Moving to New York!

Hello, folks!

So there's been important moves happening for Cabiria - we're moving to New York!

Eden has been a New Yorker most of her life, and this move will facilitate ease in working with the gifted patternmakers, samplehands, and fabric stores available in the New York area.

It also means that there's a possibility that there's going to be a lull in updates over June and July as everything shuffles. Hopefully we'll be able to be up and running quickly from there.

For now, I'll simply leave you with a little treat: VALENTINA! A swingy knit dress with a center back zipper and a split Mandarin collar, so when you look up, your neck doesn't pull against your bust and cause pain. Of course, there's pockets, too...

Enjoy, and hope to update you soon!

-Eden

Not all silent over in Cabiria-Land

Hi all!

Sorry I've been quiet this week. I came back from Orlando, and have been working hard on getting the website live. Let's just say that coding HTML is not my greatest gift... plus size clothing, no problem!

Lest you think I've forgotten you, I have a new style to show off. The ANNA is a button down shirtdress with turned up cuffs and contrast cord-edge trimming. It's got a more traditional waistline with fullness controlled by inverted pleats on the waist and darts. It also has side seam set pockets and...drumroll please... horizontal buttonholes and a hook at the waist!

You know when you wear a button front, well, anything, and the minute you sit down or reach wide or, well, move, you've popped your buttons open? Or the straining ones at bust and belly? Simple solution: With about .375" of movement built into the buttonhole slot, you're pulling at the reinforced hole END, not the floppy slotty bit in the middle. And that extra tab with a hook and bar at the waist that no one ever sees? Handles the point of closure that receives the most force trying to pull it apart. Hooray!

Plus the piping is jaunty, don't you think?

As always, comments and opinions are welcome. Tell me your favorites and which are just okay. Tell me the one you want to wear every day. Tell me if you like it more or less than the AIMEE and SOFIA (previous blog posts). Just tell me!

-Eden

the next set for your enjoyment

Greetings from sunny Orlando, Florida!

I wouldn't let you guys go without new dresses just because I'm on the road. This week's dress composite is the AIMEE (last week's was the SOFIA, if I forgot to mention it). All of my dresses are currently named after actresses or character names in Fellini movies, however I have a special perk. One of my donation incentives, albeit at the $5,000 level, is that you get to name the dress styles. It could be your own name, it could be someone you'd like to honor, it could be your superhero name! If you look at lifetime costs of having a child or a pet, it's really a bargain...

So onto the new dresses! Again, please let me know your opinions, comments, and constructive criticisms. The Aimee has an elasticized waist, a flyaway wrap skirt, pockets, and adjustable 1/2" straps on metal sliders. It's made of silk knit jersey, which can be hand washed in cold water and laid flat to dry, or dry cleaned.

Again, please be constructive in your criticisms and opinions! You can dislike something, but not telling me why doesn't help me change it for the better!

-Eden

Anticip........ation!

Hi all!

It's been a busy several days here at the Cabiria Studio! Part of compiling images for a combination of uses - investor packages, potential line sheets, sussing out details for the samplemakers, etc. - is the actual DESIGN of the clothes. What fabrics work with what designs? As a small company dealing with limited yardage runs, I don't simply design the clothes, pick a fabric, and then cut and sew x number of them in that fabric. I've got 65 yards here, 206 yards there, 9 yards somewhere else of different fabrics. Which creates EXCLUSIVITY! That dress in the green zebra print silk jersey? Only 14 yards of it in existence. Which means there's very few of those cut. The dress in the crazy Peter Max Goes to Hawaii cotton sateen? Just around 100 yards of that in house. Sounds like a lot, but really in Plus Size land, it's more like 28 - 35 dresses. Boutique limited production runs in practice!

So let me introduce you to some of the possibilities. Each dress is a specific style (in this case, the "SOFIA") shown with what it would look like in a number of different fabrics. Let me know your opinions, please! (But try to be civil. If you're going to be specific, or your comments are long, email me personally at eden@cabiriastyle.com, please.) Nothing helps me develop as a business more than knowing what my potential clients want.

This dress is featured in both woven and knit, has a slightly elasticized waist, a 3 button placket, and reaches just below the knee in a generous A-line. Also please note I'm not a graphic artist or Photoshop wizard, so the underlay of the fabrics for each dress might not be perfect, but it's pretty close. Don't judge my Photoshop skills, please!

Let the games begin!

- Eden

Today's fabric yumminess

Hi Folks!

So it was a great weekend for people watching - I went to the Kentucky Derby! Okay, technically, I went to Louisville on Derby weekend with the hopes of getting in (and didn't), but the people watching around town was stupendous. Fabulous springtime dresses and hats everywhere, despite the rainy weather.

Which brings me to my latest fabric update. First of all, THANK YOU to the wonderful people who have DONATED (using the button conveniently located to your right) to Cabiria, and helped me get sumptuous fabrics, but also things like labels:

and shipping (less interesting to post a photo of my UPS guy) and business licences (VERY uninteresting photo there) and all the other ephemera that go into a start up. I can't do this without you, so THANK YOU! Now, onto some cool stuff...

Today's fabric teaser is a lightweight 100% silk piqué (marcella, or waffle weave) with ENORMOUS flowers on it. Like 14" across enormous. Which I think looks amazing on a bigger body, because we have the real estate to show it off properly (ahem). With all the 80's shapes and fabrics that have been hitting the market lately, the weave feels both James Galanos (Nancy Reagan's favorite designer) or Hanae Mori and totally au courant. Did I mention it's also light as air?

I get really excited about this stuff - I hope you guys do too, and please, let your friends know about us!

-Eden

Everything comes together in it's own way

Hey all!

So it's been a big week in the world, and a big week for Cabiria. I've gotten some incredible response from generous donors, which really helps offset the costs of starting this business from the ground up. I've started matching fabrics to sketches - which seems like something one would do first, but I like finding the most beautiful fabrics, then designing around them. For instance, this is a slide from my investor's pitch, but it illustrates some of the rich fabrics I'm finding, and illustrations on my girls. Woo hoo!

So as I match these up, I'll have more images to show you all, and how it comes to fruition. Big steps!

-Eden