SATURDAY!!!

I'll be there!!!

Custom Skirts will be available for the first time ever!

Come check it out.

My Mother CAN Sew!

My mother didn't teach me to sew. My mother doesn't know how to sew. Or so I thought.

A few months back my mother called to tell me she was getting a sewing machine for herself and going to learn to sew. That was exciting, random, but exciting. She also seemed to be lacking direction when she told me she had no idea what she wanted to make and was just going to play with the machine.

 This, my friends, was a BIG, FAT, LIE. She was secretly making me a quilt for my baby shower.

Months had gone by with her pretending to be "practicing sewing straight lines."  In reality she was struggling her way through making her first quilt, her first ANYTHING. Although she did have her quilt-making best friend to call for guidance, she did all of the sewing herself.

Stunned!!! Shocked! My mother could sew. She had bought a new machine, learned to sew on it and produced a quilt for her first grandchild in just a few months.

My mother really is amazing, but she already knew that.

a skirt made for le squirrel

When one of your best friends graduates from college, again, and her party invitation reads "no gifts please," you just smile and nod and start formulating a plan to make her something you know she would love.

After all, this is the same squirrel who was my maid of honor, threw me a bridal shower and is in the process of preparing my baby shower, ha! no gifts indeed. What is a days work in the studio compared to all of that.

I am loving this new design for summer and had to share it with her, especially since I won't be wearing it until next summer due to my growing belly. 

I coaxed her into picking out her own fabrics from whatever I had in the studio and I think this combination suits her perfectly. There is something about it that says "I speak French, I love to cook, and look fabulous doing it."

  It's cotton and light for our heinous hot summers and the pockets make it perfect for any squirrel on the go. 

PAGEBOY PGH

I am so excited to announce our new partnership with Pageboy Salon & Boutique in Pittsburgh, PA!!!

They even honored me with my own vendor page! 

This summer they will be carrying our skirts, dresses, and tanks. If you're in the area you need to check them out. Here is a little peek of what you'll see there!

Come See Us!

Grab your bag and grab your coat...We are headed North.

Tagging, pricing, packing, sewing in labels, sewing on buttons...we are almost ready! 

Purple & Red: The Perfect Couple

I have been a fan of Purple and Red since 1989, seriously. I was eleven and wore a Purple and Red floral print dress to my best friend's recital. That night I was also rocking purple tights with lace ankle trim and clear jelly shoes, hot.

Purple and Red have made a recent push for recognition in my work. Since all of my materials come to me preloved I don't have the advantage of choosing a collection's color palette.  I literally work with what I find and this spring it was Purple.

A good purple pairing proved to be a tough order though. I went through all of my fabrics, matching it with every color, a feeling of defeat looming until I came to the Red, they were a perfect couple.

I should have started at Red. After all, I love Red and believe it goes with everything, even Pink, just try and stop me.

Getting Personal

My life has had some big changes since my last post and although I am back in the studio I would like to share what I've been up to: 

The biggest bump in my life, baby news, I'm Pregnant!!! 

After a miscarriage this past June, Dana and I were excited, and nervous, to find out the morning of Handmade Holiday that I was pregnant again. So far so good, and after a rough first trimester of all day nausea I am feeling pretty great, although I would love to have some of my old energy back, I am one sleepy mama.

We moved!!! We were able to score a greatly reduced house in a fabulous neighborhood on New Year's Eve. It needs a lot of work but it's going to be awesome when we are done. 

I finally unpacked the last of the boxes on Sunday but that doesn't mean everything is put away yet. It seems everything these days just takes longer to do.

One more family addition: our New Dog Tucker! He was an unexpected arrival but has settled in nicely to our new home and is quite lovey. He is also helping me to maintain a normal pregnancy weight by taking me on daily walks. He looks sad here because he hates my camera, he really is the most optimistic dog ever.

So there you have it, where I have been for the past few months and what I've been doing. New House, New Dog, New Baby...easy right?

Now to get back to work and get ready for Handmade Arcade!!!

Pinning Up for the Holidays

Alberto Vargas 1945

With Holiday Heap and Handmade Holiday headed my way I've been pinning up a storm to make some great new
Feather Sweaters.
 Arrange, Pin, Shoot, Sew. 

Designing one-of-a-kinds is time consuming but I am loving them too much to stop. 

The Thrift Report

Over a year ago I publicly committed to buying Only Used Clothing for a year, underwear and shoes were the two exceptions. Here is my report:

Although I am a long-time thrifter, and sustainable fashion is my business, I was a bit hesitant to go sans new entirely. If I knew then what I know now I would have fearlessly charged ahead sooner. Finding great pieces for myself while I'm hunting down materials to recycle is like the homemade icing on the all natural cake.

It helps being the size of a modern day teenager. I have a woman's body, but thanks to hormones in the milk so does the average teen girl and most of them live for mall consumption. Cute Forever 21 top $2.99 and Anthropologie skirt $4.99, found months apart at the same Goodwill.

Not to give away trade secrets but a friend of mine turned me on to The Bins and I am hooked. If you have a Goodwill Outlet in a 50 mile radius you must take the trip. You should bring gloves and hand sanitizer, and don't skip breakfast because it is a workout, but paying by the pound is the next best thing to free. 

I found this lightweight Blue Dress a couple of weeks ago, brand new Target, took a chance for less than a dollar and when I got it home it looked fantastic on me!

"What about jeans?" My dearest friend asked me.

I have actually had better luck finding jeans at the thrift store than anywhere else.

My two favorite pairs that get the most action were both thrifted from the same Goodwill about a year apart. The pair pictured above were Brand New Converse jeans $5.99. A little long, but everything is long when you are 5'3" ish. The other pair are Nine West skinny jeans $6.99! These were like new but had a splash of house paint on the knee which didn't come off when I washed them. Hello Sandpaper, a few rubs and good as new.

I am all about an Off-Season deal! You are way more likely to find a sweater half-off during 90 degree heat than in December. Take Advantage. I don't ever pass up a great garment because of season. 

I found this Brand New Ann Taylor sweater in July when we were hitting record temps everyday. I swear the original owner bought it for it's belt because that was missing, but I had no problem finding one in my closet. 

Did I mention it was also Half Price! That's right, I paid $2.50 for a great wrap sweater that I am loving wearing in my chilly studio, right this minute actually.

Speaking of not passing up an off-season item... This is another new Target dress that I found last December when I was on the hunt for a New Year's Dress. Knowing that I had two warm weather weddings in my future I didn't even think about passing up this party dress for $6.99. I got a lot of compliments and couldn't wait to tell girlfriends where I got it and what I paid.

I am clearly having Way Too Much Fun in this picture snapped by wedding photographer friend Nick Kessler. (ps. the man leering in the background is my husband.)

I did find that New Year's dress after all at Clementine consignment boutique in Carytown. My brother-in-law gave me a generous gift card for Christmas and I wasted no time in buying the dress I had my eye on the week before.
 Note: if you ever find a great party dress at a second-hand-store right before the holidays consider yourself extremely lucky.

To conclude, thrifting has actually made me more stylish. It's great to spend five bucks on something I could never afford at a mall. Like this Anthropologie skirt for $4.99 that fits beautifully and looks great with brown boots. Not to mention that I am keeping all of my clothing budget in my own community. 

I can't believe how easy it is to keep it thrifty or local. When I leave the house I want to be wearing something handmade or thirfted, my Old Mall clothes have become second-class citizens. It is hard for me to imagine shopping any other way now.

We Can Do It!

The last Halloween that I wore a store bought costume I was 2.

My mother was great and would rummage through her closet to transform me into Cleopatra, a punk rocker, or a lady wrestler in under 10 minutes.

On a thrifting trip in August I spied a pair of brand new coveralls relatively close to my size. I was a little hung up on their high price tag, $12.99, but once I had the vision it couldn't be ignored. 

I had to be Rosie the Riveter.

Sorry to deny you the pleasure of seeing my actual bulging bicep but I was a little chilly.

I had to do some simple alterations for a better fit which included taking in the waist (this sounds hard but I cheated.) I made a quicky head scarf from scrap fabric in the studio, set my hair on curlers and hit my nails with some vintage looking pale pink polish.

I searched through my collection of punk pins looking for something that would do the costume justice and I almost couldn't believe what I found. Pinned to the right side of my collar was a pink pin that read : A woman's place is everywhere. Rosie couldn't have said it better herself.

The Great Pumpkin Surprise or Another Reason to Compost

It's been a grueling 3 and a half weeks without my camera, but it's back and I can commence with reporting on all of the eco-goodness in my life.

Last Fall we were in NC visiting family where we were treated to a trip to their farmer's market. I was hosting Thanksgiving and so I purchased 6 tiny white gourds to substitute for candles on my dinner table centerpiece. 

They looked great, but when the season was over we threw them into the garden (our lazy winter composting) to break down and nourish our soil for spring. We never expected to they would plant themselves and grow in the garden this year.

We ended up with about 17 total pumpkins! All much larger than the originals but no bigger than 8" in diameter. We've given some away and I think a couple even made their way to Maine.

I love a compost garden surprise. Just in time for Halloween, best day of the year.

Crafty Bastards! All I ever dreamed it would be.

 WOW! What a fantastic day at Crafty Bastards we had! Met great people and had great sales, totally worth getting up at 5 AM ! I heart DC shoppers! Here is a short, but happy, recollection of our day.

Smiling, but still sleepy. Enjoying the crisp air and stealing a zen moment minutes before show time at 10am. Finishing off my first cup of warm local coffee delivered by my husband on his way back from scoring free DC parking.

It wasn't long before the scene looked like this, and Woo Hoo, remained that way all day.

WORKIN' IT!!!
Selling so fast we spent most of the day rearranging racks.

Thanks to everyone who came out to CB!  We had the best time!
Don't forget you have until October 8th to VOTE to make me this years Craftiest Bastard!

Countdown to Crafty Bastards Preview : Friday

Fabulous Feather Sweaters

Countdown to Crafty Bastards Preview : Thursday

Signature Jackets