this is so brief. i am recovering from working too many all-nighters and still have a small pile of orders to go. it’s funny, it’s not actually that i have hundreds of orders over here. it’s just that each tote takes a fair amount of time.

but here is something i often think about and have for a long while. i am starting to have those “i want a sweet space” feelings again, instead of studio-work-vault tricked out with laptop/sewing machine/tripods that i never leave. and in this sweet space i would love some antique Black Forest furniture. i love animal carvings in wood but i’m pretty specific. i don’t really like cute. i like austere, mysterious, mythical, gentle, majestic and a little naive. at least for this. and in dark woods, old endlessly rubbed woods, and Bog wood. my favourite. it’s black, just like it shared space with some dinosaurs in a tar pit.

here is a small example. a hand carved Victorian/Edwardian era deskbox [or casket].

Box information and photo credit here.

this is a topic that is often on my mind. i like quality but i don’t like snobbery or elitism. but a love of quality can become elitism. there is an interview with A.P.C. designer Jean Touitou that has him talking about how his anti-elitist anti-label brand has ironically become an elitist and highly recognized label-brand due to its popularity [which is doubly ironic or actually doesn’t make sense]. i’ve been Googling around the internet and can’t find this interview. it must have been hard copy. help me out here if you can.

here are some random fashion images that i have collected on my desktop this week. and the relevance to this topic? just a little collection of visual ironies and unexpected combinations. output of the expensive fashion machine which i love & sometimes hate. oh and a lot of white & cream…

Corinne Roitfeld Paris fashion week 2008

Facehunter/Dior FW 2008/Kate Moss [remember to clickclick.]

from Flickr friend helloalena [who was an SDR presence here & here & here] who is now in Korea and making me want to be there.

my comment under these pics in her Flickr stream goes like this-

oh hey… alena i’m gonna blog post swanboats! i am so tired of writing about clothes. i mean, how much is there to say really?! blah blah blah clothes… blah blah blah clothes! blah!

nevertheless i WILL be having more to say about clothes AND totes probably as soon as tomorrow!

back to sewing…

i adore this drawing by Caitlin Shearer. found thru lovely jennine’s The Coveted blog.

someone is really getting it right. and that would be the British designer Erdem Moralioglu. 2 dresses from his latest collection.

pics via The Fashion Spot. click for largesse.

i LOVE this peacock leather wrist cuff by Etsy seller Sunny Rising Leather…

and she has so MANY other beautiful items…

as i mentioned earlier i am posting the invite to katie bethune-leamen’s mushroom studio opening. May 28, 2008 – April 15, 2009, toronto sculpture garden, 115 King St. E.

the opening is 4:30 – 6:30 on May 28, 2008.

please go to my Flickr stream to read katie’s artist statement. and then go visit her mushroom.

this Flickr group is so wonderful. look at all these great sewing tattoos…

1. New tattoo, 2. craft tattoo, 3. Reneighborhood has scissors that never dull, 4. Tapestry tattoo, 5. ScissorsClUp.JPG, 6. tape measure bow tattoo, 7. birdie, 8. sewing machine tattoo, 9. My fresh ink

i put the full version in my Flickr stream…

sort of obsessed with maypoles these days…

my blog postings are like drive-bys these days. ah well. at least you know i am still kicking.

i love Fleet Ilya’s leatherware. i love the huge brass rings. [and you’ll see those in my new totes in a couple of days…]

via Ponystep

via StyleBubble

his MySpace profile is his only site it seems…