new roommate

on a personal note i got a new roommate this week. and she is wonderful...smiley and spirited and full of interesting things to say. she is also very complimentary of my apartment which makes me feel good because i put a lot of energy and thought into keeping it clean and pretty. 

she also has made some lovely new additions to the decor, including these sweet cloth coasters. they look perfect on our coffee table.

goal for the week

i cannot believe that january is coming to an end. i have officially been freelancing for two full months and i have survived, rent is paid and the heat is still on. that being said i have to admit i feel myself missing the routine and security of a full time job. and thus i have been applying to full time positions. 


this means my days freelancing may be number. and i want to take advantage of this time of relative freedom. i mentioned in an early post that i was on a clothing buying freeze. so i am setting a goal for myself to make one article of clothing for myself every week. i literally have bins and bins of fabric so it will cost me little to make this happen. and hopefully by the time i have a new job i will also have a new wardrobe!


one more thing...i have been following this super cute blog Rockstar Diaries and she wears the cutest clothes ever, i want to look as effortless as her! check it out.

enough daydreaming! it is winter people!

have you seen True Grit?
you should it's pretty good. it's nominated for best picture. 
also, with all this spring fashion it helps me get back to reality and remember that is is winter. and it is actually fun to dress in winter. you get layer dresses and sweaters and scarves and jackets and coats. True Grit reminded me of my all time most favorite Rachel Roy collection.

i am going to go put my coat on and go for a walk. it is not spring yet.

exciting news!

just heard from a dear friend that her recent wedding will be feature in The Knot magazine! i had the amazing experience of designing and making her veil with her. can wait to share the link when the issue comes out! 


more to come...

interesting textures of spring

still trying to forget about the feet of snow outside by focusing on daydreams of spring... 
i am really feeling textures for spring. normally we think of spring as floral prints, but this year i think it will be about mixing and matching different textures. laces with knits. sequins with tweeds. denim with soft silks. 

hope you feel as freed from this weather as me. thank you j.crew spring 2011.

this is my dream wedding dress

firstly, she totally makes me want to have red hair. secondly this dress is to die for. simple, beautiful and short! a couple years ago my company was throwing away some lace that i loved. i am still holding onto that lace...

hopefully my boyfriend isn't reading the blog today...this post would totally freak him out. ;)

something simple...

something white that is not snow

love the details...

snow is blanketing new york, but couture is blanketing paris. 

here is some perfect examples of beautiful trim and embellishment.

elie saab spring 2011

free me

two years ago in january i was ready to give up on new york city. it was just like it is now; dead of winter, cold and dark. i just wanted a change. so i applied to my dream job back in my hometown of Philadelphia. i worked so hard on my application project and was devistated when i did not get the job. but i have always loved that collection that i designed. it was the best work i have done to date. 

and here i am on this cold winter day wanting to be reminded of something warm and bright. so i want to share that project with you. hopefully it will warm you up too.

inspiration

i have always loved the american southwest...
i want to see the landscapes that inspired Georgia O'Keeffe...

my father bought this coat in Santa Fe, New Mexico when he was 25 years old...
it inspired this journey...

i bought this old prom dress at the Salvation Army in Hobbs...i added the belt.

is it spring yet?

when i need inspiration i always look to anna sui. her clothes are over the top. they are crocheted, and beaded, and trimmed and embellished. i love everything about them. here are two looks from her spring 2011 show. i want to be wearing one of these and having a bbq in prospect park, brooklyn. anyone want to join me?

one of a kind

over the past two years i have had the honor of helping two of my dear friends with embellishment for their weddings. the first project i worked on was for a co-worker who was designing her own amazing DIY wedding. she and her fiance did everything for the wedding from the save the dates to the personalized mementos. 

when she asked me to help her make an ornament for her hair i knew it had to be the perfect mix of vintage appeal as well as modern hipness for this Brooklyn bride. the final product was literally one of a kind and perfect for her.

feeling unsure today...

in the spirit of full disclosure...i applied to 4 full-time fashion jobs today. this doesn't mean i have given up on the current plan of making freelancing work, but i felt like i should keep my options open...

gold and crusty

just finished beaded shoulder piece for one of my clients.

budget it...

i finally sat down and tried to really breakdown a budget. i had an idea of how much i needed to be making but was putting off figuring out that exact number. 


i have to confess here that i am bad with money. bad; not terrible. i have always let money burn a hole in my pocket (thus one of my goals is to deposit cash from babysitting into the bank immediately.) that being said the day i got a credit card was definitely a bad day, luckily that was not until i was 22. Now at 26 i have maxed out my single credit card at $2500. i have tried to make excuses for this debt saying that its because of medical bills, and that is part of it but not the whole and the fact that this balance has sat on my card for more than a year is just shameful! next to rent and bills paying off my credit card on time every month until it is paid off is an absolute priority.


so the breakdown is as follows:


rent
bills (gas, electric, cable)
credit card
student loan
health insurance ($319/month! thank you freelancers union!)
food, daily expenses, etc.
savings (goal of $200/month to start)


i am sure you notice there is one major thing missing....clothes! yes no clothes until i am well into the green. because A. i have plenty of clothes already, B. if i really need something i can make it! i am a fashion designer after all!


once i had my grand total i had to multiply it by .33 for taxes and add that number to the total. so there i had the number...the amount of money i have to earn every month to make this viable...


...actually it wasn't that bad. big; but not scary. then i broke it down by my hourly rate. i need to work 90 hours a month to meet my budget...22.5 hours a week! that is almost laughable. in my fashion days i work 45-60 hour weeks. but this was different each of these hours i will need to bring in... it's all about the hustle!

sunday morning

love this embellished cardigan. bead necklines don't just have to be for evening. 

thank you anthro.

an idea

i went into my meeting yesterday so excited and nervous. i lead with handing out my business card. one of the people in the meeting immediately commented that is was a "sharp" business card. phew...i was a little worried some might view is as "crafty."

i then launched into my presentation of my inspiration boards and layout sketches. i realised as i was talking this was the closest thing to a critique i had had since college...but these were not teachers and peers; this was the President, Vice President, Director of Sales, and Senior Designer of reputable New York trim company. i paused, took a deep breath, and went on.

by the end of the 1 hour meeting i was handing over a set of inspiration boards and sketches. i had mixed feelings...i thought i was going to have a chance to expand on the boards. but no, now they had all that design work for a measly 3 billable hours. i felt robbed.

they did ask me to expand on one of the concepts which is good. but i need to think about how to give a monetary value to my work. this is not like other companies i am working with where they give me an inspiration idea and i am paid to execute it. this is different. how does one give a monetary value to an idea?

one last thing before the weekend...

my new business cards came today!

i got 250 from Vistaprint for around $20 which i think is pretty good. 

excited to get to hand them to my client at my meeting today!

an introduction

working from home is lonely. i am getting used to it but its weird not to come into an office full of young women like me ready to debrief about everything from their blind date last night to reality television. but i do have one companion. and i wanted to introduce him to you. i have a feeling he will be making a number of appearances on this blog. please excuse him, he is feeling a little shy this morning.

adlai

looking back

when i graduated from college in 2007 i was so quick to write off all the work i had done. i had the awkward situation of having my future boss as a celebrity critic for my thesis. and she hated it. so it was like "you want me to come work for you, but you don't like my work." ugh. as a result i completely distanced myself from that work. i even did something so stupid as not to pick up the professional photos of my thesis that the school paid to have taken. 

now all most 4 years later i have so few photos of my work from school. which is really sad. i worked really hard in college and had a really clear artistic vision that had not been soiled by actually working in the industry. i can also see now all the signs that i was already a trim and embellishment designer. i LOVE the details. i would spend 60 hours beading a neckline on a simple white dress. i would hand quilt with metallic thread. i would hand paint patterns on chiffon. unfortunately once up on a stage under bright lights most of these details were lost on the critics. but i didn't care, i loved the details, the silhouette was just an after thought for me.

now that i am designing on my own again i want get back to that pure inspiration and creativity that flowed so feeling in college...so i was thrilled this morning to find this picture of one for my college projects.

this is that coat that i hand quilted with metallic thread.

finally feeling really proud of this. still love the detail.

as requested...

here is that fabulous friend wearing her beaded belt to the opera

inspiration boards

i have pitch meeting with a new client tomorrow and i am nervous..this client has put serious faith in my design ability and i don't want to let them down. 

here are the inspiration boards i am showing them.

...please send me good vibes tomorrow!

welcome...

...to the launch of “Good Clothes Open All Doors;” my humble attempt at documenting the start of my own business in the tough industry of fashion, in the rougher city of New York and in the roughest of economies.

Why the title “Good Clothes Open All Doors?” This quote from Thomas Fuller a 19^th century architect has followed me through life. I saw it first on a birthday card from a friend who knew about my interest in fashion…it was the quote in my high school senior year book page…it was the phrase I painted on my cap when I graduated from RISD… and is now the magnet on my fridge (magnets; where all great quotes go to die). 

the birthday card

highschool yearbook

RISD graduation

my fridge today

So I make an attempt to revive this quote here and try to use is as a source of inspiration. To me this quote means something similar to the boy scouts motto; “Be Prepared.” In this interpretation it is very much something instilled in me by my parents. It is always better to be a little over dressed (and if you know my parents, you know they are, if anything, always impeccably put together.) My hope is to be just a little over dressed when the doors open.

As some of you already know I left my job of 3 1/2 years at a reputable New York fashion company last November, It was both the easiest and hardest decision of my life; easy because I knew I had to and hard because I did not know what the future would bring. Here I am two months later having come to the decision that I want to be a full time freelance trim and embellishment designer (don’t know what trim and embellishment is? Don’t worry I will explain it in posts to come.) This is a big undertaking considering when I left my job I had exactly 2 months rent in the bank, meaning this month I have to earn my rent. Which comes to why I wanted to start this blog. I wanted to have a documentation of this process. I know it is not going to be easy…and I am not sure it will not be without its stints as a waitress. But I will make it happen.

And that is where you all come in! You have supported me in this crazy life thus far; I hope you will continue to follow me through this next challenge. I hope this first posting has you interested and still left you with a few questions so that you return to check on me. I plan to post daily images of my work, my inspiration, a little on my trials and hopefully some personal triumphs too!

Love, Sarah

something beautiful for someone fabulous

this is a belt i recently got to make for a friend 

in need of something to wear to the opera.

love it almost as much as i love her.

First Post

This is my first post... which seems that it should be some sort of mission statement. Just not sure what the mission is yet...