As summer monsoon rains move into New Mexico awakening long dormant wild flowers, our Whispirit team is already at work perfecting new designs for fall. We are particularly excited by a new design for our Swing Jacket that Sandy and seamstress extraordinaire Heather Briggs recently produced. (That’s Heather in her studio with the new design.) We have named it “Ocean Blue.”
An image of Ocean Blue began to form as Sandy created the fabric. She first dyed light weight habutai silk yardage, forcing the dye to move across the fabric, creating shades of dark blue to light turquoise. For this project, Sandy sent the fleece of our finest white animals to Stramba Mill to be processed into 90″ batts. Using the FeltLOOM, Sandy needle felted the fiber to the silk, creating five yards of fabric with amazing drape.
Having worked together to create a Swing Jacket for spring that had been well received by our friends at Handwoven Originals, Heather and Sandy made several design changes, most notably to lengthen and reshape the sleeves. Heather’s careful eye and layout placed the darker blue fabric along the bottom of the coat, allowing the lightest shades of turquoise to grace the flattering neckline and collar of this coat. This neckline and the amazing Swing Jacket back create an Audrey Hepburn-like look. And to finish the design, we found the perfect buttons.
Next, Ocean Blue is off to our photographer, David Nufer, to be photographed, posted on our web site, and delivered to Handwoven Originals in Santa Fe. We are delighted to introduce this new Swing Jacket and will be pleased to accept special orders for this jacket through Handwoven Originals or this website.
Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July. See you next week!
Sandy & Lee
