The Wearable Art of Pam Wells

Pam Wells in 1958 in front of her grandparent's Dry Cleaner Shop

Rewind to the mid 50s, and see a 12-year-old Pam Wells standing behind the register at her grandparents' dry cleaning business, ready to help customers. Surrounded by fabric, steam, and seamstresses doing alterations, she attests that sewing and fabric have always been a big part of her life. As the oldest grandchild, she was tapped for the job and enjoyed earning some money that way. Far superior to baby-sitting her three younger sisters!

The "Leaf" costume - 1955

She worked there until she was 17, and graduated from the cash register to pressing men's slacks, shortening pants' hems, and finally – the big deal – pressing silk dresses. Meanwhile, she was surrounded by a mom, a grandmother, and others who sewed, along with an industrical sewing machine at work and a treadle machine at home. “Back then, everybody sewed,” Pam exclaims.

Her mother encouraged her to try new things, too, so she altered patterns early on, and just created her own fairly soon. Her favorite things to make were Halloween costumes and prom dresses! Both allowed for some experimentation, which continued to increase her skill and proficiency.

Some background dye has been
applied to silk.  A stamp is ready to
add its shape and color to the surface.

In the 70s, she took a class in precision dying. “While the precision part didn't stick, the dying part was great fun”, she says. Pam began adding her own dyed fabrics to the mix and continues to this day. Of course she experimented with that, too, and now has a unique dying style that creates a subtle, mottled background for the surface embellishment she applies next.

Pam's large collection of wooden
stamps from India and Indonesia.

Having an avid interest in ethnic fabrics of the world, Pam began collecting wooden stamp blocks from India and Indonesia, used in the batik industry there. For batik, the stamp would be dipped in wax to stamp onto the fabric, preventing dye from seeping into it. Pam, instead, dips the stamp into dye and applies that to her already hand-dyed fabric. She has her own hand-made stamps as well, along with stencils and all manner of things to apply surface design.

Pillows are a nice canvas to show off her skills.
These include unique Korean wovens,
Japanese dyed pieces,
and her own stencil designs.

The combination of her own surface design, along with her love of unusual, handmade fabrics, has made her a collector of them too. Intricately woven silks with the pattern woven in with gold wire (“yes, it's really gold, too”, she points out), or Chinese silk embroidery and applique, or vintage Japanese kimono fabrics, and so much more. “I usually can only afford a tiny piece of these things, so walk out of the place with these little 6” strips of amazing cloth,” she says.

The design process - a little of this, a little of that...

All these fabrics and embellishments, along with her own surface applications, result in one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art such as scarves, jackets, and now pillows. The design phase is her favorite part of the process, and she takes an intuitive approach. Some background fabric is laid out on a big table. Perhaps it's a solid color, or perhaps it's one of her dyed pieces of silk. Her studio is bursting with all these amazing strips of cloth and ribbons. 

Pam Wells models one
of her unique scarves.

 She'll lay some things on top of the fabric and decide if it works. No? Take one thing away and add something new. “Yes, that's it! But not that other thing... “ And so on, until all the components are gathered. Now, the pure technical phase of sewing everything together, and onto the surface, completes the picture. “That's the boring part,” she says.

Those of us who get to see the end result find each piece anything but boring! Each is unique, and comes with a story, too, of where each precious piece of surface embellishment came from, whether Pam's own hand or some far-off land.

Pam's signature "Dragonfly Wrap",
so named because of its shimmer and
movement, enjoys myriad
incarnations from Pam's imagination.
Here she's used black silk and silver metallic
fabric paint in the shape of dragonflies.

Because of her emphasis on surface design, the Japanese kimono lends itself beautifully. As many of you have come to expect over her years of representation at Manya Vee Selects, she has modified that shape into a very fluid and contemporary jacket that wears well on so many body types.   

Her simple scarves are another excellent canvas for surface design, and when worn over a simple top or dress, turn even a plain T-shirt into wearable art.

A new source of enjoyment takes the form of dying socks made of bamboo fabric. Ultra-soft, with naturally built-in antiseptic and moisture-wicking properties, Pam transforms a utilitarian white sock into something very colorful and fun – and affordable at $15 per pair! Her clever husband engineered her “sock machine” so she could dye a pair at the same time to get a good match.

Dying socks

New socks, wraps, jackets, scarves and pillows arrive on Thursday, August 16, at Manya Vee Selects when Pam is our featured artist. We hope you can join us!

And if you have a story of a special event to which you wore your Pam Wells wearable art, please share it with us! We'd love to hear it – especially Pam!

Artfully Yours,

Manya Vee

The Hat Makes The Woman

Two summer hat styles by Pandemonium Hats

It is a series of happy coincidences that has brought Leigh Young to her current place in life as a successful entrepreneur of handmade hats, made under her Pandemonium Hats label.  Currently based out of her home studio in Burien, Washington, she has experienced the strange phenomenon of having her business explode during these recession years.  So, how did it all happen?  Let's find out!

"Grace" hat

I asked Leigh when she started sewing.  She said, "I don't completely remember.  However, my mom once showed me a rather hideous-looking doll which she said I made when I was 7.  I made a few things back then, but was mostly messing around.  I'd lay down on a piece of fabric and cut it out around me.  Then drape it together and sew it up.  None of it was any good."

Unable to get a class she wanted in high school, she ended up in a sewing class.  Happily, she liked it enough that after graduation, Leigh went on to design school at Seattle Central Community College.  Their program is quite excellent.  "I really developed excellent technical skills there."  After graduating in the early 90s, she developed a line of 1920s-inspired clothing with an edgy feel, and thus was born the Pandemonium label.  She sold these at retail shows and fund-raisers, but it was tough going at the beginning, so Leigh held down three other jobs to make ends meet, including loading trucks for UPS.

Acrylic "patterns" for various
hat styles

One day, she got a call from the owner of We Hats, an independent hat maker in Seattle, who was looking for help making hats, and started working there.  And thus, another happy coincidence occurred.  When that owner retired, Leigh took over the label and continued making and selling the line.  At this time she was still working on her clothing line on the side, but getting buried by the costs.  She noticed how much fewer capital costs were involved in making hats, and gradually switched her focus to this.  By 1998, it was all hats.

Bolts of fabric waiting to become
hats, scarves and handbags

Happy coincidence #3 happened here, when she did the large wholesale clothing trade show in Las Vegas.  While the show itself didn't go so well, she got her first sales rep - which led to other reps, and ultimately sales to boutiques all across the US and Canada.  And then, just a few years into it, came 9/11.  Like so many other small businesses, her sales plummeted.  But she just hung in there and kept at it.  Business grew ever so slowly, but followed an upward trajectory.  As things grew, she gradually added scarves and handbags to the line.

Leigh Young herself
in a new product for 2012,
the fur collar!

So now here we are in 2012, and still feeling the effects of an economic recession.  Yet for Leigh Young, the past two years have seen explosive growth in her business.  Why?  The luxurious faux fur fabrics she added to her line back in 2000 suddenly took off.  "The demand for these faux fur products is just crazy", she says.  The orders have come rolling in so fast!  With more orders coming in than she could possibly make by herself, she had to suddenly become an employer.  Finding workers with the necessary technical skills to get the quality results for which she was known proved frustrating.  For the 2011 winter season, she had thirteen sewers working hard at the peak.

Two women hard at work in May, sewing the
faux fur products in preparation for
the many orders soon to come in for winter.

In preparation for this third winter with many and large orders for the faux fur, Leigh is preparing well in advance.  Rather than waiting for an order to come in, and then begin making it, she is looking at order history to determine top sellers.  Many of her sewers are hard at work creating a nice back stock supply!

Faux Fur finished back-stock

Leigh's spring/summer hats are also quite wonderful.  With lovely fabrics and easy-to-wear styles, she describes her customer as a woman between 18 - 50 who has a little more confidence and style than the masses.  She's not afraid to stand out a bit.

Leigh is looking forward to continued business growth, but wants to stay with small stores and boutiques.  No big box stores for her; she prefers working with small independent business-owners like herself.  She loves the freedom of working for herself, despite the many hard knocks along the way!  I think we'll be able to enjoy many more years of casual yet fun hats from Pandemonium.

Enjoy this video of Leigh herself, showing the variety of ways to wear another new product this winter - a 3-button scarf!  And then, look forward to getting one for yourself this coming winter!  Click on the link below...

Demonstration: the 3-button scarf

Join us Thursday, May 17, 2012 for a trunk show featuring Leigh Young's Pandemonium Hats for spring and summer!  We hope to see you that evening from 5 - 8 pm.

Cheers,

Manya Vee

www.ManyaVeeSelects.com

It's a Wonderful Mystery: Birgit Moenig's Silk Scarves

Birgit Moenig has been sharing her love of painting on silk for over 25 years. What she loves even more than painting on silk is meeting women who feel happier because they are wearing one of her scarves. And that's what it all comes down to: bringing as much happiness as possible, through the beauty a silk scarf can bring to a person and her world.

A happy customer, wearing her
new Birgit scarf

Hailing from Germany originally, Birgit was exposed to silk painting very early. Many German housewives know how to paint on silk, so it was a common, everyday thing to do. Initially, she just picked up some silk, opened some dye, and put it on the silk as she had seen so many others do so effortlessly. She applied her artist eye to it as well, and got inspiration from other artist friends also applying dye to silk. “It's an on-going learning process even today,” she exclaims. “I still talk to my artist friends, and we are always trying new things to see what works best.”

Before painting on silk, Birgit had tried watercolor on paper, “but it didn't take,” she says. Acrylic on canvas was better, and in fact she painted and sold miniature folk paintings at the Pike Place Market when she and her husband first arrived in the States in 1980. But dyeing silk was what she really loved to do. “Designing something and staying inside the lines isn't very fun,” she says. “So I developed my silk dyeing to avoid that. It's a more abstract approach with colors overlapping and flowing together.”

Using a brush to "paint" the dye
onto the white silk

People are drawn to the beautiful colors Birgit uses on her scarves. At Manya Vee Selects, we love to watch people have their eye drawn to our scarf rack and its colorful array of her scarves. They can't resist walking over and touching them! Birgit finds the color choices and blending to be a constant challenge. “It's a wonderful mystery. When it's all done, that's when you know whether it worked or not.”    

Multi-colored scarf by Birgit

The technique is what causes the challenge. A non-toxic, water-based liquid dye is applied to dry, white silk. Colors are always more intense when they are wet, so controlling the strength of each hue is difficult. In addition, not as many colors are available as before, so that means more blending is required to achieve a full palette with lots of variety. In the end, Birgit confesses that her color choices are very intuitive. Of course, I have a feeling her 25 years of experience helps guide the intuition to get her beautiful results.

Birgit's scarf rack at Manya Vee Selects

Birgit works with her husband, Dieter, closely these days. This teamwork began when he lost all contracts for his own business after 9/11. He had been making high-tech satellites for ships. That left him with a lot of time on his hands. One piece of equipment he used in his business is a water-jet, which can cut cleanly through metals. He designed some 3-D ornaments made out of Boeing surplus aluminum, each one cut with that water jet. They were very successful. More designs followed based on customer requests.

Next, customers began asking for 3-D earrings. This required much smaller pieces, and thus more precision in cutting. His huge machine wasn't made for such detail. Upon discovering it would cost $28,000 to re-tool it, he gave up for a while. But the requests kept coming, so he figured out a way to re-tool it himself, costing only $2,000. He graduated the metal to titanium since aluminum has such a low perceived value, and grew his own customer base with this new product.

Three notKnot styles

A scarf woven into a
notKnot

The next product he invented ties Dieter's and Birgit's respective products together very closely – the notKnot! Based on a concept floating around in Birgit's head, each notKnot is cut out with the water jet using thick stainless steel. It allows a person a great deal of flexibility in how to wear the scarves, by weaving them in and out of the openings, making the scarf a bit more like a piece of jewelry.

Now, in addition to showing her scarves at Manya Vee Selects in Edmonds, they tour the country together doing art fairs and selling their wares together, finding new fans at each new show they do. Birgit loves returning to a place and meeting customers for a second, third and fourth time. It gives her great joy to hear how much the women enjoy wearing her scarves. It is an extra special day when someone sends her a card or email letting her know how much they love wearing her scarves.

Birgit and Dieter at an art show

We're in our 12^th year now at Manya Vee Selects, and Birgit is one of just a few artists whose work we've carried since the beginning.  Her scarves find passionate new wearers almost daily. We love passing along those stories to Birgit from our own customers, who simply can't resist that scarf rack and end up buying one, then two, then another for a gift, and so on. Go ahead and write your story here in the comments about your Birgit scarves, so we can share it with her too.

And of course, make your own pilgrimage to The Scarf Rack, and see for yourself how happy and beautiful a new Birgit scarf can make you feel!

See you soon,

Manya

P.S.  Here are links to previous blogs that show some scarf-tying methods.

http://manyaveeselects.blogspot.com/2011/11/3-scarf-ideas-to-spiff-up-your-wardrobe.html

http://manyaveeselects.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-neophyte-to-expert-in-2-hours.html

April 16, 2012

Be The Best Gift-Giver On The Planet - Part 2

We talked about gifts for the home or office before.  Now it's time to turn our hand to personal gifts - gifts of jewelry, accessories or clothing.  

Here are three tips that can help you get outside your own personal taste and focus on the person receiving your gift.

1.  What is your friend's style?  Is she conservatively tailored?  A northwest jeans and fleece gal? A jeans with tops and jackets that enjoy drape and flow?  A bohemian style with lots of movement and color?  Knowing the answer to this question can also help narrow down the options drastically.

Simple T-shirt and khakis, small earrings,
no necklace, only a watch.
She's also wearing warm tones - brown and tan

2. what is your friend's favorite color(s)?  This question often stumps people, so start paying attention now.  If you're not sure, just close your eyes and see the person in your head.  What color clothing do you see most often on her?  When you think of her, do you see blue-purple-aqua?  Or brown-orange-moss?  One of those means she prefers cool colors, and the other warm.    Maybe she's an all-black-all-the-time person.  These important clues will help narrow down a gift choice in the jewelry or accessory category quickly.

Flowing clothes, a bit Bohemian.
Can't tell in this picture, but she loves colorful, long, fun earrings.
There's a big, wide bracelet too.
Also notice the colors - pinks and purples, so in the cool tones.

3. What pieces of jewelry and/or accessories have you seen her wear?  Not everyone enjoys necklaces, for example.  I have several customers who were given a necklace by their children, and it is the only necklace they will wear.  This rules out necklaces for this pal!  Alternatively, she may enjoy earrings.  Okay, what kind of earrings?  Short ones with bright colors?  Long dangly ones?  All silver?  If she wears bracelets, notice if she prefers the stiff, cuff type, or a more flexible chain or beaded type.  

A more tailored look on the right - button up shirt and jacket.
Hair pulled back and - oh no! - no earrings!
But and lovely, simple, feminine necklace looks perfect.
The pretty blue means she wears cool tones.

And of course, we must consider a scarf.  A scarf can turn a simple top and pants into an outfit with a simple twist of the wrist!  If you have seen her wear scarves at all, not only do we have a wide variety of scarves, but we also have an entire shelf devoted to scarf toys!  

And in the post just before this, there are three great ideas on how to wear your scarves more fashionably and with greater versatility.  There's even a video of me showing our favorite way to tie scarves!

And here's me, in my comfortable, drapey, sexy clothes.
Also I like jewelry to be pretty showy, too, so I've got on some big earrings, necklace and bracelet here.

These three simple tips will make your gift selection process so much more effective, and give you much more confidence in your choices.  It's all a simple matter of paying attention, which is rather fun anyway.  So take a few minutes to think about those with upcoming birthdays, or those on your holiday gift list, and make them very happy this year!

Manya Vee

www.ManyaVeeSelects.com

Visit us today!

Manya Vee Selects

409 Main St

Edmonds, WA  98020

425-776-3778

Hours: Daily 11 - 6, Sunday & Tuesday noon - 4

3 Scarf Ideas to Spiff Up Your Wardrobe

I bet each and every woman reading this post has several scarves stuck way back in a drawer somewhere that she never wears.  We seem particularly challenged in figuring out how to wear the darned things!

Learn this tying
technique by watching the
video below

If any of you have visited Paris, you know that every neck is adorned with a lovely scarf - no outfit is complete without one.


Let's try a few easy tricks with long narrow scarves in particular, and you'll be getting compliments on your new look in a jiffy!


First - stop wearing scarves like everyone else in the Northwest - doubled in half, then put around your neck and both ends through the loop.  It's ubiquitous.  That can translate to "boring."




Instead, try this nifty trick for an entirely new look that starts the same basic way.

Next, here are some simple and inexpensive tools to maximize your scarf potential.

The Grip

THE GRIP is the invention of Everett artist Dieter Moenig.  A simple plastic ring that looks suspiciously like a life saver, this $4 item comes in an array of colors, and totally transforms your scarf.

Wrap the scarf around your shoulders like a shawl.  Grab a little piece from each inside edge, at solar plexus level.  Make little pointy-dudes with the edges (yes, that's the technical jargon), and put them through the center of the grip.  Pull until it's nice and snug.


Wear it right in front, or pull it off to the side for an assymetrical look.

Scarf with Grip

Three notKnots

THE NOT-KNOT is another invention of Deiter's.  These stainless steel pieces are cut with a water jet, leaving the inside super smooth, thus avoiding any edges to catch and tear your scarf.  Available in two sizes and lots of shapes.  Small is $24, large is $28.  The small size works on light-weight, delicate scarves while the larger can handle thicker scarves.

Simply weave the scarf in and then out, and presto!  Your scarf is more like a piece of jewelry!

Those three notKnots in use

So get those scarves out of the drawer and start wearing them!  It's cheaper than a new outfit, and will have compliments coming your way all day long!  They are also an excellent gift idea for your pals who wear scarves frequently.  What a nice surprise for them.

Manya Vee

www.ManyaVeeSelects.com

Visit us today!

Manya Vee Selects

409 Main St

Edmonds, WA  98020

425-776-3778

Hours: Daily 11 - 6, Sunday & Tuesday noon - 4

Emily Hickman's Timeless Hammered Silver Jewelry

Sometimes, an inclination toward something takes hold very early in life.  For Emily Hickman, jewelry was just such a thing.  Picture it if you will: little Emily, forming rings out of aluminum foil, and trying to figure out how to make them even shinier by adding rhinestones!  I bet you can just see a cute little blonde girl walking around, proudly holding out her hand for all to see her gorgeous "diamond" ring!

"Moondrops" bracelet from
new 2011 summer collection

Emily was lucky enough to have a metals program in her high school, where she took classes and got her first taste of using a torch and working with metals a little more precious than aluminum foil.

But as happens with so many, she believed the starving artist myth and felt she had to pursue a career with a stable paycheck.  Many dreary years later, and now in her 50s, she returned to her first love by taking jewelry-making classes at North Seattle Community College, and Danaca Designs in the U District.  As she describes it, "I had too many design ideas floating around in my head."  Apparently, they wouldn't be ignored!

Emily Hickman Designs

Emily took as many classes as possible, while maintaining a full-time job.  She wanted to get her skills down quickly so she could focus on making those designs floating around in her head become a reality.

And thus, Emily Hickman Designs was born!  Emily is inspired by her love of the water, as well as ancient hand-forged jewelry.  Simple yet classic shapes are the hallmark of her sterling silver jewelry.  What sets her work apart from the crowd is her use of various hammer tips to create different textures on the surface of the silver.

Earrings from 2011 collection

She also likes to use two different finishes.  One is a highly polished surface that glistens and dances in the light.  The other is a brushed finish that is very subtle and contemporary.  She created the tool she uses to make that brushed surface texture, so it is unlike others out there.  Whatever your personal style, Emily's classic designs is likely to have some choices for you.

Emily can't imagine leaving the house without some jewelry on.  She wanted her own jewelry to be the kind that a woman could wear with jeans, or feel confident wearing to a special event as well.  Her classic shapes with their wonderful textures achieve that goal brilliantly!

Very long necklace can be worn singly, doubly,
or even tripled

Please join us Thursday, July 21 from 5 - 8 pm when Emily will introduce her newest collection, which features open circles and coin-shaped silver elements in a variety of combinations, as seen in the pictures here.  You'll be the first to ever see them!  Wearing them is sure to elicit comments from your friends, and even complete strangers, giving you yet another opportunity to share a moment of beauty with the world.

Manya Vee
www.ManyaVeeSelects.com