Posts from ‘Crafts’
Soft belts for summertime
The flowers remind me of Frieda’s infamous hairdo that she defiantly wore to to represent the traditions of her people.
The Day of the dead is a traditional Mexican holiday to remember and celebrate our ancestors.
These are more pictures from the Jean Paul Gaultier show at the MMFA.
This dress struck me because it contains no animal skin at all. It is a masterpiece of beadwork. The claws are rhinestones. So awesome.
This is the art of Nicole Dextras.
It is from a group of work called Weedrobes:
“New addition to the Weedrobes Collection: The Maple Flapper Dress symbolizes hope and prosperity for the new immigrant. The 1920′s was an era of liberation for women and here she is seen as a young entrepreneur fresh off the boat, with her old-world good luck charms of plants and animals.”
I think she is incredible and hugely inspiring.
I love the Virgin of Guadalupe and I don’t really understand why. I guess it is because she is such a stylish goddess. She is always portrayed surrounded by glitter and pretty things and lots of colour. She is the brown skinned Virgin and she is a Mother.
So I tried to make Virgin cookies…..not the best tasting cookies I ever made, but still kinda fun.
I also used the top of an old perfume bottle to emboss roses into the cookie dough.
And now, for a peek at a recent release of the new Fall collection: the Guadalupe skirt! Isn’t she just fabulous!
This is one of my favourite costumes from last year’s Smirkus production. We stitched all the veins of each leaf mixing silk leaves that we made in the studio with fake maple leaves that i found. It took a few days of appliquee work.
One that note, the Fall collection is starting to arrive in the store. Come take a look!
Petals Pop Cards are made by Montreal mom, Jackie Bassette. She plants, grows, presses and places each petal at her Montreal home near Jean Talon market.
Each card is blank inside leaving you free to pour your heart out in your own words to your friends.
Towers and pyramids of books pressing petals are all over Jackie’s home where she creates these fun and pretty cards. Send a creation from Jackie’s garden to one of your friends.
It is time to start planning your veggie patch. Have you bought your seeds yet? Please buy heritage NON GMO seeds from the last remaining independant seed distributers. Here is a link to a local seed distributor from Lanaudiere:
http://www.ecoumene.com/
The Spring collection is almost completely in the store now.
My creative process this year involved a lot of cutting and pasting and collage-ing with a glue stick and small scissors. I felt like I was making clothes for paper dolls. It was the first time we had ever done anything like this in the studio, but it allowed us to visualize and plan so that the whole collection fit together better than ever.
You can see my little notes where I was planning how many items to cut of what size in which colour.
This year’s process also included a spiritual connection to all our wishes and hopes and desires. The women on my team, including my mother, each told me three things they would wish for the world if they could change anything they wanted. These wishes/blessings were then assigned to individual garments. Below you can see the note “Celebrating Native Women” on the long feather dress.
Come and see for yourself. The store looks more beautiful than ever! I am crazy proud of this year’s collection and all the magic that will flow out into my community.
Kat
Vanessa recently returned from a life-changing trip to India. In her seven weeks there, she experienced sensory awareness on a whole new level. “I felt more alive than I ever had,” she said. Her feeling of being “home” was uncanny.
photo by Vanessa Finnie, available at Boutique Katrin Leblond
She’s been back since November, and is still processing what she learned on that trip. As part of that process, she has started making cards with the photographs she took in India. These stunning cards are now available for sale at the Boutique.
photo by Vanessa Finnie, available at Boutique Katrin Leblond
Her photographs are moving and joyous. They are full of colour and movement, humour and peace. The intensity of her emotions on that trip comes across strongly in her pictures. They are definitely worth a trip to the boutique to see first-hand. And are available for only $6.50 each. Give one to yourself or to someone you are thinking of.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
How many of you have sea shells in your bathroom? I know I do. I even have starfish spray painted silver and driftwood that I lugged home from vacation. This post explores the connection between Nature, as illustrated by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel, and our desire to surround ourselves with objects from the ocean.
Below are some amazing contemporary furniture designs by a company called ARKTURA. I am totally smitten with the lines and shadows that these pieces cast. I am also a fan of the colour options they provide…what not just black and chrome?, but also plum, red and aqua…how do I choose?
a little bit of the real thing in pink and purple and red ( may favourite colours)…
…and a little bit of happy homemaker throwing an ocean themed dinner party!
photo by Jeffrey N Jeffords
Below are the sqid pages. mmm, yum!
We have this pin in the store. It is by an American artist called MamasLittleBabies.
Now this tops it all for me. Michelle McCoskey has crochet this squid scarf. I can’t say that I would wear it, but i was thrilled when I found theses images online and I hope you enjoy the ridiculousness and effort that went into making this masterpiece of crafty kitsch!
More bibis!
Colette van Haaren is a quiet woman with lots of power. The best way she finds to share that power? Through her fingers.
Colette is a yarn artist who’s been knitting and crocheting since childhood. Today, she produces some of the Boutique’s fastest-selling items. From stunning wool ponchos and cardigans to neck warmers and scarves to playful wool jewelry, Colette is an integral part of the Boutique Katrin Leblond Collection.
Having learned the basics of yarn crafts as a young girl, Colette got “hooked” (pun intended!) on the craft in her twenties, when she designed and marketed her own line of knitwear.
Then she stopped. She became a mother. She got busier. “Life got in the way,” she says, and her knitting work went on hiatus.
As any artist who’s ever been on hiatus knows, your art always comes back. In recent years, Colette has returned to her needles and knit machines, and is producing more clothing, accessories, and jewelry than ever before. And Boutique clients clearly can’t get enough of her work.
Many artists and spiritual seekers talk about their way “in” – the thing that connects them to the source. The way Colette describes knitting, it is so clear that this is her way in. “Simple shapes and mindless knitting allow me to get into a meditative state,” she writes. “I get to relax and have lap throws, pillows, hats, shawls, and headbands … to show for it.”
She is not alone in her love for the craft. Thousands of men and women discover the transcendental powers of yarn-art every year. There has been no doubt a knitting revival in the last decade, particularly among young women. “Stitch ‘n Bitch” groups have become increasingly popular, along with other traditionally “grandmotherly” crafts. Canning, bread-making, gardening and crochet are all on the list of reclaimed feminine-domestic arts.
Some theorists say this revival has to do with third-wave feminism. Maybe it also has to do with people wanting to slow down in a world that’s getting faster and faster.
Slowing down is part of the draw for Colette. In her personal statement, she writes:
“yarn crafts, when done by hand, progress slowly. Just doing it can get you to relax or into a meditative state. Practicing these ancient techniques connects me to all the people who have worked these crafts out of necessity, duty, pleasure, and love.”
She continues the tradition this Wednesday night, at Boutique Katrin Leblond, where she will share her line of knitwear through a very special evening of tango. This is not to be missed. Come be a part of the knitting legacy.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
They say you can’t throw a stone in Montreal without hitting a church. Well, in Austin Texas, where I just spent a week’s vacation, you can’t throw a stone without hitting an image of the Guadalupe Virgin or the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I wasn’t raised with any Catholic education, so I was unfamiliar with the Sacred Heart. On this trip, as I began to see so many beautiful hearts all over town, in boutiques, on murals, and even just on keychains, I noticed I was really drawn to them.
We LOVE hearts at Boutique Katrin Leblond. Just look at our logo.
The heart’s bursting over with flowers, just like many sacred hearts burst with flames.
They say that, in Catholicism, the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents Jesus’ divine love for humanity. I like to think that when people enter the boutique, they are nurtured and inspired to show divine love towards themselves. We want every woman to feel they are entering a temple that worships the beauty that exists in all of us, inside and out.
this hand embroidered pillow is available at the boutique
I left Texas with a little hand-made Sacred Heart made out of tin that I bought from a Mexican artist. I’ve hung it over my work desk, so that the radiance of that divine self-love may carry me through my work days, and inspire me to be my best self.
Like a new dress or scarf, this little Heart of mine is a simple gift to myself that makes me feel special and loved. Come on by the Boutique and you’re bound to find something that does the same for you!
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen, and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
This is the fabulous Karin Maren Haglund: circus performer, fashion show artistic director, wife, mother and great friend.
I love that I get to make her costumes. I feel honoured that she chooses me time and time again as her costume designer. This was our newest collaboration. It ‘s for her wheel act.
It highlights her fantastically toned sexy-mama body and swooshes when she moves. The body suit is a one piece with gaucho wing legs. The back and straps are a-symmetrical with crisscrossing lines, ruffles and an amazing beaded collar piece that I saved from one of my grandmothers old Parisian haute-couture dresses. I am very proud of this creation.
Here are some casual pictures that she took backstage posing and looking adorable. Room #6.
Krin on tour with her little munchkin circus child Ole.
Not only does she blow me away with her talent and showmanship, her amazing ability to entertain, but she is a great role model for how to have a kid and still be yourself.
Love of love to all the circus families that just do it! -Kat
These are my new curtains! They are hanging in my dining room and they cover a set of doors that lead to our deck. I wanted to create something that wasn’t too girly (for Mike’s sake) and that still looked stunning. Mission accomplished.
My patternist at the studio lovingly assembled the panels for me. The whole curtain is made with box pleats. At the top they are tacked open and closed to create this diamond effect. When the sun shines through it is amazing.
In between the white linen panels are colourful strips of fabric from Thailand and Africa.
They took four days to make. The process was interesting as we had to do a lot of calculations and planning before we started. Most curtains are 1 1/2 to 2 times wider than the space they cover, but these ones had to be exact. All the volume already exists in the design and they did not need extra undulations. The box pleat back in the coloured fabric is two times wider than the white panels and contains two pin tuck stitches running lengthwise ensuring they always fold into the perfect pleat. The white panels run the length of the curtain, but the coloured ones are patched so that the diamonds are warm tones of reds and yellows alternating and the long panels are greens and plums and blues. I had initially made the curtains to narrow and to short which is why they are now framed by wide bands of Thai fabric. That was one of those happy accidents making them better than the original plan.
These curtains were inspired by a design I saw on a home decor website, but very quickly became a better version of the original. Having materials with sentimental value from our travels really makes them special for me. Not to mention, my living room looks much cosier and warmer.
How happy do these shoes make me?
I especially love the little garlic bulb reference in the first shoe on the heel. It is wintery and foresty and fit for an elf queen.
And these little numbers below remind me of the totally-blew-my-mind away book called Fairyality in which the artist creates fashion out of leaves and flowers and feathers for an imaginary fashion house called Ellwand. I have inserted the book cover below. We have a copy at the store for you to come and see.
Long gone are the days where Halloween costumes were sewn from a Simplicity pattern. Now you can buy all the latest characters for $25 at the pharmacy…so sad..so sad! What intrigues me most about these patterns is how our ideas of clown have changed over the years. Really baggy costumes used to be the rage. Now fashion dictates the silhouettes and thus even costumes are fitted and shaped. These Bozo clowns look really dated to the modern eye.
I really love the red and white puffy clown pants. I want to make these for Smirkus one day.
Again the red and white vertical stripes are really kind of cute.
I love that the same pattern can make you a peasant, an angel or a witch. I, of course, would opt for WITCH!
Kat
These beautiful hats have just arrived in store. Local Montreal artists and Mile end mama of many, Allison Astridge from For whom the cap fits and Fiber Alley, created these by hand working the felt fibers into these feminine and practical winter head warmers. Natural fibers breath well keep you warm and love you lots. Include some wool in your wardrobe. Lots of sheep were loved to make these hats.
These hats are available in a variety of cuddly colours for $88 each at the boutique.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
All photos in this post by Kat
I wanted to take the chance to let you all in on my world. I want to share with you, my loyal and beautiful friends, a part of who I am, and what I love.
So follow me on the journey of how a skirt becomes the embellished wonder that you, and I, all love…
We start with a Basic A-line skirt. We call it the “Art Skirt”, because I am always embellishing it in new ways with new appliquées and top stitching. All stitching is done in studio on the sewing machine, but it is what we call “freestyle”. It is not a computer image being embroidered, so each line is improvised as we sew.
This was in the fall collection fashion show as a sheer skirt with a nude thong underneath. As the world is not a runway show, we needed to make the skirt more suitable for everyday use.
First, I draw an image and translate it into stencils that we can use to cut the same shapes out of fabric
The first layer of stitching is really just to tack the cut out shaped to the skirt.
Top stitching details and buttons are added.
Then, we make a top to match, of course.
The racks full of clothing in the palette Black, Grey, Pink, Coral waiting for their new coordinating skirt and top to fill out the whole look.
Now you can get the skirt, the top, the pants, the jacket, the…………
It can all come together or you can always wildly mix and match in unexpected ways from other racks of differing colour palettes all over the store.
See you at the boutique.
erin
Krysten
Kat
all photos in this post by Kat except the beautiful fall leaf colours was offered by Krysten. This post was written for Kat by Krysten.
Weddings are the perfect place for fanciful dress-up, parading around in your finest and, best of all: a chance to see what everyone else is wearing. This ogling of others attire is something I fondly refer to as “wardrobe scrutiny”. Rather than going down the path of criticism I love to scan for the wardrobe statements I admire most. It is like going on a visual treasure hunt and the reward is stunning fashion.
It was at the wedding of a cherished friend, that I saw a guest wearing a dress adorned with colorful and beautiful hand embroidered bugs. I stopped the woman and asked if I could take a picture of her dress. I could not pass up the opportunity to photograph them. Thankfully she agreed.
It is truly sad to know that long gone are the days where it was very common to see embroidery on clothing. It is always a pleasure to see someone who appreciates the craftsmanship and the love put into each stitch.
The wonderful thing about hand embroidered pieces is that no two are the exact same, each have their own personality. These little critters are no exception…
This little dragonfly is the perfect example of the time and consideration put into embroidery. The colors are bright and the details are exquisite.
This little bee was done perfectly, and with so much detail. The shading of his body is an added bonus which adds realism to the piece. This little guy’s personality definitely shines. The colors are more neutral, his colors may not be as bright as the dragonflies’, but that does not make him any less beautiful. He is quite a regal being.
This little guy may be small, but he is just as perfect as the others.
Here is the front of the dress just below the bust. Individually, these little bugs are immaculate, but together, they form a rich tapestry of fall colors and life. It was an honor be be granted permission to photograph this dress.
The embroidery is perfect for fall. The colors used definitely take into consideration the sights you might see while walking through the woods on a crisp fall day. With the leaves a vibrant red, green, golden and rich browns, mother nature is definitely an inspiration for these little works of art.
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I found some more lovely embroidery being done today, courtesy of the internet. One may think that birds and insects are better suited to spring than to the upcoming fall season, but done correctly; using neutrals, earth tones and sharp black lines, you cannot go wrong incorporating them into your wardrobe, accessories and home.
A simplistic design, but beautiful. The use of black lines makes for a wonderfully delicate piece. The birds may be flying south for the winter, but this one will stay behind as a reminder of the beauty and life that can be.
The monarch design is more complex and elaborate. So perfect and realistically done, it is almost ready to pop off the material and fly away. A very true to life piece of work.
Happy Labour Day
All photos in this post were found and pulled from the web by Kat
I am bedding designer.
I love sleeping.
Here are some of my favourite beds.
They are art. They are inspiration. The winds are blowing cooler and it is time to nest.
Above is the “Apple tree” bed by Atilla design
This is a bed I have imagined in my mind and wanted to build myself one day. Looks like someone else had the same idea.
Above is the “Tree” bed by Shawn Lovell. It is cast iron.
These hand painted lovelies are made by a company called Sticks Beds
I found the pictures of these built in cubbyhole beds and they have a really cozy feeling. They remind me of traveling and of my childhood fairytale fantasies.
I would love to build something like this in a child’s room.
Sweet Dreams.
All posts in this post were found and pulled from the web by Kat
I am a spiritual person. I am a political person.
I believe that I am empowered to make ethical decisions that are beneficial for my community by the money I spend as an entrepreneur . I believe that as an artist, it is my duty to create beauty for my customers to enjoy. I believe that women deserve to be treated like goddesses entering a temple when they come in to my boutique. They are to be served, taken care of, draped in fabric and made to feel beautiful. I believe this from the bottom of my heart.
I have always been politically active and I have always been crafty. There were certain points in my life where I felt guilty and pained because “just making pretty things” was not saving the planet. Now that I am running an ecological and local manufacturing business that serves and adores women, I feel better. I have merged my environmental activist with my feminist and with my local economist in a way that allows me to keep being a creative human being.
And here is Linda Evangelista, our Montreal-born International Fashion Icon, merging her political views that something is wrong in the world and someone should be held accountable with her love of the Madonna. She got to play a living Madonna in a Religious procession. I have traveled to Antigua in Guatemala to see these processions. They walk the streets playing sad brass band music all the while carrying statues and crying for the death of Jesus. They walk for 12-13 hours. My main reason for traveling there was to see the “carpets” that the locals make from coloured saw dust and flowers. The carpets are made in the street prior to the passing of the procession. When the procession passes, the carpet gets trampled. It was incredibly beautiful. (This is reminding me that I should do a post about those carpets.)
I am unusually attracted the the iconography of the Madonna even though I was not raised in any form of Christianity. To me the Madonna is the “mother”, gaia, goddess … and those are all great things. It represents female divinity, something each woman carries within herself.
I love religious art. I love folk art. I love making pretty things.
It can take quite a while in life’s journey to settle into being who you truly are and not who you wish you were.
This post was written by Erin based on Katrin’s telling of the making of her embroidered travel belt.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
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While on my first road trip across Canada, with the man I later married, I wanted to record our travels. The problem was I get car sickness.
Despite, the fact that I couldn’t write in my journal, I found embroidery to be something I could handle even with the rock and roll of the road. Embroidery became my traveling form of journaling.
I stitched the landscapes and the names of all the animals we saw along the way.
The coloured threads depict the story of our road trip together.
I would sit in the passenger seat of our non air-conditioned van and stitch away.
The finished belt wraps around my body twice.
The needle pulled the thread in and out of the fabric stitching the moments I wanted to capture. The van hit the road. My needle pulled the thread. The wind swept us away at the start of our journey. The stitches became pictures. The pictures began the story of our journey. I stitched the flower called Indian paint brush. Wild to Canada, this flower called out to be remembered. I stitched the orange and yellow of it’s petals. The lakes in Ontario were numerous swimming pleasures. There were so many lakes. I painted with the blue of my embroidery thread just one to remember them all. As we approached the prairies fields of Canola, also called Rape seed, danced yellow blooms that waved in the wind. Dots of yellow thread floated across the belt.
The car broke down and we had to spend three days waiting for a part in Edmonton. I stitched the part we needed called a U joint. We drove on to the Rockies. Nights under the crescent moon were beautiful.
We took the fairy to Salt Spring Island and went swimming with purple and blue dragon flies.
We watched boat racing on a Native reserve on Vancouver Island. We walked in the red wood forest under the full moon.
Then we left Canada. We hit Seattle and we went to the fish and flower market. Four hours from Seattle, we spent two days at mount Saint Helen the mountain that erupted years before.
LOVE…….LOVE LOVE WAS EVERYTHING. Our van was love parked in dry lands that had sage bushes all around. I stitched a heart floating over our van. I stitched my love. My heart.
We drove through the Craters of the Moon and finally got back to the rivers of Ontario. Eager to get home we drove and drove and drove…day and night. We took shifts.
The road took us home.
Sometimes we fall, we slip.
Sometimes things don’t all go as planned.
Sometimes a great idea turns out to need a lot of tweaking.
A sting.
A zing.
A bit of a sour thing.
Sometimes a bit of sour helps you appreciate the sweetness that comes along next.
Rococo, Victorian, Baroque, Elizabethan….if it is elaborate and covered in gold foil, I am loving it. Though I have traditionally been heavily influenced by folklore and rustic crafts, I am finding a new attraction to over-the top Marie-Antoinette style. Here we see what would have happened if Marie-Antoinette had been a Pagan Earth Queen.
I found these images on the internet and have been saving them for you, my dear readers, for quite some time now.
The corset is all assembled with thorns that are pinning together the leaves. The embellishments are all roses and lilacs…just try to imagine the smell.
This lovely lady seems to be sporting a log-cabin skirt? Not sure why, but the overall look is quite successful.
And here we have a costume that reminds me of myself. My favourite holiday is Halloween and I am usually one of two things: A witch or an Forest spirit. I think this woman did a great job combining fabrics. The best part is the juxtaposition of the gold corset and the raw rags skirt.
The fall collection is in the process of being released and designed all at once. I have already put some pieces into the boutique, but there are many more to come. You will see some peasant sleeves on soft knit tops, a wool coat with full skirt, a very Chanel inspired little cardigan suit with pencil skirt. I am growing up and so the collection will inevitably express some classicism while retaining it’s playful funk.
Have a great week-end!
Kat
all photos by erin except love sculpture is by tom brosnahan
I made these shirts because YES it is this simple and it has been said before: the law is LOVE! I have built my small business around this simple word. If we make it with love … women will love it… and it will sell. The surprise was how much men love it too. They love the store. They love the colours. They get it. They like to see their ladies dressing up and feeling pretty. The attraction is natural. The girlier I make the clothing, the more men love it. Hurray for LOVE!
This is the love sculpture by pop artist Robert Indiana
We have one in the old port now and there are many around the world. Everyone gets it.
Cute, sexy and all textiles!
I found these amazing photos while surfing the net.
I dedicate these to all the indie-rock hipsters of mile-end who do not like ruffles and flowers.
If you ever want to express your feminine, gypsy self, I’ll be there for you.
Until then…enjoy being your “indie-rock hipster of mile end” self, enjoy your perfect body, enjoy working part time and enjoy being able to party all night.
Those are just temporary benefits of being 20….
I can guarantee though…
It just gets better!
What we are doing is real. It really impacts the community and sometimes that community is my husband (owner and chef of Restaurant Aux Vivres) and sometimes it’s my little brother Nick (artist, photographer and co-owner of Big Dog Screen printing). As an entrepreneur I feel more politically empowered than I ever did as a feminist, activist, or animal rights worker (yes, I have done all of those things). I have the decision making power of every cent I spend. I choose to buy locally made fabric. I choose to buy organic locally made fabric. I choose locally made thread, zippers and buttons too. Yes, it is more expensive than imported equivalents, but I can guarantee it is better quality and it comes with soul. When I switched to local thread, all of my machines started running better and needed to be re-threaded less often. The amount of people that those decisions affect are a ripple of local workers, salespeople and small businesses.
Oh, and I also only do business with people I like!
Let the good vibes flow.
Here is a little peek into the screen printing studio of my little brother Nick. Studio Big Dog printed the patches for my scout costumes at Circus Smirkus. His partner Carlos illustrated them.
This is not a unique Montreal story. Many of the artists and designers we have in the boutique are living from their art with the help of local shop-owners. We are a city of creative people.
My little brother is celebrating his birthday today. I love you Nick.
Studio Big Dog
5333 Casgrain, #416
Montreal, QC
Canada H2T 1X3,
Tel: 514 358 7007
contact@studiobigdog.com
Hand made in Montreal, Laura Fafard Bags.
Made from vintage recycled ties in eco friendly high fashion style.
Store your most precious valuables and tote them around town wherever you go. These bags are so hip in their deconstructed shaping. Crafty high art! I love the vintage button details.
I love the sentimentality of vintage prints. This bag is so sweet. I like it’s femininity. It would fit so nicely into a warm toned late summer, early fall, wardrobe. Carry it with you for a walk up the mountain or a trip out of town to pick some apples.
This one is bright and cheery and needs to go with you to a breakfast brunch “resto rendez vous” on the weekend.
Bags are my favorite accessories these days. You get lots of bang for your accessory money when you buy a bag. It takes up lots more space than some of the other finishing touches we reach for when completing our looks. Bags really impact your overall look and fashion expression when you are walking down the street.
Plus you can carry stuff in it. Bonus!
Visit the Official Site!
