All my fabrics. Vintage and new.

Anyhoo, my job was to do some props out of cardboard. I’ve been hot glueing and cutting and drawing like I’ve never done before (actually I NEVER have done glueing, cutting and drawing like that before!) and my hands are covered in glue burns and there’s black poster paint under my nails that I’m not able to get rid of.

Now that the shoot is done. I can think of about million ways I could have built the things smarter and have them finished nicer. I made some idiotic mistakes during the building process but that’s nothing I can do about now. However, I have managed to pinpoint the origin of those mistakes. Care to know?

The mistake was that I didn’t trust my own process. I think my regular readers can recognize my graphic style from cards that I’ve made. For example the way I do my doodle stitching.

I should have stuck with my OWN style but I started second guessing and that’s where I went wrong. Gah! I should know better by now.

 Now the photographer has to fix some things on Photoshop which is not good because photoshopping is more expensive than my crafting is. On positive side, now I definitely know better. For the next shoot, I’m sticking to what I know (it will be a DIY-tutorial in connection of a fashion shoot).

The shoot was so much fun. When stylists, makeup artist, models and the photographer were doing their thing in the studio, I was in the back room trying on new specs and taking selfies.

Good times.

Thrifty Finn- Total Pro

P.S. After the photoshoot was over, me and the photographer did “Trash The Props-shoot” and this is the end result:

And yes, it was me who had to return to the studio next day to clean all that up.

I’ve been working on a photoshoot for nearly a week (my work is going to be in a magazine! For reals!) but somehow I’ve managed find some time to pin. This week I was interested in:

 I’ve pinned tons of vintage greeting cards lately but this one in its simplicity is my favourite. This could be re-made mixed media style. Embroidery and fabric painting. Fabulous.

 Speaking of fabulous…This dress by Ulyana Sergeenko is beautiful but that’s not why I pinned it. My interest lies in the way the black material is slightly sheer, letting the nude lining to shine through. I found it so interesting that I pinned this on my sewing board for future material referencing.

 Speaking of sewing. This dress is from few years back and is by Michael Kors. He also released this as a sewing pattern and I have it!!! But I haven’t used it yet and I think the reason is that the picture of the dress on the pattern package, is drab brown and the model wearing it is slumping. That’s not how I want to visualize myself wearing the dress. Upon re-seeing this pic on Pinterest, I remembered why I bought the pattern in the first place; it’s verrrrry sexy.

Speaking of sexy:

 Have you heard truer words in a long time? I’ve had my fair share of hem line accidents, latest last week. I was walking home and somehow my hip and shoulder bag created just the right kind of friction to hike up my dress hem. I didn’t notice until about 50 meters of so (listening to music, feeling all fierce) and all that time, my neighbourhood got a good view of my control pants. Thrifty Finn, always ready to make a lasting impression.

Maybe a picture of a cute doggy will help me cope:

I feel my nerves getting soothed and the memory of the trauma melting away.

Thrifty Finn- Finding alternative uses for Pinterest; therapy.

See that dress? Yes, I made it. I even had pictures for a tutorial but someone hadn’t backed up her files so they are now all gone. Let’s just appreciate that for a moment.

Okay. I used some velvet that had once been chair coverings but then at one party someone (not me) spilled red wine on them and after a spin in a washing machine, the fabric was just taking lot of space in my stash. Luckily, there was enough “clean” material to make two dresses out of it so I decided to make them for my friend’s daughters aged 1 and 3.

Of course, I started the project too late and I spent one sleepless night to get the dresses done. To make the project even bigger still, I wanted to make my own bias tape from an old pillowcase (and of course I had to finish all 11 meters of it, making enough for just one project…pfft, craziness) and it took forever. Then I didn’t want the sleeve openings and hems be too matchy, so for some inexplicable reason I decided to finish the hem by hand. Actually, there’s matching bias underneath, hiding the raw edge and because I didn’t want the stitching to show on top (except they did anyway), I hand stitched the bias tape down.

Can you see why something that should have been quick and enjoyable project ended done through haze of tears?

No, not me. I have no idea why.

Anyway, the dresses were a HUGE hit. Apparently, when the older one opened the gift, she immediately pressed the dress against herself and wanted to see how it’d look on her. Then the younger one, after her sister, did the same. SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!

I must say, I like girls who like dresses. Next Christmas’ lesson: shoes with glitter.

Thrifty Finn- Thinking about making a third dress just to show how I did it. But only if someone asks me to.

P.S. It really wasn’t me who spilled the wine. Honest. I swear.

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Um. Thanks for the insult. We DID see that you were betrayed too. But it was your choice to:   A. First try to ignore audience then, B. organize Q&A on FB where you didn’t answer any questions, C. then completely clam up and icing on the cake… D. keep Isola on your payroll. Not only that, it’s quite clear that you wouldn’t have done anything if Helsingin Sanomat hadn’t broken out the news. There’s no point of hiding behind “we should be able to trust our designer”. Yes you should but you can’t. Your first responsibilities are the brand, the shareholders and the people who work directly under the brand.

He then continued on Twitter in English: “We were betrayed, the Ukranians were betrayed. I hope we can create something really beautiful together: exhibitions, products, friendship.“

I’d say, quite the difference in the tone. FYI, Finland is still your main market so maybe insulting isn’t the best way to go. Plus, you still have quite a few answers to give. Isola’s destiny at the company (by reading comments on various news outlets suggests that I’m not the only one who suspects Isola is holding her mother’s work as leverage). Gingko, is it or isn’t it? And finally, how are you going to use all this to better your company?

Thrifty Finn- Reaching new levels of skepticism.

P.S. Yesterday it was announced that Mika Ihamuotila will join the board of Rovio game company. Maybe we’ll soon see Unikko Birds. Or rather not. Because Kristina Isola would earn royalties from it.

P.P.S. There is a rumour that Marimekko’s lawyers are trying to find a way to get rid of Isola but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen.

P.P.P.S. I found another problem. Most of the Marimekko-news has been classified either style or culture news. Another FYI, this is very much business news. Fashion and design IS business. Just ask Erling Persson and Ingvar Kamprad.

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• Rovio adds Marimekko CEO to its board of directors, re-fueling imminent IPO rumors (thenextweb.com)