Fashion Designing

I really want to design clothes but my sketches are painfully crude that seamstresses might not figure them out. It doesn’t help that I can’t sew and I am also clueless in pattern making.

God knows I have these vivid images in my mind--what I wanted a dress to look, its textile, the color and print, and accessories to match it. The putting-the-vision-to-paper, however, is a little too tricky for me. So I guess this will remain a dream.

I have to note though that more than five years ago, I took tiny steps to this dream. I focused on swimsuit design. I love the beach, sea and swimming, why not swimsuits? Also I noticed how those available in the Philippine market are far from diverse--they're made to flatter only women with perfect figures. Once, I brought a couple of newly purchased bikinis (after I gave up at stitching them myself) to a clothing-alteration shop. I walked out of that shop happy but a lot poorer. So aside from knowing what to concentrate on my designs, I already then had a concept on what will make it different from the rest of the swimwear in the local market (definitely not the unsophisticated drawing of the designer!). I even had come up with a name of my line. That little step also involved getting fabric swatches from manufacturers, after which I realized it’s too much work and risk. I don’t have the funds for the capital and it seems suppliers of good textiles are at least a flight away. For really good suppliers, I will need my passport and maybe even need to procure a visa. Well, back to just dreaming.

Oh, here’s a sample of my crude sketch for just a very basic two-piece (the details I didn’t add as drawing it in would ruin this more). 

 Don’t snicker. 

Of Neighbors and Breakfasts...

I imagine my dream abode to be located somewhere I can enjoy fresh air and some peace and quiet (I’m still torn if I want it near the coastline or the mountains). Yet I don’t want it too far from the city so it wouldn’t be such a long commute when I need to be there, and family and friends wouldn’t be too lazy to come over on special occasions.

Speaking of friends, I always have this silly dream of having a select group of friends to be residing close by me. Yep, my neighbors will be some of my wonderful pals. No too close though that I can hear them when they suddenly decide to have a videoke concert. Uh-huh, these crazy people are mostly videoke whores.

Back to my fantasizing… And in this silly dream I’d whip up some breakfast and invite them lucky friends over. And then they’ll fall in love with the food I prepare and enjoy the feel of my place that they want to repeat the experience. So they bribe me to keep on preparing them these light morning meals (or heavy brunches) and gobble them up in my cozy dining room or some special place in my home just for them. I can just imagine who of my friends will be so insanely demanding on how their food should be done (e.g., fluffy eggs, only organic ingredients for the pandesal, etc.). I don't know what it is with concocting breakfasts and getting paid for it (of course, sometimes it'll be on the house) by happy patron-friends... Maybe because breakfasts are the easiest meals to prepare and after that I have the rest of the day to myself? I don't know. What I know is that it will contribute to me feeling less stressed, more contented, and I guess, happy!

P.S. This post is inspired by a chat I had with a buddy who could be that insanely demanding neighbor above. Good luck to our dreams!

Now for the Splash of Color

As my previous post shows, I want my dream house painted, and my furniture, in safe, uncomplicated colors. Well mostly. Don't think of my dwelling to be devoid of vivid colors. I'll have the splashes in:

Carpets and Rugs
 
Pillows 


Bar stool

Bean bag


Curtains





Or maybe some framed painting I made or some sunflowers or bright red roses in a vase in the living room.

See, my dream house is far from boring. But it won't be too bright to overwhelm me.

I Want Them Uncomplicated

From the house layout in the previous post, you can see how I want most things simple. Even for furniture, I want them in solid, neutral colors. I'll save some bright splashes and prints in the rugs, pillows, one little furniture like a bar stool, the fresh flowers in the vase, or few quirky mementos you want to display. But I want my walls and ceilings in beige or white, my floor in dark brown wood, and my furniture in, well, just something plain and uncomplicated.

With my little space and my fondness for something simple, I love IKEA products. (But who doesn't?) Anyway, while blog-hopping I was led into another store that sells simple, clean designs--just the way I like them--for stuff for the home. Their shops are nowhere near the Philippines though and I don't want to know if they ship to this third-world place I call home (read: can't afford). So I just gawk at their products:

Armless sofa that I could curl up in with a good book. Well, maybe in a darker color like chocolate brown or black so stains from coffee spills and whatnot won't be so visible.
Of course a good book is perfect with a cup of joe. Speaking of which this coffee table is simply beautiful.
And it even doubles as a storage for bric-a-bracs!
Pretty buffet table, don't you think?

And these sleek shelving are just so sleek, I want to have them now! For sure, they'll maximize my white kitchen and room walls.Hmmnn... Now, please excuse me as I will have to check the lottery results. If I'm lucky today, I can show you soon my own dream home.

Two-Bedroom Home

I got hooked to Floorplanner designing a layout for my little dream house. I am easy to please so my ideal dwelling is just this two-bedroom bungalow with lots of space outside for trees and flowers and maybe a vegetable garden later. Sigh, I can just imagine how much time I'd spend just lazing around in a house like this.

Here it is in 3d.
A closer look.


I can just hang out in the cozy living room, to channel surf. Or maybe experiment on a new dish in the pretty kitchen. I would gladly receive visitors if they promise not to stain my rug. Haha!
Or maybe I can kill the time at the patio with a good book and coffee. There's actually a little round table between the two chairs but for some reason it did not show here. And now that I think about it, I ought to add more trees. Fruit trees, preferably. So when friends come over, we'll just have a little barbecue under the shade. Whee!
Okay, off to dreamland now.

First Obligatory Post

I’ve been recently preoccupied with thoughts of house plans, apartment designs and whatnots. Hmmn, I think "obsessed" could be more apt. Really!

Instead of the usual TV, book, or Sudoku game putting me to sleep, it’s now the mighty pen and my trusty notebook. Before I go to bed and call it a day, I make rough sketches of house layouts. And when I’m online, I scour the web for pictures of pretty living rooms, well-designed kitchens, cozy bedrooms, minimalist furniture, hardwood floors in my shade of brown, etc.

I don’t even have a parcel of land to build a house on nor can I afford to rent a condo unit or an apartment and have it redesigned to look how I would fancy it. (I actually am currently renting a very small place but I don’t want to spend so much on something that’s not even mine.) But a girl can dream, can’t she? And what if five years from now I will have the riches to finance my dreams?

So let me start this catalog of dreams with those about dwellings and what I want to see in it.