Moment of Clarity

Yesterday I had a moment of clarity and let me tell you, it was amazing! I have been feeling a bit flummoxed lately because I was unsure of the direction I wanted to take with the clothes that will be featured on my website.  I'd had a ton of looks all planned out and the sketches put neatly aside in a folder for me to refer to, but one by one each of those looks became...not quite what I wanted.  Moreover, I have a bunch of half complete pieces, but with no direction I wasn't sure what was going to make the cut and what was not.

So yesterday I had a little headache and just wanted to lay down and shut my eyes for a few minutes...maybe an hour, whatever, and as I lay there all the pieces suddenly, simply and divinely just fell into place.  I was so excited I could hardly contain myself!  I immediately grabbed a pen and paper so that I could write my whole plan out.  Now I have decided on a definitive twelve looks (I know that is pretty ambitious at this point but four of them are almost completed) as well as a definitive color scheme.  Thank you for all of your votes by the way!

The color theme is as follows:

 

Violet

Super Lemon

Rococo Red

Fusion Coral

Croisant



I think it is going to be fantastic!  The color story makes sense and the pieces all flow, I couldn't be more excited!  Now I better get to work!!!!!

TTYL,

-Devon

Feedback: Color, color and more color

Since we are on the topic of color I thought I would share with you all the color pallete for the clothes I am creating for my website.  Because I am a fan of bright colors I wanted to use colors that really pop for spring.  So aside from the traditional black and white pieces that you will inevitably see mixed in I opted to go for mostly brights with a few pastels to set it off. 

Because I originally was going for about 20 pieces I chose 9 base colors but now I am not sure if they will all make it.  If all went according to plan here are the colors I would love to have included in the collection:

Super Lemon

Croissant

Fusion Coral

Rococco Red

Violet

Turquoise

Vibrant Green

I would love to hear your feedback on these color choices.  Do you love them?  Do you hate them?  Is there one that you particularly like or loathe?  And most importantly which would you definitley like to see included in the site and maybe in your own wardrobe?

I just realized I have no idea what I am doing!!!

Here is the honesty part of my blog, where I step away from telling you all about my favorite designers and all of the goings on that I find interesting in the fashion world, to pour out my heart and soul for all of you in blog land to read. 

Although I have always known that I am kinda winging this whole fashion line thing, I just realized that I really have no idea what I am doing! Don't get me wrong, I know what I am going to do and I just have to hope upon hope that it works for me. However, I have a distinct feeling that what I am going to do and what I am supposed to do are two different things.  Am I making any sense?  I know that before launching my website I should have some sort of plan in place for how I am going to run things...and I do, I am just not sure if it is the best one.  But in the words of the fabulous Tim Gunn, I have to "make it work".

Originally, my plan was to have 20-25 pieces completed by late may for the site....well that was wishful thinking! Now my hope is to have 10-14 pieces completed.  I am loving what I have done thus far, however, lately I have been sketching out some really fantastic looks that I would like to incorporate into the website.  This may mean cutting some looks that I had originally planned to use.  Yet another thing I have to consider is the cohesion of the looks.  Now, I have always hated that lines have to be "cohesive" because I always thought, "who wants a cohesive wardrobe?" however, in trying to put together this site I have realized the importance of  at least a modicum of cohesion.  I don't want each look to look as though they were created seperately without any thought as to who will be wearing them.  I have to have one girl in mind and create a complete summer wardrobe for that particular girl.  That is my goal anyway.  So I say all of this to say, I have a lot to think about and even more work to do.  From there I just have to hope that all of the pieces fall into place. 

I hope that my little rant made sense to you because it barely makes sense to me, but this is just an example of how scattered my mind is these days, lol.  I can only hope that one day it goes back to normal! *wink & a smile*


TTYL,

-Devon

Happy February!

Hi All and happy February! Sooo happy January is over! I love the winter, holiday season and snow and all but, honestly by January I am over it. So now that it is February I feel like we've gotten over the hump and spring is just around the corner.

Since I am new to this whole blogging thing, I am posting a little more frequently than I may normally tend to because I want to catch you all up to where I am currently. Well, that is one reason. The other is because my boys (the twins) are getting their first taste of freedom with toddler beds and they think that bedtime is playtime and therefore I have to stay in this darkened room with them until they fall asleep just to ensure that they don't tear the place apart.

You have seen the pictures of the first really wearable dresses that I made but since then I have made a TON of things that I want to share with you. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of everything but I will share what I do have:


This I made for a friend of mine to wear on her honeymoon. She wanted a sundress but it evolved into this maxi-dress made of a light weight viscose. This, unfortunately is the only picture I have and it is not very good and it was only about 85% done at the time but you get the idea.



This one was made for a friend to wear to a wedding. The bodice on this is shirred and was absolutely gorgeous!



This dress was made for a friend to wear to a Christmas party.



I LOVE this little dress! It originally started as a tunic but I needed a dress to wear to an event I was attending last October so I just added a little length and voila, a dress! I really wish you could see the detail in the dress better, but it is made of a simple black poplin, with black satin accents on the trim, pockets and yoke. The yoke is also trimmed with a black separating zipper (non-functional as I cut the zipper pull off). The sleeves and the shoulders are done in a metallic fabric that I found amongst some brocades and sari fabrics. When I saw it I was in love but I knew it was a lot so I had to make whatever I paired it with simple. My husband HATED the metallic and was constantly making fun of me for buying it until he saw the finished product.



Just a simple cowl neck top I made but I loved this fabric...someone spilled red wine all over it. R.I.P cowl neck top in the lovely cotton jersey that was so soft I could wear it to sleep in.



This top is actually pretty popular, I have sold a couple of them. Nothing fashion forward but it is great to throw on to go to the grocery store in place of sweats. This is the best kind of look for me as a mother of three who doesn't want to look like those moms you see walking around in their PJ's and leftover lunch in their hair!

And last but not least, this is the very FIRST item I ever completed. It is made from some fabric that my grandmother bought probably in the 70's or 80's. This was made from Kwik Sew pattern 3692.



Yes I do use patterns occasionally but only for certain things. I have used them in the past to help perfect my sewing skills or to make myself something quick and easy. I don't really like to break out too many of my own designs for everyday wear I save those for when I am going to an event where I need to look fabulous. I am saving most of my own designs for my website. Those photos I am not sharing just yet...I may give you all a sneak peek when it gets closer to launch time though *smile*

Well, the boys are finally asleep so I am logging off for tonight.

TTYL,

-Devon

My Bio

Devon Thomas, a fashion icon...that is what I want to be known as one day. So I am taking the steps to make that happen!

Since the age of four I have known that I wanted to be a fashion designer (I am not exaggerating, just ask my mom!) I would sketch pretty dresses all day. I even made scrapbooks of magazine cutouts because I knew one day all of the trends I was seeing in the fashion magazines would help me in my future designs. My dream was to go to FIT and study fashion design and go out into the working world designing fabulous clothes! However, by the time I was 18 I lost a little bit of my focus and when it was time to go to college I just decided to go where my best friend was going, Seton Hall University. Unfortunately there was no fashion department there (eh, what are you going to do?) so I majored in the next best thing...social and behavioral sciences?? Maybe not. But the desire to work in the fashion industry was still in me so upon graduation I went to work for the corporate offices of Liz Claiborne Inc. in hopes of eventually going back to school for fashion design and one day becoming apart of Liz's design team. But God had a different plan for me, a couple of years into working for Liz my husband and I had our first child and I decided to take some time off to be a SAHM.

Fast forward three years and I have successfully transitioned back into the workforce only to get pregnant once again…with twins. Now I think God is REALLY trying to tell me something. He is saying “Devon, you have had one dream all of your life. ONE! This is your last opportunity, the last chance I am giving you to make it happen. Now get to sewing!!!” So this time I finally listened. I broke out my sketch book sketched well over a hundred looks and took sewing lessons (oh, did I fail to mention I had zero sewing experience? Yup, didn’t even own a machine) and six months later this is what I was churning out:






Not bad for a beginner right? So lately I have been doing a lot of custom work, pictures will be posted soon. Currently I am working on pieces in hopes of publishing a website by the late spring /early summer.

So to those of you reading this I hope that you will take this journey with me. I will be posting as often as I can to update you on my progress as well as maybe some random stuff thrown in the mix. I would also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to hear your feedback so please feel free to leave me comments!

TTYL

-Devon