I hope it will take a few weeks until the next time you're having a slumber party. By that time I hope to have these birdies available. They're MirthQuake pillow cases! And just like yesterday's post, I have ordered some fabric with my friends on it. The quality of the fabric will be organic cotton sateen ( GOTS certification) and the back will be in a nice matching color. As with the skirt fabric it will be a test to see if people will like this.
I kinda do. I mean, hanging up frames is a hassle, popping old pillow inserts in these cases is a job anyone can do right?
I guess it will be a matter of weeks until these pillows will be up in my etsy shop. If you would like to be informed when exactly you can also e-mail me, and I will keep you posted! mirthquake at gmail.com

Fashion and my bird illustrations!

I took the plunge:-) I am going to mix my illustrations with my fashion ideas. Fashion is where I am coming from and I am very excited to do this. I ordered some fabrics to make some fashion items and I will see how things will develop.
It is something I have been thinking about for a long time, and why not try it?
I have ordered black fabric, printed with my Little Owl. The pencil skirt will be the first item. I can make this in a hip width ranging from XXS to 143cm/56.5 inch.
I've got more up my sleeve which I am going to keep a secret for now!

Patterns for PLUS SIZE WOMEN

Challenged by a potential customer's remark that plus size women will not wear the new pleated chino trousers I am planning to make patterns for plus size women who are tired of not being able to find hip and trendy patterns in their sizes. Why wouldn't women with a bigger size not want the exact same thing as 'regular' sized women? I will start with the outfit pictured here. I am thinking of offering it as a set too, so that after a few days sewing, you are ready for a day in the city.

I would like to hear from plus size women, being from euro size 44/ US size 14 , what are you looking for in sewing patterns?

If regular sized girls would like a pattern of these styles I would be happy to make it for you too of course!

What to do on one's lunch break

On Facebook page I saw this tip from my friend Maureen:

Try the "Wikipedia Names Your Band" game. It's so fun! Just look at what I came up with! This is especially fun if you like to waste time, like myself. If you make one, post it!http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/wikipedia-names-your-band?&r=true&z=17clha#responseso103w.col103.mail.live.com/sf.org/

So I did. After looking on wikipedia and flickr this turned out to be my band name, the album name and the cover.

I think it really looks cool!

Courtesy for the pic: photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aagctt/3684030710/

Ok lunchbreak is over....

Why hire a freelance designer?

I've learnt that in fashion especially, when sales are low, it is time to innovate. It isn't just my opinion, it is common knowlegde among managers and strategists. The danger of sticking to only your fulltime designers is that in a company under siege due to the economic crisis they don't get the space they need or have the confidence to pick up the pieces of an badly received collection.

Often the sales team needs to blame someone, and if they don't point fingers the designers themselves will feel the responsibility. In a company like this you need a new impulse of creativity. The whole 'thinking outside the box' lecture is hard to preach to people who tried all they could but feel like they failed. What you need then is someone who (although I hate the expression) does almost literally think outside the box, who looks at the concept from a totally new angle. Someone who never has been troubled with emergengy meetings full of bad news. Enter the freelance designer! Often this works as an inspiration for the present designers and the whole atmosphere of the blame game can be turned around.

I've heard big labelmanagers say the budgets for freelance designers are closed and the freelance workers have to finish the jobs they're on and hope in 2 years they will get another asignment. The workload won't be less as there are shops to be filled. The excess of work the freelancers took care of will be divided under the fulltime staff, who will be suffereing from a burn-out in six months. This will not only stop the progress, but also cost much more money in the end.

The costs is what holds managers back. Freelancers have the reputation for being expensive. This is often due to the fact that you see the bills every month and they look pretty fierce.

I saw this article a while ago on a talent recuitment agency's website 24Seven Inc. It answers the question; Can a freelancer make the difference for your company, and what about the costs?

Thankfully I personally see there has been a change. And more and more companies see that now is the time to stand out from the crowd.

Men's shirt article

Here some pictures of my other tutorial in Sew Hip magazine. They do shorten it a lot, I have to say. And the picture plus explanation of the cuff slit is not very clearly visible.

In my own tutorial it is explained on one complete page. You can buy it here.

They have made some improvements in the layout of the entire magazine between the 2 issues I worked for. For the better too, better type and fill of the fonts.

My folder in English