Monthly Archives: February 2021

………………..November 05 featured TWO BOUCLE WOOL jackets and many reorders [not shown above]……….The large sketch at the top right was really spectacular, and still is one of my all time favorites. The emb. design I had originally created for a shearling coat. The coat is Jac’s and it is now in storage. It will go to my niece Danielle…….I designed a line of furs and shearlings while I was designing for QVC. I worked with a small company owned by a husband and wife who both migrated here from Russia. The quality of their garments was superb, but they needed a lot of design help….A mutual friend asked me if I would like to work with them, and have a small line with my name on the label. For many years I designed furs for Anne Klein…..so this was not knew to me. After a few years I decided I didn’t want to design in fur anymore and left them. It was a hard decision, because I knew it would put them right back in the position I found them. I also brought big name stores to them, and I developed a robust business with them, but it was something I could no longer do. I heard through our mutual friend that after a while they decided to close the business and both worked for different fur companies…The combination of the richly textured boucle and the embroidery gave these jackets a very expensive designer look. The fact that we could sell these jackets for under $90 amazed me. I know if I sold the exact same jacket at Anne Klein they would have been $800 easy……The narrow banding around the collar, down the front, around the bottom and the border of the sleeve were all embroidered. The body of the jacket, front and back and the sleeves were completely embroidered in paisleys, flowers, berries and leaves. The buttons were DTM. The jacket came in Forest Green, Burgundy and Black………..The second boucle jacket had a stand collar with a button front. It too had an emb. banding edging the collar down the front and at the hems of the jacket and sleeve. The emb. came from an antique wall stencil design…….The emb was a combination of tonal thread and lurex…….The Sienna had a bright copper tread with copper lurex, the black had golds, and the purple had a brighter purple thread with gold lurex…………….The cardigan at the far left came in ivory and black with a coordinating tank. The “kissing” front closed with hook and eyes. It had a jewel neckline and 3/4 sleeves……The emb was a beautiful combination of pearls, black round beads, gold round beads and small gold and black sequins. What made my sweater so different from others on QVC or even in retail stores was the lavish amount of emb. It NEVER looked skimpy, and always looked so much more expensive than what they were. This sweater and the paisley boucle were both reordered the next year…….There were five additional reorders with this Nov. group to end the year!!

……………………I noticed that QVC’s TSV is a mask to prevent catching the virus……These Linea chains will make life easier when you have to go out. Speaking from experience I never go out without one with my mask attached……..On a side note…….I just saw the Dolce & Gabbana Men’s Couture show on Vogue . Com…… Forget the clothes and accessories….they were better suited for women, but all of the men had chains [double the size of mine in many colors] with masks and eyeglasses……it was interesting to watch

…………………..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