you are what you love

japanese dress class

2010-07-20T20:10:21Z

So, finally... I took some pictures of my dress from the Japanese Dress Book class at the workroom! I kind of love it. I think I was the most beginner sewer there, but I picked the most complicated dress (pleating? buttons?!) which is a very Aprile thing to do. I am so glad I did though, because I learned some really important basics, and I have since even altered another dress I had but didn't fit me well.

I always assume I can do anything (and I'm rarely proved wrong, hehe) but I couldn't have done this awesome dress without Karyn's wonderful help. Also, the fabric I picked is so nice, it's Japanese (theme fitting) and has some little pinecone like things on it. I've decided this is my winter dress--it's a light cotton but it's long sleeves and length and the print make it a bit wintery.

(Some pretty details).

(Gathering at the neckline).

The dresses all of us made fit quite large, as they apparently wear them in Japan... Plenty of altering was needed to make it look less sack-like. Mine was perfect in the front, but I brought the back in with some shirring. Turned out well I think. I took a look at the dresses in my closet, and it turns out all of my shirt dresses pretty much have shirring. Who knew!

So now I think my sewing machine and I are a little more friendly, and hopefully I will have some ambition to make some more dresses. Or anything really. New hobby!

The best part is that I think I can do it again, and I can whole wardrobe of clones of these dresses if I really wanted. (I'm not going to do that). I actually already have the next pattern picked out and fabric purchased...

I found sort of randomly this 1940's floral print gray cotton in the TheresaMarieRose etsy shop, so beautiful. It's quite similar to the Japanese fabric I used (gray + floral print), but the print is much bigger and brighter, and it's quite summery. The gray is brighter as well. It was kind of a steal at $8 a yard! And the dress I am going to make with it is the one of the cover. Excited!

real life + natural lives

2010-05-28T17:53:28Z

I know I know, it's been ages since I posted last. I sort of shy away from blogging when I'm struggling a bit in real life. I haven't done any art or design work in a while, for example. It's hard graduating! Definitely much harder than I expected.

I am now faced with the seemingly impossible task of finding a job, and I feel like I might have to give up the dream of getting one I will actually enjoy (whatever that may be, I'm not sure). I've been working (in retail still) and it's hard to find a job while you are already working somewhere. Where am I supposed to find the time to finish my portfolio? How will I even schedule interviews? It's not that rough, I just feel like I'm giving up on my dreams a bit.

And for the most part, I haven't done anything lately that is worth posting about. I just eat, sleep, and work mostly. I know this is what comes with graduating and finally being finished school, and faced with real life. I did think, however, that I was pretty tough and could handle anything... Stupid school.

So when I was working on my thesis, I was too busy to post about the things I was doing and making, and now that it's over, I haven't done or made anything. So I am sharing with you today a project that I completed recently, one that was almost a year in the works, called Natural Living. I shared it with you a while ago here, but you know how it is when things turn out completely differently than you intended at first. And I think I love the outcome!

For this project, I had the pleasure of accepting submissions from Chelsea Fuss of Frolic!, Karin Eriksson of manos, Nikole Herriot of Herriot Grace, Nicole Haga of The Habit of Being, Penny Elizabeth Neil of Sparrow Salvage, Theresa Lynn Holley aka simplemoth, Caroline Thibault aka semiplume, Liane Tyrrel of Enhabiten, and Alyssa Zygmunt of Brooklyn Rehab.

Here's a blurb: Natural Living is a self-directed editorial project about having an environmental lifestyle, whether you live in the country or in the city. I interviewed 8 creative people who pursue photography as a hobby or a career, and chose beautiful photos from their everyday lives to share. (from my new website, which I am still working on)

Hope you like the book! I have recently been directed towards publishing by a few people, and it is something I've considered. But I still don't know! I do like books...
Sorry for the rant!
xo

dis•po•si•tion (thesis 2010)

2010-04-12T02:46:29Z

It has been a really long sleepless week...! I can honestly say I'm finished this time, though I have a few other things to finish up. I'm so excited for regular life again, school really is not my thing. I can't wait until I can work on my own projects without feeling guilty about not doing homework. I have this HUGE list of things to do when I am finally out of here... And I'm excited about that.

Meanwhile, here is one of my books to go along with those displays I showed you. There is another book, and yet another (a process book). They are quite lovely and I'll take a picture of them soon (they have presentations to give and places to be)! I have my final presentation tomorrow which of course I haven't prepared for very well. I planned on being prepared but once those books were printed I was just finished...

Hope you like this book, it's my favourite! The photographs are self-portraits from Chelsea Jade, aren't they amazing? They really make the book extra beautiful!

(There are some imperfections in the digital version because it was compressed, but I assure you the books are p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Yay)!

P.S. Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last thesis post, it's so nice to know what people think! xoxo

oh my goodness here we go

2010-04-04T20:30:07Z

I am ALMOST done. That is, the 3D aspect of my project. Kitty likes it, what do you think? I have pared down all of the pictures to these few, but I really need a good camera to take some pictures with. My little Sony Cybershot is not all that high quality.

It's a really good day today. We woke up to the CBC playing "Heartbroken" by Meaghan Smith, and we've been whistling the tune all day long. It's so spring-y and nice outside too! Too bad I'm inside working on my project... Instead of having picnics... Or even Easter food!

I've posted a couple photos here, but there rest are on Flickr. Let me know what you think, really! I am too immersed in the project to really know what's going on...

getting it all down on paper

2010-04-01T20:50:32Z

Hello! I've been at my computer constantly lately, but a lot of my websites are banned—because I am a super procrastinator (this counts as procrastinating, probably) I had to block bad time wasters, so I have all the time I need to work on my thesis! Which is due in a week and a half (Ahhh!). I'm having a hard time getting all of my thoughts out of my head and onto paper (or the screen!)

Currently, our living room is out of commission and it is now my woodshop. Stuff everywhere, little workshops for painting and gluing and nailing. I will hopefully have my displays done (at least 3 out of 4) in the next day or two. They are coming along quite nicely and I keep finding more props and things to outfit them with!

This is my attempt to take a photo of my new leather jacket, which is so atypical for a leather jacket (in style). No zippers or accents, but there is a but of pleating at the back, soo nice! And the colour is a grayish brownish, with a fake sweater collar and sleeves. I am in love.

It's kind of too warm right now for leather jackets, though I am NOT disappointed! We're going to have a picnic lunch tomorrow!

sm2

2010-03-30T02:03:51Z

When spring and summer start to roll around I have Japanese clothing on the brain again! Cotton and linen, light colours and layers (I have pale skin and burn easily, so summer layering is my friend), it's just all so beautiful!

In January picked up some clothing magazines (I don't know what you would call them—they are a mix between a fashion magazine and a styling catalogue) from Kinokuniya Bookstore in Seattle. They were from this store called SM2, and they are quite inspiring—so inspiring I bought 4 different issues! They were all for Fall and Winter, so it just occurred to me to check for their new Spring stuff, and isn't it wonderful?

I love the detail in the accessories, and I think I'll attempt to make a similar bag—I would have bought one but they are sold out!

What has also sparked me thinking about Japan again is that our friends John and Juli (of Kitka) are off to Japan for two weeks scouting out new designers for their store, Mjölk, and meeting some favourites! I am so jealous but I can't wait to see what they come across (and blog about)! We sent them off with a great big dinner at Guu Izukaya, which they posted about here, so I won't repeat. But it was so nice, and we will definitely be going there again!

continuous bloom

2010-03-15T04:01:53Z

Hello! Hello spring! It's raining like crazy here but at least it's not snowing... I haven't made any new collages in a long time, I keep convincing myself that it's procrastinating and I should be doing something else. Yet, I am still never doing the thing that I am supposed to be doing. Surprise surprise. So I decided to just let myself do what I wanted to do.

I have been experimenting with some new stuff lately, everyone loved the paper folds I used for the "gray" series, and I kind of like them too so I am working them into this next collection. I think the white space helps with the otherwise very green backgrounds. I am working on green dividers, found in the Better Homes and Gardens book from the 50s—I bought two of the same book at Goodwill, just for the dividers.

I am still working on my thesis, and also going stir crazy with dreams of gardening. We're embarking on a huge gardening project this summer, even though we don't have a yard! It will be a hydroponic window farm, for herbs and lettuces. So excited.

]]>

How about some honest feedback now, guys? The first four pieces are on etsy, too.

raymond meeks

2010-03-06T02:50:05Z

A little of something I'm currently inspired by—though I'm kind of at an inspiration overload place because of all the "research" I'm doing for my thesis... the artist books of Raymond Meeks are so beautiful, I love the simplicity and nuances of colour in them. I want to achieve something equally as nuance-y. It's just so nice.

Thanks Jen, from Simply Photo (where I found him!)

long overdue...

2010-02-16T21:06:25Z

Yay! I received my copy of UPPERCASE magazine in the mail last week (it was actually just sitting on my doorstep for two days while I was away so I'm glad nobody stole it!) I am honoured to be a part of Janine's amazing creation, there are so many talented artists involved. A little piece of my paper collection was featured—my library cards and pockets—and they look quite nice in print. Like I said, I was blown away by this issue and I am looking forward to future issues!

Also, it's nice to be a page after dawbis, who I have definitely talked about before with her blog Lovely Paper. Her paper collections are a constant inspiration to me!

get to work!

2010-02-10T00:59:37Z

I've been working hard lately, but it's mostly fun cut and paste work. I created four models of what the final project will look like (approximately). It feels like I've accomplished a lot by doing this but there is still so much left to do! I had fun with this though, and I used my glue gun for the first time in a long time. Above is one of my inspiration clipboards. Still wondering what it's all about? In due time... in due time.

(Oh and I've been making messes, too).

]]>

Cutting out a bumblebee.

One of the final models.

And the true occupier of my desk space, Fyodor the cat.

spring in my step

2010-02-05T03:49:58Z

Woohoo! My first spring at Anthropologie, and can I just tell you how inspired I am? The clothes are also much more my style, the fabrics and colours and all (Cotton? Linen? Neutrals? Yes please.) This presents a problem though, because I want to spend my hard-earned money on clothes... Above is my wish list, below is what I have already sprung for. BEAUTIFUL gray and white stripe cotton dress.

Ahem... This is a problem. Don't worry, I'm not going to keep posting about stuff that I want all the time.

experimenting is exciting

2010-02-05T03:40:42Z

Phew! It's so hard to get caught up. Posting will probably be sporadic this season, because I'll be working on my thesis and of course my millions of other projects I distract myself with.

I'm quite excited about my thesis project, which is analyzing independent retail stores and creating an affordable, modular display concept. Which, hey, guess what, I am building BY HAND. I am perfectly capable but I am realizing just now what an enormous task this is... Wish me luck. I have to document my process so I hope to share some of it with you.

Here's a start, some inspiration-based layouts/experiments I am trying out for my final output (a catalogue).

The above images in the layout are from pony_tail on flickr. (Copyrighted, hope their not mad, I'm not actually using these layouts for anything)

Above main photo via willow ships via anabela. I am super jealous of how fabulous this girl (Chelsea Jade) and her photography and her band (teacups) are. Like wow. I still wish I was in a band, though I think that opportunity is long gone now!

oh seattle...

2010-01-21T21:13:54Z

Oh Seattle, why do you have to be so enchanting? I think at this point I could fall completely in love with any city, since I haven't done enough travelling to really know for sure where I want to be. We definitely had an amazing time there, and since returning to Toronto I have felt kind of gloomy. Who knew that's what travelling would do to me?! Toronto just doesn't have the allure it did before, back when it was the ONLY thing I knew. That makes sense though. Now I want to go everywhere. If only time and money would allow...

(This is not the hotel we stayed at, just a pretty one.)

Seattle seems to care about keeping its history in tact, which is something I appreciate. This is at Pike Place Market, which is so wonderful, for tourists and non-tourists alike. I don't like being a tourist for some reason—and people thought I wasn't one, I kept getting asked for directions and was giving them within a day (guess I'm a city girl for sure). I very shyly took most of these pictures. I don't see myself as a photographer—though I wish I was better at it—so taking out my crappy camera made me feel very touristy. Plus it was super rainy and I didn't want to get it wet. All my pictures came out blurry!

You have to be adventuresome here, because everything good seems tucked away and hard to get to. There were steep hills and alleys and very long staircases everywhere, sometimes I felt like I was trespassing. I visited an antique market right down on the harbourfront (across from the aquarium) which took some effort to get to. Down 200 feet of stairs later... I will show you some of the stuff I bought later!

Pike place again, in the evening. Most of the pictures I took were at night, this was early evening. There are so many neon signs in Seattle, I think almost every store has one. Kind of crazy but also cool, and makes the city light up nicely at night. Plenty of trees wrapped in christmas lights too.

From the first Starbucks, the cashier asked for Jory's name and even spelled it right!

Elliot bay books—I can't even say enough about this place. We were here for hours. Bookstores and coffee shops are a huge thing in Seattle, which naturally we loved. We also went to this nice Japanese bookstore, where I spent way too much money... I bought some magazines, a book with pictures of shops, some stationery and some masking tape.

]]>

At Zeitgeist Kunst and Kaffee, a really cool industrial looking coffee shop. My favourite thing about this place was the aluminum industrial lighting, the letterpress green metal type cabinet they had just for show, and the altered books exhibit on the walls.

Oops, sorry for invading this guy's privacy, who was just reading quietly.

(The altered books exhibit on the walls...)

& of course I visited two Anthropologies while there. It's nice to see how different the stores are, and it was also nice to chat with the employees about Toronto. Of course there was plenty to talk about! I was very tempted to buy shoes... (we don't sell their shoes yet in Canada). All the stores were in the middle of setting up their Spring windows, exciting!

Seattle was so wonderful, and there were so many things I liked about it. The gray skies, how close it is to Japan, bookstores and coffee shops, even the transit system is interesting!

Where to next, you ask? Hopefully somewhere just as beautiful, hopefully sometime soon. But for now I will try to rekindle my Toronto love affair by doing some touristy things here.

(More pictures here).

the year so far

2010-01-06T22:56:54Z

Oh my gosh, I have been avoiding the internet like the plague this winter. Not like I haven't been at my computer… just not as much. I guess I've been in a bit of a blogging slump. I hope to fix this right now, because I love being a blogger! And I like sharing my findings, I suppose.

I have a couple of new ideas for things I want to do this year, one of them fits in with our resolution this year. We didn't really make resolutions per se, but we do have a goal in mind. There was an article Jory read about people living in cities who never see their own landmarks, and tourists who visit see everything in a matter of days. I like the idea of "traveling" where you live, because why not!? And it helps to see the good points of the city you live in, sometimes it's hard for me to look past the noise, tall buildings, smog and slush.

I have the travel bug, and it would maybe help to be a tourist in my own city when I can't actually travel. Would you believe I have never been on a real vacation? I've hardly been out of Canada! We're going to Seattle soon (for three days), but for a job interview—so that's not even a real vacation—but I'm going to make it feel like one! Anyone have any suggestions for places to visit there?

I would also like to do some posts about my favorite places in Toronto. I just discovered the blog "reading my tea leaves," and Erin has a section of posts called my downtown. This is so beautiful and inspiring, and I'd like to do something similar. I've been thinking a lot about Toronto's history too lately, ask anyone I've been bombarding with historic street views…

I'll be graduating this year, finally, hopefully. I enjoy the work I get to do but I hate "school." So I can't wait to finally be in the working world. I hope this year will be really good, 2009 was not all that. (There were definitely some great moments though!)

Sorry for all the talk, I guess this is like a journal entry, or probably an accumulation of all of my absences all at once.

Pictures are: 1. My favourite view from my apartment (from our office window).

2. Jory across the table from me at Lakeview (an awesome diner, established 1932). I love their new branding.

3. Some stuff I picked up at the Sunday antique market and some other stuff. (In the Hovis bread tin I also purchased there—a la threepotatofour—4 of them soldered together!

4. Lovely paper. Mostly bills and things, I'll show you some interesting things in this box later, a story for each one obviously. (The man and woman are my grandmother's adoptive parents).

5. Some photos from a 1920s album, look at those fancy photo corners!

6. A Victorian puzzle that took me 6 hours to complete, missing 3 pieces.

7. Some granola with yogurt and blueberries. Yum!

Happy New Year!

when skies are gray

2009-11-24T06:40:28Z

I love when collage is my homework, and I get to try new things all the time. These three collages are for my "art explores psychology" class, which is interesting in itself, (though a bit depressing). The theme was any psychological issue, so these collages have a tinge of sadness to them. It's pretty much about vulnerability to mental illness, and it's something that has surely affected my childhood. Other than the gloominess, I think they're pretty cool!

The photographs are by Bill Durgin, from corduroy magazine (issue five).