Because these issues need to be addressed.

Lots of things happened today! I was working on dirndls today... like most days, but i got a very disturbing phone call from my friend, the great matthias wissmann, who told me the terrible news, dustin Byfuglien was traded by the blackhawks to the atlanta thrashers. What do they have in Hotlanta that we aint got here?!?! apparently, money, but i don't think he understands that i don't live in atlanta... whatever his loss, but he is probably more mad at the blackhawks for giving him up before we could be together. ah well, i'll still wear #33 loud and proud!


Next order of business, i learned this evening while out to dinner with my sister, Monika, that she likes it when i mention her in my blog, so this one is for you Monika. The best lil sis in the whole wide world! Ah! Mi Nave Espacial!

Monika and I at our cousin, Aimee's wedding.


Speaking of wedding! Lets take a look at the headpieces i made for the event! Aimee's Headband is a satin covered 1" headband with feather detail on the side along with a handmade flower from the extra fabric for her lacing and beads from the removable straps. French netting extends from the front of the headband showing off her beautiful happy bride face!

Also for the event, I made my Aunt Heidi's jacket (pictured with Aimee)


And last but certainly not least... MINE! Nothing like something subtle to match my little dress! I made this feather and french netting headpiece with blue silk center and a little seahorse to bring it all together.



So, while i'm just blabbing on... (this has nothing to do with dirndls by the way) i feel it necessary to talk a little about the great movie that i just saw... Toy Story 3. #1- it was so funny, and i might go as far as to say it was better than the 1st two #2- It reminded me of when i was little. #3- it bring me back to my thought... "what if my toys came to life?"
They might be a tad jealous of my giant shoe rack, my Barbie (circa 1989) is probably salty because she is currently topless, i don't know how my collectable dolls get in and out of the glass case, and bunny would probably be their leader. Bunny is a special toy. He has been with me since my Grandma Rosina gave her to me on easter when i was 6. He has traveled everywhere with me! Johnny Becker so kindly pointed out to me that he thinks that bunny is creepy and he doesn't like her, but I'm not ashamed to say that i sleep with him every night. Your probably wondering why she/he keeps switching genders, well its always been like that, sometimes he is a he and sometime she's a she... i don't know, so i'm wondering what her voice would be like? Ellen Degeneres maybe... Neil Patrick Harris? Who knows. Thats all thats on my mind... thought i'd share my insanity with you all!

Me and my Bunny!

Here Come the Hawks... The Mighty BLACKHAWKS dirndl!

About 5 years ago my sister, Monika, and I went to a Chicago Blackhawks game for $8 (student ticket) with a bunch of our friends and we instantly fell in love with the team. As little girls we used to skate around at the summer haus on the frozen lake while my dad slapped around a puck, but we never new the logistics of the game beyond get the puck in the net. Over the past few years we've learned the players and the way of the game... but in the past 2 years we weren't able to go to as many games as we would have liked because tickets became expensive and more difficult to acquire. But its all good... we just watched the games on tv.


But nothing is like being there! This year for Christmas, my cousin Steve and his wife Teresa got Hawks tickets for Christian and I and we were stoked! It was the only game I was able to go to this year. We had a great time and loved being in the Madhouse on Madison watching our favorite Chicago team.

But wednesday, June 6th was unlike any game we had ever watched. In game six of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers, Patrick Kane scored in overtime to win the mother f*ckin STANLY CUP! After I got a mini champagne shower my friends and I celebrated until 1am (it was a wednesday... most of us had to work). But we all planed to try and get friday off for the parade and rally!


Getting up at 6am for the Rally, Christian, myself and seven of my friends went down to Michigan and Wacker for the parade. We stood at the rally site from 8-11 waiting for our team to arrive. We got to see the cup, our favorite players and celebrate with the other 2 million people who joined us downtown.


I was so excited to see my favorite player and "boyfriend" as Christian calls him, Dustin Byfuglien! Thats when I got a great idea. The Blackhawks Dirndl! Turn my Byfuglien T-Shirt into an awesome tribute to an awesome team!


This kickass red mini dirndl with deep scoop neckline, white and black lace up center front, and white accents at the hem is the perfect way to support the greatest team ever. This dirndl has Byfuglien's name and number on the back and the black apron has the logo on the side and black and white ties.

Website Nightmares

During the summer of 2008 I attended the Business of Fashion Seminar Series held by the Chicago Apparel Industry Board. I learned a ton about how to start and run a fashion line. However, the best advise came from Marsha Brenner who said, "If you don't know what your doing, hire someone!" Thats exactly what I did for my website. I had never done any type of website work besides updating my facebook and make a "ok" looking site using iWeb. I knew that the core of my business was going to be this site, so I needed it to look super professional and very representative of my aesthetic. I hired Greg Bandy whom I knew threw Anna Johnson a classmate and great friend from Dominican University. He maintains and designs for the Dominican website and does great freelance work for a variety of clients.


The landing page of my website

He send me ideas regarding the design from what i told him my style was, art nouveau meets graffiti... messy elegance. I love love love my site... but now I do not love love love figuring out how the hell to maintain it on my own. I had a sit down session with Greg where he gave me all of the files and gave me a websites for dummies lesson. I took copious notes, but those notes are no help when your up to your red lips in code and there is one thing that is sending the whole thing into a tizzy.


My Website... as I see it and edit it.

I was more than intimidated as I drove home from the "maintain your website" session, but I was relatively confident in my ability to figure stuff out and my patients for things that don't talk back to me... like my computer screen.


so why can't I get the photos to line up nice? Why is there a gap?

After a few hours yesterday I was happily adding new photos and information to my site. I was stoked! I was updating store options, making new pages, designing new images... but when it came down to something simple, like adding more photos to the store grid of photos, I went wrong. I have no clue where, but I did. ARG. I'm currently communicating with Greg to resolve my problem, but until then I still staring off into the wilderness of html and hoping for the best.


me... right now

Summer Collection 2010

Coming in late June 2010 will be the Summer collection. This collection is big and bright and full of life, just like my grandmothers. This collection is inspired by my Grandma Kathi (my mom's mom) and Grandma Rosina (my dad's mom). Both of them have inspired me so much throughout the years, its hard to explain.


(Grandma Kathi, my sister, Monika, Grandma Rosina, and myself at the 2008 Trachtenfest Competition in Cleveland)

Ever since I can remember, Grandma Kathi, has been working along side Grandpa Jacob in their garden. Their garden has won them multiple awards and has supplied me with more than enough eggplant! (my personal fav). There are colors everywhere and it just bring me so much joy to walk around their garden and remember playing in it when I was little. Recently, since both my grandparents have gotten much older, they need a little help.


(Image from their garden)

My boyfriend, Christian, and I both go over there about once a week to help in the garden. Grandma mostly uses Christian for his strength to move cactuses and potted plants, but that gives me time to talk to Grandpa about the greenhouse, what to plant and when etc. The bright colors of their garden and their desire to keep it going is what inspired the color story for this collection.


(Grandma Kathi and I after she taught me how to starch underskirts in the garden.)


Grandma Rosina is a woman unlike any other. She is a travel junky and a fashion addict. I get all my fashion magazines from her and she reminds me everyday why i do what i do. But her travels around the world with her husband, Grandpa Joe, are what inspired the other part of the collection... batik. When I was young she talked about batik and I never really understood what it meant, but if she liked it then I liked it. During my time at Dominican University, I studied abroad in 2007 to Ghana, Africa. That was a trip of a lifetime and that is were my love for batik really exploded. I brought a beautiful batik fabric there and I have yet to use it because I'm scared to cut into it.


(Monika, Grandma Rosina, Grandpa Joe and I)

So what is batik? Batik is a resist dying technique used throughout the world using wax as the resist. The fabric is stamped or painted with wax and then dyed. Wherever the wax is, the dye will not penetrate, however the wax cracks and lets some of the dye into the areas which gives wonderful character. Also at Dominican, I took a class where I was given the opportunity to make my own Batik fabric. It was wonderful and my love for the dying technique was official. Once the fabric is dyed, you must boil the fabric and the wax melts off and coagulates on the top of the pot. It is time consuming, but the results are worth it.


(The batik fabric I made, I used for the top of this outfit)

How does this tie into the collection? With the bright color story from Grandma Kathi and the batik and world inspiration from Grandma Rosina, the collection is full of life. I'm using beautiful batik fabrics as lining in the dirndl. I'm also going to batik my own fabric with big bold edelweisses stamped on it to create the pattern. I'm so excited about batiking again, I can't wait to share it with everyone!

The First Rare Trunk Show

In the fashion industry, a trunk show is when a designer displays his/her new collection for the first time. When I advertised as having a trunk show, my fellow Donauschwaben were a little confused and were wondering what a trunk had to to with anything. But when I explained to my American friends that I was having a trunk show at the annual Landesverbant Meeting at the Vereinigung der Donauschwaben in Des Plaines, I received just as many strange looks. Needless to say I had no idea how successful my trunk show would be... since, as my dad pointed out to me, I had no trunks to sell.



On friday, I worked diligently to make sure that every wrinkle was steamed from my garments, that they all had tags, they all looked presentable, and I had everything I needed. I made a trip to office max for a sales book, just in case I sold something and I went to Party City frantically trying to find shopping bags (again for the unlikely event that I might sell a headband or t-shirt). At 11:30 I had a wonderful lunch with my cousins wife, Teresa and their sons, Nicholas and Anthony... nothing like some 4yr old spunk and Superdawg to brighten the day! Unfortunately when they left that meant, back to work.

I enlisted the help of my regular "on call minion", Jamie Mazur, for a little help on friday. She came over at 3:30 and started to load the car, just as it began raining... perfect. So we started throwing all my freshly pressed garments into the car as soon as possible and were on our way.



Once at the Donau Hall we started bringing everything in and I received a very warm welcome from everyone and they were excited to see what I brought. Once I set up everything, a very spunky older woman came over and said, "now I vant vone of dose t-shirts. I know its says "its not your Oma's dirndl" on da back, but I don't care... i vant it!" My first sale!!! For the rest of the weekend I gave out lots of catalogs and business cards and I hope I'll get a few more orders once the online store is ready.


The rest of the weekend went very well. I had a total of 10 orders and that more that double what I said I would be happy with. Hopefully with the help of some of my other friends in the German community, I can sell a few more which will fund the next 2011 collection.

Thanks to everyone at the Chicago Donau for giving me the opportunity and for everyone who supported me that weekend. It has inspired me to keep going... I think I'm doing something right.

Ahhhh..... (a sigh, not a scream)

After the lovely thunderstorm this morning, the air turned heavy and warm. LOVE IT!! I've been freakin' cooped up in the house with leggings on under my sweatpants and my ugly sweater on (which i'm afraid to put in the wash because i'm pretty sure my mom will throw it out) for WAY too long. It feels so great to sit in the back yard listening to the sound of birds, airplanes, the kids next door playing and or crying, and my dad beginning to fix things. I'm taking this opportunity to write about it because all too soon people are going to start whining about how hot it is blah blah blah... but before that, it'll probably snow considering i live in chicago, the land of lincoln and obnoxious weather. However this kind of weather make me very happy and as a result, i am much more productive, which is good for you all since i make things for you... that is unless i'm not making something for you, in which case you are a boy or you're lame. haha! just kinding... kinda

I'm going to share a few pics that are reasons i love this weather.

Eating grilled food that i don't make myself

CAMPING

Summer dresses and not wearing shoes!

Drying clothes on the clothesline

And last but certainly not least... i get to bust out my Big Hat!

My Studio

Since I'm super famous and go swimming in my money on the weekends (pretty much like Scrooge McDuck)... I live at home with my parents and work out of the dining room, well i've kinda spread into the living room and kitchen... oops. I'm so lucky that my parents let me take over their house with my mess of fabrics, papers, tools, and other random stuff. They never complain and are always supportive. My dad has even added another chore to his nightly routine when he comes home from work: vacuuming up threads... but he did get himself a handheld Dyson that looks like an alien gun from Stargate to accomplish this nightly mission, so that makes him happy I guess. Anyway. Everyday I have my computer on the kitchen table ready to respond to e-mails and work on any photo retouching and graphics stuff, and there is always a coffee cup next to it as well as a mound of paperwork that will later be "filed" onto the bench next to where I sit so we can eat dinner. I do need to work on a better way to keep my papers organized, but thats for another day.

The dining room is where i spend the majority of my time. Again, being über supportive, my mom emptied out her china cabinet while i was in college so i could put my fabrics in there. Every inch of the dining room is utilized. A super duty clothing rack in one corner holds all my samples, malina patterns, muslins for upcoming fittings, alterations, and some of my dad's shirts that my mom ironed and forgot about. In the opposite corner are two shelving units to hold supplies, boxes of notions, lace, and tulle, as well as more fabric that didn't make it into the china cabinet. The table is a great table, even though its a little low, it has a pad on it which makes it really easy to pattern-make and trace clothing etc. the available working area tends to get smaller and smaller until i organize and it begins again. You'd think that i loose things and am very unorganized from this photo, but i am surprisingly good at remembering where i put things and when i cover it up with stuff... nothing is ever lost in the "studio" its just temporarily misplaced.

The cleanest area of the dining room is the wall that faces the backyard. Against the window are two tables, one with my sewing machine on it and the other holds the serger. This area stays very organized, most likely due to the fact that i simply cannot store anything in my fish tank.

Finally there is my iron and ironing board... which I love! This is were i've oozed into the living room. It was a little cramped in the dining room with the ironing board in there. I have also taken over the shelving unit behind the ironing board with books, books and more books.

Even though i've set up a great space to work in, again thanks to my parents, its really hard to get motivated. When i'm home all day, all alone, its really hard to start another pattern at 3:00, when what i really want to do it take a nap. I get a lot of good ideas laying on the couch... does that count as working?? I'm not complaining, i'm just venting since I had one of those days today. A day when i work at a great speed for 4 hours and hit a wall... I feel like crap and i have plenty of work to keep me busy, i know i have to do it, but all i can think about is taking a nap. Today, i caved and took a nap for about 45min. I did come up with a great design for my aunt's new top... but i still feel bad about it. On days like today its just a non-stop battle with me and myself and its draining. I wish I had a better way of dealing with it, but so far no luck. I've gotten a little better at time management in terms of when to turn on the tv (no earlier than 3:30), when to go the fabric store, and when to go visit grandma and grandpa for some soup and company. I've very grateful that I have this opportunity to have such a great free workspace (with a fridge full of food nearby)... but at times I kinda wish I had a boss to push me a little harder and a time schedule that i had to stick too.