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Spring Fashion Crush!

September 18, 2018 by Amy L. 1 Comment

We just enjoyed 3 days of glorious sunshine (which is a rarity this time of year here on the “wet coast”) and all I could think of was how I’d love a new dress or two soon, to be ready for all that summer will have to offer. A little insight into life here in Vancouver, we locals joke frequently about how most of our city’s dwellers have at least a mild case of “SAD” (seasonal affective disorder), and how we love to watch abandoned streets, patios and beaches become almost instantly filled when the first hint of summer sunshine arrives. Honestly, I’m getting wistful just typing this! Before I segue, I’ll just let you know that if you need somewhere to visit in the summer time, Vancouver is truly where it’s at if you love the great outdoors, good food, and unique shopping (and no, I don’t work for Tourism Canada ;).

Moving along… I’ve got a wonderful fashion duo to share with you today! Hailing from Australia, Three Little Ducks is a boutique fashion label run by Katherine Humphery and Patrick McDermott. Their line is full of beautiful classic tailoring, figure flattering cuts and details that make this fashion lover swoon! More than one dress from this collection has caught my eye and has me mentally calculating shipping costs and timing for a package to arrive from Australia to Canada.

Katherine and Patrick share on their blog that the focus of their line is quality and simplicity with details brought into their pieces through the use of layers and textured fabrics. Their passion for what they do is so evident – it seems clear to me they know the power fashion can have to transform us and they say it best on their blog:

“Even the serious fashion cynic can find him or herself in unconscious appreciation of a tailored shirt and aware of its persuasive influence on both wearer and observer.

The clothes we wear of course surround us and, if we accept Alain De Botton’s notion that, for better or worse, we are different people depending on our surrounds, we should resist the gauche and embrace skillful design and construction in fabric and clothes.”

I hope you’ll enjoy this peek into their latest collection and are inspired by their passionate approach to their craft. If you have a favorite indie design label you think we should cover here on the blog I’d love to hear about it!

13threads

September 17, 2018 by Erika Jurney 6 Comments

13threads: Although born and raised in Scotland, I have also been incredibly lucky to have lived, worked and studied in Los Angeles, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco and Zurich. Now back living in Edinburgh I have the opportunity to focus my passion for sewing and design into a full-time job. (Ok I need to revise this bit. As a mother of two, my ‘passion for design and sewing’ are moments grabbed between the school run, their social life and my need to have the occasional morning coffee with friends).

Lots of things inspire me but I am especially interested in the history and design of fashion, traditional costumes and textiles. I like to mix the old with the new to create something a little bit different and special. Many of my pieces are one-of-a-kind or limited editions and are all designed, cut and stitched by me in my room with a beautiful view of the castle.

Far East Style, Home Town Goods

September 17, 2018 by Valerie Williams 1 Comment

Normally my shopping instincts are sharply honed onto pretty things to wear: clothes, shoes, jewelry, anything I can sew a flower on to, that sort of thing. But every now and then my eye is caught by beautiful home accessories, and I get the itch to beautify my living space, not just my closet!

Sue Henry is a sculptor and ceramic artist whose work moved over to textiles when her children came along. A dusty studio filled with fragile, breakable things was no longer practical with little ones running about. She decided to take up carving linoleum blocks – the tactile experience reminded her of her first love, working in clay.

Sue has been an artist all her life, and remembers her first creative instinct being about creating comfortable places to live. As a little girl, she wanted to be an architect and an interior designer. It just seemed like a natural next step to print her designs on textiles to create beautiful, functional home goods.

Seeing the lovely things that Sue makes really got me thinking about how I’ve been neglecting my living spaces lately. Her designs are full of movement and energy, and I love the bold colors she uses, which really make the designs stand out.

Every item at Tulusa Home Goods begins with a linoleum block hand carved by Sue. She is inspired by her travels to India and South East Asia, and her love of cooking, architecture, and design. The designs are printed on cotton or linen canvas with solvent-free block printing ink. The pillows are stuffed with organic kapok, a fluffy, soft, and environmentally friendly alternative to polyfill. The textiles are designed to be functional and durable, and are machine washable.

Included in the collection at Tulusa are pillows of all sizes, including large meditation pillows, and table linens of all types. Sue’s favorite part of the creative process is carving the linoleum block, so there’s really no limit to what she can print on, once she completes a design.

Right now, the most popular item at Tulusa Home Goods is the Ganesha pillow. Ganesha is a Hindu deity who is the remover of obstacles, and the bringer of good fortune and new beginnings. A good friend to have around as we approach the busy holiday season and the new year, wouldn’t you say?

You can find Tulusa Home Goods at Sue’s online shop, and you can also contact her for custom orders or to be invited to her December pop-up shop in Alexandria, Virginia.

Handmade Summer Whimsy

September 16, 2018 by Kristin Huston 5 Comments

The end of summer is creeping up on us, so I thought now would be a good time to focus on some fun, whimsical summer items that are sure to make you smile as these hot days draw to a close.

First up is this absolutely perfect summer dress from Amanda Archer. I am not at all exaggerating when I say that I think this is the perfect summer dress. Not only that, but if you throw on a cardigan, it would make the perfect fall dress. Add some tights and it will carry you into winter in style. With some ballet flats and a chunky bracelet it will take you right on through the spring. So, I guess it’s really an all around perfect dress.

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Bottled Up

September 14, 2018 by Liz Grotyohann 1 Comment

[hLiz]

In our busy lives these days, we use a lot of disposable things without giving them much thought at all. So much is single-use, single-serving, throwaway packaging—things that are (hopefully) recyclable and that (hopefully) wind up in the recycling bin.

The great thing about today’s eco-friendly artists is that they see a lot of our everyday trash as raw material. Instead of heading to the recycling center (or worse, the landfill), our single-use, throwaway “stuff” gets a beautiful new life as housewares or wearable art.

Take the plastic bottle, for example. We use a lot of plastic bottles. Somewhere near 28 billion single-serving water bottles are used each year in America alone. Yet less than 20 percent of them are recycled. Some estimates are as low as 12 percent.

Armed with a heat gun, or tools as simple as a pair of scissors, artists are making some incredible items out of those bottles. gulguvenc (photos above and below, left) uses a heat gun to shape PET bottles and then pierces them to create amazing bowls and jewelry.

anettesplastics crochets old plastic bottles into amazing jewelry forms like this necklace (above, right) and the rings below, while both arnym (below, left) and ArtworkbyKD (below, right) cut shapes from old bottles to make their jewelry.

The great thing about plastic bottles is that they can be recycled. They can be made into new bottles, or processed into other raw materials, like craft supplies. There are plastic bottle yarns out there now, and felt and fabric made from recycled bottles. But recycling, like the production of the bottles themselves, takes up a lot of energy. Keep that in mind the next time you reach for a bottle of water. It might be worth investing in a reusable bottle to complement your new handmade purchases!

Bottle rings and fruit bowl above also by anettesplastics.