Fashion-Incubator
Anyone who works in clothing design or garment construction or fashion, should check out Fashion-Incubator. The site is run by Kathleen Fasanella with help from some loyal friends from the industry. The website is a treasure trove of wisdom and information as well as a laugh and an occasional bite. There are often great discussions in the comments as well, for F-I's readers are a smart set. Of course, the book that Fasanella wrote is the real source of information if you are looking to start your own business. I haven't bought it, only read a few excerpts, which I doubt would please Fasanella, but if I do go out on my own someday, it's at the top of my list to read. I love to be hands-on in the making process and it's a primary motivator for me in terms of starting a business. One of the hardest things working for a big corporate manufacturer as a designer is that I am so far from the making process.
Anyway, back to Fashion-Incubator, here a few of my favorite bits & features:
A simple post about washing clothes with interesting comments to boot. I'm surprised there wasn't more talk about the damage a dryer can do. I really found this one interesting because my MA collection at CSM was made of some fabrics that changed with water. I did a lot of washing machine experiments last spring! When I came back to the US this year I realized the hard way that American washing machines are much more powerful than UK ones. :(
Fasanella has two regular features that I love: Archives, links to articles from the same time last year and the year before, and News from You, links sent in from readers. Both are always full of interesting tidbits.
The site also haas a decidedly sustainable slant with excellent articles about eco habits to develop and organic cotton.
My all-time favorite post relates to my own interests (of course) about invisible components of our clothes. Kathleen was responding to a project called Carnivale of Couture by the Sewing Divas about Ritual Cloth. Fasanella wrote about a purse, backpack, and a couple of jackets that reveal as much in the pictures as they do in her words.
P.S. Pleating!!
Anyway, back to Fashion-Incubator, here a few of my favorite bits & features:
A simple post about washing clothes with interesting comments to boot. I'm surprised there wasn't more talk about the damage a dryer can do. I really found this one interesting because my MA collection at CSM was made of some fabrics that changed with water. I did a lot of washing machine experiments last spring! When I came back to the US this year I realized the hard way that American washing machines are much more powerful than UK ones. :(
Fasanella has two regular features that I love: Archives, links to articles from the same time last year and the year before, and News from You, links sent in from readers. Both are always full of interesting tidbits.
The site also haas a decidedly sustainable slant with excellent articles about eco habits to develop and organic cotton.
My all-time favorite post relates to my own interests (of course) about invisible components of our clothes. Kathleen was responding to a project called Carnivale of Couture by the Sewing Divas about Ritual Cloth. Fasanella wrote about a purse, backpack, and a couple of jackets that reveal as much in the pictures as they do in her words.
P.S. Pleating!!