Lulu Finder

This is Alexandra, she's Samantha's other assistant. Not only is she a total dreamboat she is also super talented! Here are some of my favorites from her etsy shop, which is very reasonably priced (too reasonable if you ask me!):

We've made loose plans to do a booth together at Artists and Fleas sometime at the end of May. She also has a really good looking blog.

A Tour of East Williamsburg Bizarro Businesses, Episode 4

Oh, my precious little neighborhood, gotta love it.

I live in a little bit of a no-man's land over here, my closest restaurants are a divey diner and a McDonalds (although a nice little hip cafe just opened, thank god). With no good bodegas or supermakets in sight, I was super excited when a new dollar store opened up 2 blocks away, what kind of goodies would there be inside?

I was initially intrigued by this sign on the window promoting all the things you could possibly need for a luau party.

Sweet, cause I have been DYING to have a luau party. Once inside, I started in the food aisles, and came upon some dollar cereal. Is this Honey Nut Cheerios? Oh, no, pardon me, Honey Nut Scooters! Next to some Honey Nut Cheerios.

Then I was thinking, you know what would be totally awesome, if they had some Oxyclean. Oh wait, its TOTALLY AWESOME OXYGEN BASE CLEANER.

They had a whole aisle dedicated to stuff for weddings. Cause nothing says classy wedding like stuff from the dollar store.

Nearly bought this for a bridal shower for my friend Sam, obedience training whistle for your new husband:

And finally, as promised, the luau supplies section. Even better than I could have imagined.

Vintage lingerie

After working with Samantha for a few months I have learned a lot about the business of being in apparel manufacturing, and I think I'm ready to do a little something myself. I've been totally obsessed with vintage lingerie for years, yet its hard to find these designs reproduced (cause really, do you wanna buy a pair of used underwear? gross). This weekend I visited the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show to get some prototypes.

These beauties are called "tap pants" and they were produced in the 20's or 30's. Good examples have really beautiful embroidery and are made of silk or rayon. They fit super high on the waist and generally close with buttons. Next week I'm taking my tax return money and meeting with a manufacturer to see if they can copy the pattern and produce a small run. In the future I'd like to do a few more pieces, maybe a onesie such as this?

I'm really excited about this project! I figure the worst that could happen is that they don't sell and then I just have an unlimited supply of gifts to give my friends. More on this when I meet with the factory.

New Dress project completed

I finished my summer dress:



I love how many vintage patterns translate into modern designs as long as you pick the right fabric. Oh, and in this case, take the hem up about 6 inches.