Shop Fable

Tara Light is a longtime friend who has been busy designing and creating her clothing while also opening and maintaining her shop Fable in Kansas City over the past year. Her designs were recently featured in the West 18th Street Fashion Show and despite her busy schedule, she is always warm and inviting anytime you stop in for a visit to her shop. Her dedication to supporting local designers can be seen in her store where she features clothing and accessories from other designers and artists among her own. Her success story is inspiring in a time of fast-fashion with cheap clothing being made overseas. I wanted to share her story to inspire people not only to think about what decisions you are making with your purchases, but to also be an example of following your dreams and making a difference in the process.

How did you come up with the name Fable?

Oh my goodness! I actually didn't even come up with the name! This was hands-down the hardest part of building my brand. I had all these images and words that described the kind of space I wanted to create, but when it came to actually finding a single name that encapsulated all those sensations, I was at a loss.

So I outsourced it! I worked with an incredibly talented creative director here in KC and she helped me funnel my vision. I turned over this huge file describing my personal history, the style of the shop, and the shop ethos, and she sent back a list of 10 or so names for me to look at. She was adamant that this was a first-round and not to be discouraged if I didn't feel a connection to any of the names, but almost 3 names in I saw "Fable" and knew the job was done.

The name has a moral slant (in keeping with one of the tenants of Fable), it conjures images of animalia and floral & fauna (an essential aspect of my taste), is a wink to literature (I have a degree in English), and seems to invite you into this little magical world I've attempted to create in a corner of KC.

I love your designs. Where do you get inspiration for new designs?

More than anything, I make things that I and the women I surround myself want to wear. We all have real jobs with real responsibilities (going to the grocery store, playing with kids, reaching things on high shelves) and I feel like your clothes couldn't get in the way of being able to move seamlessly  throughout your day. That said, clothing is one of the most immediate ways to express a bit of yourself to the world, so I think they should be just as interesting, multi-faceted, and brilliant as you.

If I'm a bit stuck creatively, I do enjoy just rolling around in the Pinterest ether. Street-style photography can be very illuminating because it's capable of showing how high-fashion concepts make their way to women's day-to-day.

Where do you see your brand growing in the next few years?

Who knows! I'm not one for world domination; I'm completely content having a small shop in the heart of KC. If that's all Fable will ever be, then so be it.

However, in the future I would like to see the Fable line in a handful of other like-minded shops across the US. I love the idea of always keeping manufacturing in our KC studio, so hat means high volumes of product wouldn't be produced. We do very limited runs of most of our designs, which makes the pieces very collectable and covetable; I want to maintain the essence of that.

When did you realise you wanted to be a designer?

Ever since I was a little girl. I've always loved clothing. Dressing up my dolls, Barbies, and little sister was my favorite past-time. As I got a little older, I would beg my Dad to buy me all the fashion magazines at the grocery store and would spend the weekend flipping through them and absorbing all I could. I grew up in an extremely rural town (population 18), so a career in fashion was never really a legitimate option. I just saw it as an escape.

It wasn't until I came to Kansas City for university and started working various retail jobs that I really started thinking about a career in fashion. I truly enjoy every aspect of running Fable - designing, merchandising the shop, but my favorite part is easily when I get to sew. I feel so satisfied when I get to work with my hands and create something tangible that will hold space in someone's life.

Summer Memories

1. Farmers Market strawberries

2. Outdoor birthday dinner

3. Loose Park flowers

4. Farmers Market ombre fruit

5.Kauffman Memorial Gardens

6. Fluffy hydrangeas 

7. French market radishes

8. Montreal selfie

9. Kauffman Memorial Garden flowers

10. Little Freshie soda

11. Montreal memories

12. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

13. Loose Park stroll

Attic Renovation: 5 Years in the Making

We've spent the last 5 years transforming the attic of our almost 100 year old bungalow home into a master bedroom. It's been a long process but we couldn't be happier with the results.

It was really important to us that our upstairs matched the style of our 1920s home. Everything from trim pieces to the color of the hardwood floors matches the downstairs design that is the original part of our home.

Utilizing space was also important so we incorporated lots of shelves. Our his and hers closets have sliding doors and drawers on each side that also act as bookshelves.

The most expensive part of the project were the wood ceiling boards and floors. We had the option of cutting corners by using faux wood or beadboard but instead opted for the real thing and now our house smells amazing because of it.

"We shape our dwellings, and afterwards, our dwellings shape us." - Winston Churchill

What I love most about our master bedroom is that we had a hand in the creation of it. With the help of my in laws, we were able to complete our project without the help of a contractor. Everything from the bookcase for a bannister to the installation of the 3 sided gas fireplace purchased for $50 from Habitat Humanity Restore is our work.

Because we created this space as a family, we can now look at any corner of the room and tell you the story behind it. As with any project, there were times we had to rework ideas or redo things because they didn't work out. Now that we see the end result we are happy for those minor edits and wouldn't change a thing.

Montréal Memories

1. Dinner at Balsam Inn.

2. Coffee at Kitsune.

3. At the top of Mount Royal.

4. Donuts at Chez Boris.

5. Walking the Mile End neighborhood.

6. Farmers market meats.

7. Even the newspaper is in french at Kitsune.

8. Mile End walk.

9. Quebec City.

10. Mamie Clafoutis bread.

11. Quebec City scenes.

12. Quebec City streets.

How to Take and Edit iPhone Photos for Instagram

I've had a lot of questions about what filter I use on my Instagram photos. The truth is, there's more to taking and editing photos than just adding a filter. So I've decided to make a post to give you a little insight into how I photograph and edit my photos.

What to photograph

Straight and center:

I personally like my photos to be straight on (instead of corners of a room) and level. You don't have to follow this rule, but it tends to be the aesthetic I'm attracted to. To make sure your photos are level, you will need to turn on the grid feature on your phone. Here's how to do that:

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home Screen of your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and tap on Photos & Camera.

3. Scroll down again towards the bottom of the page and under the Camera section, there is an option for Grid. Turn the feature On by tapping on the slider.

Take a step back:

When you're taking photos of a room or landscape, consider taking a step back to get the a full shot of the scene instead of cropping all the beautiful detail out. Doing this can add flow to your photos so your eyes keep moving over the photograph. Also be careful with cropping. Sometimes seeing the ceiling or floor can be less confining to the viewer and pleasing to the eye as the space appears larger.

Keep it natural:

There's nothing natural about a posed smile. There's a reason we look back at our yearbook photos and cringe. Documentary photography is much more natural and true to life. Photographing someone in the middle of laughing is the most natural and authentic way of photographing someone in their element. No backdrops or studio lights required.

Something else that is really important to good photography is natural light. If you are planning to photograph your beautiful meal, coffee or flowers, make sure to find a table by a window. Artificial light puts shadows and yellow into your photos that is not flattering.

How to Edit

There are many photo editing apps that allow you more options for editing your photos without being confined to the handful of filter options on Instagram. The app I use for editing my photos is Afterlight. The app is available through iTunes for .99 cents.

Once you download the app, you can choose to take a photo in the app or upload an existing photo. I like to take photos with my Camera app and then upload into Afterlight.

If you took a photo that is not square and are posting your photo to Instagram, you will need to crop it to be square before doing anything else. To crop your photo, click on the icon second from the right.

Choose the square option and decide where you want to crop. Click the check mark when finished.

The next thing I do is click the second icon from the left and click the fade icon (the gray box on the upper right).

The fade bar will start in the center. Leave it there and click the check mark.

There are two filters I use depending on the photo I'm editing. For photos taken at home, I use the Russ filter under 'Guest'. For outdoor photos and almost all of my Montreal photos, I use the Idaho filter on the far right-hand side under 'Guest'

After applying the filter, click again on the icon second from the left to adjust brightness (sun icon) and contrast (half circle icon). Up both to 50% and click the check mark when finished.

Once again, click on the second icon from the left. Click on the icon on the far left to Clarify. Do not adjust anything, and click the check box.

Click on the frame icon on the far right. Click 'Original' and up the frame to 12. Click the check mark.

To save your edited photo, click 'done' in the top right corner.

Here, you will have the option of where to save your photo. I always save to my camera roll.

I know this seems like a lot of steps, but once you get into the habit of going through the motions, it will come naturally and not take any time at all.