1.  Use it as a belt

This is probably the most obvious thing to do with a scarf in the summer.  There are many ways to tie it and get different looks.

2.  Use it as a headband

This one is also really popular.  You can tie it into your braid, create a bun cover, use it to pull your hair back- depending on the length of your hair really determines how many ways you can wear it.

3.  Spruce up your jewelry

Twist it, tie it, braid it, link it.  The possibilities are endless.  I’ve shown a couple of different ways to wear it as a necklace, add some charms, etc but really the creativity starts and ends with you.

4.  Tie it as a necktie

Tied creatively this lightweight scarf looks more like a necktie than a scarf.  Use it to spruce up some business outfits in the summer.

5.  Wrap it as a sarong

If your scarf is long enough you can use it as a beach wrap/ pool cover up.

I’m finishing up some garments for my Spring/Summer Collection, that are also going to double as the designs for the catalog portion of my final assignment in CAD.  Tonight I was creating the pattern for a skirt out of muslin.  TFE looks at the pattern, pats the muslin and says “Oooooh, Mommy, I like this what you’re making.  It’s beautiful”

TUESDAY

My friend Sarah and I went shopping last week so that our men would have decent clothes to wear while we are in Hawaii.  If it were up to them they would wear nothing but board shorts and t-shirts covered with logos from their employers.  We took the TFE who seemed to like what we were picking out at the time.  Today, the Hubs finally had a chance to try on everything we bought.  He put on a t-shirt with the Budweiser logo (he used to work for Budweiser so this shirt was a compromise), apparently TFE agrees with me that when the Hubs isn’t working he doesn’t need to wear work related shirts.  She looked at it, scowled and said “I don’t like that shirt!  It’s silly!”  I’m not sure if that was a knock to my fashion sense or to the Hubs considering I’m the one who picked out the shirt for him.

TFE: 1  Mommy: 0  Daddy: 0

THURSDAY

The TFE and I went shopping for Hawaii.  I’ve been looking for a swimsuit for Hawaii and the Hubs needed a couple of pairs of board shorts.  He is extremely picky about his board shorts so I brought the TFE to help me out knowing that if I told him that she picked them out he wouldn’t have the heart to have me take them back!  Mommy: 1  Daddy: 0    When I was looking for a swimsuit I actually ended up asking for her advice since I couldn’t decide which one I wanted.  I really liked this red one but when I showed it to the TFE  said “Oh no Mommy.  That one is not good.  It’s bad.  It’s really bad mommy”  OK.  I suppose I’m not getting that one after all.   We could agree on a top but when it came to the bottoms we couldn’t agree so I went with the more piratey looking one (of course).

I did the Hubs a favor and took out all the really ugly-looking board shorts and any of the plaid ones (for some reason he HATES plaid I think it’s cute!)  before I allowed her to pick out her dad’s board shorts.  We ended up with very bright Hawaiian print board shorts for Hawaii.  How delightfully touristy of us!

TFE: 1, Mommy : 1.5, Daddy: 0

SUNDAY

At the girls birthday this year, most people decided to get them matching outfits.  Which I don’t mind, but I try not to make them wear the same outfits on the same day.  Apparently this has caused some confusion with the TFE.  Saturday her sister wore brightly colored capris with a matching white babydoll shirt.  We’ve been having some problems with the TFE when it comes to potty training lately so by Sunday she had very little left in terms of a clean wardrobe.  I went to put the matching outfit on her and she claimed “I DO NOT WANT TO WEAR CARRIE’S CLOTHES!”  I tried to explain, this is not Carries.  Carrie has one just like it, this is Addy’s in an Addy’s size.  All day long she went around asking people if she was wearing her sister’s clothes and claiming that she DID NOT want to wear her sister’s clothes.  Apparently I am now stupid enough to not be able to tell the difference between a 12 mo size and a toddler 3T.  Ugh!

This week’s final score:  TFE: 2, Mommy: 1, Daddy: 0

My MIL and I often sew together, and Addy, wants to participate in everything.  She is usually in there with us cutting up scraps of fabric and claiming that she is making a skirt for her sister.  Anytime you ask her what she is making it is always something for her sister.  I haven’t figured out if she’s mimicking her nana or if she just really doesn’t like the way I dress her sister.  I’m sure that like the rest of us, she feels that if she wants something done right, she must do it herself.  Hence, the constant hints at a new wardrobe for her sister?  I dunno.

While sewing with us Addy often makes comments about what the Dr (my MIL) and I are making.  Here are some of the most recent comments.  I will try to make this a weekly post, but Addy doesn’t always make comments about what we are making.  Even in the mind of a three-year old there are some days that we just “get it right” and no comments are necessary.

She loved the dress I made for the symposium.  When I was working on it she would come up to me and say “Mommy, I love your dress.  It’s so beautiful”  She still asks me to find pictures on Facebook of our friend Claudia wearing the dress.  She’ll say ” Mommy, I want to see the pictures of Claudia.  She’s so beautiful”.

Sarah’s dress however, got a different response.  When I wasn’t working on it I would place it on the dress form.  Last week she looked at it on the dress form and said she didn’t like Sarah’s dress. “It looked silly” I believe were the tiny fashion editors exact remarks.  However, when I took it off the dress form and draped it across the neck of the form to get supplies out and start working on it she stated “I like it much better this way!”

Me: Which way?  Draped across the neck like that?

TFE: “Yes”

Me:  But you can’t even tell it’s a dress when it looks like that.

TFE: “I know”

THURSDAY

I was helping the tiny fashion editor get dressed.  The shirt she was wearing was a white babydoll knit with flowers embroidered on the top.  When it came time to get her shoes on for our daily jaunt to Starbucks, she insisted that she could not wear her new t-shoes (toddler speak for tennis shoes) because her shoes had stars on them and the shirt has flowers on them.  I tried to insist that they were just fine but the TFE insisted “No Mommy!  They don’t match!”  She grabbed her pink sandals, stomped out of the room to have her dad help her put her sandals on because according to my 3-year-old daughter, I am an idiot.  If I couldn’t figure out that the shoes didn’t match her shirt, how on earth could she trust me to help her put on the shoes!  TFE: 1  Mommy: 0

FRIDAY

The hubs was getting ready for work and grabbed his tie as usual.  TFE came in and said “No Daddy!  Not that one!  I don’t like it!”  The hubs, deciding to play along, said, “OK, which one should I wear? How about this one?”  He pulled out a red tie with a mickey mouse print on it.  “No!  It’s red!  I don’t like that one!” huffed the TFE.  He was eventually able to make it out of the house, but only after convincing the TFE that the tie he originally picked out really did match his shirt.  So… I might not be able to figure out what shoes match the TFE’s wardrobe, but at least I can dress myself! TFE: 2 Mommy: 1  Daddy: 0

Based on my experience with the Symposium so far I didn’t expect to be in the clear just yet.  I expected my model to get arrested in a case of mistaken identity with a person of the same name and then my show wouldn’t walk down the runway.  Since this IS a Comedy of Errors it would be only fitting!  No pun intended.

Sure enough, when I got to Fashion Supplies Inc my name was no where on Chaffey’s list AND they had already given out all of Chaffey’s reserved tickets.  WhenI showed them the email on my phone (thank god for the man/woman/person/thing/it that invented blackberry) they finally gave me a ticket- marked it for Chaffey and made sure to mention “well, we are just running out of tickets for Chaffey”.  Guess what lady?  Not my problem!  Someone dropped the ball and it wasn’t me.  Give me my ticket and I’ll be on my way- thank you very much and have an incredible day!

I talked to a few different 4 year colleges about continuing my education once I am done with Chaffey.  I’ve made the decision to go ahead and apply to Cal Poly for their Apparel Production program with a minor in Entrepreneurship.  I’m a little concerned about the fact that they do everything on computer.  I know it is faster and it is where the industry is headed.  My concern is whether or not I will be able to apply these skills to drafting on paper.  Since everything I make is all done by me and not mass produced, having the computer skills is necessary for future endeavors but for the right here, right now, being able to do it on paper is more practical.

I also made some connections with Fair Trade LA, the Fair Trade Federation and a fair trade clothing line called Marigold.  I’m really excited about these connections because they follow the natural is better for you mentality that I agree with and attempt to pursue in my own life.  Along with it, they also make sure that there is no child labor involved in the production of their products, their workers are paid a fair living wage and work in a safe and healthy environment.  It limits the amount of hands and middle men in the product from raw materials to consumer which also reduces carbon footprint, ensures the producers of the raw goods can get a better rate for their materials and are treated as artisans.  These all go along with the kaizen approach that I take with Casa di Rosati.

After lunch was the fashion show.  This was the most exciting and nerve wracking part of the entire day.  I suddenly was nervous.  Mila Hermanovski was in the panel of judges for the fashion show.  This is a big deal because she’s done this kind of thing over and over and over again on a much larger scale with a lot less time.  She got to pick best in show based on creativity.  I do have to agree with her decision.  It was a recycled garment and best of all you couldn’t even tell what the garment was originally made out of!

When my category came around I kept waiting… and waiting… and waiting.  The more I didn’t see my dress the more nervous I got.  I knew I didn’t have a chance of winning because I saw so many other dresses that were just phenomenal.  The work was great, the design was great.  I had no chance.  Now… the only thing I wanted to see was my dress walk down the runway.  Oh my!  Did something happen with the lining?  Could they not get it to fit the model and so I was out of the show?  Or maybe my model DID get mistaken for someone else and was arrested and hauled off at once!  Damn!  What was going on?  Well…. my dress did show up.  It was 3rd to the last and it was not on my model.  Hmmmmm….. a mistaken identity perhaps?  Nope.  Lining problems – designer error #2!

They had to cut the lining out once again and put it on a different model because they couldn’t get it to fit on my model.  This is really bugging me because the lining fit in the dress.  It matched up with the waist seams, the zipper, everything.  I have NO IDEA why it made the dress suddenly not fit.  I don’t get it.  Anyway, I didn’t place.  I did get to see my dress walk which was so surreal.  It didn’t even look like my dress when it was going down the runway.  I knew it was my dress, but it didn’t feel like it was my dress!

When I went to go pick up my dress from the back it was missing!  They thought it had gotten bunched in with another schools garments.  THAT started a run around the California Market Center to try and find Karen Encinas, the program director of Chaffey College’s fashion department, to see if she had picked up the dress by chance.  I couldn’t find her, but I found someone who knew OF HER and she said she saw Karen with my dress.  The entire way home I thought my dress was lost only to get home and receive an email from Karen that she did have my dress and I could pick it up on Thursday.

It was such an exciting event, even with the ups and downs.  It was definitely a learning experience for me.  Next year I am going to try and participate again.  I’m going to up the ante a bit and see what happens.  For right now, I’m just trying to get through the final countdown to Hawaii.  YAY!  Finish up my Spring/ Summer collection before then and prepare for my finals since I have to take them a week early.  That’s a lot to do in five weeks.  When I come back I’m going to meet up with Fair Trade LA and see what I can do to get that ball rolling! Lots going on!

With lots of love,

~KR

Stage: JoAnn’s of Westminster (I know I swore off JoAnn’s in the first place, but that is another story)

Enter Me

(Phone rings)

Me: Hello?

LBCC: Is this Katherine Rosati?

Me: Yes.

LBCC:  We’re calling on behalf of the fashion symposium and were wondering where your garment was.  You were the only one who didn’t turn theirs in.

Me:  I didn’t know I got accepted.

What follows is a really boring conversation about how they contacted the college, but the college never contacted me.  I still haven’t figured out who dropped the ball, or if they just happened to notify the college while we were on Spring Break (which would fit greatly into my comedy of errors theme).  Either way, they called me and wanted the dress, yesterday.  No. Literally.  Yesterday.

Of course they want the dress that night because they have already started an entire day’s worth of model fittings and I am……. on my way to Seal Beach  (approximately 50 mils and 1 hour away from my house) to have dinner with family.   Oh yeah, and did I mention the dress wasn’t finished?  When I assumed I didn’t get in because I hadn’t heard anything, I put the dress aside and started working on some custom work projects I was doing.  Priorities.  Priorities.  It’s all about priorities- or in my case stomping out fires.  Hmmmm, maybe I’ll take up a career in fire fighting.  I seem to be much better at it.  Although the fact that I’m not happy unless I have so much to do my hair is on fire could pose a problem in pursuing a career in FIRE. FIGHTING.  (Just sayin’)

They agree that I can turn in the dress the next day so long as I can get it there by 4pm.  The sooner the better because they are already into Day 2 of model fittings.  I agree, but that means I have just signed myself up for an all-nighter to get this dress into tip top shape.  But it’s all worth it, right?  Anything worth having is worth fighting for and anything worth doing is worth doing right or not at all (right, Chad)?

I did a dine and dash in record time to race home and start working on the dress.  It was Walt’s Wharf.  Where you would rather sit, enjoy the atmosphere, and savor the oak grilled dishes. And. I. Dined. And. Dashed- with grandma!  That’s how bad I wanted to make this work!  I went home and stayed up until 2am to get up at 6am the next day and work all the way up to 2pm- the time I had to leave in order to get the dress there in time.  I made a lining, sewed the hem by hand, and made several other corrections to the dress.  So much for just wanting to get in the show, now that I was in I wanted my dress to be the best representation of me that it could be!  I wanted to at least TRY to win… it IS, a competition afterall…

What followed was an anxious driven mad house of fabric, thread, needles and scissors.  I kept telling myself “make it work” and “anything worth doing is worth doing right”, repeating them in my head like a really bad Project Runway remix tape.

I got the dress in 5 minutes before the deadline.  I thought it was over then and I was in the clear.  I wasn’t entirely satisfied with my work but at least it was in the show.  There was nothing I could do about it now.  Or was there?

I got a call from the symposium later in the week.  They had a hard time finding a model to fit in to my dress.  The reason was the lining and I knew it.  I gave them permission to cut out the lining so they could try and find a model for it.  I would have to then remake a lining and take it back in to sew the new lining in to the dress.  If they couldn’t find a model I was out of the show.  I would have been accepted, but unable to participate.  My stomach was in knots.  They said they would know by 7pm whether or not they had found a model.  I waited and waited, my stomach turning more and more as the clock approached 7pm.  By 8pm I still hadn’t heard anything.  By 8:30, while on break from my accounting class, I called them.  They had found a model!  YAY!  That meant there was still more hard work in front of me, but at least I could still participate.

I made a new lining and took it in later the following week. This also gave me the opportunity to fix the mistakes I made in the dress so I could really feel like I had put my best effort in to it.

I also get accessories for my dress to complete the look.  Since the garments are judged on the runway, it is important that the accessories really complete the look.  Getting the accessories was fun, my MIL and gma went in to Orange County and found some pretty cool stuff in a short amount of time.  My budget was blown by twice over, but I found some really great stuff to complete the look!  After dropping off the accessories I figured I would feel some sort of relief, it was done, now I could rest- but I didn’t.

By this point in the whole she-bang I had already urged friends and family to get tickets to the show and come out and support me.  Many of them had, which felt wonderful.  I knew I had a lot of support going in to it!  I had yet to purchase my own ticket and by Sunday night when I checked the tickets, they had been sold out!  Everyone else was going to see my dress go down the runway but me!  How wonderful!  Nothing like some proper planning right?

This is the end of Act 1.  We are now going in to intermission as I am heading in to LA for the symposium.  You will have to stay tuned to find out whether or not I got a ticket, if I won, lost, loved or hated the entire thing!  Tune in tomorrow.  Same fashion time.  Same fashion channel.

I suppose I’m a bit disappointed because this is the third time I have submitted something to the symposium and this is easily the most confident I have been in a design.  And to NOT get it is a little sad.  I have rules when I design, because I want a beautiful garment, but I also want FUNCTIONALITY.  The last time I went to the symposium the garments that made it down the runway we’re fashion forward, but they were also a bit costumey.  My rules include: 1) If you can’t easily get into a car/taxi/limo, etc then it is probably a bad design.  2) If you need extra hands or tape, etc to hold the garment in place, it is probably a bad design.  As a result my pieces will never be over the top costume.

I’m not sure if that makes my pieces boring, or perhaps not fashion forward enough.  Maybe I need to push the envelope a little more?  I’m not sure.  The hubs says to stay true to me, which is my version of on-trend.  Whatever.  I’ll. figure.it.out.

I’m not letting it get me down too much.  I’ve already found a bunch of other competitions to enter.  More work needs to get done.  Back to the workroom…  talk to you guys later!

She is always there to help me when I am in a bind.  She’s always great for calling things as they really are and helping me figure things out.  She can be counted on.  She’s the kind of mother that I hope to be to my girls and the type of mother that I wish I had.  She has given her family a strong sense of family ties, helping others out, loving family for what they are, etc.  She is just an all around incredible woman.  I have been very lucky to have her in my life these last couple of years as I transitioned from the girlfriend of a family friend to a wife, a mother of two, a mom student, and hopefully a part of their clan.  She’s always given me unbiased advice that I can count on.

Last year when my life was hectic with a toddler and getting ready to have a second baby her family planned my 2 year old’s birthday party so that I didn’t have to worry about it.  Little do they know that they did such an incredible job that I plan on kidnapping them and having them do every party from now on…. (evil grin). In fact, Lisa if you are reading this expect a phone call about a birthday cake, cause…you know, you don’t have anything else to do.  It’s not like you’re planning a wedding or anything! 

So yeah, if you haven’t already figured out who this incredible woman is… please meet my friend Lisa.  She’s an artist, an artist of touching people’s lives, bringing real value to the table, and none of the fluffy nonsense that makes you feel good just because.

You do art when you make change that matters,
and do it via a connection with an individual.
Art isn’t the job, it’s the attitude you bring to the job
and work you do when you’re there.
– Seth Godin