What to do with the unused footage from a video, a tutorial perhaps, who’s remnants are just taking up bytes on my computer… reduce, re-use, recycle.  I really do owe you this one for being ever so patient with me and my lack of posts. Once again shot by Ahmad Faris of IkanPaos Collective and edited by me.

just because.

You can also watch on YouTube if that’s your thing.

CREDITS
IkanPaos Collective

MUSIC
Star Slinger// May I Walk With You?

It would literally (and by literally I mean figuratively) take me years to give an apt review of every feature I love in the CS5.5 Design Premium Suite, I’ve made the switch straight from CS4 so I like to think it feels even more wondrous a jump.  Instead, I’m going to pick my top 3 and spare you the rest.  I will say though, that everything is so much smoother, particularly noticeable in Photoshop, par example the little quirks I’d had to work around with the healing tools are no longer there, which makes me a very happy bunny.

1/ Camera Raw

Oh the joys of camera raw, with it’s noise reduction and batch editing.  I’d never actually used Camera Raw before, so I spent the first hour just in awe of the features.  Now, rather than editing 100% in Photoshop, I can adjust things like white balance, noise, colouration and those, erm, ‘blanket’* actions, and then just touch up in Photoshop.  Why is this so darn good?  Because it’s so easy, and I can edit 10 images in the time it takes for me to edit 1.  And most importantly, I can start shooting in RAW format again, I’d resigned myself to jpg. just because it was more convenient.  Let me just show you a little of my favourite feature- noise reduction.

Normally noise reduction is a little clumsy, and you end up with an image that looks like a bad painting.  Camera Raw seperates colour noise and luminance noise so you can fine tune according to the image.  And if you’re tired of reading then…

the sliders on the right allow you to control the amount of noise reduction, and to restore lost detail.

before

after

Lastly I sharpened the image in Photoshop so make it less blurry.

2/ Photoshop Puppet Warp Tool

Now this is purely for fun, I mean, it does serve an actual functional purpose but if you’re obsessed with keeping everything raw and natural then I’d avert your eyes.  I’ve been playing with this for hours, and I do mean playing, the novelty is yet to wear off.  I’m ooohing and aaahing at the sheer is-this-really-happening-how-the-hell-is-it-doing-that-ness of it all.  Once you’ve created a mask (which is also laden with new smooth-making features) and got a figure (in this case me in a somewhat ridiculous pose) as a seperate layer then:

1. select ‘Puppet Warp’ under ‘edit’
2. Mark your anchor points by clicking anywhere on the firgure
3. Hold down and drag the anchor points (this is a lot more fun than it sounds)

And by that I mean…

3/ InDesign eBooks magic

I can now make my very own eBook, wonderful no?  I’m thinking I might do this for the MAYSAA Magazine, complete with image panning and zooming, so you can really get to the details of the clothes.  Plus you can do fun stuff like this (Folio Producer Tools) oooh overlays! They’ve made this so easy to use, and the features are all really obvious just when you need them.  Let me give you a little case in point- on a tablet or iPhone when you change the orientation the layout changes too, but if you’ve got an image that goes with a specific title it could end up anywhere on the page, but not so with the anchor tool, it keeps everything where it should be.  But this guy explains it much better than I do (and he’s got a pretty awesome name). I’ve yet to try this for reals, but (new feature alert) I can preview the entire tablet publication as it would be.

*N.B. I may have made up pseudo technical terms at any point during this post

Thank you so so much to Adobe for letting me review this, I literally could not do my work without Adobe Creative Suite (and by literally I mean literally).

I’ve kept you waiting more than long enough, so here it is, the Hana Tajima style scarf tutorial.  The video was shot, edited and directed by uber creative Ahmad Faris of IkanPaos Collective.  And the soundtrack is Lady Daydream by Twin Sister (there’s an awesome acoustic version of it here)

You can also view the tutorial on Youtube.

The Scarf

• An off-cut of lightweight silk satin
• width: 60cm / length: 90cm  although ideally I’d say width: 70cm / length 100cm
• All the edges are raw, the front edge (i.e. the visible one) is the selvedge
• The other edges may start to fray at first, but after it’s been washed a couple of times, and you’ve let the threads come out it should stop.  I quite like the unfinished look, but if you really can’t stand it then you can always hem it.

WARDROBE CREDITS

Chiffon scarf snood / MAYSAA
Black crew neck / MAYSAA
Denim shirt & necklace / Vintage
Printed trousers / ASOS
Scarf / Self made

Elle TV has an awesome selection of how to videos, in fact they are something of a how-to, on how to do how-to videos, if you get my meaning.  There’s a whole lot in their Fashion School. Loving this one very much, their ‘capes’ video is also awesome.

Well actually live a lot, I was kind of scared about how ‘live’ it was going to be… “what if I fluff my words?”… “what if I have a wardrobe malfunction?”… “what if I somehow I fall over whilst sitting on the sofa.”  But I actually really enjoyed myself, and proud that I didn’t do any falling over.  Anyone have any links to watch?  Or should I be happily in denial about how well I did?

Picture from @saffiyazhari on twitter

The Video

So you’ve waited long enough for this, or I should rather say, It’s late enough, and I’m sleep deprived enough to think posting this is a good idea.  I guess you know I have an obsession with reworking my clothes and in particular my own designs.  I must admit, the subconscious designer in me has a talent for making a design lovely to play around with, I should write her a note of thanks. (oh and again you can watch it without the sound, if music ain’t your thing)

The wondrous star that is the dress is the Maysaa Kimono Wrap Maxi Dress, the top is Uniqlo (but of course), and the trousers (which I now live in) are soon to be available at Maysaa.

I really should befriend a film maker to make these with me… in the hope that I’d look less insane.

By Request

This is one requested by Deniz,  it’s pretty much the same as the very first head scarf tutorial I did way back when.  But this one is suited to any short haired ladies, or if your pashmina as short.

Off to London for a shoot and some interviews this weekend, and to meet the lovely Yuna.  Here’s hoping it’s going to be a good one inshAllah!

For All My Beautiful Sisters

I hope it’s worth the wait

I know, finally, right?  Thankfully I also did a couple of other headscarf tutorials at the same time, nothing spectacular, just easy peasy styles.  I think the reason these tutorials only appear once in a blue moon (I couldn’t believe it was actually a year!)  is that I only vary my style when it happens by accident.  This hijab style was one of these very fortunate accidents, I just hope it’s not as long till my next… maybe I should just experiment, any inspiration suggestions?

T’would be rather fantastic if you could rate my video at youtube, I have been so overwhelmed at the amount of people who have seen my first attempt 117,634 to be exact.  Thank you so much for watching it!

Don’t forget to visit MAYSAA for that all important bonnet or Satin Wrap Band Snood as we like to call it, they are selling fast!  Go straight there by clicking right here!

Video Demonstration

Fashion drawing: StyleCovered Sketch tutorial

I promised you a video and here it is, A look at how I sketch and edit all in under 4 minutes. Double click on it if you want to see it in better quality on YouTube. I hope you enjoy! It has music from the beginning so you can mute it if you want.

To have another look at the finished Sketch along with the original inspiration you can find it here.

Music Credits:

(Intro) Lupe Fisco Paris, Tokyo

The Brighton Port Authority feat. Emmy the Great Seattle

Rags to Riches with Dr. Noki

Vogue Tutorial

Vogue does some awesome tutorials and this one comes from the king of D.I.Y. fashion Dr. Noki. I absolutely love it, Dr. Noki teaches you how to make the most of old prom style dresses. Amazing style, kind of reminds me of Chris Benz Spring 2009

Hijabi Friendly

This really is one of the best how to D.I.Y. tutorials I’ve ever come across, and because the dresses are made to measure you can make as many hijab friendly changes as you like. I might try something similar if I ever get the time, if you manage to beat me to it (likely) then I’d love to see your photos!