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Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category

Suzy Bishop – a costume from scratch.

Posted in Crafting, My portfolio, New Hampshire, Our personal history, Sewing, Style, The Holidays, What We Wore, tagged , on October 28, 2012 | 15 Comments »

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I’ve never made a dress from scratch before.

I’ve done a lot of alterations, hemming, taking things in, changing necklines, straps, or sleeves, but this dress is the first one that I’ve ever made entirely myself. It was somewhat intimidating at first, but I managed it and I’m really excited.

The first second I set eyes upon Suzy Bishop’s darling dress, I knew I had to make it for myself. Knowing that I work best with deadlines, I decided to be Suzy for Halloween. I ordered the fabric, zipper, and a similar dress pattern a couple of weeks ago, and got to work on the dress this week. The pattern had to be altered a bit and added to, so, as is usual for me, I was right down to the wire. My Moonrise Kingdom costume was finished around noon on Saturday, right before I went in for work.

We had two parties last night to attend, and both were fantastic. The first was a big bonfire party hosted by Ryan’s and my boss. It was wonderful! Such a fun group of people with great costumes and fabulously fresh air. The second was our usual Halloween party  at Rob + Pam’s. We stayed for the night and today did a bevy of fun fall things like piling up leaves and burying ourselves. I love the smell of crisp and dying leaves.

Happy Sunday,

xx.

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A peek into my shop…

Posted in Crafting, Home Decor, Home Tour, Sewing, Shop Talk, Vintage + Thrift, tagged , , , on August 6, 2012 | 11 Comments »

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This year Etsy opened up an About page for every shop!

It’s a space where each shop owner can go into greater detail about their process, inspiration, and work space, and I love that idea! So I’ve been very excited to update my own and this week I put the finishing touches on it! I’m so pleased with how the page turned out that I thought I’d share it with you. There’s only space for five photos on there, so the extras here are just for you. Enjoy!

First stop is the sewing station {above} where all of my products come to life. Bess is my trusty sewing machine, always ready for more work and easy to run. It’s smooth sailing when we’re working together…most of the time.

Also in my shop space is Ryan’s Grandmother’s old sewing machine / my packing station. I stitch all of my packages shut to avoid all of that obnoxious packing tape {photos of my packages here!} so having two machines is a real help.

With every order I tuck three snapshots inside. They’re all freshly printed from this station, but some of them are photos taken of my family throughout the years. The rest are little moments that I couldn’t stand to see disappear.

More photos of the room itself later! Thanks for visiting.

xx.

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Interview on Life Like Honey!

Posted in Sewing, Shop Talk, Style, tagged , , , , , , on June 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

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Do you know Teaka?

If you don’t know her yet, you should certainly head over to her blog and take a peek around because she and I have a few things in common. She’s gearing up right now to open an Etsy shop for her beautifully designed clothing line {check out part 1 here, and part 2 here}, and to lead up to it she’s interviewing selected Etsy sellers on her blog. This week she interviewed me! Don’t miss out on reading : )

I’m so excited to see her shop!

xx.

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WE’RE HERE!

Posted in Crafting, Home Decor, Our personal history, Sewing, Vintage + Thrift, tagged , , , , on May 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

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WOW! So sorry for the delay in posts!

We’ve made the move, but our internet won’t be ready until the 9th – yikes! That surely will be cutting it close for the shop reopening {on Wednesday!} but I will make sure it happens no matter what. I can’t wait to share all of my new creations with you. I’ve been working so hard in my new studio space. I know, can you believe it? I finally have a room with a door that I can retreat into when I’m feeling crafty! Of course, a full tour will be posted when every last box has been unpacked and things are in their final resting places, but the photo above will have to suffice for now. It’s a tidy little corner of the sewing desk where I’ve been stitching away like mad for the past couple of days.

Can’t wait to share more! See you on Wednesday {hopefully sooner!}

xx.

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Photobooth Friday – No. 33

Posted in New Hampshire, Photobooth Friday, Sewing, tagged , , , , , , , on April 20, 2012 | 5 Comments »

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Our week in snapshots:

 

| highlights |

This week brought sunshine in mass amounts – definitely appreciated, New England, thanks! We were able to leave the house without coats on and open our windows for a couple of hours at a time. This means that we did a lot of walking around town and making excuses to be outside. We made another trip back to New Hampshire for some job interviews on Ryan’s end and spent the night at my parents’ house in the woods. We arrived Monday night after the stars had all come up, and as soon as we got out of the car we just stood in the driveway marveling at the sky. Away from the city lights, we felt like we could see the entire universe and Ryan proclaimed that there were so many stars in the sky that he almost couldn’t see any of them. I can’t wait to call that region home again.

I made some new little creatures for the Merchant Company this week {photo on the top right}, aren’t they adorable? The design is by the owner of the shop, Dunja, and she picked the most remarkable vintage fabrics to make them with. I’m so happy that I got to help bring these little cuties to life! Each one is entirely unique with different combinations of colours and textures, and the eyes are all hand stitched in. So darling!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xx.

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A Worthy Mention

Posted in Environmental Consciousness, Portland, Sewing, Shop Talk, Social Consciousness, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2012 | 6 Comments »

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This is a good weekend.

Yesterday I was so flattered to see that my favourite fabric supplier made mention of me on her blog { check it out by clicking here! }. I have been buying fabrics from Dory for awhile now and have never been disappointed with what I’ve received when ordering. She offers so many organic options in her shop and ships them from Maine, so for me they’re a very environmentally responsible choice. If ever you’re looking for a quality fabric, a worthy good, if you will, I’d highly recommend her Etsy supply shop!

If you’re not a sewer you can still enjoy her beautiful work and honest approach to life by purchasing something that she has made by hand { like that fantastic hat in the top photo! } in her other Etsy shop, or by following her blogs! This one is dedicated to sewing related stuff, and this one for the behind the scenes details! I love her down to Earth perspective and appreciate everything she’s done for me in this past year.

Also, Dory is so generous that she is offering all of my readers 15% off her gorgeous organic fabrics from now until Sunday the 26th when you use the coupon code JEEZEJULIA! Go get some beautiful new material!

Have a lovely Sunday!

xx.

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A Photo An Hour

Posted in A Photo An Hour, Crafting, Kitties, My portfolio, Our personal history, Sewing, The Holidays, tagged , , on December 22, 2011 | 6 Comments »

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This is what all of my days have looked like lately.

I’m doing a lot of staying at home + crafting since Christmas is so close! Somehow I got way behind this year, so I’m struggling to get everything done. As I type, I’m multitasking with another gift – phew! I probably won’t finish everything in time, but I’m lucky that the people in my life understand my tendency to be a bit behind.

Thanks for having a look at my day!

xx.

(Hover over the photos for details!)

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New In My Shop This Week!

Posted in Home Decor, My portfolio, New In My Shop This Week, Sewing, Shop Talk, Vintage + Thrift, tagged , , , on December 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

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It’s been awhile since I’ve had anything new to share!

But I’m pleased to announce that this week I added several new listings to my shop. With holiday shopping well under way, I thought I’d better replace what I’ve been selling lately. A couple of these things have been hanging around my little workshop, just waiting to be listed, and the holiday rush was apparently all it took.

| Here’s what I’ve added |

Well, I certainly don’t need any more bunting around my apartment, so I’ve decided to part with this {golden brown bunting}. You may recognize it as the piece I made for a DIY How-To for the Goodwill Industries International blog. There’s just no place for it in my home with all of the other handmade decor that I have, so maybe it could find a place in yours?

Isn’t this {silk scarf} a dream? In my wildest fancies, I pictured this scarf  tied daintily under my chin keeping my hair set in place while my Mr. took me for a drive through the countryside in his convertible. Of course, we don’t have a convertible, my hair is pretty much always a mess anyways, and we don’t live in a classic movie. So, it’s up for grabs.

I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to make this gorgeous {embroidered floral display}! Really, the details are everything in this piece. Those colours, and the precise little stitches — amazing. I can see this so lovingly displayed in someone’s vintage-inspired ranch. Or perhaps a little country cottage? I know it will find a wonderful home somewhere. Will it be with you?

These two little pillows make a perfect pair, but are listed separately in my shop just in case you fall in love with one more than the other (just don’t let the other one know). They are a {periwinkle houndstooth} and a {gray/blue fleece} pair. Both looking for good homes. I’ve been selling these heart pillows a lot, actually, and most people order them in twos, threes, or even fours! They’re being used a lot as props for photo booths — how fun!

I’ll have even more newly listed items soon!

xx.

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Elbow Patches — DIY Tutorial

Posted in Crafting, My portfolio, Sewing, Style, Upcycling, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2011 | 5 Comments »

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I can’t think of anything more autumnal than a blazer with elbow patches.

And you know how I love to squeeze the marrow out of every season. So, before fall disappeared from us for another year, I thought I ought to hop on the elbow-patch-adding bandwagon. Elsie’s got some super cute ones, and I just saw this little tutorial floating around Pinterest. This weekend I’m going to add some to Ryan’s TopMan sweater, too!

This project also worked out really well for me because I have a ridiculously hard time throwing anything away. If it can’t be recycled, donated, or swapped, I hang on to things I don’t want anymore until a new use becomes apparent. Enter: the winter boots I used several years ago, that finally surrendered to our snowy New England winters.

I’m so glad to have thought of something productive to do with these puppies. Now I’ll be adding elbow patches to anything I see fit — watch out, friends!

I love this method of spicing up layers. It’s really fun and super easy to do. Plus, I got to upcycle my boots into something that I’ll be able to wear for a very long time.

If anyone wants to add some elbow pads to their garments, I’d be happy to help — I have plenty of faux suede still hanging around!

What do you think? We could make professor chic a thing, right?

xx.

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The Merchant Company

Posted in Crafting, Environmental Consciousness, Home Decor, Knitting, Painting, Portland, Sewing, Social Consciousness, Vintage + Thrift, tagged on November 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

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If you live in New England and you haven’t been to The Merchant Co. yet…

then you are sorely missing out. I love, love, love this shop. Essentially, it’s Etsy in a brick and mortar storefront form. The premise is, local handmade and vintage vendors purchase a table, display their goods, and the shop owners keep an eye on things while the vendors are away making more lovely stuff to sell!

The aesthetic is lovely. Comfy organic cottons, mid-century home decor, eerie taxidermy design, fancy flea market finds — they’ve all got a home here. For several years now, Ryan and I have been doing handmade Christmases. Really, they kind of evolved into handmade + vintage Christmases. We won’t buy anything new for someone as a gift because the excessive packaging, questionable company practices, and overwhelming carbon footprints that are by-products of the current consumer world makes us feel a little dirty when we give them our voting dollars. So instead we find unique pieces that are made by hand or treasures that have had many lives before, and gift these. And, The Merchant Company is probably going to be our first stop for Christmas shopping this year.

So, if you’re in Portland, or elsewhere in New England, you’ve simply got to set aside some time to check out this great little corner of the city. Have a peek at their website first, and then become a fan on facebook. You won’t be sorry!

There’s my advice for the day :)

xx.

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