Dottie L.O.V.E.

This afternoon a couple of friends dropped by to pick up kids and ended up staying for dinner. Jody (http://aboutlastweekend.blogspot.com/) shared they have decided to get a dog despite her reservations. Alison and I are both dog lovers and immediately launched into all the reasons why this is a brilliant plan.

In fact Alison's dog is the reason I have Dottie. I loved her little Lucy so much I begged and begged Curtis for a dog for probably over a year. Finally he agreed in a moment of weakness and the next afternoon Dottie was mine. I am smitten with this dog and she goes nearly everywhere with me. This photo, taken at my house by our fashion photographer Lara Rossignal of Piewacket, is my ALL time favorite. She looks so regal, doesn't she?

8 months since my last post...

I haven't posted in MONTHS! I don't have a good reason other than it's a bit against my nature to write and then just put it out there in the world. I feel like I am starting from scratch since it's been eight months.

Coterie went really well in September.  Here's a picture of me, Laura, Karen and Becka selling the line. Three days at the Javitz Center is tough- no sunlight, no healthy food, and high heels all day.

Here we are at the end of day at a hotel near the Javitz- Ink 48- for drinks and dinner. I think Karen had the waiter take this with her iphone and it was dark. It's fuzzy, but I still like it. I had on the Marley in Blue Skies with white pants from J. Crew. It was my favorite outfit that week.

We had drinks on the rooftop before dinner. On the way up we squeezed into a small elevator with another group. By chance we were with the buyer from a store that was on our wish list. Everyone always wants what Laura wears, so naturally the buyer said to Laura (who was wearing the Miranda dress in Cobalt)- "great dress!" Luckily, I had a postcard with our booth number in my purse (usually I am unprepared).  I handed it to her and she came and bought from us the next day. It was a magical moment!

The Swiss Chalet

For Spring Break my mom's best friend, Trina, let us have her vacation house in Carmel for a few days.  There aren't any numbers on any of homes or businesses in Carmel. Everything just has a name. This little house on the left is The Swiss Chalet. Home of the Seven Dwarfs might even be a better name it's that darling.

Swiss Chalet is on the left and and Snug as a Bug on the right.

Here's a photo of Will through the kitchen into the living room. 

The boys helped me with this little project. The first one we made washed away before we were done so we worked quickly to reassemble this one. It was a gorgeous day and a really fun beach project.

And of course some Monopoly. ugh. Why do this kids love this game so much? Maybe because they haven't learned some of the lessons the hard way. I don't know. My littlest is obsessed. Mortgage, rent, bills, pay taxes, go to jail, etc.  ugh. I lose interest so quickly!

Although the weather was still cool, we had so much fun at the beach. Here's Chase and Curtis the last day right before we headed home. All of us were happy with our little getaway.

Piles and Piles

The dresses are on the way. We start shipping to stores in February. It's such a busy time and so many things to think about- making sure everything is just right. Scheduling cutting and sewing, ordering more trim, extra this and that. In fact the other day my car was broken into and 1500 snaps were stolen! (along with my GPS, Curtis's checkbook, and Will's backpack and precious collection of ugly doll key chains.) Ridiculous. The snaps are probably in a dumpster somewhere. And the Ugly Doll keychains? I hope they are a treasure for someone who needs them. Well, I ordered more snaps and progress continues....

Photos for Spring

We have spent several days on photography creating images for Spring. Now that we literally have thousands of images, the hard work is sorting through them and pulling out what to use. QuentinBacon, the photographer, has paired several images on his blog from the shoot that I like very much and wanted to share.

The blues make this a perfect pairing. The old car is in a shed at the ranch in Napa, where we did a shoot last Fall. The hula hoop image from Jody's house in front of her lovely blue wall. 

(Tess dress is Birdseye green, coming in February to the website)

These are obviously "behind the scenes" shots. I tend to avoid the camera but Quenting got me while my back was turned. Candes and I are pulling creases out of the dress before the shot.  And Curtis is trying to tell Dottie what to do...and hands off treats to the model. 

(Grace dress in Rockridge Blue- popular dress in the London boutiques, 

 Mimi in Taupe Links, both available mid-February)

 Of course I love the one below, on right. Will, my little ragamuffin. 

(Dottie dress in Black Lattice- limited available now and more coming late February)

The images all make me so happy because it looks like everything 

has come together, which is far from how I feel.

Printing Day

Curtis, the boys and I took a road trip this week. We did the drive down Hwy 5 to LA so that I could oversee the printing of a lot of fabric.  I have to admit that I feel very comfortable in factories. I love to see how things are made. This was no exception.

This is the medium that the dye is mixed with so that it smoothly glides across the screens. It's hard to realize scale in this image, but this tub is HUGE. 

This is the dye, mixed and ready to be added to the medium. At first glance I thought it was a juice bar, and then thought, how odd! Really just a second later I figured it out.

Here is my Tumbleweed screen in place and ready to go.

This is the guy who worked on my job all day. He was very nice, but not a word of English.

This is a photo during production. The worker here is checking

 to be sure that everything is lined up properly.

And here it is coming out of the heater right after getting printed

Next the fabric is piled into a bin which is wheeled over to the washing machine (this machine is 30' long!). Then it's rolled and stacked on palettes until the trucking company picks it up, drives it up Hwy 5 right to my office. 10,000 yards, on the way. whew.  It's a lot of work and the sewing hasn't even begun!

Piewacket Magic

These are my dresses!  Lara Rossignal is an amazing fashion photographer and I  love her blog, http://www.piewacketblog.com/. I sent her a box of dresses and look what she sent back!! She really added some glamour.  It started a big debate at the office. Do you people want to look at images they relate to or that that aspire to? Does this strike the perfect balance?