BIKINI - D E S I G N

Today is a red letter day.  I am going to San Francisco and having some fabric printed that I designed.  When I was in high school, my crazy art teacher that no one respected told me I should think about going into textile designs based upon some abstract paintings I did.  I thought she was C U C K O O - textile design?  What the hell was she talking about?  I had no idea and I couldn't  grasp the concept because when I was in high school digital did not exist. I would have had to take a slow boat to China, have fabric molds made, dye lots created and many many strike off 's shown to just get 1 yard of final fabric.  Then a few years ago at work we started digital fabric printing and I managed production for small fashion designers based in SF, LA and New York.  I was in heaven and my art teacher's comment came rushing back to me as I saw what the possibilities were for "textile design."  No slow boat to China for me, it was at my finger tips and I started designing like crazy.  Now I have swatches and yardage and color charts strewn upon my work space like a big beautiful fabric bomb exploded.  So, off I go to the city today, dropping off files, picking up some suits from my seamstress and having lunch with my friends overlooking the San Francisco Bay.  Ah life is good.

Hey Nineteen

It all started when I was 19 and bought a plain red triangle top bikini. I didn't try it on until I got home and I will never forget the image in the mirror. Gone was "skinny Winnie" and hello Windsor! That was one of the best summers of my life. Me and my red bikini hung out at Lake Tahoe, Stinson Beach, pool side and in the back yard catching rays. Anyone who knows me from back in the day remembers that I spent just about every waking minuet at the beach. I was not going to show up looking like all of the other girls, so I would scour the racks at Macy's and Nordstrom's looking for the most perfect, unique bikini I could find. Fit was key and the simpler more classic the cut the better. I guess I am basically designing for me - just your regular beach girl who loves a great bikini. I designed the majority of my fabric and have had it all custom printed locally. My seamstress is amazing and works with me on tweaking fit and bringing some of my crazy non traditional fabric choices to fruition. I literally can't sleep at night with visions of my next creations dancing through my head. There is no turning back now! See ya at the beach.