Now Available-Cleanse Me Spring 2011

I don't know how else to say this, but my garments are being sold at Red Velvet and I really want you to go check them out tell your friends, and maybe even buy something. Here are some shop photos

This is the newest edition to the Cleanse Me Spring 2011 Collection. 

 It's a crop top made from the lacey knit and soy organic cotton jersey. The knit is the raw color and the jersey is dyed with walnuts. The trim (which is hard to see in the photo) in the middle of the shirt is cotton and dyed with madder root. 

I even made a little tube top to go under it so you don't have to worry about finding the right piece to go with it.

I'm really excited to be in Red Velvet. (211 E. Commercial St - Tuesday-Saturday 12-7)  Elsie, the owner, has been an admirable role model for me these past few months and is also a huge inspiration for this blog so it's really an honor to be recognized in her store. These are my first garments under my new brand MOMENTUM so that's really exciting too! If nothing else, just go in there and to shop vintage and handmade. They have the cutest geeky glasses there right now. I am in love with these...

I had absolutely way too much fun finding a way to take photos of these sunglasses. All the photos underneath are from July 2011 W Magaine "Listen Up"

Thank you for your support!

Missy

Making Use of Scraps...More Attempts at a Sustainable Life.

Quite a while ago when I was working on my senior collection, I went through a jury process in which a panel of industry judges come critique our collections. They tell us to make changes and what not and one of my changes was to shorten the lining on this dress.

The hem used to look like this... See it peeking out from underneath?

So I cut it off and had this funky piece left over. 

I decided since It was already hemmed on one edge I'd go ahead and hem the freshly cut edge and see what happened. It sat around my house for a while until recently. I knew it had potential but I just wasn't sure how I wanted to wear it. Well today I figured it out... 

I always try and find a way to use my scraps and I'm so happy with this new layering piece I have to add to my wardrobe. 

So next time you're cutting something, don't just throw away your scraps, they could a perfect addition to a new, sustainable look!

Wishing you a creative Monday!

Missy

Senior Collection...

I'm so excited to show you these...finally. I spent some time editing photos and one lonnngg day in the dark room. Hope you like...

ps. I'm announcing the Giveaway winner at the end :)

These are just a few of my revised sketches.

Linesheet

Baby Spice

Waiting to go on for rehearsal

Back Stage

Hair and Make-up... Thank you to all the stylists, everyone did a wonderful job! 

There you have it, my girls. 

I'm so in love with this picture

Interview with Laura

My dresses on the runway!

So happy to have found her!

So happy to have found all of them!

The following are some of my favorite prints from the darkroom.

 Missouri State 2011 Inspire Fashion Show

(For the rest of the photos)

Giveaway!

The winner is Lindsey! Please email your address at mj@whitebarkhill.com. Thanks for entering!

Have a great night! I'm off to go dancing!

M

Preview!

Getting ready to head into the darkroom for the evening. I'm so excited to see what turns out! Until then, I wanted to show you a few sneak peeks from the "Inspire" fashion show this weekend. It was so much fun and everyone did such an amazing job. Truly inspiring! 

These are just a few behind the scenes shots. I'll be back with more of the complete collection and color later. Have a great evening! 

Oh, and don't forget to leave something you're absolutely excited about on the post below to win one of Chris Gerringer's sweet T's! The giveaway is over tomorrow :)

To comment, click on the title header of the post and then scroll down to the bottom of the page

Thanks for reading.

Missy

Hi There

Well I don't want you to think I've abandon you. It's just that my life has been swallowed up by this little project called my Senior Collection. I've been spending the night at the studio for the past three weeks.

Seriously. This is what time I left one morning.. that's right. A.M. people. I don't think the janitors have every seen a more dedicated group of girls.

We sure do look like a fashionable bunch don't we?

I'll be sure to post pictures of the whole thing once it's done :) 

...orrrr you could just come see the show, live in action, April 16 at 4:00pm. Springfield Expo Center.

So what keeps me going during a collection marathon? (other than a large drip with two shots...)

Spring Color

Sweet treats. Anything with chocolate mainly. 

And this.. I just saw in someone's driveway while Christiano and I were driving .. and it just makes me happy. 

The caffeine detox begins Monday.

Hoping for a photogenic Wednesday!

(We're all going in for our close up out in the cold today for the collection video)

Anyways, what you been up to?

M

Tuesday, Shmoozday

Lately, I'm only figuring out the wrong way to do things... I'm hoping for great success tomorrow!

Tonight though, I'm giving it one last shot to bust out some work..

 I've got two looks I'm redesigning with these fabrics

 I need to catch up on my reading material and ripping pages.

I'm listening to some Dave 

and trying to figure out who to trust now that "The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto." Sheesh. 

Get some rest tonight, tomorrow could be the biggest day of your life! 

Your Doll,

Missy

Almost Done! Natural Dyeing

Walnuts

Let these simmer until you reach a pretty dark concentrate

I ended up boiling these down three times to make the ratio of my concentrate to my water more even. It all depends on how dark of a brown you're trying to reach. Walnut hulls are pretty potent, so you can keep boiling them down. I never reached a time where my water was fading...if that makes any sense.

Soak your fabric first (just to dampen) and then drop into the dye bath. 

I let these simmer for about three hours

Results:

1. No mordant-Cotton

2. Alum- Organic Dobby

3. Alum- Organic Dobby

 All simmered for three hours

1 & 2 left to cool in dye bath overnight

Madder Root

Even though I already treated my fabric with an alum mordant, I went ahead and put some more alum directly into my bath for this one ('bout three heaping Tbs) Why? I read some where that using additives will produce colors that lean on the red side and others will lean on the orange side. 

 I made roughly three concentrates for my dye bath.

It was looking really orange, so I stripped most of the roots in the middle of the process because the outer part of the root is what really gives off the yellowish/orangish color. The inside is what I really wanted for red.

Boiled it down again.

I was really thinking I was going to end up with an orange or peach. (A tutorial told me that most madder root dye baths end up orange. So it's still pretty touchy)

Results:

 1. Alum-Soy Organic Cotton Jersey 

2. Alum-Recycled Twill

Both simmered for about four hours. 

What you should know about Madder Root:

-It is Very heat sensitive. Madder should never really be brought to a rapid boil. In Fact... it should be brought to a simmer over the course of two hours...yea, go ahead and find something else to do.

-Should never really go past 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Is a good candidate for solar or cool dyeing.

-The roots should be rinsed first to remove the yellows and oranges from the outer part of the root that usually turn your bath orange.

-After that, let soak, rink and chop up or better yet, blend (in a blender you don't use for food, of course)

....yep I think that about sums it up as far as my knowledge... of course there's more to know, so you should defiantly research some more before doing this, because I obviously didn't do this perfectly.