Wanted to share a quick preview of the next addition to my Etsy Shop.

 

the button box

A few months ago my aunt was nice enough to bring me a collection of buttons gathered by my grandmother. Grandma Betty was sort of a magical figure in my memories of childhood. Although she was gruff and smoked like a chimney she always had cookies in the pantry and some new outfit for our Barbies on her crochet hook. Craft was just a natural part of who she was. I can't remember a single visit where she didn't have some project laid out on her kitchen table. She and my Grandpa Jack loved going to the flea markets in Wisconsin, where they lived. Once I was along for the trip and Grandpa Jack bid on some mystery boxes! Grandma told me that the fun of it was that there could be anything in it and we wouldn't know until we won a box in the auction and opened it up! In my mind it would be full of beautiful old doll clothes and dress up outfits for me. I was so excited.
Of course, in the end, the mystery boxes were mostly full of raggy potholders and mismatched cutlery. But Grandma assured me that sometimes they "hit the jackpot!"

Grandpa Jack and Grandma Betty

I've had Grandma Betty's button box for a few months. Mostly I've just opened a drawer and grabbed an odd button for a prototype I'm working on or stuffed a little bag of new buttons into its already full drawers. One night, a few weeks ago, I was too tired to work on anything after a long day so I decided to sort the whole thing and see if there weren't any treasures in there. The project was more of an undertaking that I planned, and truth be told, I'm still not finished sorting. The button box is full of odds and ends, missmatches and riffraff to weed out, but there are also dozens of tiny, imperfect mother of pearl buttons, each one its own special shade of white, ivory, cream, peach, most of them very old and worn down along one edge or another, impossible to match with any real degree of certainty.

There are plastic buttons from a child's garment shaped like ducks and one impossibly small cloth covered button in a charming white and red striped cotton. There are buttons with the cloth of a dress or jacket still attached to them.

My family is thrifty. It is a way of life handed down through generations of farmers and depression survivors. If a warn out item has nice, usable buttons they should be removed and stored for future attachment to something else. I am a deep believer in reuse as the vast majority of my sewn pieces are made from repurposed fabric and almost the sum total of my wardrobe is second hand. Sorting the button box feels like a chance to reconnect to the spirit my grandmother, of my family, of all the button savers and mystery box enthusiasts.

late summer snoods

In the time that I'm not making dolls and other stuffed little things, I sew for myself, my home and occasionally my husband. I have an ever growing collection of vintage sewing patterns and in efforts to save my pennies I will often spend an afternoon making up a pattern for something I've seen online or in a shop rather than whipping out my credit card.

After spending so much time making wee things I was itching to put something wearable and fun into my shop. I created these structured snoods with a circular design and a shaped french seam in back to give them structure and shape.

 While not nearly so glamorous as my model Julia looks wearing them, I have been wearing a lightweight gingham version of these snoods nearly every day since I made it! I love a great scarf.

An American Rabbit

I love the amazing series of photos taken by Ruth Orkin in Italy in 1951. The images are funny and elegant. Some are even slightly unsettling.

The idea of traveling abroad on one's own is full of romantic idealism and adventurous spirit for me. When I was sewing up my latest addition to the Lissome Collection I was inspired to channel a little of Orkin's American Girl into my new rabbit doll.

She is made from a beautiful soft cream colored linen. Her face is hand embroidered and her inner ears are sewn from coffee dyed cotton. She wears a black linen dress, embroidered sandals and carries a canvas bag with leather straps. This 'American Rabbit' not a literal translation of Orkin's photographs, more my own interpretation of that romantic traveling spirit.

the art of a juicy cherry

I was pitting cherries earlier in the week and noticed that the juice had created a stain a paper towel that was kind of lovely so I put it up on a nail to enjoy for the rest of the afternoon.

Elizabeth Suzann. ss2014

Nashville based Elizabeth Suzann just released their SS2014 collection. So much to love. The clean lines and simple approach to chic make every piece a perfect wardrobe staple.

My days off often result in lengthy walks around my neighborhood in Chicago. This week I found some tiny, yellow snap dragons growing in the cracked tar of a parking lot.