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thursday, october 13, 2011
F3 at the Cotton Mill
Curvedndarted will be participating in the F3 event at the Cotton Mill in Oakland. Things get started at 6pm, and go til 10pm. There will be a fashion show, and food vendors. I hope to see you there! Address: Cotton Mill Studios, 1091 Calcot Place More info: http://www.f3oakland.com/ [0 Comments] [Read & Post Comments] monday, august 01, 2011
Big News! Prepare for the Playa 2011
Find more information about the event at
Hope to see you there!
[0 Comments] [Read & Post Comments] wednesday, may 25, 2011
Designing Your Playa Coat
Before you order a playa coat, here is what you should consider!
Length Options
Party Girl/Boy Shrug- hitting at or just above the waistline, for people really more concerned about keeping their shoulders and neck warm, while still showing off their bootie shaking on the dance floor. 1.5-2 yds
Bicycling Coat- This coat, hitting somewhere below your derriere, but above your knee, is ideal for someone who spends their nights cruising the playa on a bicycle. This coat is long enough to keep your whole torso warm, while staying out of your tires. 2-2.5yds
Long (but not too long)- Classic playa coat length, this coat hits below the knee so you can wrap yourself up like a hot dog, use it as an extra blanket, and generally make a good entrance. 3-3.5yds
Full Length- Hitting around the ankle, a full length playa coat says high drama. There is so much coat, it pretty much has its own identity. Who needs a sleeping bag when you can wrap yourself up in your Coat (with a capitol "C") where ever you happen to land. 3.5-4yds
Fabric
There are a multitude of different colors and styles of faux-fur to choose from. From velvety faux-mink or leopard, soft monster fur, or bubble and heart patterns, you can find something that echoes, enhances, or screams your personality. Remember that the thicker the fur, the warmer the coat.
Each coat will need to have a lining. I like using silk brocades, or lining fabric with an interesting pattern on so the coat can be just as fabulous when worn inside out. Velvet linings don't hang as well, and coats with fleece linings are so warm they can only be warn in the coldest part of the night
In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are great fabric resources. I recommend visiting:
-Mendel's on Haight St.
-Discount Fabrics in SF or Berkeley,
-Stone Mountain and Daughter on Shattuck in Berkeley.
-Fabrics R Us off of Beryessa in San Jose.
You might also be able to find lining fabric at Happy Stop on East 12th St in Oakland for $2/yd.
Closures
When you pick out the fabric, think about how you want the coat to close. You can use:*
-Plastic buckles
-Metal buckles
-Large 1-1 1/2" diameter buttons and loops
-Asian-style "frog" closures
-Invisible fabric-covered hook and eyes
*Button holes and zippers are not recommended.
Collar vs Hood
This is matter of personal preference, if you like to wear hats, wigs, or have long hair I'd recommend having a collar, if your head gets cold easily, and don't want one more thing to lose you may want a hood. If there is a particular style of collar you want, bring in a picture.
Pockets!
Nothing gets men excited about designing custom clothing like being able to choose pockets. A reversible coat will come with a pair of side seam pockets on the fur-side of the coat, a pair of hip-high patch pockets on the lining side, and one hidden chest-high pocket. If you are the kind of person who plans on carrying something bigger than a flask, make sure to tell us so we can tailor the pockets to what you plan to carry in them!
Other Options
-Design a faux-fur playa vest instead of a coat.
-Make the body of the coat out of tapestry, vinyl, fleece or some other fabric, with or without faux fur trim.
-Order boot covers, shorts, bikini tops, or a hat to match.
When to Order
While it may take less than a week to make, your playa coat should be ordered at least 4 weeks before the date you plan to wear it. Order it early so you can wear it throughout the summer campout and festival season!
[0 Comments] [Read & Post Comments] wednesday, april 06, 2011
Why does a custom dress cost more than a store-bought one? (And when it doesn't)
This is probably my most frequently asked question. Someone comes to me with a project- then is genuinely surprised that it would cost more to have one custom made than what they would pay in a store. My favorite analogy is to ask the question: if you were buying a car which would cost more- the one that is mass produced or a one-of-a-kind car that had never been made before?
I think that most people would agree that the custom car would cost more than the one built on an assembly line. The cost of one unit is generally more expensive the fewer units that are created.
Lets start with the pattern. When something is being mass produced, the cost of making the pattern, making a sample, and adjusting the fit is extended over hundreds, if not thousands of garments. When you order a custom piece, the pattern is adjusted to your particular body, with design elements that you have been selected. True, you could go to a seamstress with a commercial pattern and have them make it strait from the pattern, but the secret is that they usually don't fit very well.
Next, lets talk about the time it takes to make a dress. In a factory, one person has a stack of garments, and will do the same step over and over again. The machine will be set up to do that step, without needing to change it. On a one of a kind garment, the thread needs to be changed, settings adjust from strait stitch to zig-zag, etc. On a mass produced garment all of the problems of how to finish things have already been solved. On a custom dress, each design will have its own unique problems to trouble shoot. All of this adds up to more time spent on each piece when each one is unique.
I don't think that anyone would question that the wages paid in a place like China can compare to the wages paid in the US. A typical seamstress in a garment factory in China makes around $106USD/ month (2005, http://www.worldsalaries.org/garmentcutter.shtml) compared to the US median income of $1661/ month for the same job. This means that someone in China is being paid 6% of what someone in the US would. You can bet that at that cost differential, a company can pay for export taxes, shipping, add on a 100% markup to a store who will also add on a 100% markup, and it will still be cheaper than what it costs to get something custom made.
Are there exceptions? Sure.
There are skilled tailors out there who've been making suits for 20-30 years. Chances are they are extremely fast at it. They already have all of their patterns made, and there are no new problems for them to solve. If you want a custom tailored suit out of a conventional fabric you should go to a tailor who specializes in doing just that- one with good references and samples you can see However, there are limitations: if you want a radically different style or out of a crazy fabric be warned that the tailor may not take on the project, or will not be able to give you what you want. I would beware if the samples don't look well made or there aren't pictures of their work.
On the other side of the scale, there are bridal boutiques who sell dresses for $6000-20,000. In some cases- where there is a lot of hand beading or embroidery, or expensive lace involved, these prices are justified. However, there might be some cases where getting that style made by a seamstress would avoid some of the mark-up for brand recognition.
I specialize in doing creative challenges, doing things that a typical tailor would be confused by, and that don't rely on typical silhouettes. I seek out clients who want something different, and who respect the work that goes into it.
[0 Comments] [Read & Post Comments] wednesday, march 30, 2011
King Bag Company in the SF Chronicle
Clients in the News: From vinyl seats to unique accessories DESIGNER PROFILE
June 20, 2010|By Nancy Davis Kho, Special to The Chronicle
As a child Bobby Glasser always had an entrepreneurial bent, thinking up schemes and angles for new businesses. A teacher once told him that he'd make a good used-car salesman. That prediction turned out to be eerily accurate, though probably not in the way the teacher envisioned.
Glasser is the King of King Bag, an Oakland venture converting new old-stock vinyl car seat covers from the 1940s and 1950s into funky, one-of-a-kind bags. The name comes from King Kovers, which turned out custom seat covers for 40 years until it closed its doors on Oakland's Broadway Auto Row in 2007.
Glasser stopped by to check out the closing inventory auction and ended up with an inspiration. "I literally looked up and there was a broken ceiling tile, and I could see dusty boxes in the ceiling space," Glasser recalls. Curious, he asked the owner, Elaine Candelieri, what was in the boxes. She told him whatever was there, he could take. "They were about to lose the lease and she was just going to leave them anyway," he says.
What the boxes contained - 75 of them in total, enough to fill half of Glasser's garage - was vinyl fabric once destined to adorn the seats of classic Packards, Buicks and Chevrolets. In step with tastes of the time, there were reds, blacks, turquoises and greens in plaid, metallic, and quilted styles. Aside from the dust, the fabric was in perfect condition. "This is good, high-quality American-made vinyl that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill," Glasser says.
Soon Glasser was putting his head together with patternmaker Sasha Rieker to come up with two basic patterns, a messenger bag and a bowling bag, and laying out fabric to start cutting. His seamstress, Monica Tannreuther, turned out the first bag in November, and the tiny company has been busy ever since.
King Bags, which range in price from $150 to $190, are carried at Re4m, an Oakland boutique specializing in upcycled products, as well as at Ruby Gallery in San Francisco. Glasser also sells the bags at festivals around the Bay Area. He donates a portion of his proceeds to the Crucible arts organization.
It's still very much a labor of love, with Glasser doing all the cutting and matching before passing the components - seatbelts for straps, vinyl fabric, original piping, and restored metal car ornaments for adornment - to Tannreuther. A middle school teacher in Orinda by day, Glasser enjoys coming home and completely switching gears to King Bag at night. "I still look at the individual bags and think, 'I remember making that one!' " he says.
Where to find King Bags
King Bag Co.: www.kingbagcompany.com
Re4m: 2054 Mountain Blvd., Oakland; (510) 339-7346, www.re4mreform.com
Ruby Gallery: 3602 20th St. (at Valencia Street), San Francisco; (415) 550-8052, rubygallery.com
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The most essential accessory to have at Burning Man, next to a good pair of goggles and comfortable shoes, is a Playa Coat. Temperatures during the day can be over 100F, but by 3am you'll be shivering in your fishnets if you don't have a good coat to keep you warm. I think of my playa coat as my totem fashion piece, and worth building a good wardrobe around because even if I have a different pair of bootie shorts for every day of the week, I'll wear the coat every night. 