What Was I Thinking?! Part 1:

Wow, from deep winter emerges the spring in SF! Such an early entrance into the warm season, they say this week it should get up to 64 degrees! I don't know about you but it just seems strange. Anyway, this confirms why I have decided to sell my car this week, in an effort to honor our planet and take a personal stance for a sustainable future.

Beyond climate change, in the studio we delegated the fashions this week and are busy making mock-ups, drafting patterns, and getting stuff done!

Therefore, since I always get a lot of positive feedback when I explain the creative process of creating a garment, I thought I would take this opportunity to explore the making of the "Vortex Hoodie" from the Rex Floodstrom Collection.

This piece really is a labor of love and vision. Derived from the painting "Light" featured in the photo here, the swirling shape hypnotized me into the neverafter. The feeling I got from the "Light" was comforting and inviting. I wanted to make a garment that reflected that value. I decided on a hoodie, because for me they are comfortable physically and psychologically. Something about covering the head that not only leaves you feeling protected but also soothed. Much like the painting, which is beautiful and comfortable to the eyes, the hoodie is easy to wear and relaxes the body.

Next came the task of figuring out how to make the swirls that I would attach all over the hoodie vest. Instead of one big swirl (like the painting), I decided I wanted lots of little ones to give a multi-texture element to the jacket. As mentioned in earlier blogs I first hand stitched swirls into fabric, and then pulled the tail of the thread tightly, which created a rouged effect in the fabric.

Once I got the hand sewing technique down, which I thought I would only have to make about 75-100 individual swirls,.....I was way off! It actually turned out to be around 300-350 individual swirls. Each of which was hand sewn onto the vest.

Originally, it was supposed to be a jacket with sleeves. However, after swirl #245, and I hadn't even touched the sleeves, so I decided to go with the vest because there were other things I had to work on besides this garment. In the end, I am happier with it being a vest, because otherwise it might have become too bulky.

For the last step of the jacket, once all the pieces were sewn, I took fabric paint, watered it down, and painted watery swirls all over the hoodie. This part was the most fun, because I used about 3 types of white fabric for the swirls, so it was fascinating watching how the paint interacted uniquely with each swirl.

One of the conceptual added bonuses of the piece is how when worn the black lining in the hoodie creates a universe effect around the face, which allows the face itself become the swirling vortex. The wearer, not the jacket becomes the art and the clothing is just the frame for which it is displayed.