Fabric shopping downtown
Lately, I’ve been shopping more than I’ve been creating. I’ve got to turn that around! I’m pretty behind with everything and need to catch up. I’m really trying to fill up my etsy store for the first time. Plus, I’m way behind in inventory in general. The busy Christmas season is fast approaching too. Anyway, I wanted to post about some of the new fabrics I found. I heard about a place called Ragfinders downtown. I was too curious not to seek it out. They buy old fabrics in bulk and sell in minimum quantities of 20 yards, or basically the bolt. I ended up with some vintage fabric that I had to have and left the place having spent way too much money. I’m not sure that it was a good deal at the end of the day. I ended up paying more per yard than I regularly do, and I have 20+ yards of each. I’m going to be married to these fabrics for a long time. They are pretty cool though. Here’s some of the ones I bought.
After that I hit Michael Levine’s. I bought some holiday fabric that’s not vintage, but it’s a hoot. I think I’ll make a couple of outfits for my daughter out of these.
Vintage kimonos
I just found a vintage kimono dealer online that sells in bulk quantities. I ordered I think a ten or 20 pound box and was quite pleased. A couple of the kimonos I can’t use because they are polyester and not that great of quality, but there’s some real gems in the lot. Here’s a couple of pictures of what I got.
When I’ve used vintage kimonos before I’ve been very pleased with the results of the dresses. I can’t wait to get sewing with these.
Moving into a new spot at Handmade Galleries
I’m vacating my current spot at Handmade Galleries and moving into a larger space. It’s good because I really have my spot cluttered. I like the look of it since I covered it with various kinds of oilcloths, but I think things could be displayed better for sure. This has got me thinking about what I can do with the new slate. Here’s my current location.
I’m going to keep the oilcloth on the back, but I need to pare things down better. I’m pretty sure I’m going to move to clothing racks and various types of vintage hooks. I think an antique clothes dryer as a display might look nice too. Here’s my current blank slate. Let’s see how I end up using the space.
Sugar sack dress #2
Well, I made a dress out of the second sugar sack and actually put it up on etsy. I’ve had an etsy account since 2007, and it has taken me until 2010, to finally get some product up for sale! Well, now that I’ve listed stuff maybe I will be motivated to keep listing inventory. Typically, I’m always shipping product out to my stores and don’t maintain an inventory for etsy. That needs to change though.
Here’s a pouty face picture that I got of my daughter the other day. She’s very difficult to photograph because she’s always in motion and very uncooperative. I didn’t want to use this picture on my website, but I think it’s pretty funny. She doesn’t look thrilled to be modeling.
My work space
Lately, I’ve been really into cleaning and organizing and am inspired to make my work space more creative. My sewing room is a strange room off of my living room that isn’t much larger than a bathroom or walk-in closet. I really need at least double or triple the space because I am really being overtaken by fabric. I do try to keep organized, but it’s a challenge because I like to be able to see all of my fabrics. Otherwise, I forget about them. I just neatly folded everything up and resorted. I found all sorts of cool pieces I can’t wait to incorporate into dresses.
I think I’m going to paint my room a robin’s egg blue and hang some of my vintage fabric banners across the walls and the ceiling. Painting is going to be a monumental effort though because I’ll have to move the tons and tons of things I have stored in my tiny space. Here’s just a portion of my vintage fabric stash.
I love all sorts of vintage fabrics, and I really find a use for most everything. Right now I’m particularly into feed sacks and other vintage advertising materials. I just scored these bags in a funky little consignment shop in the desert. I’m going to turn them into dresses tonight!
News from Hankie Babies
Well, I’ve decided to create a blog. I don’t know if it was temporary insanity or not, but it’s too late now. Hankie Babies is on WordPress, and I feel a tremendous amount of pressure to keep this blog current and and not uninteresting.
I’ve been trying to get Hankie Babies dresses out in the world for a few years now, but it seems like in the past few months my sewing has taken off so much more than it did for the previous four years. I may be on my way to a business rather than just toiling away long at night at a hobby–my serger clickety-clacking away.
I am proud to say that Hankie Babies clothing is currently available in eight stores, and three of them are out of state. It’s nice knowing that people appreciate vintage linens and seeing them have a new life as girls’ clothing as much as I do. I feel like I am helping the world by recycling and bringing new life to a pastime that has long gone by. That is reusing old hankies, tea towels and linens that aren’t used nowadays like they once were. I love to see all of the old fabrics and often wonder about the people that handworked all of the embroidery and put these things together with love in the past.
Daria www.hankiebabies.com
