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.

B I K I N I - G O A L S

5 stores and 2 days later I finally laid my hands on it.  The recent copy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. I barely made it through my front door with my boys trying to pull the magazine out of my hands.  I literally had to lock myself in the bathroom before one of them did.   Page after page of glorious bikini's.  I studied every page, looking for details, prints, stitching and fit.  It was probably the best $7 bucks I've spent in a long time and it made me realize that  my suits are just as good or better and I can do this!