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.
i unexpectedly have A LOT of catching up to do with school. 
tickled pink 