i’ve been watching the second season of the l word again. i love it so. some of my very favourite things of that season are jenny’s grotesque, surrealistic carnival scenes.
i’ve also been reading rick moody’s demonology & am going to a burlesque circus show tonight.
so of course i HAD to do something with all that twisted carnival-esque inspiration.
enjoy!
extended version in a treasury on etsy.
has been for some days now. i just took the last couple of pictures this afternoon! during that long-awaited perfect ray of sunlight. the weather has been ridiculous.
my shop (& its content) still need a lot of work, but here you are.
& yeah, i ended up only settling on familiar etsy, for now. even though it’s really not that familiar anymore.
go buy! FREE SHIPPING for readers of this blog. just ‘convo’ me on etsy before you place your order, mention it, & i’ll adjust the listing for you.
thank you all for your continued support, i would not be doing this if it wasn’t for you ♥
yes, i am opening up my shop again. i had set myself a deadline for some weeks ago, but SO MANY things kept going wrong. i won’t even get into that. also, if i have a private deadline it’s likelier that i’ll keep pushing it. so here’s an official announcement! maraleopard clothing will be back in business at the end of the week. start getting excited! & putting money aside!
i’m still on the fence about etsy or artfire though. on one hand, i already know etsy. other people already know me on etsy. i have feedback on etsy. etsy has a nice, clean layout. on the other hand, artfire seems to have a lot more advantages, even if you have to pay a regular fee. but because of the regular fee, you never have to pay for listings or EVER RE-LIST PRODUCTS. or maybe i’ll just do both & never re-list anything on etsy, until that shop is empty. in fact, i’ll probably do both.
on to the clothes.
i only have three new pieces so far, two of which took me forever. it’s kind of funny, i was working on this whole professional design concept & trying to sketch as much different variations of things in a coherent collection before sewing anything. then it drove me crazy & i went back to my old method of buying fabric willynilly & then letting them whisper to me what they wanted to be. if it ain’t broke…
i don’t have detail shots of them yet, so bear with me.
this skirt is my favourite! i really want to make another version of it for myself. i might make different versions in different sizes for my shop as well. it’s so fun & flattering & comfortable &, as opposed to similar skirts you’d find in the commercial shops, it has POCKETS & is lined.
(the blouse will be for sale, skirt is by obsequies)
i wanted to do something more-ish with a pattern. something with more emphasis on the cut of a garment & not so much the pretty fabric used to create it. of course i drew the pattern from scratch. i wanted it to be more flared from the waist down (although it could be that the flare i meant would show on someone with normal-sized hips), but overall i quite like how it turned out. it’s a pretty basic, but still very fun & girlie blouse. i will definitely make this in more colours & sizes. and/or offer it as a standard custom sized piece.
(it’s not supposed to fold at the side, that’s ’cause there was something wrong with the zipper & i pinned the dress closed instead. i’ll take a new shot of the back when that’s fixed.)
& here we’re back to emphasis on pretty fabric. i just couldn’t help myself when i saw this GORGEOUS fabric in the store. i knew at once that it had to become a swing dress, without too much distractions. so that’s what i made. i also drew an entirely new & improved pattern for the top of this. the entire dress is lined, has the mandatory pockets & a cute mismatched button detail at the front (that you can’t really see in these pictures, i apologize). it has a scattering of hand-stitched scraps too, which looks really nice with the pattern of the fabric.
my clothes have changed quite a lot since my fashion design course, haven’t they? for the better.
i would love to hear your opinions on these! but thanks for reading/looking anyway.
let me just start by saying that gibbous is my favourite shop ever. it has such a world of its own, which is reflected in the website layout, pictures, descriptions, packaging, even communication with the owner.
& with my renewed interest in recycled/patchworky/’shabby chic’ clothes (& money, yay!), i decided that It Was Time for another gibbous purchase. i obsessively checked their site day after day until they uploaded that product i could not resist. it became this amazing little witchy cape.
as soon as i bought it, the lovely selene gibbous e-mailed me to confirm my purchase & let me know how soon it could be shipped. when it was shipped, she e-mailed me again to let me know when i could expect it. what service!
all in all i received it in a timely fashion. unfortunately i wasn’t home when it arrived & somehow my little brother confused it for something he ordered (he probably wasn’t wearing his glasses) & denied me the pleasure of opening it myself. anyway.
as usual, it looks so much better than in the pictures. it was very well-represented on their website though. & is so soft! & textured! & black! i love it!
it came wrapped in this cute vintage pattern instruction.
such a little work of art, so well constructed. & fits me perfectly. or as perfectly as a cape can fit. i can’t wait to wear this everywhere! what i love the very most about this is how versatile it is.
i know many of you are probably put off by their prices, but trust me, they’re worth it. good service too. both times i’ve bought from gibbous i had a very pleasant overall shopping experience. the only squabble i have is that, if you’re from outside the u.s., you can’t directly buy, but have to e-mail for a shipping quote first. then again, it’s understandable if you don’t have a lot of international customers.
here’s the link to their shop again. go buy things! you’ll love them, i promise.
i’ll probably be heading back there myself entirely too soon. lately they also do clothing make-overs! sounds amazing to me.
from the wings of the dove. discovered this gem of a movie in the midst of a small helena bonham carter obsession. it’s worth seeing for the aesthetic alone.
tickled pink 