Woho.... I stayed up last night and my scarf is finished. Well except for blocking and weaving in one end. I really love the way the Blue Sky Organic Cotton knits up. And the colour is amazing. Just think cotton comes in such a lovely colour naturally with no dyes. It made me very happy to use the yarn and finish the scarf. The down side I found with the yarn is that it does knit up very stiff if you are doing cables. So the area at the neck I decided to just do regular purl and knit every other row for comfort reasons. I am amazed how different it is from its inspiration scarf.
I also just received my very pretty pink flower from my pinku swap partner. Thank you so much Erin. I really love my 3D flower. Here is a link to her site since she also does other designs. I can understand why. :) She did beautiful work and such a cute box. Thanks again Erin.
Sculpture and
Drapery:
The Art of Fashion
Opening Jan 22, 2005
I have been meaning to post about this for the last week or so, the current exhibit at Historic Costume & Textiles Collection at The Ohio State University first show this year is Sculpture and Drapery: The Art of Fashion. The show features the designs of Charles James and Charles Kleibacker.
Most of us are familure with Charles James work and his amazing construction techniques during the 60's, but Charles Kleibacker is a name that unfortunately has fallen off the scope of most historians it seems.
Charles, was one of the few American designers that made a name for himself creating true American Couture clothing. He specialized in hand sewn garments that were completely cut on the bias. Most of which were fitted to the person who bought the item. He trained under Antonio Castillo in the house of Lanvin in Paris and many of his designs were inspired by Madeleine Vionnet.
He hit his height during the 60's where he was given credit for inventing the Midi-skirt.
To me though, Charles is my mentor and an old friend and to be honest one of the major reason why I went to OSU. I never forgot the day that he gave my uncle and myself a tour of the collection on a saturday afternoon. Pulling out gowns of Mariano Fortuny and Paul Poiret and telling me about the friend who had worn the gown or his time spent with the designers. Watching him start to tear up telling the story of the great flood where all he could do is watch 20's gowns beadwork dissolve in front of his eyes. While at OSU I was lucky enough to have him teach me to drape on the bias, after hundreds of hours working on the collection.
I raise a glass to you Charles as always, I am glad you are starting to get the shows you deserve.
ps. The sketch above is one of Charles Kleibacker's designs done by his close friends Steven Stipelman. During the late 80's the friends of the historical costume collection had Mr. Stipelman do 500 sketches to raise money for the collection.
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