Materialization girl

“Exciting. Versatile. Handmade”

By Jennifer Johnson on September 13, 2007

With a slogan like “Exciting. Versatile. Handmade,” you better believe Marilyn LoSavio, owner and designer of Materialization, has been sewing for about 40 years. She describes her Materialization line as “Ready-to-Wear, made out of exciting, high quality fabrics … eye-catching, but comfortable clothing.” 



Marilyn’s inspirations come from the fabrics themselves, and 1920s-through-1970s vintage clothing. Nearly all items are made by hand with love and care. Taught by her mother’s friend when she was 10, Marilyn never received professional training, proving my hunch that she’s a natural.



Materialization items range from skirts, pants and wrap tops to purses, eyeglass cases and fabric-covered buttons (women’s clothing sizes 6 to 16; special orders available). Working mostly with Japanese cotton and polyester chirimen (crepe), cotton dobby cloth and wovens, LoSavio gets these wonderful fabrics from trade shows, fabric stores and straight from fabric designers.  Currently, she’s working with Hanamomen and Daiwabo for Japanese fabrics whose designs on are mini works of art that can combine very subtle geometric patterns with flowers, birds, fish or bridges. Colors range from muddy browns, crisp blacks, warm tans, blood reds, all the way to the softest of peaches, fucsias and wintery pinks. Not letting beautiful fabrics be wasted, LoSavio uses even little cloth bits in creating small hand-sewn items like headbands, baby booties, bookmarks, and cards. Her work is just too delicious to be missed. See them at Thursday’s Tacoma Farmers Market on Broadway. A Web site should be up by the end of October.



[Materialization at Tacoma Farmers Market, Ninth and Broadway, Tacoma, mlosavio@comcast.net]