Vintage Clothing, Modern Dilemma

I suppose you can say that my tastes right now are leaning towards the vintage end. I love the feminine lines, the attention to details, and not to mention all of the accessories... Aprons, pillbox hats, buttons, etc. However as a modern feminist of sorts, I am heavily conflicted with the message and connotations this style brings to mind.

For a moment, let's think about what was expected of women at this time, and not just women, but other minorities of the time. Discrimination was rampant of the day. Let's face it, women were heavily expected to stay at home and when they didn't, they were seen as a second class in the workforce. In fact, the subtitle to the first pattern below is, "... All-in-One Secretary Jumper to Cocktail Dress."

While I do appreciate the fact that many items back then were couture and made of high quality and undeniably chic, it's hard to forget the fact that for many women, there were were very few choices for them to make for themselves outside the realm of personal style and fashion. One of my favorite movies of the day is Funny Face (1957). I love how it bridges preconceived expectations of women in the 50's to modern ideals of smart, independant women. Plus it's a musical with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire... how can you NOT love that cast! Nevertheless, I digress... here's some inspirational photos for great style.

Ressurection

I've been selling my items online via my own website and Etsy for the past 3 years now. There were a few items that I sold in my Etsy store (which I no longer have) that I had pretty much abandon... not on purpose, but rather because I simply forgot that I made these designs. I've decided to revisit these designs and bring them back to my current WEBSITE, in addition to my newer designs.

Other designs I'm going to be bringing back are my "dainty daisy" stacker ring, and my "lightning bolt" necklace. Stay tuned!

Craft Riot Holiday Show

I just got word this afternoon that I will be vending at the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show come this November.

In addition to the many accessories I already make, I plan on working on some new holiday items such as knit stockings and crochet slippers... stay tuned. Fall and winter are my two favorite holidays, mostly because it's not as hot in Texas, and also because it gives me an excuse to knit and crochet as much as I can! Hope to see you at the show!

Who are you wearing?

Last week I attempted to go a week of only wearing my own clothes. I only got around to making 3 outfits, and here they are...

This first one is actually for sale on my website: HERE!

Not too bad for whipping these up in an evening. All are pretty comfy too!

Advertising

A few weeks back I inquired about some ad space in BustMagazine in hopes of driving more sales to my website. I signed up for the next 3 issues which means that I will be in their holiday issue as well! The issue won't be for sale for another week or so, but I was sent this issue last week!

Another thing I was excited about this week were buttons! Lots and lots of buttons! One of the JoAnn's is closing down to make way for a bigger store come February and they had most of their stuff 75% off. I love working with buttons, especially with my knit items, but as some of you know, they can be pretty pricey. Here's a glimpse at the stash I now have. All of these are large and measure 1-3 inches in diameter.

As Seen...

I often have customers come into the store, browse around, like what they see and then request a special order based on one of my existing pieces. Recently I've been commissioned to create specialty items for various establishments around town.

The first that lead this wave was Southtown Yoga Loft. Kristal, the studio's wonderful owner requested specialty jewelry items inspired by yoga and a line of yoga mat straps. Also in the works are a line of retro inspired aprons that will be for sale at Alamo Sweets and finally I am currently creating a line of tool cases for Alamo City Reeds. I played Oboe for about 10 years, so I'm kinda geeking out about flirting with the musician scene again.

Not gonna lie, these projects are definitely going to require some time management and dedication, but the cool thing is that they will allow me to expand my range on my items. Very excited!

Aprons!

I've been meaning to make some for a while now, and finally, this past Friday I made my first apron. In the past 5 days, I've made a total of 4 aprons so far, and I've got a 5th about halfway done. I love making these! They're really cute, and there's so many ways to construct them. Here's a look at what I've been working on.

This one is for sale on my website HERE.

Here is what the reverse side looks like.

Below are some ruffles at the bottom of another one.

The halter one below is going to be sent to my sister.

Each one I've made so far is different, but all are still totally cute! What I like about these items is that I can get really zany and colorful with the fabric choices, unlike garment making, where my fabric choices tend to be MUCH more subtle.

International Yarn Bombing Day

Here's a bit of what was done in San Antonio this past Saturday for international yarn bombing day. This first pic was done by the Yarn Dawgs... it looks straight out of Dr. Seuss! All projects shown below were installed at the Pearl Brewery.

The rest are what my projects looked like during daylight hours.

All of my yarn bombing was done the night before IYD, so this is what it looked like as I was installing the projects.

You can barely tell, but the next two pictures are of my knit Texas state flag hanging over the Riverwalk. You can get a better idea of what the flag looks like from the last photo.

New Website with BigCartel

In my long search of trying to find an easy to use and attractive looking website, I think I have finally come to my end!!!

I decided to go with BigCartel and for now the site is BLinkDesing.bigcartel.com, but I'm hoping to switch the domain to the name I've already got, B-LinkDesign.com in the coming days.

I really like the customization features on this, and the fact that it's a site INTENDED on selling products, which means that I can start adding items for sale right from the get go! You can also sync up your blog and original domain name to the site. There are also ways to add Facebook "like" buttons. All in all, I really like the look and navigation so far. Pricing for their hosting is pretty competitive ranging from FREE to $30 per month... that's it!

Take a look at BLinkDesign.bigcartel.com to tell me what you think!

Ocean Treasures

Today was my first full day back in San Antonio. I spent the past week on a belated honeymoon in the Virgin Islands. The trip was a blast! We visited Tortola and St. Thomas but spent most of our time in St. John, which by far, was the prettiest of all the islands. Matt and I tried out all kinds of water activities for the first time. While snorkeling, we of course found plenty of sea shells, but we were really surprised to find quite a bit of sea glass while in St. Thomas. Below are a few pictures of the treasures I found...

Here are some of the larger pieces we found.

I'll probably use the smaller pieces in fine silver settings.

Here are some of the cool shells I found in Lindberg Bay.

This shell is by far my favorite.

I'm going to try and create some new jewelry items with these treasures I found at the beach.

Men's Dresses...

More like dresses made from Men's shirts. I took a stab at this form of upcycling last year as seen in this PREVIOUS POST however to be quite honest, I was never pleased with the outcome. I tried again a few weeks ago, and along with my serger, I think I've gotten much better at altering these dresses. The first one featured sold in the shop just today!!!

SOLD!

I decided to keep this one for myself.

I'm gonna keep this one too.

Never fret. I went thrifting the other day, and found about a dozen more cool men's shirts that are just begging to be dolled up. The new garments should be ready at B.Link sometime next week.