Bangkok bound!

Hi all,

I have been an errant blogger, I know. So many things were happening in PersonalLand, that it made it hard to stay on top of the demands of a hungry blog audience. I am back now, though!

So the current news is that I will be going to Thailand in December and January, and while there, I'll be working with a wonderful Thai costume shop called Siam Costumes to build my patterns and first samples. They have experience working with vintage clothing cut for modern bodies, and a backstock of period fabrics as well. I'm really excited!

I still plan to manufacture the production line in the US, but there's just no way I could resist master cutters working on my samples while I ride elephants and give monkeys cocoanuts. Truly.

In other news, I'm also going to work on the Fall Winter 12/13 patterns and samples at the same time. This way, no matter what season we end up launching, Cabiria will be ready to go running into production. How exciting!

With that in mind, here's a dress, sans fabric, from the FW12/13 collection. You, my readers, are the first to see it!

There are many changes afoot, and I think the new approach will better serve my vendors and customers in the long run. Making plans then completely remodeling them seems to be in the air lately, but it's all good stuff!

Let me know what you all think, and I'll try to be more diligent on that blog posting thing!

-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