Bird Trouble Look Book Preview

Bird Trouble had a photo shoot scheduled with Megan Saul for this past weekend and I can not be more excited to share these with you. I've been quite over my not-professional-looking-photos, so when Megan Facebook messaged me with the opportunity to collaborate with her, I jumped right up. It's been a delightful treat working with her! This is the first shoot and the next one being this coming up weekend. I'll be styling both and modeling in one. Next weekend will just be my babe of a friend, Rosana. You're going to love her. She's great all around but I am partial to her fantastic hair.

These bags that are photographed come apart as Bird Trouble's next few collections. They come in groups separated by the textile they're made out of. In these photos, there are two found materials and one completely new technique - dyed and bleached. There are multiples shapes with tassels because I know you guys like those.

The Vagrant /// The Bona Fide

WEARS: I went thrifting a few times to collect all the clothing I wanted in the photos. That long sweater is the best thing ever. It's Anthropology that I found for $3 and it makes me feel like I am wearing a cape. The T.Rex shirt was originally my friend Bryan's shirt until he handed that sweet little baby to me. I treat that shirt so good. I also borrowed some rad jewelry made with bullet shells, leather, feathers, & critter bones. Chicago designer, Arieana creates one of a kind accessories for the day dreamers and night time seekers, the Flux of Feathers. I think her style compliments Bird Trouble's "tough" side. Yeaaaah, tough girl side. Real tough.

Lately, in Instagram.

If you don't already, you should follow me on Instagram at BirdTrouble. You'll see a lot of bags in process, me hugging my dog, me getting my hair done at my work, Chicago photos, & currently, a lot of leaves. Can't get enough of them.

Here's a little picture story for you in Instagram photoso, from most recent to oldest. These are all about the dyed & bleached designs I've been working on. I'm not positive what I'll be calling this little collection, but I was thinking Jet Blanch. "To lose color" and Jet because of the color. What do you think?

Hope you enjoyed a little behind the scenes work. I'm working on a lot of projects recently, including custom orders and a photo shoot with my photographer friend. More information on that later! For now, I need to pass. out. Thank you for your patience in my posts. I know they can be scattered depending on my personal life, but I do appreciate the reads!

Textiles : Remind me to work with these.

Hello world! Today, I'm showing you a few textiles that I have in my studio. Some were found just recently, and some have been collecting dust [not literally. please, I keep my fabric fresh smelling!]. My favorite out of this bunch has to be the first one. It's a twin of the fabric that I found for the Free Bird bag collection. It was pretty shocking running into this at the thrift store because how can I find two similar, but different colors, fabrics at two different thrift stores? I think it might mean that I thrift too much- but at least it's part of my job. Ahh... the perks of owning your own business : Doin' what you wanna do.

I've been working on a lot of custom orders lately so, with that demand, I think it's a good idea to post what fabrics I have lying around here. I always grab the textiles that I think look really different, have a texture, or give me a vintage nostalgic feeling. If anyone is ever interested in speaking of an idea of your own custom bag, these textile posts are to help your imagination run. These would be your choice of already-owned textiles, but some custom orders may require a little bit of thrift hunting if I don't have it already.

DESCRIPTIONS

From top to bottom, here are a few descriptions of the textiles above. 1) Free Bird Rosa; found cotton weaved fabric that came with raw edges, so I'm not sure what it's original purpose was. This reminds me of trips to Mexico as a child.
2) Madness; found polyester knit. Vintage retro! It's mad, which is why I called it Madness.
3) Plaid Penny; a found polyester knit with a plaid print. I'm crazy about this other vintage find. Any mod ladies out there?
4) Goldie Knit; once a knit blanket, this textile would make great slouchy bag designs. Reminds me of the 70's! Which makes it cool in my book.
5) Blonde Floral Affair; a found great textile to pair with something tan/brown for the fall. It's more durable to the double and would be great for tote bags. Yep, I just might do that.

As always, I can be reached through email. I'll be back shortly to show you some recent photos from a little shoot I did by the lake. I also need to tell you what I've been up to! A lot of fun stuff, not so fun stuff, some really cool things, and new friends have been made... but I need to use the time I have out of the salon to create & sew. Less blogging for a while! Don't miss me too much.

xo.

Creating a look book // Stenciling & Foil Art

I´m creating a DIY look book to give as a handout to a few local boutiques in Chicago. I´ve thought about the idea of a look book for a while now, and I´ve gone forth and back in my brain about ideas on how to really impress them. Only recently I became obsessed with the idea of making my own after seeing my roommate make a book cover. I create things - it´s what I like to do. So not just sewing my bags, but I also designed this blog and my logo. I love creating all of this myself, though it may not be the most professional looking, and it may be over whelming b/c sometimes I think I spend too much time on it when I should be sewing. But this is what it is to start up a brand by yourself; work. All of it. It´s cool and I rather love it.

Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments & follow the creation by clicking the tag label : Look book Creation.

In this post, I´m creating my design, creating my stencil, and testing out the foil art on my design for the first time on a piece of paper. I´m doing this to not waste the material I actually want to put it on.

H O W   I   D I D   I T :

Design your stencil - think of the ideas!

Trace it onto your stencil paper exactly how you want to cut it /// If you please, leave openings in the plastic to open up any holes - if you don´t, your ¨O¨s are going to be completely open O´s.

Cut your design out with an exacto knife. Watch your fingers.

Apply your Adhesive Paste. I was careful here, making sure I kept a steady hand and close attention so it didn´t bleed under the stencil. Just go slow!

I cleaned up any spots and added a little more adhesive without the stencil.

I then let it dry for an hour. I waited anxiously and watched some Life During Wartime. Its good.

I placed my gold foil on top of the adhesive. With a brush, I gently brushed away the extra gold. I didn´t really handle it with my hands at all. After a bit, I perfected the placement & stopped fiddling with it.

I then applied my top coat sealer.

Now it´s drying until I can see it again tomorrow morning. I plan on working on this tomorrow afternoon on the material I actually want it on. See you then! -Alexz