Stash Interview

I have really enjoyed reading the sew mama sew stash interviews from February. I might be a few days late, but no one can call me fat quarter short. I will now proceed to interview myself, and I will be very delighted by my own answers:

First of all, what do you usually sew?

Clothes for my son (mostly pants and shorts, but occasional jumpers), stuffed toys, clothes for myself, play matt/baby quilts, and children's clothing for Rose & Duke.
Scraps are kept in Ziplocks in an open toy trunk, on the floor of the closet.

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?)

When I buy for Rose & Duke appliques, I buy small quantities, maybe a yard. Very rarely do I buy less than a yard of something (unless it's from Japan and sold by the half-yard only). When I buy for Harlan I buy at least 1.5 yards, and when it's for myself, I buy 2 to 3 yards to make a shirt or skirt or even short dress.

SMS: Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need?
I mostly am an impulse buyer. I frequently look at my favorite online stores and buy things when I see them and fear they may run out. I also have certain fabrics that I need, and I look for those as well. I am constantly searching for prints with small fruit on them, for the tree appliques that I make with screen-printed animals standing next to them. When I am back visiting NYC, I also stock up on items in the garment district that I know I will need for sewing for my family: linen, solids, wools, velors, etc.

SMS: Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it?

I just started pre-washing. I used to never pre-wash anything, because it's such a hassle. Ironing is something I find loathsome, and can not figure out how to perfect. No matter how long I go back and forth over certain fabrics, the wrinkles don't come out. Steam or no steam. Or they come out, but then they come back. It makes me crazy.
These are some of my rayon triangles, cut from all the '40s dresses I used to wear in high school and college. Once the arm pits came apart, they became quilt material. I have yet to sew the quilt. Maybe that should be my goal for 2009.

SMS: Do you iron it?

See above.

This is one of my favorites. Fans of Japanese prints will recognize it. I bought it a few years, and just bought more when I saw it available. I will probably hoard it for several years.

SMS: How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.)
I have mostly cotton prints, and I sort by predominant color. I also have a stack of home dec. weight cottons, a stack of velor and cashmere/wools, and a stack of solids.

This is one of my favorite floral prints. It's from Japan, and I only have a small amount, but I plan to incorporate into a blouse somehow.

SMS: Do you have any special folding techniques?
Nope.

SMS: How do you store your fabric?
It's all in a closet in my son's room. I suppose that when we buy a house I will have a better solution, but for now it beats keeping it in boxes under the bed, which is what I used to do back in Brooklyn, when closet space was a super-precious comodity. I also have some in boxes, but that's mostly scraps and ongoing projects.

I totally should have bought more than a yard of this Kokka print. I can not find more anywhere and I think it may one of the most perfect designs ever.

SMS: What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash?

When you see something you like that might not last in the stores for long, buy it. Make sure you have the solids that you work with frequently, and play with different brands of solids for different purposes, to see which ones you like the best.

SMS: When do you say enough is enough?

When you run out of storage room!

This is a scrap from an

Publish Post

old feedsack that I cut and pinned to make into a blouse. I never sewed the blouse, and now that I've had a son and my ribcage has expanded, it will never fit me anyway. I recently noticed that some designer has reproduced this print exactly. Maybe Alexander Henry?

SMS: What are some of your favourite stash-busting projects?

Quilts are the best way to cut down on the stash. I have yet to make any adult sized quilts, but I sure will be ready when the time comes.

SMS: What’s your definition of the perfect stash?
The inside of Purl Soho.
This is an old feedsack. How can you beat cobwebs and yellow roses? What on earth should I cut into it for?

This one is blouse material. I think it is from Lecien. I bought it at Brooklyn General a couple of years ago, while shopping with Kimmy one day.

Happy 2009!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I was absent from blogland as I was working on keeping my booth stocked at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, and spending time with the fam. There were a lot of really fantastic artists at Blue Genie this year, and despite the current economy, sales were strong. Rose & Duke sold a decent amount of items, but I was expecting to sell way more and so now I have a lot of stock to fill my site and some local shops. That is what I will be spending the next few weeks doing; photographing items, uploading them, and taking samples around. I am super bad about updating my webshop, and my 2009 resolution is to make time to keep it current.

In crafty news, I had a fun time doing an ornament swap with some great bloggers. It was called the "Los Locos Calicos" swap, and I'll post a link to the flickr group as soon as more folks have uploaded their photos (hint hint ladies). I received the cutest ever Christmas bunny pom pom ornament from Frizz. It came inside a hand-pained wooden box which I now keep my barrettes in. I'm linking you to her photos of the critter, because she took really great ones. I ended up sending out two ornaments. The one that I made for the swap is this one:
I hand embroidered sliver thread onto blue wool felt . It wasn't that easy to remove the stabilizer, let me tell you.

I ended up making a batch of these birdie and vintage millinery flower ornaments. I had a box of vintage wooden thread spools in a drawer and the inspiration just hit me. I ended up including one in the swap.

Sorry for the overexposed photo. My other 2009 resolution is to take better photos. I end up rushing a lot and the results are not always pretty.

Guess what awesome thing happened chez Dunlap? Our ruby grapefruit tree gave us the sweetest grapefruit ever! A hail storm knocked off all but one, and here she is:


We also had a Christmas visit from my mother, and she and Harlan made a gingerbread house together:
Please note the Playmobil midevil guards out front. Somebody put them there to ensure that no one else tried to eat the house. This, after receiving the Jen Corace Illustrated Hansel and Gretel from Sanata. It's the loveliest rendition of the story I have ever read.

Vintage Chicken Scratch Apron Giveaway!

Last weekend while doing some vintage-goodness shopping, I came across these two old aprons with chicken scratch embroidery on them, and could not resist. Once I got home, I remembered that I don't even wear aprons very often, and I knew that one of these lovelies deserved a home with someone who could really appreciate it. Since chicken scratch is all the rage in crafty blogland these days, I just know there is someone out there reading this who will want one of these aprons. Leave a comment saying which apron you want (I only will give away one) before next Tuesday, and a week from today I'll have Harlan draw a name at random from a hat. Be sure and comment with a way that I can contact you via e-mail should you win :)

Another cute mid-century kid's chair was scored here in the great state of Texas:

Also in crafty goodness news: New curtains for Harlan's closet, sewn from Ikea fabric (forgive the lousy photo).

A plain denim skirt made from the Sew What! Skirts book that I bought a loooong time ago. Yes, it's another photo that doesn't do the subject justice. The skirt came out really cute, but no one is around to help me take a photo right now, so it's just me, the bathroom, and the lack of tri-pod.

Going in the mail tonight is a wedding gift for some friends who got married back in June. I actually had completed the pillow on time, but I was waiting for the second piece of the gift to become finished (it's something Joe made) before mailing it. I hope the recipients are not reading this before they get the pillow. If so, sorry it's so late! The fabric in the background is the same fabric I used to back the pillow with.

French knot details on bride-kitty's dress:

Some vintage 40's rayon crepe fabric that I'm going to make my next super lightweight TX style skirt with:

I'm a little unsure of how it will look once it's on me. It may too shear, and too unflattering, but I'm going to finally take the plunge and cut it up. I've had it sitting around since I got in Portland way back in the day.

Hot

So it's been hovering around 100 degrees here lately and I'm trying to embrace it as best as one can. Maybe if I pretend I'm one of those people who loves intense heat, I will actually become one. In the mean time, I had my bread party last weekend. Some friends came over and brought different items baked from the bread book. I made the almond bostock which is basically rolls of brioche with almond paste swirled inside them, along with orange flavor and grated orange peel and almonds on top. It was maybe one of the best things I've ever eaten, especially since we had it while it was still warm.
I also baked two plain loaves of brioche, and I just ate a slice of one with some Nutella and sliced banana on top. I guess the diet is officially off.

Katie made two focaccia, one plain and one with thin onions and salt. I could eat it all day long basically (with almond bostock breaks in between).
Harlan actually went up to this first and clamped his teeth around the edge of it. As Katie put it, "it got the toddler seal of approval." Kelly brought some pecan cinnamon rolls and they didn't exactly taste like crap either: Let me tell you, all that was left of these was a few pecans and some crust. Dr. Ruth made the light bran, and I have to say I think I may switch to this loaf for a while (I've been making the light wheat each week for sandwiches, but this one has a bit more heft to it): Jenifer made an awesome cheese ball with some fresh feta from a local organic farm.

In crafty news, I made a cupcake for Mae's birthday The pattern is from here.
We finally got some wicker chairs and a table from Ikea for our balcony, and I made a couple of seat cushions for the chairs. I've also been working on a sun dress with some of my coveted Folklore fabric. Here's the top of it shown upside down: Like the ric-rack around the top of the bodice? I'm going to add some to the hem as well. There is one big problem however. I cut my fabric and patterns super carefully, and sewed every single seam with the same seam allowance, but that shit just doesn't line up properly.
Notice how the vertical seams don't line up? I kind of tried it on and it seems like it should work out to fit O.K. if I go ahead and insert the zipper, but I feel like I'll know that I screwed it up. However, if I rip it up and take in the couple of inches along the front of the skirt then the floral pattern won't line up. I am stumped.

In shop news I'm adding a banana cowboy on a green background. He's kind of always been everyone's favorite and I think the green makes him look extra special.


A few nights ago we went out to a biergarten in the middle of nowhere and it was super awesome. Even though I'm not a big beer drinker, they did have the Widmier Heffewiesen that I always liked back in Portland, and a polka band really hit the spot. To make things even better there was a plethora of Texas glamour grandmas getting their groove on on the dance floor. There was one super old guy in a full-on Tyrolean outfit and I kept hoping he would ask me to dance, but all the old biddies kept getting to him first. Check him out in the left corner:

Abby Don't Look

I know this is lame, but I'm posting a photo of a birthday/housewarming gift before I mail it. So, Abby stop looking (or else look if you want to know what is coming your way soon). Here is what I made last week. With help from the Goddess of Vintage Embroidery Patterns, I was lucky enough to score a set of the busy bees transfers. There is a tee towel with an additional busy bee coming next, but I couldn't wait to show this one off. I used some Japanese bee fabric to contrast with the plain muslin.


Bathroom #1 is complete and I need to figure out a way to photograph a very tiny room in order to show it off. Bathroom #2 is on hold as my contractor called this morning (the day bathroom #2 was supposed to be demolished) to tell me he has a hernia on his leg (?) and he would like to start the bathroom next week. I don't know what to expect, but I sure am happy to have at least one excellent place to bathe.

Rose & Duke got a good review this week on the celebrity baby clothes blog.

Breakfast of the week:
This oat bran banana bread is some seriously good shit. Let me tell you, if you like banana bread, this is the way to go. Take your old bananas and follow this recipe. However, and this is important, substitute raisins for dried cherries, and be sure to dump in a good amount of the secret ingredient garam marsala.
My friend Jen. W. back in Brooklyn taught me this tip, and I must say that garam marsala in oat bran banana bread is to regular banana bread as watching regular t.v. is to watching t.v. with Tivo: Once you've had the new version, you're never going back.

P.S. Austinites: Did you know that a loaf of banana bread costs $12 at Texas French Bread? Are they F'ing kidding me? I don't even think that the obnoxiously overpriced Dean & Deluca in SoHo charges that much. If this kind of price inflation is a result of New Yorkers moving to town, I humbly apologize, and offer you my secret banana bread recipe as a peace offering.

Well Hello Dolly

My paltry posting habits are due to the holiday season, I swear! I've been working away on ornaments for this ornament swap and this one (as if I don't have enough to do, but I couldn't turn down a good swap). I'll post pics a week after I send them out. Also, I am replenishing the Rose & Duke stock because I'll be selling again in a couple of weeks in the Guerro's lot on S. Congress. Please stop by and say hello if you are in town, there will be lots of handmade goodness for sale.

We enjoyed a peaceful thanksgiving at Jen and Kevin's with Jen's delightful family. You betcha that I brought some desserts. I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip squares (for some reason I forgot to photograph these). Everyone always goes berserk on these and they are quite easy to make. I also took a risk and went with Martha's recent recipe for pear cranberry pie with a lattice top. I used a plastic star from Harlan's shape sorter toy to cut the starts out of the crust. The pie was good but too heavy on the cranberries unfortunately.


At the last minute I decided to throw in a chocolate bourbon pecan pie, because every thanksgiving table needs a good one. I made this one from a combination of recipes and it came out more like a soft cookie on a pate brisee pastry, which may not be exactly what I was going for but still tastes a lot better than a fistful of baby corn or cuchifritos (deep fried pig ears).


I did not want to work on anything I had to do during the vacation, so instead I made a couple of doll dresses for the baby dolls at Harlan's Montessori school. When I picked him up last Tuesday a couple of the kids were playing with the dolls, and I noticed that their only outfits were totally falling apart (and were pretty crummy to begin with). It made me sad. Next I'm going to make them a couple of quilts for their wooden cradles. I can't believe I forgot to photograph the back sides of the dresses, but I did. They are totally open, with two covered buttons and red velvet ribbons on the other side to hook over the buttons. I used a combination of these two patterns. I would like to make them some sweaters so if anyone knows of any patterns for doll sweaters please let me know (knit or crochet).


P.S. I went to the City Wide Garage Sale last weekend and was basically just overwhelmed by the crowds. We only stayed a brief amount of time, but I did score three vintage aprons for $2 each. While I don't wear aprons and bought these to scrap the fabric for other projects, I feel badly cutting them up because they're just so darn cute. What can you do?

Holiday Season Begins Here

October kicks off the holiday season and off we went last weekend, to Marble Falls to Sweetberry Farms.


Pumpkins were piled everywhere, including on a lovely rusted bed and inside an old truck:




Notice any difference between myself and the other visitors? I know it's difficult to see all the people in the bed photo, but I can assure you that none of them were wearing dresses, let alone ones from Anthroplogie, nor are they wearing Camper maryjanes. They were not holding toddlers wearing cute shirts that their friend Abby got for them at Tea Collection sample sales in San Francisco. Pretty much everyone seems to wear jeans, t-shirts and sneakers, and I'm not talking about cute vintage Wranglers or sexy fitting Barney's jeans with Petite Bateau tees or American Apparel hipster ringer tees.

Pumpkin patch (a.k.a rural) fashion was a topic of discussion on the car trip back into town and we came to the conclusion that in country settings where people drive everywhere, fashion is not as important as it is to people in cities. There is less reason to dress and also less inspiration to be gained from the outfits of others. Back in NYC you could easily be entertained walking around any neighborhood and taking in all of the ensembles. Back when I worked up on Madison Ave. there were some pretty awesome outfits to be seen- the creme de la creme of expensiveness, and of course, ridiculousness. You know when you look inside Vogue and think Who the hell wears that crazy rabbit fur bikini top with high-waited jeans and hooker boots? Well, just go walk around the 57th St. area and you will see that there is a real-live market for such absurdity. One of my favorite times of year was the dead of winter when one could spot men donning thick fur coats, looking like life-size teddy bears. My co-workers and I would regularly spot Bill Cunningham (photographer of style for the New York Times) standing back from the street with his camera hanging around his neck. We would non-chalantly pass in front him trying to look like we were laughing or enjoying ourselves in slow motion, just in case we would be good fodder for his Sunday Styles section. Alas, we never showed up in print although several of our other co-workers did, and it always felt like we were somehow part of it too (even though we were in no way part of it obviously). I have to say that I felt a kindred spirit in Angelina recently when she talked about still wanting to be able to get dressed and enjoy fashion even though her daily life doesn't exactly require it. As the no-office-to-go-to mother of a toddler, I really don't have any good reason to get out of my velour pants and thermal shirt, but for the most part I do, just because it's fun and I also feel like I lost my identity during the year that this outfit was the only one I wore (2006 when Harlan was a baby). Now that I get a full seven hours sleep each night and am not breastfeeding, there is really no reason not to get dressed each morning.

I hope I am not offending any country dwellers out there- I'm sure many of you own garments other than hemmed jean shorts and puffy white sneakers, but I have not met you so I'm basing this passage on my own experience with country folk (which is pretty minimal honestly- I am definitely the person that the bumper sticker "Yankee go home" is intended for).

Speaking of fashion, the local temperature finally dropped last week (going down the the upper 30's at night and warming up to a lovely upper 70's during the afternoons) and Harlan got to wear this awesome vintage plaid jacket that my friend Karen got him at an auction up in PA.

Karen is due to give birth to her first child in two weeks, so send her best wishes everyone.

On the drive back to town we stopped at a roadside junk shop and picked up this antique child's rocking chair for $15.

It is not in perfect condition as the wood could use a little shine and the vinyl has a hole on the seat and a paint stain on the bottom front. I plan to refinish it one day and keep it in my future craft room with some softies on it. For now Harlan loves it and it goes great in our living room.

Speaking of crafting (and of chairs for that matter) I got three wonderful books in the mail last week as an early birthday gift (thanks to the magic of the amazon.com wish list) from my father and stepmother in law:


I have had my eye on this one for a while since it features so many great interviews and projects from many great crafty bloggers out there. I have to admit I am in love with Heidi Kenney's tissue box cover:



Just when I thought I was too cool for something as lowbrow as a tissue box cover, I find myself feeling I can not live without making one.

Simple Sewing with a French Twist has been at the top of my wish list for a while. Here is a peek of some inspiring projects:



This folding chair is the first thing I'm going to make (as soon as I finish 100 other things) for our balcony. You just need to find a wooden folding chair, spray paint the frame black and sew a basic seat and back for it by tracing the one you rip out of it.

I discovered this book over on Posie Gets Cozy and have been wanting to try a little ribbon embroidery of my own (project 102 on the list I suppose).

Also in the mail as an early birthday gift came this hand embroidered Chinese top from my mother in law who lives in Taiwan:

Also super inspiring.

I'm working away on the business and here are a couple of hoodies I'll be offering. The one with the initial be available upon order with whichever initial the customer wants. The letters are from a vintage pattern that Karen also got at an auction for me a while back.




I need to get a better lens for my camera so that I can control the light as well as get more detailed shots of embroidery stitches. Perhaps as a birthday gift to myself :)

Speaking of the embroidery business, the shop has a new name. I had to cancel my tax i.d. number in NY and have to file a new Doing Business As name here in Texas. As you know I had trouble figuring out how to keep "Bun Bun" but get rid of the "baby" so that people will not assume that I only make baby clothes and items. I wanted something that indicated both genders and that sounded like it was from a few generations back. I ended up choosing the names of my favorite great-aunt and great-uncle, who are still going strong up in Brooklyn in their eighties. They are Rose and Duke, and Rose is a fantastic needlepoint artist to boot. Here is the postcard for the new shop:


I found a web design team to take over the task of creating a site for me, and it will debut in February. Until then, enjoy your Halloween.