Recycling Clothes at Its Finest

Click to View Listing from Hand Me Down Designs, $35

You know that really awesome piece of clothing that you can’t live without but then you start… expanding… then it’s a little too small.  Then it gets a stain.  Now there’s a hole in the zipper.  Oh, darn it – now your favorite skirt is a weird, swiss-cheese sausage casing that you try to wriggle in to once a week with no luck.

I finally parted with my favorite red corduroy skirt, and I’m glad I did.  I donated it to Malaika of Hand Me Down Designs and she made a fantastic Fall bag out of it (see picture above).  The skirt was cut on the bias and I love that that shows in the body of the skirt, with the contrast of having it run vertically up the strap.  Great browns were added – it’s so cool to see my favorite skirt renewed and possibly someone new’s favorite bag!

Great job, Malaika – keep up the good work!

If you’re interested in donating your weird, swiss-cheese sausage casing clothes (or just ones you’re tired of) to Malaika to give them a new life shoot me a note and I will get you her contact information, or you can convo her on Etsy.  Making old in to new is a sense of satisfaction only topped by the fact she gives you a coupon for a $5 credit to her shop when you donate a bag of clothes!

Serious Dress Habit #2 – Skirting the Issue

Hmm, I seem to have found myself, yet again, with more vintage dresses and skirts that I need to clean out of the attic.  I swear that closet is the doorway to Narnia… here are some new dresses and skirts – click on the image to be taken to the Etsy or Ebay listing!

Gosh darn it, I wish this one would fit me. So gorgeous, but more for a size 4 than a size Audrey!

This is a double-lined stretchy number from Banana Republic – weird how my Ebay items always end up being BR!  Stylish, but often too small for yours truly.  Hope someone out there with less of a penchant for pad thai and ice cream will love it as much as I do!  Click here for the listing.

Olive Green Wool Blend skirt by Banana Republic.

This one’s actually been in my personal collection for over 10 years now — I bought it back in high school when I worked a Christmas season at BR (p.s. worst November ever, don’t recommend doing that!) in the stock room in the basement.  In any case, I was a size 2 in high school, then a 4 in college, then a 6 the years following and still squeezing my woman-y body in to it until this last year when it’s basically an invitation for acid reflux if I squeeze my torso in to this skirt!  I’m so sad to see it go, but again, I’d be more sad to stop eating ice cream and pad thai and am totally. fine. with the few extra pounds I have to carry as a result.  🙂

Vintage Ultramarine Pencil Skirt, 100% wool from Jones of New York.

I found this one yesterday and thought the high quality, U.S.A. construction and 100% wool skirt was too much to pass up.  Currently listed in my Etsy shop, this one’s a size 10 for some more realistic expectations.  I kinda hope no one buys it so I can wear it around!

Vintage 1980s L.L. Bean Maxi Skirt in Farquharson(ish) Plaid

Awesome!  I love it when I find plaid things with old L.L. Bean tags.  This’ll be a dream to wear around while I wait for someone to pick it up out of my Etsy shop.

Don't Even Think About It

Okay, at first I was going to make this an Ebay listing.  But on second thought I’m going to add this one to my permanent collection.  Pretty white pin prick polka dots on a flowy black skirt??  I just can’t resist.

Swaptastic

My favorite: "Swapalong Cassidy"

You know me, just working 8 hours a day then coming home to work for 8 more hours.

Tonight it’s especially fun:  I’m finishing the SwapMaine pins and printing out their jewelry cards for presentation in the swag bags at this super duper awesome event at Head Games on Saturday.  Click on “SwapMaine” to learn more (and come!  and benefit a good cause!  and get awesome clothes!)

Etsy Shopping: The Golden Rule

Lately, thank goodness, I have been making some sales in my Etsy shop.  Where I normally depend on wholesale and consignment “brick and mortar” shops to keep Little Eye Designs afloat, this year is showing me already that there might be an internet market for these little bottle cap things!

It’s all fine and good to reap the benefits of a put-together shop and a network of customers who appreciate quality work.  But I realized this week that in order to truly be a part of the community and keep Etsy (and my business) strong, I’ve got to shop there, too!  It’s a good thing I’ve been looking for some summer essentials this week.  Please ogle all the goodies I got:

Pinecone and Chickadee - Click Image for Website

Ladies’ Wolf Tee, $28 from Pinecone and Chickadee.  A lightweight, airy tee with a suspiciously poet-y design is perfect for throwing on over a bathing suit after an impulsive river swim in the summer.  I spotted this at their table at The BIG THAW and couldn’t get it out of my mind.  Coupled with the fact that I just found a metallic, leopard print gold and black mini skirt at Find (the perfect match) this just had to be mine.

SJohnsonPhotos on Etsy

“Searching the Dial” set of 3 Postcards from Shaun Johnson, $5.  Don’t forget to write!  I don’t know where I’m going on vacation this summer but wherever it is I think jotting down some notes to friends on the backs of these is just about right.

Bread and Butter Vintage: More than just the basics.

Vintage Italian Sunglasses, $28, at Bread and Butter Vintage.  O.K., don’t get me wrong, everyone knows I’m a cheap lady who scoffs at ‘marked up’ items at Goodwill ($7.99 for a dress??!  Only if it’s Pucci!) but these glasses are so unique, so perfect, so interesting, so… mine.  I bought them a couple days ago which unfortunately means you can’t have them.  But you CAN have any number of things sold at Bread and Butter Vintage’s Etsy shop, which is awesome, and the photography is magnificent.  Besides, summer ladies can never have too many tortoiseshell glasses.

So basically.  Next time you think to yourself “I need to get some sunglasses” or “a lightweight t-shirt” or “postcards” or really any luxury (or even essential) item turn your computer’s internet browser towards Etsy rather than jumping in the car and heading for Target.  I mean, we all love target and you can’t beat clearance underwear for $1.25 but I’m really thinking now (with the boost in sales and the happy feeling I get when the mailman comes) that giving back is a huge element in being a part of it all.

Convalescing, Craft Style

Hello everybuggy!  I’ve just started this site to keep y’all up to date on the comings and goings of Little Eye Designs.  We (Kate and I) just finished up PICNIC Music and Arts Festival and as my reward I’m taking the month of September to recline, clean up and regroup.  The ultimate goal is to learn some new skills, see if anything sticks and take pictures all the while.

So far, we’ve learned how to roast coffee and I’ve started pouring soy candles in to mismatched tea cups and shot glasses.  Pretty good!  Next up:  basket weaving, baking and t-shirt quilts.

In the meantime, why don’t you let your mind be blown by what I saw today?

Go Here and Drool

There are about a hundred things on this website I wish a) were still made today b) were semi-normal to wear in public.  Not that I would let that stop me.  The jacket shown is by a designer, Fortuny, whose estate’s website is www.fortuny.com and totally Italian and totally inspiring.  In addition to making beautiful velvety clothes he was a renaissance man, photographer, and even made his own photographic paper.  My kind of guy.