Yearly Archives: 2021

…………………..The September 05 group had one of my all time most successful jackets. The fabric was a wool boucle. It had a flat shirt collar long sleeves with a slight flare, button hole  pockets and a lovely shape that glided over the body……It had the most beautiful embroidery of roses, wisteria and vines…on the front, back and sleeves….it was abundant. I still have these toppers….I just can’t part with them…….yet! It was reordered so many times in so many colors…..black, ivory, red, sapphire blue, forest green and chocolate are the ones I remember. EACH JACKET had different color embroidery! These were so much fun to create. The sketches and charts of the embroidery took forever to do. Every single thing had to be detailed…….The coordinating TN sweater had a gently shaped body, but it was the flared embroidered sleeves that closed the deal…..These sweaters sold very well and were reordered too……..The suede and rib knit jacket had a shawl collar and knit sleeves…..I think this was a reorder?………….The pinstripe suit was right up my alley. We did the matching trouser and not the pencil skirt. They were made in a beautiful rayon/poly/span woven gaberdine….The fabric looked and felt like an Italian fabric I had used at AK……The blazer had all of the “Linea” touches……beautifully shaped and tailored, fully lined, working buttons on the sleeves that could be turned back and button hole pockets…..To give the jacket an edge I embroidered a “corsage” of flowers down from one shoulder and the top of the sleeve. The emb. was blue on the navy and blue pinstripe and grey on the black and grey pinstripe……to layer under the suit I did a “POLO SWEATER” in CASHMERE and SILK!….those were the days!…..The buttons on the placket down the front and on the sleeves were small RHINESTONES. It came in Black, Ivory, Pale Pink and a Soft Blue…….It looked marvelous under the pinstripe suit, but was a wonderful separate sweater too………..The last sweater was something special…..It was a rayon/nylon blend. It had a ballet neckline and raglan long sleeves…….but it was the emb that made it so special. The emb. was a combination of silver cupped sequins, each with a center bead, and scattered through out were small crystal and rhinestone beads. We did this sweater in Black, Ivory and Grey.

……………..July 05…….was the beginning of a new Fall/Winter season……The Double Breasted Suede jacket had the additional of a side zip closure down the side front next to the buttons…..just for an extra touch of GOLD….It also had zippers on the sleeves and ZIPPERS IN THE TWO BACK SEAMS at the HEM. This allowed for more hiney room and was very sexy when they were opened.The jacket was an exact copy of one I did for Anne Klein except the Anne Klein jacket was in a beautiful Italian soft BLACK LEATHER……Even the GOLD NUGGET BUTTONS were duplicated from the original. The black leather version was one of Jac’s personal favorites…..Elizabeth Taylor wore the black leather jacket on the Johnny Carson show. It was so much fun to see her sitting there looking fabulous! She was a frequent customer…The suede jacket came in BLACK, MAGENTA, BRICK RED and OLIVE……The turtle neck tunic had side slits with gold zippers. It was an Every Needle Rib sweater so it had body, but I can’t remember the exact yarn….it was a rayon blend and had a beautiful hand and sheen. It was heavier than the WK….It was in the black, magenta, olive and brick red to match the suede jacket………The blouse at the bottom left was made in SILK….everything was made in silk! However, they were dry clean only! Actually, you could hand wash them if you knew what you were doing. My mother always hand washed her silk blouses…..The blouse was no ordinary blouse. It had French Cuffs, but the magic was the removable RUFFLE JABOT. It buttoned onto the buttons on the placket so you could wear it with or without…….I see that the sketch has the “Streamer Ties” that were a separate addition. They were 3 long streamers in the self fabric that were sewn together at the center. You would wrap them under the collar and knot them in the front…giving you 6 streamers….I don’t remember if we sold the streamers with the blouse along with the jabot, but I do know I did do a blouse with them…..The blouse came in Magenta, Olive and Ivory…..all to work with the suede jacket or any jacket that worked with them………The last item was a rayon/nylon raglan sleeve sweater. It had a ballet neckline and long sleeves. It too came in Black, Olive and Magenta. It had a very wide band of faceted, flat back jewels all hand sewn on. They were in beautiful colors. The photo does them no justice!!!…The chart at the lower right is what I made for the embroiderers to follow………Three of the four styles were reordered!

………………….May 05 was my fifth year at QVC, and the business just continued to grow……everyone was happy. By now I knew the workings of QVC and most of the players. The models had become close friends with Jac and myself, and a good time was had by all…..This was a two hour show and it was chock full of great items…….The jacket at the upper left was in the stretch cotton sateen that was becoming a staple fabric. The quality, with its’ subtle sheen, was a superb fabric. It had body seams which gave it a great shape and inset band pockets. It had 3/4 sleeves with slits and turn back cuffs…..It had a three button front with beautiful gold crest buttons……but……..the surprise was in the back. There were tabs that came out of the seams that buttoned with the same gold buttons….however it also had a multi row of real gold chains that could be attached to the buttons under the tabs or not, so it was very versatile….The fact that the chains were real gave the jacket a very designer look…..The coordinating crop pant in the cotton sateen also had the tabs and removable chains on the waist band……To layer with the jacket there was a cotton/rayon 2×2 rib tank with lurex trim. There was also a sleeveless TN , but I’m not sure if it was part of the group…….There were THREE SILK SHIRTS…..a work shirt with tiny gold buttons in beautiful colors…..a random stripe shirt in three different color combinations, and a beautiful floral in two colors. This beautiful floral had GOLD TINY SEQUINS outlining some of the flowers which made the shirt very festive!……There was also a gored floral skirt…..and a print TEE WITH JEWELS outlining the neckline……..this wasn’t the end of the May Anniversary show…….there’s more to come!…………..scroll down

…………………There were some wonderful items in the May 05 group…….the cotton tunic shirt at the upper left with the thread and jewel emb. was one of Jac’s favorites and she would take it away on all of our trips. It had the look of a Mexican wedding shirt. It came in the white and turquoise with multi color emb. I believe we ended up putting jewel buttons down the front to match the emb. The buttons were in muli colors. The inspiration for the top came from an emb. shoe that Jac owned………Now she had a top to match her shoes!!!! That’s the advantage of having a designer for a husband!………..The next tunic was another top that Jac wore often in the Caribbean. It was in  a sheer silk crinkle georgette with a matching tank…….The jewel and sequin emb. was multi color and had a Moroccan flare…Some of the jewels outlining the opening were triangular in shape…..I loved the way this tunic came out. I thought the colors were very special and not commonplace..It came in Spice and Violet with multi color jewels and sequins…..I remember copper and turquoise sequins on the spice…The silk CDC and Chiffon tunic, the cotton/span legging the solid silk tunic and pull-on pant, the sequin V-neck sweater were all reordered styles……The georgette gored skirt was a knew skirt………………My 5th Anni. was a success.

……………..The day started with a magnificent sunrise, but the storm clouds were already coming. Here, on the shore of CT., it didn’t start to snow until early evening, but when it did start it came down with a vengeance! The wind off the water was so strong that it blew the snow right off of my driveway never covering one half of the driveway [photo at upper left] leaving the black top exposed. Where ever the wind hit my roof, no snow gathered. You can see the path by the water is clean of snow and the grass is still showing through. However, in the back where the wind didn’t blow everything away we had a good 16 to 17 inches of snow. In the picture to the lower right you can see a path I cleared away. What you can’t see is that there is clear plastic on top of the bricks. I have the area outside my back door and just beyond the gate, and the area around the garbage bin covered in plastic. When all is over and the snow is shoveled away…..I have Franco take the plastic up and my bricks are perfectly clean…..no ice or slippery spots for me to slide and fall on……All in all it was a beautiful snow fall!