Ann Williamson

Handmade Designer Women's Apparel

piecing

Holidays and More

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Yow! How did we get here??? The holidays are upon us and I am running up the down escalator trying to keep up.

Which is not a bad thing! I love to be busy. As long as I can keep up. And, I’m proud to say, I’m doing a pretty good job.

I’ve been juggling the last orders from the Smithsonian show and at the same time updating and adding in new work to my web-shop. Including scarves! A great gift, scarves are a simple way to add a bit of color as well as providing a practical way to keep warm. They work for all, no mater the receivers size, gender or age. I always try to make sure I have plenty for holiday shoppers.

And so important these days, no waste. They’re sewn from leftover scraps of my gorgeous hand painted, dyed and woven kimono silks.

Warm colors,

And cool. Check them as well as other items here.

Keep checking back, I’ll be adding in more during the next few weeks.

Besides scarves I’ve been working on a couple orders for my ‘Piano Jazz’ jacket and pants.

The promised delivery days were coming up so I needed to focus my attention on piecing little scraps of black and white kimono silks.

I spent many days sewing small, random blocks so there would be enough for 2 sets of jackets and pants. Time whizzed by, my mind in the zone as I blissing out with all the various patterns and shapes.

Equally fun, laying out the blocks, finding ways to make everything work together.

Below, the two fronts, each unique from the other, but similar, like sisters.

The one on the left has been sewn together, the other is in mid-process as I was laying out the blocks.

Somewhere in there was Thanksgiving. However you chose to celebrate, I hope you had a good one.

Now, onward! It’s coming up, the holiday season!

New Photos

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After all those days and weeks and months and finally, years of covid isolation, followed by however long it took me to get going again and put together a photo shoot, we did it! Finally! And not one, but two. Two photo shoots because I had too many pieces for just one.

One thing that always happens after a good shoot is the difficulty of choosing the photos I want out of the hundreds of shots taken. After scrolling through and ruthlessly dropping image after image, I like to end up with about 5 or 6 photos of each piece.

My choices tend to fall into two categories. The so very cool photos that show the feeling of a piece. They’re beautiful or interesting or full of energy, but not so easy to understand the garment. The other kind shows off the shape of the coat or the jacket, so that’s good. But if I’m not careful those kind can drift towards dull. The idea is to find the ones that are between too crazy and confusing and those that are too dull and boring. It’s the goldilocks principal, not too hot, not too cold,…

For example, my shawl collar coat is a loose, full coat with a wide collar. In this photo you get a pretty good idea of the shape of the coat and see how the collar falls.

I used a bold red and white shibori for the collar and appliquéd squares of another shibori all over. Check out a post I did about this coat as I worked on it here.

But I also love the drama of this shot. You see how the fabric moves and falls. You can also see the third shibori fabric I used as a lining under the collar.

Also visible, the trench coat Flo is wearing under the coat.

I designed the coat below thinking about the joy and freedom of letting go. You jump and soar up into the sky, the ocean far below.

The colorful cranes are flying up and over the ocean waves below.

Exactly like the picture below, let go and soar.

A pieced black and white jacket and pants I’m calling Piano Jazz. I made the jacket first and thought I was finished. But I wanted more something. More jazz! The perfect answer, pants!

This is just how I feel when I see someone wearing my clothes! They come alive!

Sometimes I can get both feelings in one picture, like this beautiful shot of a full skirt. You see and understand the shape of the skirt and at the same time, get a feeling of what I was aiming for, dancing, twirling and happy joy.

You can see more photos of these pieces in my web-shop. Check them out here.

Smithsonian’s Craft: Fashion + Home

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I’ve been calling the Smithsonian’s fall show, ‘Craft2Wear,’ but it has a new name. They’ve added in artists from the home-dec world so have updated the name to ‘Craft: Fashion + Home.’

It’s coming up soon! October 5 – 8. I’ve been running up the down escalator getting ready. So much to do!

Here’s a couple pieces I’ll be bringing.

The fabric for this jacket had gorgeous Hokusai waves, which you must know I love. But alas, each wave crest was a different bright color, beautiful in the original kimono, but not at all the look I was after. I cut out the colored parts [saved for a future project!] and rearranged the rolling wave parts.

Jacket with Hokusai waves made from kimono silk

The back

Jacket with Hokusai waves made from kimono silk

Below, a long ‘trench coat,’ sewn from a very cool deep, deep purple with a floral design in deep reds, greens and oranges.

I cut the scraps into squares and appliquéd them along the bottom panel. I love how the floral images are abstracted by cutting the print into random squares.

Trench coat of kimono silk with appliqued squares along the bottom panel

The camera in my phone has its own very specific ideas of how to record colors. Sometimes its guesses are right on the mark, other times not so much. I spent a bit of time wrestling with it trying to accurately record the lovely subtle colors in this coat. They still weren’t right, so I tried to adjust it in photoshop. Although better, it’s still missing the mark.

If you’re near Washington DC October 5 – 8, please come to the show! And see this coat’s true beautiful and subtle colors. And all the other jackets, coats, skirts and scarves that I’ll be bringing.

A detail shot showing the appliqués.

Detail of Trench coat of kimono silk with appliqued squares along the bottom panel

Another way to have accurate images and colors. Hire a professional!

I had another fantastic photoshoot with Mario Gallucci last week. So much fun! He’s processing those gorgeous images and I’ll be posting them soon.

Photoshoot with model

For more information about the Smithsonian show ‘Craft: Fashion + Home,’ check it out here.

Piecing For the Craft2Wear Show

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First of all, I spoke way too soon in my last blog post. I said, “we’ve had a pretty nice summer, not too hot…” Within days, our temperature bumped up to 108 degrees! It cooled down a bit, then shot back up into the 90s. It was my fault. I never should have mentioned our lovely summer. I called down the evil eye and now we are paying for it. It is hot and sticky and I am so looking forward to autumn and cooler days.

Besides cooler days, autumn will also bring the Smithsonian’s Craft2Wear show. There will be an evening fundraising party on October 5, followed by the show on the 6th – 8th. Check out the details here.

A show coming up means I need new work. I’ve been at it, buried with new projects. For example, this jacket in a very dark, almost black, navy kimono silk, pieced with creams and whites.

In process, the back. Blocks sewn, laid out and waiting to be joined together.

New jacket of dark navy kimono silk pieced with creams and whites in process

The front, almost completed.

Front of new jacket of dark navy, creams and whites in process

Finished! The front,

Front of jacket of pieced dark navy, cream and white kimono silk

And the back. Ready for the show!

Back of jacket of pieced dark navy, cream and white kimono silk

Only 4 weeks to go.

Cool weather and a cool show! Can’t wait!

Piecing On My Own

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Finally! I’ve been wanting to start a piecing project for a while and after much thinking, rethinking, putting it all aside, switching to an appliqué idea, then back to thinking about the piecing project and what it should be and finally, after all the false starts and questions, I began a new coat.

Why is it so easy sometimes and so difficult other times? My piecing muse abandons me. She takes a vacation and goes to a little village in a forgotten corner of Uruguay and leaves me on my own.

In my studio with piles of fabrics and little idea of how to proceed, I spent forever choosing which silks to use. There were a lot of ‘No!!! those do not not look good together!,’ there were a few ‘maybes’ and finally a ‘Yes! Perfect! Gorgeous!’

Until the next day and it was ‘No way! Start over!!!’

Finally, finally, I arrived at a group that worked.

I did have a design plan, rows of stripes that grew narrower, but how many rows? How far apart? What size? I sat with my pencil and ruler calculating. I carefully made notes as legible as possible so that I could decipher them the next day and not stare in confusion as to what those words and numbers could possibly mean. Yes, that has happened. More than once.

Next, the shape of the coat, what size, what kind of a collar, how long, all decisions that, remember, I was muse-less, needed to be made.

Finally! Once again, finally, I was ready to cut. And piece.

That’s where I am. Finally! Finally!! Finally!!! In the midst of piecing.

Although,… this morning, I’m rethinking the width of the mint green strips…..

Stay tuned.