Carol Hannah

Here’s a little peek at what I’ve been working on this week…I’ve been filling lots of orders for this dress, which is a fun one, but very labor intensive.

This part takes forever.  After making each strip individually, they are carefully placed on the dress’s base and woven at the bust.

Once all the strips are pinned on, I play a fun game called “Does that look symmetrical to you?”  (In reality, this game is actually…not fun.)  Then I sew them each on one at a time while making sure the stitching is directly in the center of each meandering line.

The next step is to make and attach the hidden bustier, which gives the dress its structured, va-va-voom fit.

The finished product!  Ta-daaaaa!

There you have it!

Happily Yours,

CH

My New Year’s Resolution is to have more of this:

Less rushing, more pauses for quiet moments. Seems pretty feasible.

What’s yours?

Happily Yours,

CH

So this is a few days late, but during the actual holiday I was far too busy eating excessive amounts of amazing home cooked food and sleeping in the middle of the day to blog.  Having now returned to subsisting on cereal,  pizza by the slice, and much less sleep, I bring you a couple of my favorite Christmas photos!

Oh hello, most giant nutcracker in the world.  Nice to meet you.

This is someone’s house on Sullivans Island. Where do they store that thing?  They must have a very large attic.

Please also note the scary cat to the right, who proceeded to make scary cat noises at us as we trespassed to take this treasure of a  photo.

This is classic.  My sis Rachel and best friend Pearls….when we lived together in college a few years ago.

You know those cheesy posed family photos you are forced take when you’re a kid?  We brought ‘em back!  Don’t worry- this was one of a rather long series. We have no shame.  Clearly.

I didn’t take this photo, but I think it is amazing.

So Merry Christmas!!!

Happily Yours,

CH

The other night (well, a couple weeks ago I guess!) I came home from a slightly frustrating day of trying to work in my newly moved into studio- think boxes everywhere, mess everywhere, “where on earth did I put that?” and then add no electricity other than an extension cord from the lobby, and trying to cut out a dress by the light of one wimpy lamp. Oh dears!

BUT!  When I finally got home, waiting in my mailbox  was a special little treasure!  It was the vintage ring I’d ordered off of etsy.  (www.laralewis.etsy.com).  The packing was so cute that I stopped to take a photo, even though I really just wanted to rip it open. A note on a library card?  Look at it!

It’s so adorable!

So I immediately put it on and wore it for the rest of the night. So perfectly quirky and vintage…the kind of thing that when you’re wearing it makes activities like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich feel fabulous.  Which I did.

Little vintage treasures = love.

Happily Yours,

CH

Whoa, Season 7 already?  Thank goodness I wasn’t relying on a career as a reality tv star…how fast those 15 minutes pass!

Anywho, just a heads up to check out my new blog over on Lifetime’s website.  I’ll be blogging weekly about the new season of Project Runway.  Actually, if you’re as lazy as I am about things like that, I should probably just repost it here. Soooooo…ta-da!

But do go over to mylifetime.com and poke around.  The link to Logan’s Popples reference is worth it. Hehe.  Anyway, I feel a bit fancy to be blogging it up next to Chris March and Nick Verreos and a little weirded out about watching the new season.  I feel a post dramatic panic attack coming.  Just kidding.  Kind of.

Happily Yours,

Carol Hannah

PS – On a totally unrelated note, can you believe the holidays are basically here already?!

My new favorite shoes came in the mail today!

Maybe not what you expected?

These shoes are the most amazing ones I own, and here’s why.

-They never let me down.

-They take all my stress away.

-They are going to help me run 26.2 miles and raise $10,000 dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Yep, that’s right.

I’ve decided that too much of my life over the past year and a half has been about me. All this attention and press and media, and for what?  Clothes.  Yes, I love them. Yes, fashion is a very valid part of my life.  But it’s time to turn some of this attention towards something with a different kind of impact on the world.

I’ve always said that I wanted my company to have a purpose past fashion, and I’ve chosen the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for my first project because it’s something that has directly affected my family in the past.  When my friend Ellen told me about the marathon she’d signed up for with the Society’s Team in Training to fundraise, I realized it was the perfect fit.

That said, I’m honestly a bit nervous about this.  That’s a looottt of miles and a loooottt of money.  I’ve been a runner for years, but what if I can’t do it?  And now people know I’m trying and are watching!  Ahhhk!  Granted I’ve been in situations that have shown me I’m capable of more than I’d thought, but this is a totally different realm. Clearly, I’m going to need your help and support!

So open up your wallets, your money clips, the roll of cash in the back of your underwear drawer, and let’s give!  You can make your donation here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/paris10/cwhitfield

In addition, I will be donating 5% of all online sales to the cause between now and April.

I know there are a lot of you out there reading!  Give a little, give a lot…whatever you can do will make a difference.

Happily Yours,

CH

PS- Tell your friends! …and maybe think of me on Saturday mornings when I’m running 10 miles at 8:00am in the freezing cold and you’re cozy in bed.

Photos via papertissue. Original source unknown.

It’s been a very exciting week in carolhannahland!   Moving time!

I have finally moved  my workspace into my new studio in Manhattan and will no longer be working out of my Brooklyn livingroom.  Hoorays!  This is what my current “studio” of the past 8 months looks like:

Most people would have a comfy couch right there.

Can you see why I need more space?   Most people don’t know this, but Althea Harper, Malvin Vien, and I are roommates. Yep.  Have been for eight months now. So all three of us have been working in one small space. Akkkk!  You should see our house during fashion week….disaaaaasster.

To make things more exciting, my new studio-mates are none other than Logan and Epperson (and you thought Project Runway was over!).  We have been scheming on the idea of a mutual work space for a rather long time.  After searching for weeks and trying to pin down the details of three very busy people’s lives, we finally found our space.

Now to get everything INTO it…

Those industrial machines are so heavy!  (she says while taking a picture from the sidewalk…)

We made it!  Celebrating with a little bubbly.

(What classy champagne glasses we have, eh?!)

So there you have it.  We’ll be revamping the space over the coming weeks, so I’ll show you a bit more of it when it’s more presentable.

Happily Yours,

Carol Hannah