Fall Catalogue

For about two months I secretly worked on a new clothing line. What this line consists of is UP-cycled, carefully selected, quality vests, dresses, blouses, and jackets. After selection, each piece was hand dyed, hand stamped, or both in my home studio. This fall style is very much inspired by bohemian beauties, global patterns, and of course Norfolk, Va. I had the fortunate experience of debuting Impressed Apparel at the wonderful new With Lavender and Lace boutique. The owner, and my amazing friend, Kelsie McNair graciously let me borrow some of her vintage pieces to mix with the collection for this photo shoot. 

 For this post I had the pleasure of shooting a lovely friend of mine Elisa Nyassom. (She is a photographer, check out her stuff.) Also, super cute Shannon McMillen joined the shoot! Thank you very much girls! <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a Quick Update

I did it! I moved into the apparel territory. Now I am stamping and dyeing clothes!

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Heat Wave

     
 Summer weather has officially arrived in Ghent. Everyone I know is taking shelter at a cafe, local shops, or any place with air conditioning.The Impressed studio has yet to receive this modern gift of A.C. What this weather has brought us is extra quick, extra strong drying power for the kitchen towels I dyed this week. It is fun to pretend that the apartment is actually in some tropical Caribbean city. The bright citrus colors of the towels hanging from the fire escape railings truly add a Carnival kind of feel to the place. Thank you to summer for such lovely musings and free and natural drying methods.

Keep it Clean

        Cotton kitchen towels make for amazing blank canvasses for stamps. The towels perfectly soak up dye colors to create vibrant saturation. After I hand dye or tie dye the towels, I use a fabric friendly ink to stamp them. It is fun to create sets of two towels and make each set have a common theme. Recent inspirations for my themed towels are song writing I have been doing, and the exciting OpSail exhibition that happened last week here in Norfolk. Many more themes and colors to come. I would love to know what themes everyone has in their kitchens. That way, I could create special sets for everyone.    

 

 

Post Test Tie Dye Day

    Here are some results from my tie dye test day. I am very pleased with the results, apart from the mess in my studio. These brilliant colors were well worth the wait. Avocado, Aqua Marine, Raspberry, and Golden Yellow mix and meld together to create joyful kaleidoscope.    

 

Above is an example from the Spiral technique.  

 

This Avocado and Aqua Marine beauty was created from the Fan Fold technique. 

  

Remember the "Carrot"? Pictured above is the carrot unraveled. 

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The rest of these pretty things were free styles. What do you think?

 

After these successes I am super excited for Saturday and to share these techniques!

Tie Dye Test Day

     Today I decided to play with more old and new tie dye techniques. I will be teaching a class this Saturday at a really awesome shop in Norfolk called Kitsch. Handmade in Virginia products from soaps to pillows is what they sell. Along with goods to buy, they offer crafting classes. I am excited to teach in general and I hope this goes well. In prep for Saturday I did this dye session and I took pictures to share on the blog.  

    This first series of photos are a sample of some "tied" shirts.

Spiral

Fan Fold

I'm calling it the "Carrot"

   These next photos are of dye application. Seriously my favorite part and the most fun. 

Next post I will show case the results of today's work. To set the dye properly, a full 24 hours should be waited to undo the rubber bands. Being a results oriented crafter this is the hardest part. WAITING! God forbid I practice a little patients :-)

****Maybe next time I will wear gloves