Coming soon!

I have been quite busy this year as I moved into an actual working space in January. With IG, and facebook I just never post here anymore. But I'm gearing up for a fresh new idea. Since moving to Santa Barbara, the biggest disappointment is the lack of a fabric store. AT ALL. So for 2 years, I've scraped together what little these overpriced thrift stores get for any type of fabric, and have even resorted to buying new sheets at ross and kmart for some projects. Yes its that bad here. I also make a trek at least once a month to Oxnard Joann or the thrifts there to find supplies.

My studio isn't necessarily a retail space, but I did hope for it to be at some point. Its just I'm so busy sewing and selling the vintage clothing, that I cant seem to find time to keep my head on straight. I have started to get some light foot traffic as I bought a cute little chalkboard sign to place out near the street. And so a few people have come asking about sewing supplies. And dummy me I'm like, "yea there's no fabric stores here" and I say it totally straight faced while they probably look at me like you hoarder! Your standing right in front of half a store full of fabric!! So after the third time it was like "DUH!" after the woman left I was like OMG why didn't I offer to sell her some of my sewing needles? DOUBLE OMG, why the heck am I hoarding all this fabric? I should open a fabric store!!

One of my original ideas was to sell my garments up front of the space, and offer sewing classes in the workspace. I have no clue why it never dawned on me to make it a fabric store, but I'm glad I finally figured it out! So I liquidated ALL my vintage clothing. ~SIGH~  I had a hard time letting go. Of course it will always be in my blood and even today I tried so hard to resist the urge to buy all those amazing dresses I don't usually find at the SB Goodwill. (I did have to get this amazing bird moo moo however. I see its new life as a circle skirt) But, as business goes most successful businessmen have ventures for a while and move onto other more successful ones, and so I hope will be the case for me.

 

So in the next month I will be officially opening Salvaged Stitch, a Fabric Shoppe with Fashion Redesigned. I will have sewing classes biweekly at first until I see how well I get interest from the community. I'm also planning a whole lot more, so stay tuned. I'm moving the blog and all of my collection over to an actual website from ETSY which is a HUGE step. But its time to step it up! For now you can head over to www.salvagedstitch.com and save that to your bookmarks. It leads to my etsy shop for now. And don't forget to like me on facebook for daily updates! www.facebook.com/salvagedstitch

Off the beaten path...

I admit, felt plushies are the cutest things ever. I could spend hours between etsy, pinterest and flickr looking at them. I have made a few plushies in the past but I'm just not one for patience when it comes to making plush. Its odd isnt it? Most people think making clothing is difficult. Id rather sew than deal with tiny little legs and arms and trying to hand stitch things. But I'm always one to give things a second try. And being that the holidays are upon us and I need gifts to give away I decided to try making some felt ornaments. They are a labor of love and take quite a bit of time to complete despite how small they are and seemingly simple they look. They can become quite detailed and intricate however. Its like any art, its all in the mind of the creator to either make a great piece or something simple. Once I made a few I started really getting a rhythm and even learned a few embroidery stitches and began making more detailed pieces. Who knows I might even pack up my sewing machine and take up felting.....The materials definitely use less space lol.

Here's a few that I've made so far....

Doc Browns shirt collar now featured

A while back I picked up this amazing fabric at my super secret fabric supply location in Los Angeles. It was one of those fabrics that was kinda wacky and if u know me, there is nothing usual about anything I do! So I bought this fabric with no clue as to its origins, just thinking it was kinda cool. Then one day were watching Back to the Future 2 and then- "Great Scott!!" It's Doc Brown wearing a shirt made from THE VERY fabric I had bought!!

So my conclusion was that this fabric supply somehow manages to get old stock fabrics that have been used for who knows what!! I had bought some fabric there once that said Disney California hotel on it and I'm sure it had to be leftover decor fabric. Now as to whether this store actually knows what it is they are buying I'm not sure of. I've never been really chatty with the employees. But in any case I have found amazing fabrics there including designer prints for less than $3 a yard. And you won't have to bribe me to tell you that it's called M&L fabrics, located on Knott and Ball in Anaheim. It's no secret really ;)

So anyhow back to the collar...here it is and it looks amazing! I also did a second collar with another cool fabric that, yes came from M&L. I don't know if you can tell, but the print is sort of like looking at those 3d eye prints u know where u have to stare a while to figure out what it is. It's an old race car like a 30s model Mercedes or something similar lol. I think theres a barn in the backdrop too. I have a skirt that's been cut from the same print that maybe I should get around to finishing....it would look cool with a yellow shirt and the collar!

Detachable Collar Crazy

Collars are all the rage again, and they come in so many variations. There's the collar necklace which can be fabric or jewelry. Or the detachable collar which is more of a mock collar, but hey it could technically be jewelry too. There's just soo many choices. And these cute collars are all over the runways and I decided to make a few with some of my vintage fabrics. The first is a huge bib collar that I spent about 10 hours on. I should have tried the template on the dummy first. In the end it seems soo huge! When I was constructing it it seemed perfect....but hey go big or go home! The second was my first attempt at a Peter Pan collar. I found a pattern and tutorial here. It doesn't lay very flat so I need to tweak it a bit. I made it double sided which is not something I've seen. I'm going to put a bunch more together in the next few days. This will help me use up my scraps, well the big pieces anyway. Also check out these patterns for pointy collars http://jenifersult.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/super-pointy-collar1.pdf and a really holiday looking one here. http://blog.makezine.com/craft/project_angel_collar/ You can also find a whole page of patterns here at the costumers manifesto.

Fresh New Fat Quarter Clutches

I purchased some lovely fat quarters 6 months back and amazingly I am actually using them! I have fabric thats been sitting for years so 6 months is a big improvement! I got the stack of $25 for $25 at of all places Tuesday Morning They are actually designer fabrics, I had no idea they carried that stuff but then again I only went there once about 6 years ago. (are you getting how much I procrastinate)

So I came up with a few fresh new designs (and it wasn't easy). Sometimes I think I'm just making a pouch and that's so easy, but I want it to be new and innovative looking. And then it takes me hours just to create one little pouch that should only take an hour! You know its hard to stand out in a crowd on etsy because there's 71 thousand search results for pouch alone. So here they are and I haven't put them in the shop yet, but tomorrow I promise they'll be there. I really would love your comments!