Etsy Front Page!

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A bag I made a few weeks ago was featured on the Etsy front page!

When I'm Not Sewing For Class.

Bags are my absolute favorite part of the project and what I'll be focusing on for the next year or so. They're made with love and excitement and meant to be used. Designed for traveling, schooling and holding your tools of the trade, these bags seek to go beyond the realm of plain ol' cute handbags and add some fun to the aspects of life where other bags just leave you with the blues.

Crossroads Duffle Lite: (all canvas)

Crossroads Duffle: (upholstery & hardware)

Flo Daytrip Bag:

Nann Messenger Bag:

Tools n Thangs Clutch:

Bag Lady

When I was applying to FIDM and couldn't decide whether I wanted to major in Fashion Design or Merchandising (I know), my "advisor," Michael, asked me one question. "Do you prefer going into malls and stores and seeing clothes there or do you like fabric stores more?"

I remembered this question yesterday when I went into a Hancock Fabrics for the first time in about 6 months- the thing is, I'm getting more and more excited by drapery, outdoors and upholstery fabrics than apparel. I'm a bag lady, now.

Colorful bags for travelin' and carryin' is exciting. 

The plan for now is make make make and photograph like crazy until summer comes, then I'll pedal my wares up and down central Austin (The Drag, SoUTH CoNGRESS, East Austin etc.) all summer.

New Fabrics

For grocery totes

New pics taken by Sequoyah Johnson

Creative Life at the Moment

While it's still S.A.D. time (o.k.a. winter) I've been busy narrowing down what I want to offer in the Etsy shop,  making bags sporadically, coming up with a menu of the cheapest and most nutritious foods I can eat with this lack of time to cook and money (read effort) to buy food (oh, college), hunting down good Tex-Mex and Mex-Mex in Nawf Texas (next to impossible. 'specially tamales. It's almost time to break out the masa). In class, I've been learning how to make pants well. The first pair wasn't my favorite, but these next velvet ones are lookin' promising.

Here's what that looks like:

The Etsy shop is trying to look all grown up now

Minimum of three hours a day, seven days a week

Turkey, mozzarella, tomatoes, bacon, hummus, guacamole, mayo and baby spinach

Reward after a good few hours of discount fabric shopping (hunting)

I keep telling people speaking Spanish is so goddamn useful

I know I'm not the only one that thinks Dallas is Awful

Pant muslin in the making

I've also been filling small jars with sewing notions. Mmmmm

...and making several calendars

The new machine (still nameless) is being put to good use 

Velvet Wide Leg Pant (with no side seams, oooh)

That Girl

This was inspired by two books I'm reading- Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identity in the 1960s and She's So Fine: Reflections on Whiteness, Femininity and Adolescence in 1960s Girl Groups- which are, as the titles suggest, academic analyses of 1960s girl music and, perhaps, the best thing ever published.

The specific inspiration for these were groups that represented more rebellious personalities such as The Crystals (on one record) The Shangri Las and The Ronettes. This collection by Gwen Stefani reminded me exactly of these groups as well as the rebellious students in the movie To Sir With Love

Comments?

Ninth Circle

I've said this before and will say it again, winter is the Devil's season. It's the worst season for my skin, hair, emotions, relationships and overall happiness. That being said, my first storyboard is a compilation of my and Dante's version of hell- there's fire and some sort of undefinable evil, but mostly it's just cold and frozen.

The textures of the knits, dresses and skirts are my favorite part of this. The drab colors to the sides depict everyday hell pretty well, in my opinon.
The fiery dresses are essentially how I feel about everything that happens during winter
Comments?

Maiden Voyage

Let me preface this post by saying that the anniversaries of tragedies excite me like nobody's business- and, truly it is nobody's business, but I thought since you, reader, and I are getting acquainted I might as well get it out there before you start noticing patterns. I've been looking forward to the 100th anniversary of the Titanic since about the age of nine.




AND IT'S HERE!



While I'm not quite certain how the world would feel about the ship if its story hadn't been turned into one of the most successful films of all time, the fact remains that the name that was conflated with "unspeakable tragedy" 99 years ago is now probably the English word most evocative of glamour and romance.
One prediction I can make with a fair amount of certainty is that the theatrical re-release of Titanic- along with the upcoming centennial of the ship's maiden voyage- will spark a Megatrend to last long past the 24 month life-cycle. Glamour.

Now, being a young gal myself, I completely understand how one might end up in tattered clothes and worn boots just about every day of the week, but I feel like it's just gone a bit too far. When did buying brand new clothes pre-tattered become acceptable?

FreePeople and Urban Outfitters do the messin' so you don't have to

Aside from the whole being-the-most-infamous-maritime-accident-in-history thing, the Titanic was pretty glamorous overall. The size and interior of the ship are the very definition of luxury and it's passengers dressed, wined and dined to match:

I don't fully expect everyone to dress in clothes directly inspired by the 1910s, but I do expect that this occasion will spark an interest in glamour and reignite the flame of fabulosity. Girls will wear more skirts, pants of light twills and linen, day dresses and get rid of the shaggy, Cochella look. Teals, peaches and golden rods will be in many a girl's wardrobe. Items inspired by old world vintage, travel, world maps will also see a peak in interest this year. I think we'll also be seeing more of accessories and interior spaces influenced by the ship as well.

Glamour Gals

Interiors

Accessories