Where to go from here

Howdy doo everybody!

It's been ages since I've really blogged. I am happy to say that I am a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology with an Associates Degree in Fashion Design. It's a goal that I'm am happy to have accomplished (even if the economy isn't being so kind to the fashion & entertainment industries at the moment)

School was tough. A lot of time and hard work. After it was all over I took a 4-week fashion-free break. No fashion news or magazines. No sewing, no knitting. I slept, I ate, I read books and I did a little travel. It was time off that I needed to reflect and relax.

Now I'm back and I'm trying to decide where I am going to go from here with this blog. I don't want to pick up where I left off. I really want to try and incorporate the things I have learned and my life changes over the past two years. Everything is not decided yet but I know that I want to go forward with a more fashion-forward approach to this whole thing. I want to focus on the fashion world, the design process, the details, etc. I want to design a collection of knitwear as well as regular clothing. I want to explore different techniques. And I want to use this space to keep track as well as share with whoever chooses to read.

I know I promised some patterns way back in January and I'm going to work on getting those out. I've got some new ideas going and I have a free knitting pattern in the works too. I also plan to move this blog to a more permanent space in the internet world and redesign it.

As a way to try a new technique and get myself re-acquainted with the simple joys of making something because "I choose to" and not because "I have to", I decide to try my hand at a crochet pattern. I want to understand how this whole thing really works because I want to add crochet designs to my arsenal.


This is the "Walking After Midnight" skirt from the book "Amazing Crochet Lace" by Doris Chin

I used Sonata cotton from Elann and worked it up in about a week and a half.


I like the yarn and the pattern was pretty straight forward. I've wanted to do this skirt ever since Christie did it a few years ago. I'm glad I did. I think crochet doesn't always translate into truly fashionable items but this skirt makes the cut.

i'm still around

new post coming soon. just thinking about what to write.

pics from the final project

I'll be back soon.

Blogging has taken a backseat to:

3 full days of classes :: were I am knitting a sweater for my term project
2 full days of interning
2 evenings at regular work
1 VK pattern for the Fall issue (Yeah!)
1 short film project doing wardrobe
1 very creative job search
and the need to do my taxes before April 15

(* you didn't see anything about eating, sleeping, or a social life did you ???)

I'll be back soon. New patterns will be up when I get a chance to proof them. I swear. I mean it. I really do.

And maybe I'll post pics for my machine knitting class.

Ta-Ta For Now!

Free pattern fix and other stuff

Hey folks!

I'm finally getting my act together with the free patterns. I finally caved and paid for some server space. The free patterns are now available directly from this site. No more hassle (crosses finger, toes, and eyes after saying that.)

I'm still working getting the cabled sweater pattern published. I had every intention of doing it over my break but was sidetracked by work, interning, inauguration excitement, and fact that the school gave us a major project to do during out winter break. Not cool but it had to be done.

For fourth semester we have to design a collection of designs based on Gianni Versace's style. A critic from the industry comes in and picks the one design they like best from each student. We then make it for a juried show. My class' critic is going to be Daniel V from the second season of Project Runway.

I realized I don't post as much because I haven't been taking many pictures. What's a blog post without pics? I've been working on small projects lately. Handwarmers, neckwarmers, scarves, etc. Nothing to major.



Here is a sweater vest I started last night. On the side is some Cotton Bamboo from Lion Brand. I had a chance to go to the Lion Brand Studio in Manhattan. I was pleasantly surprised by the space and the selection. They have also developed their own 'higher' end line of "Collection" yarns. A first glance they look nice although I can't speak to their long term quality. I'lll keep you updated on how the Cotton Bamboo works up.

Temporary Free Pattern Download Fix

Until such time as I can find a better way to host files the free pattern links have been updated to a "free" host site called FileFactory. There are a few steps to get to the file but right now it's all I can offer. If you have a hard time with the downloads just email me directly and I'll send them to you. saunshine AT gmail DOT com.

Free Patterns unavailable for a little while

As it turns out, my web host decided to "upgrade" and it seems I can't store the Free Pattern pdf files like I used to. Until I can figure out an alternative, the patterns will be unavailable. I'll work it out within the week hopefully.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Happy New Year

It's a brand new year and I'm sure everyone has new plans & resolutions. We all know I'm not big on resolutions but I do forsee myself making the most of this new year. How about you?

Now that I have the time I'll show you some of what I was working on last semester.

This is my term project from draping class. The original concept was "Sound". A classmate proposed that we design outfits based on listening to a song and interpreting how the sound...frequency, tone, resonance, etc...made you feel and put that into a design. The other part you would pick a color and design a monochromatic outfit with that color. I was really excited.......and then came the professors opinion. She imposed these rules...we had to use only 3 colors and only certain hues of that color. There were more "rules" which pretty much killed the joy of the project. I finished and I'm okay with it for the most part but it's not my original vision. It was based on an old Outkast song- Player's Ball Remix Instrumental. The bass drum and guitar in the song really spoke to me.





This is one of my projects from Fashion Art class. This one was based on Armani Prive's haute couture collection and flowers in winter. Volume and and icy color palette.








Now that I'm on break I'm going to get in some knitting and sewing time. I'm also going to play with my new toy. Mamacita lent me her knitting machine to play with. I'm not big on the machine knits but I think it's a good thing to learn in terms of the fashion industry. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

it's only been a month...

do people still read blogs anymore? i wouldn't know... i never have the time and i wish i did.

i'm working on final projects for the semester. i'll put pictures up soon.

in the meantime, check out what i have done in the past month. i helped tammi make pom-poms for her wedding.


630+ pom-pom instead of rice. good times!

For ProjRun viewers: Have you heard of Christopher Kane?

If you haven't you should check out his spring show here.

It looks an awful lot like Leanne's winning collection.