It's that time of year again: October is over; the time has changed; and the cold fronts are rolling through with greater frequency. After living in the South my whole life, I can safely say that I am not a cold weather girl. I love the sun, a warm breeze, light clothing, and being able to leave the windows and doors open. After spending three years aboard our sailboat Illusion (through 12 seasons) without heating or AC, it's natural that I feel a strong urge to get a move on and "fly" south when the weather gets cold.
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The Evolution of a Design
Sometimes new designs come easy to me and seem to take no time at all. Other times designs need lots of tweaking - a little change here, a little change there - before they solidify. As an artist, this reminds me a lot of how I paint. There is always a give and take around the edges. Objects are almost never sharp and crystal clear in the beginning, a little light shines through in places or the color changes as an object recedes from view. It's these nuances that can give an object greater depth and it's the same with design. Good design is efficient and efficiency means paring down anything that isn't essential to an item. Like editing a poem, or a book, or blocking out colors in a painting - you start with big ideas and generalizations and slowly trim them down into a concise, focused, detailed finished product.
This is where I'm at in regards to my wrap skirt design.
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Autumn in Georgia, the Best Time for a Paddle
There is seriously no better way to unplug than to hit the water. It alters your sense of reality in the best way possible and let's face it, chances of you checking your phone when there is a high probability of it falling into a creek are pretty slim. Brian and I bought kayaks this summer, but due to travel and unfortunate circumstances involving our jeep (which we had to replace), we've hardly been able to use them. Lucky for us, we live in Georgia and October is the absolute best time to go for a paddle. The humidity is down, there are fewer bugs, and the temperature is just right. :)
Read MoreBicycle Wrap Skirt Specifics - Sizing, Lengths, and Buttons
I've been glancing at some of the survey results, and I can't thank you all enough for your input! I realize now that I probably should give you all a little more detail about the skirt length, since I've gotten a few comments about the length and sizing. This first wrap skirt version will come in two sizes - short and tall. The waist band will have many buttonhole options for wrapping, so that you can wrap the skirt to your waist size regardless of what length you wear. Katie and I talked about the length and sizing many different times throughout the prototyping process. We realize that shorter people will probably want a shorter length and taller people will probably want a longer length. For those of you who asked about shorter or longer options, you will be able to decide for yourself. If you are a taller person, you could always go with the shorter size for a shorter fit and for a shorter person, you could always wear the tall size for a longer fit. Eventually, if this first design and concept are popular enough, I hope to be able to offer some different skirt and dress designs as well. That is, at this point, a long way off, though!
In the meantime, my thinking on length went something like this:
Read MoreRiding into the Future with the Perfect Skirt
What happens when you love wearing skirts, love riding bikes, and like to make everything yourself? A Bicycle Wrap Skirt, of course - a skirt that's dressy enough for the office, but with a few simple adjustments, is ready to hop on a bike and be on the move in minutes. I spent years biking to work in skirts, and years trying to find the perfect skirt that I could wear just about anywhere without a second thought. My husband can tell you that there have been many, many days in which I've made him wait, while I changed clothes, just so we could bike to lunch or dinner or to the park. The perfect skirt, just didn't exist.
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