FABRIC EXPLOSION...(in a good way)

ok ok ok...I know I seem excited 24-7, but I swear that's not the case...this is GENUINE EXCITEMENT Y'ALL...trust me, most of the time I'm pulling my hair out in distress, but in this instance no hair has been lost...yet...WE GOT OUR FABRICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is most definitely extended Christmas like feeling when we receive fabrics over here, but when it's a custom design that you've slaved over and waited forever for, it's like Christmas on crack or something...hard to describe, but in a good way (and let it be known we are not condoning the use of crack, especially on Christmas, but I digress, WE'RE EXCITED)!!

We had planned on using local printer, Blissett Textiles for our entire order, but she's been having some issues with her machine, and while we'd love to stay local (New Orleans local) we ended up outsourcing to North Carolina, and we couldn't be happier with our Spoonflower creations (and glad to stay domestic)!  While they weren't our first choice, they were AMAZINGLY helpful throughout the entire process, GREAT customer service, and a good fabric selection for such short notice (we were able to remain organic and eco-friendly, which we were very happy about).  Special shout out to Emma over there at Spoonflower, I know I was one annoying customer ;) thanks for putting up with me

We still plan on having some fabrics locally printed, just not all of them, unfortunately we needed to get started ASAP, so we had to do a majority through Spoonflower, but we're still so happy to use Camilla and Blissett Textiles also :)

Loving our new tech!

So I know I've already raved about the Dell Inspiron 23, but it's just making design life SO much easier and so much more FUN...

When dealing with incorporating custom prints into a collection, there's A LOT of unseen work...using Adobe Illustrator is a key tool that has helped us to narrow down print selection and placement for specific pattern pieces.  Once again, I hope I'm not giving too much away with our images below...but we're having a lot of fun with this collection...just hoping we can get it all done in about 3-4 weeks (insert crazy face)...enjoy some preliminary roughs/thoughts below

the SACRED collection - Sneak Preview....

We're so excited here at theDesignLab to launch our Prefall 2014 "Sacred" Collection.  We still have A LOT of work to do in order to actually show during New Orleans Fashion Week, BUT, we feel confident we can pull it off (despite a LOT of obstacles that are presenting themselves...but as fellow designer and friend Lisa Iacono recently told me, "that's the story of our lives in this biz!" so I guess I better get used to setbacks, it's not just me!)

Waiting for our fabrics to come back from the printer and we're super excited, so we decided to share a few previews...these aren't to scale, and they're kinda lackluster viewed so small, but we didn't want to give away TOO much, so here goes nothing (or everything)...fingers crossed they come back from the printer and we love them...excited to share and hope you enjoy...going from illustrator on to a body is always a huge guessing game, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.  Anyway, enjoy your sneak peak of a few SACRED prints from our 2014 Prefall Sacred Collection by the Design Lab...

Prepping Marcella

deep thoughts...by Marcella Perino ;)

Piggy-backing off one of my last posts, we're so excited to launch Marcella Perino's first capsule collection under the Design Lab label!  Pictured above is a small glimpse into some runway collection preparation - from sketch, to fabric swatch selection, to print selection, to required yardage, and much more thought and time that goes into runway prep!  Marcella has come such a long way here at the Design Lab...below are some progress pics of her learnings and progress toward her first capsule collection which can be seen during New Orleans Fashion Week in March 2014!

drafting her first trouser pattern!

first attempt at a trouser, not too shabby...this pic is PRE-edits

Torso drafting and sew-up

a Marcella Perino original, from sketch to dress form :)