Details Matter…

Details matter. Each pleat must be finessed into place, aside from being pinned! Did you know that when working with fine silks…that we replace our needles every 6-8 hours?This prevents potential damage to delicate textiles so seamlines look effortless…this creates a beautiful foundation so we can move on to a stunning hand finish. 🙂

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New Years Day

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For the first time in years, we’re not spending New Year’s at our No. 11. We made the decision to share the holidays with Adam’s Mother, because (as 2016 has shown us) life changes quickly and we need to be ready to embrace whatever happens…and, um, life is never dull with her around! 🙂

Goodbye 2016…

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For us here at Lily Absinthe, the year 2016 has been a good one. While the pace has been a bit hectic at times and there were moments in which we were questioning our sanity, it’s all worked out for the best and we have made great strides in growing our business. On a personal level, we have undertaken a number of projects that have not only helped to further develop our technical skills, but have also given us a deep sense of personal fulfillment. While it seems that we’re confronted with bad news in the world on almost a daily basis, we find it even more important to focus on those things that count the most- friends and family and improving the quality of our immediate surroundings. In the end, we strive add some beauty to the world and in doing do, perhaps make a humble contribution to making the world a better place.

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And yes, I don’t always dress up in historical styles…here’s just me. 

So, here’s to a productive 2017!   🙂

Colors For Spring 2017…

In the fashion world, garments are typically designed six months or more in advance of their intended release date. While we are not as tightly bound to advance deadlines as many fashion entities, we still find that a six-month lead time to be useful as a planning tool. Right now, our thoughts are on Spring 2017 and especially when it comes to color. Color is one of the basic building blocks of fashion and when combined with various types of fabrics, we have the foundation for specific designs.

April fashion, 1875 France, L’Élégance Parisienne

Color’s importance can not be understated and there are a multitude of entities providing color trend analysis services to the fashion industry (along with predictions of trending fabrics and fashion styles). One of the leading entities is Pantone and here’s what they’re predicting for Spring 2017:

PANTONE Fashion Color Report Spring 2017

Now, bear in mind that this is not meant to be a comprehensive list and other colors can also be employed- it’s only meant as a broad estimate rather than anything specific. However, in looking at the above color palette, one can see that the colors are somewhat restrained and leaning towards pastels with higher value and low saturation.

For us, we tend to start our color analysis by looking at nature and at present, these are some of the colors that we envision:

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As you can see, there’s quite a range of colors there, mostly shades of green and all of them muted. However, bear in mind that these are the products of computer rendering so the final product will be somewhat different when applied to various fabrics. 🙂

This is just one of the first steps in the design process but it’s an important one because it impacts the other design elements. In future posts, we’ll be showing more about the design process and how it contributes to our creations. Stay tuned! 🙂