i have been spending quite a bit of time wrestling with myself lately over this idea of the economy, and my lack of place in it. this is nothing new. i have been flying under the radar forever; doing my own thing, not paying much attention, until lately when no one will allow me to leave it alone. it is no secret that my life is a world of feast or famine; i put on the best face that i can at all times. i am always working no matter what, so the so-called ravaged economy shouldn’t make too much of a difference, but everyone is talking about it, asking…

kirsten moore is mostly known for making zillions of flowers out of ribbon, but secretly she is a costume designer. when given the opportunity she dresses people they way they really want to look; maybe how we imagined we looked when we played dress up as children, but in clothes that actually fit. by day she is the proprietor of piper ewan, an independent fashion design company in portland, or.

sometimes i get fixated on a particular thing, that i must make or find. for the last while, i have been searching for a vintage fox fur collar. i finally found what i was looking for from an etsy seller in canada, zaama. the box finally arrived over the weekend. it is a very plush creamy colour with chocolate tipped guard hairs. after decorating it with flowers and sewing on a new hook and eye, i have been wearing it ever since. it is what i am designing my fall wardrobe around. worn on the shoulders, it goes with anything; sweaters, blazers, winter coat, camisole, lingerie. i feel a little…

there is more out there in the world than the little bubble i seem to live in. today out of the blue i received an invitation from a lady in paris to join a french social networking site: http://modepass.com/piperewan now i have sworn off of joining any new internet things, except that i get suckered into so many things under the guise of ‘business.’ but then why not? the more things to come up when people who are looking for me who didn’t know that they were looking for me. lately i have gotten at least one inquiry email from random people who have been keeping tabs on me, which…

my friend, brent pointed out to me that getting written up when you are an independent v. employed are two very different things. my housemates and i, (when i had a job back in my 20’s) would put our write ups for being late (or in my case wearing a too-short skirt) on the refrigerator. these days i have been getting written up, as in publicity, which is welcome and exciting v. the attempts to shut me down and control me that my former employers tried to push on me by shaming me for not conforming. here is the latest: www. the-lingerie-post.com come see me tonight! i almost never have…

this is what a week’s worth of work has looked like lately, give or take. all the special orders have been made and shipped, and etsy’s replenished stock is hidden away in its plastic box lest it be confused with the rest of the menagerie. this has been my best month by far on etsy, and i have replenished my ribbon stock, and i even have added a few new colours to the mix. big porange flowers with feathers will be ready for next first friday. the ribbon that i make the garters has just offered new colours for the first time in nine years. i finally got that turquoise…

today i returned to one of my longest running neglected lovers, after a 8 year long hiatus sprinkled with intermittent encounters that has left me depressed and longing and completely unable to let go. i needed the time away; my heart was broken by the rest of my circumstances, and things just sort of slowly faded away into nothing. i needed to leave the obsession and dependence of my early twenties behind me in order to be able to build a more healthy relationship that was not dependent on what others thought, on money, on self-righteousness, on expectation. my poor soul, how lost i was without you, but you were…

i learned a new word a few weeks ago on etsy. the word is ‘fascinator.’ a fascinator is kind of like a hat; it is a larger piece made of flowers and/or feathers worn on one’s head attached to combs or a clip or a headband. hmmm, i make those! i never knew what that was called! i ran back to my listings and retagged the appropriate pieces. i love a new word! and this one was a good one. about two years ago, my friend cate handed me her grandmother’s pincushion to decorate. it has been sitting in front of me forever atop its spool of chosen ribbon; just…

24 dec – 5 dec 2007 can be legitimately combined into one week. it was december 24th when i stopped moving, and decided to hold still for a moment after another grueling holiday season. i did my best to prepare for it this year; i knew what was coming, but in the end it was still two months straight of work without many breaks. and of course, a goodly amount of introspection on the fly. like it or not the solstice and the end of the year, and the time leading up to it is a time of transition. i am not one to make new year’s resolutions, but december…

through years of custom work i have gotten to be reasonably good at fit. the transfer from my mind to a two dimensional sketch to a three dimensional garment with all of its curves and movenment is more than enough to confound even many designers. i actually enjoy the challenge of the female form with all of its idiosyncracies. the biggest challenge is to fit within a size chart. as you may have guessed from trying on mountains of clothes (how many friends have called me crying from the dressing room of the local department store): there is no such thing as an average woman. we are reduced to 3…