Scarf as Accessory

Alison is back wearing a little floral scarf that acts like a bit of jewelery: an accessory with more aesthetic value than pragmatic use. It's made of sheer printed 70's silk backed with the very sheer black wool I've been using lately. Too sheer to keep you warm, but it sure looks pretty.

Turquoise Thai silk, on silk

I've had this printed Thai silk for a really long time and was having a hard time finding the right fabric to back it with. I finally found some Tussah silk in the right shade of dark blue. Tussah is also called raw silk and has a very interesting story. It's silk from wild silk moth worms that eat all kinds of leaves, rather than cultivated silk worms that only eat mulberry leaves. Read about it here. Our model is jewelery designer Melissa McClure who does incredible work in gold.
Oh, and check this out: James Beard is wearing an apron made from the same printed Thai silk, except in red and black, on the cover of this Cuisinart cookbook!

The Marimekko Rose Garden has expanded

A little while back I posted a scarf made from the Marimekko rose print called Maalaisruusu. I've made some more scarves from this fabric but this time instead of backing them with black linen I used the gorgeous brick colored vintage Kanebo silk I found at an estate sale last week. Kanebo started out as a silk mill but the company is better known now for their silk based cosmetics. I met web designer Alison for dinner and there she was with her red hair sitting against the stone wall, and I just happened to have this red rose scarf with me

The Good Old Red, Black and Blue

Red and white stripes on a long, sheer, flowing silk look great against Heather's little black dress. The blue border is part of the design of the material.

More Marimekko

I'll have an update shortly on the Marimekko Rose patterned scarf I posted earlier but in the meantime here's Tiger wearing another vintage Marimekko print scarf. I found this fabric mounted as a wall hanging. The print is called Kumiseva and was designed in 1971 by Japanese designer Katsuji Wakisaka. The print shows the roofs of a Finnish or Russian village but as you can see, when it is broken up into a small scarf it becomes quite abstracted. And this is a small scarf. I had just enough fabric to make a handful of these short neck wraps backed with black cotton satin.

Pretty Scarves All in a Row

A sea of scarves, in the colors of the sea. Doesn't it make you want to dive in and swim around in them?!

The Shield

Masha (see Marimekko Roses post below) and I went to the opening party for the Beacon Arts Building in Inglewood last night and decided to take advantage of the pristine white walls of the new gallery space to take pics of each other wearing my scarves. So, my readers, you finally get to see a picture of me, Charles, the creator of the scarves! I call this scarf The Shield because of the little yellow shield shapes strewn on the dark blue silk, as well as the fact that it provides a useful shield against cold and wind because of the wool backing on the reverse. The silk is a vintage fabric from the fifties, I believe.

The Beacon Arts Building has some exciting programming coming up. If you are in the Los Angeles area, check it out here.

Le Billard Electrique

The boldly printed silk you see here makes me think of the lights of the pinball machine Edith Piaf sings about in "Le Billard Electrique". Or the bright signs of old Times Square made up of row after row of individual light bulbs. An exquisite silk combining plaid and polka dots into a big flashing, colorful sign. Christine just happened to be wearing a red silk jacket when we met up the other day. And I just happened to have this scarf and my camera. The scarf is backed with that beautiful Italian wool satin I've used on some of the other scarves I've posted previously.

Argyle Silk Velvet

Our lovely model, artist Jen Smith of pickle fame, is wearing a luxurious silk velvet scarf with a rich argyle design, backed with lightweight wool. All of the printed and patterned fabrics I use to make scarves are "found" fabrics, meaning none were bought new. I find the fabrics at thrift shops and yard sales, either as unused short lengths or as garments or home decor items that I take apart and repurpose. It's not often that one finds a beautiful silk velvet at a thrift shop. This was a nice find that matched well with the lightweight wool I had around. The scarf Jen is wearing has a blue wool backing. I also made a couple of these with an incredibly soft Italian black wool satin as shown in the lower picture.

Japanese bamboo

A delicate bamboo print in red and blue with gold highlights drifts across fine cream colored silk on this vintage fabric that is probably Japanese. I backed it with lightweight blue wool. I think the wool is what is called challis: it's not scratchy at all. This scarf is reminiscent of an obi but is soft and pliable, unlike obis which are very stiff and can't be worn as scarves. The photo features our new model named Crystal.

A Scarf that looks like a suit and tie

Scarves are like ties and ties are like scarves and this scarf is like a tie, and a suit too. The printed fabric on the front is the kind of fabric that is used to make ties. And the fabric on the back of this scarf is classic herringbone tweed suiting fabric. So you've got the elements of a suit and a tie in a scarf. Our model Chi-hong visited Beijing this summer to present at a conference on statistics. If he goes back in the winter, this scarf will keep him warm and stylish.