On The Road

Now that we are on the road traveling to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the Western Design Conference, it feels good to just drink in the beauty of the western skies and mountains and to feel the coolness of Fall.

It has been a busy summer designing new fabrics and new apparel designs to showcase the characteristics of these alpaca textiles. We have yet to decide which of these items we will enter into the design competition at the WDC. Both will be on the runway, with four other new looks, on Thursday evening.

Possibility #1

We call this the Osita coat. I wanted to make a fabric that contrasted the same rich blacks, browns and greys we see in our dog Osita’s fur. Osita means “little bear” in Spanish. To make this fabric I combined the fibers of Jazzman ( a true black), Cinnamon (yep, that lovely cinnamon color) and Sustantivo (grey). What you can’t appreciate from this photo is the remarkable soft handle of this fabric; it’s a lot like the softness of O’s fur.

Possibility #2

Now this is a different kind of jacket altogether.

Inspired by a long drive through NM and CO after glorious rains brought sunflowers and other wild flowers into bloom, I call this “Just Add Water.” I first used pastels to practice paint my design on the paper pattern pieces. After I cut out the blue silk, I felted the same design, using dyed fibers and yarns. I finished by painting with silk luminescent paints that add shimmer or water and light. Clouds, blue skies, sunflowers and a dragonfly.

Tomorrow, Wyoming for the first time. It will be fun! I can’t wait to see which jacket gets entered and how we do.

Sandy