and included darts in both to give me a better fit. then i joined the fabric and lining right sides together along the top then turned it inside out and pressed it down. i inserted an invisible zipper at the back. interesting to do since the dress had stones and appliques! i found some moleskin fabric at joanns and displayed the reverse side as the belt. i really liked the end product. it took me longer to do than if i stuck to the pattern. i guess it's time to buy a dressform. i've been looking and i'll have a post on that in a bit.

here's the programs i did for my maternal grandmother-in-law's service of songs.


i'm working on an invite for my cousin. i love it! she loves it! even her mom loves it! (i guess that's when you know you really scored. lol.) i'll see if i can get it up after the invitations have been distributed. no fear of wedding crashing here. it'll be in nigeria!

in search of tracing paper.

i did go to joann's to buy tracing paper. i imagined they'd have them by the roll in ridiculous amounts. uhmm. no. what was i expecting? so i asked the lady if she knew where i could buy some and she said she wasn't sure. i think she did mention i should check next door. or may be i thought of it myself. anyways, i found myself next door. party city. yeah... i figured tissue paper might work. i found a pack of plenty for cheap (less than $5) and that has been working so far. the paper is really thin but surprisingly durable. they were in pre-cut squares or rectangles and they worked fine until recently when i had to draft longer dresses. it actually made me put off cutting because i had to stick the tissue together then trace then cut. arrrgh. so cidell was nice enough to answer my question and point me in the right direction. she uses medical exam table paper and someone else suggested artist tracing paper from dickblick. i was leaning towards the tracing paper, mainly because of the width (36" x 150ft). but the exam papers were cheaper. but not until shipping was added! why pay almost the same price for shipping as the item cost? there had to be a retailer with cheaper shipping. so i searched and searched and found this at fedex kinkos. hmmm... a steal. free shipping. hmmm.... could i find it cheaper or larger? a google search for graham medical exam table paper rolls led me to the graham medical website. the same thing i was looking at at fedex kinkos was way cheaper (i guess they already included the shipping and called it free! hah!) so i upgraded and got a case of twelve 24" x 255ft rolls for $58.94 and $7 shipping. sweet. now, i can roll myself in paper 'till the end of the world. now, unto the "patternless" sewing books.

my dear sister's birthday was in august and i decided to sew something for her. she's tall and has a slim physique and each time i saw the vogue 8241 pattern, i always think of how great she'll look in it. so, i secretly sewed and surprised her on our trip home. i'm so bad at keeping secrets. i think her birthday wasn't until the next week and i spilled the beans the next day we got home. in my defense, the dress had been in the works for a while before we travelled so i did good. a bit. i made the "slit" longer in the upper back of the dress. it actually goes all the way down to the belt but we had to improvise since i couldn't get the right bra "attachment" in time.

update: i did not include the elastic casing at the waist and drafted the pattern as one long piece (1 front + 2 back) instead of with a seam at the waist (2 front pieces + 4 back pieces). i bought black satin ribbon to use as the belt. it was hard getting the chain stitch for the button loop to the correct length. so i just cut up one of my thin elastic hairbands and used that as a loop. works perfectly because you can stretch it to accomodate the button. now, i'm hooked!!!

funny side story: some older lady ran up to my sister to tell her that her dress was open! lol. yeah. patches of skin showing in unexpected places is not the norm back home. you have to cover up when you wear a thin strapped dress. basically, over-revealing clothes are frowned upon. not to say that the kids don't wear them. it's a cultural, generational thing, i guess.

it's been a really hot minute. last month was so busy. went to nigeria for a friend's wedding and to see my parents and had a fabulous time. my married friend had a reception here in upstate ny and the one tailor i picked back home to sew an outfit screwed it up badly so i decided to sew the rest of the outfits for the ny reception for my sister and i. i had one day for mine so i made a last ditch effort and made a simple '60s shift. reminds me so much of my mom and her friends back when they were "sisi's" or young ladies. i also came back with a treasure. i'll write more about it later. and i got my first client! so here we go!!!





and this was what it was all for: friends of the bride =)

hi. i'm back =) just had a nice weekend and i'm here to give some updates.

no, i've not yet completed dh's jeans. it's not complicated, i just got sidetracked =) i mentioned i had paper stuff to do. i'll write more on it towards the end of this post. anyways, i told my mom to bring some native fabric for me whenever she comes to visit and last time she came she brought a whole bunch of them.




i really liked 3 out of 5 of them. you can always find uses for fabric. anyhoo, i really wanted to make something for myself since the last one did pan out so well and i wanted to give my upcoming side business some pr. my fave ankara was the black and red one. so i picked that and waded thru my pattern stash (yes, i do have one now =) and settled on mccall's 5094.


so, i didn't like any particular one of the views so i had to mix and match. loved the wide straps cause i don't do spaghetti straps. loved the sweetheart neckline and the triangle opening in the back. added the ties (my idea, the pattern's is sew on) at the back so i can enter into the garment with ease and moved the zipper from the back to the side. finally, i made the gown floor length and the skirt much narrower with little flare. i must say, i am very, very proud of the final result.


here's me wearing it in full force =) with dh and me. didn't get a sharp full length pic but this one with my sis will have to suffice. then i like the one picture of me doing the face powder dance. hehehheee.



my friend now wants me to make a whole bunch of stuff for her. here's to getting my first client =) i'm going home in august and the ladies in my sewing group want some fabric and headties. so i'll be doing a little intercontinental trading or just some intercontinental errand running! lol.

so, the event was the wedding of a couple who are friends of ours and also a client! yes, i was hired to make the place cards, church programs, menu and reception programs. i got great feedback and people apparently loved it so i may just be getting more business coming my way. yay!