Reworked Clothing and Accessories - Fashion Design

Just another WordPress site

  • Home
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Contact

A Different Approach

April 14, 2021 By kym Leave a Comment

As many of you who follow me and my work know by now, I am an artist who primarily produces wearable art through various upcycling techniques.  Occasionally, I decide to go back to the basics and create a piece from the ground up using paper patterns and various fabric and trim yardages.  Producing a garment this way allows me the opportunity to apply my pattern making skills, learned construction techniques and sometimes gives me greater freedom of design than working with and altering an already finished garment.  Such is the case with this wedding dress that I recently created.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favourite parts of the design process, is shopping and hunting for fabrics, trims, embellishments and other supplies.  Once I have selected and gathered together all the needed materials, the juices really start flowing and I can’t wait to get started and see the vision in my head come to life.  I was very happy with my finds for this dress.  It is elegant, romantic and has a lightness and ethereal quality to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find doing beadwork and other couture embellishing very meditative and relaxing.  It does require patience and commitment but the end results are so satisfying and add so much visual interest, texture and uniqueness to a finished piece.  This dress has over 400 beads, pearls and crystals in total, which were each sewn onto the lace appliques work on the dress by hand.  All of the prong set jewels were also hand sewn.  I am also quickly becoming known for my fine attention to detail, such as beadwork and other hand worked techniques.  I am proud of this growing distinction as it sets my work apart from others’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other investment time wise that went into this design was the cutting apart, placement and sewing of each lace applique on the bodice, skirt and train.  It is more economical but more labour intensive to purchase a piece of lace where you can cut apart individual appliques rather than purchase ready to place and sew lace appliques.  The train’s edge was formed by piecing together lace parts of various sizes to give the illusion of one large applique and then sewing it all down bit by bit.  The beadwork was added to the train’s lacework after it was fully formed.  As you have also probably gleaned by now, it is also a crazy amount of work to hand bead lace pieces rather than purchasing lace that have already been factory beaded and embellished but, again, can be more cost effective.  You are also able to produce beaded pieces that are exactly what you envisioned rather than be at the mercy of what is offered to you ready made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, this dress turned out to be a good reminder of all the skills I possess and that when called upon, I can still put them to fruitful and satisfying use.  Upcycling is still my true passion and calling but a good start with nothing design idea still has its place in my heart and portfolio.

 

 

Filed Under: "Me" Thoughts & Inspirations, Wedding/Formal Wear

Bombshell Revival now offers online shopping!

November 12, 2020 By kym Leave a Comment

Did you attend the Signatures and Originals shows in Ottawa annually?  Were you a regular visitor to Bombshell Revival’s booth at the shows?  By this time in the midst of the Covid-19 world we are all currently living in, you are well aware that both of these shows were cancelled for 2020.  This meant that all of the Canadian artists who exhibited at these shows and whom you  normally visited and shopped with there now had to find other ways to keep in touch with their customer base as well as to introduce themselves to new customers.  It has been a challenge for many of us and I personally had all but written off any further potential income for the rest of 2020.

Apparently, Signatures had not.  I received an email from them a few months ago hinting at something in the works that was exciting and may be of interest to the tried and true artists in their roster as well as to potential new artist additions.  I suspected it might be an online shopping platform and I was right.  They followed up their teaser email with another one that fully outlined their plan and ideas to keep the local and Canadian artist community hopeful and alive while we waited for the return of the ability to participate in live, in person shows again.

Signatures created an online shopping platform or shop for Canadian artists to sell their work.  They are as committed to supporting Canadian artists as ever and also, as usual in all their endeavours, their professionalism, creativity and attention to detail is alive and well.  All of the artists in the Signatures family were invited to participate and new artists were encouraged to apply as well.  Setting up and opening my shop was labour intensive but fairly simple. The site has been public for almost a month now and went live in a slow launch so as not to crash the site or any systems with a sudden overload.  Little by little over a week, the shop became more and more complete for visitors and is now at full volume and ready to greet and entice you.

I am grateful to Signatures for taking such great care of us and for being so proactive.  It has given me a renewed sense of hope and purpose.  It feels great to be moving forward and at least giving something a try instead of staring at full garment racks and hat bins and worrying and wondering about the future.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

You can find my shop on the shop.signatures.ca website here:

https://shop.signatures.ca/artisan/bombshell-revival-designs/

I hope you will visit my shop and also enjoy your experience on the site in general.  Thank you for supporting local, handmade and small businesses during these times, and always.  Without you, artists cannot thrive and keep their creative spirit alive.

 

Filed Under: "Me" Thoughts & Inspirations Tagged With: shop.signatures.ca, signatures.ca

What does or will “normal” look like now for artists?

June 4, 2020 By kym 2 Comments

So, it is June 4th, 2020 and we are still in the thick of Covid-19 and while things in Ontario are slowly starting to re-open, the landscape of future promotion and sale of my and my fellow artists’ work is still uncertain and, to be honest, a bit scary and stress inducing.

I know that when the lock down hit Ottawa in full force, it was March 13th and I was just on the way out the door with my car packed to set up for a wedding show when I received the email – show cancelled.  In the back of my mind it was expected but, until I received the email there was still hope that maybe everything wasn’t as bad as the news was making it out to be.  Maybe, things would still go ahead that weekend and I could pretend for just a little longer that all my hard work and creative flow over the winter months would not have to be put on hold until whenever.  Nope.  Then a few days later, my spring show scheduled for early April was also cancelled.  It hit hard at that point that this was all very real.

There were some tears and some frustration on my part and of course, well wishes from others once they found out about the cancellations.  Transfer of show fees and refunds were issued by show organizers and plans to re-schedule the shows initiated.  Once this was all accomplished and settled, it was a few weeks later towards late April.  I now had the rest of spring and the whole summer stretching out in front of me.  On lock down.  Now what?

I gave things some thought and realized that this was the opportunity to just be creative strictly to keep myself going.  To keep myself from dwelling on the negative and what could have been and to fill my days with the joy and positivity that creating brings me.  I was pleased to discover over the next month or so that other artists were also doing the same.  They were going back to crafts and artforms that they had let fall by the wayside due to lack of time and needing to create pieces that would sell.  They were using supplies and materials they already had on hand because being able to go out and purchase whatever you wanted was at a standstill at the moment.  Some were even discovering new art forms that they enjoyed.  Artists were supporting each other and lifting each other up with sympathy, encouragement and hope.  I was never so proud to be part of the artist community. It seemed to provide us with the realization that we could all bring much needed pleasure and joy to others by still creating wonderful things and sharing them with the world through our social media accounts and websites.

So, I made a few more dresses for the re-scheduled wedding show for March, 2021 and started designing pieces for the fall shows still scheduled for September, October and November.  It felt good to be productive and response to the pieces I posted was good.  I have been carrying on with my usual plans and schedule at this time of the year and allowing myself the occasional couch days of doing nothing but reading and watching movies.  It is actually kind of nice to have no real agenda some days and to allow myself to just breathe and get through this pandemic the best way I can.

I have to say though that I have been thinking off and on about what shows in the future will look like.

I usually have a 10 x 10 booth in size and can have as many customers in it as I and they wish.  Customers look through my offerings on the garment racks, try things on in front of my floor standing mirror, laugh and chat and overall, have a great time shopping and socializing with me and each other.  No worries, no restrictions.

 

Come the fall, does it mean me confined to my booth and not out in the aisle of the show at all?  Does it mean one customer at a time in my 10 x 10 booth?  Does it mean I will need to wear a mask at all times?  What about customers who attend the show?  Will I need to have hand sanitizer in my booth for myself and customers?  Can customers try things on?  Will they even want to?  Do I take it off the rack if they try it on and don’t purchase and then not make the piece available for anyone else to try on for 72 hours?  Do I bring my steamer and sanitize it so I will be able to place it back on the rack?  Will anyone even be interested in or feel safe attending artisan shows by the fall?  So many questions and no answers as of yet.

For someone like me, it is the uncertainty and wait and see that gets to me.  I like a plan and knowing what comes next.  This whole Covid-19 situation has taken away my safety net and I am left to balance the tightrope step by nervous step. There has been some progress and things are starting to rev up again and people are out and about more now.  I am cautiously optimistic that if things continue to improve, by the fall we may be able to give events and gatherings like artisan shows a try.

For now, I am going to be grateful for what I do know and have, for that is also a huge part of who I am – pick yourself up and carry on, be joyful and find the positive….once you’ve dried your tears. 🙂

Stay well, stay safe, stay hopeful.

Filed Under: "Me" Thoughts & Inspirations

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 58
  • Next Page »

kym-brown-ottawa

Welcome to MY wonderland, where the creativity and imagination never stops! ...
Read More

Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS

Newsletter

Get new posts by email

Recent Posts

  • Outdoor Show this Saturday!
  • Masking The Problem
  • Party Girl!
  • A Different Approach
  • Bombshell Revival now offers online shopping!

Blog Categories

  • "Me" Thoughts & Inspirations
  • Collaboration
  • Costuming
  • Hats / Fascinators
  • Wearable Art
  • Wedding/Formal Wear

Copyright © 2022 · Bombshell Revival · Log in