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366 Bow Ties: Day 131
The Old Town Market has become one of our favorite events in our beloved city. Our neighbor-farmers set up tables full of their delicious produce and meats. Our neighbor-artisans set up tables full of their fine craftsmanship. And we get to hop up on a stage a few times each summer as The Perfect Melancholies (which, coincidentally, is the same line-up as the Hill City Church band) and provide entertainment.
About the time our neighbor-farmers were picking fresh produce for the market from the earth, our Belles picked a red silk necktie with pretty blue flowers (sorry for the lack of specificity; I'm no gardener) from the box full of would-be bow ties and made this classic bow tie for our market performance.
We'd be delighted to come and play at your neighborhood farmer's market---or better yet, in a quaint old theater on your Main St. Just let us know. In a couple weeks we are providing entertainment for a Chester County church's community BBQ. That sounds about right.
We'd also be delighted if you took this gorgeous bow tie off our hands, and put the cash into our project to bring beauty and delight to children in Haiti. Grab it here.
Cordially,
Andy
Muse Fest VIP Gala
Above, Mr Rinehart of Rinehart Realty picks out several bows to add to his massive collection. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
It's been a pretty phenomenal VIP Gala for Muse Fest at Gallery Up in Rock Hill. We're proud to be citizens and entrepreneurs in this town.
My custom stamp and a sneak peek at more bow ties
If you've ordered one of my bow ties, then you may recognize this stamp. I send every order with a handwritten note that I've stamped with my beautiful stamp that I purchased from this seller on etsy. I have absolutely no idea how these things are made, but It is one of my most favorite things. I'm about to order a couple more to use as return address stamps.
I'd encourage anyone who is in the market for something like this to support this business. Their service and shipping was unbelievably fast and I've been using this stamp regularly for months now and it still works as well as it did the first time I used it. And I feel like the price is extremely reasonable.
And for all of you who are wondering when I will refresh my stock of silk bow ties, I've got a few more made up and hope to get them on the store this weekend but as always, if you see something you like, e-mail me and I can reserve it for you. They are all $23.
Fabric Basketballs
On Tuesday it rained and rained and rained. I was stuck at home with two wild boys and no car. I was so glad that I had the foresight to pull our basketball hoop in from outside before the rain started. But there was only one good indoor ball to play with. So Deacon and I together made this fabric basketball out of some leftover bright orange flannel I had. The best part is that we used the interfacing from the neckties that I take apart to stuff the ball. We had fun stuffing it all in there. Of course, if you don't have neck-tie innards lying around your house, you can just use some good old poly-fil.
I think these balls would be great baby gifts - my kids love them because they can actually handle them quite easily. I found the free pattern on THIS website. But as you can see, my fabric balls are nowhere near as beautiful as those ones. The ball pictured below was made out of 2 very old and stained dress shirts of Andy's. We've had that ball for about a month now.
We also had a great time on Tuesday making our favorite new food - Pizza Pockets. Maybe I'll post about that next week. It's a fun little recipe.
Playing around with my Serger
So yesterday, I finally got to play around with my serger. I think this machine is about 30 years old. It was most likely purchased at a garage sale to be fixed up by my grandfather who loved to fix broken things. You wouldn't believe how many sewing machines, sergers, clocks etc. my family found in his house when he passed away. He had an amazing gift.
I keep fiddling around with this machine and getting completely frustrated with my thread coming out of its track. These things are not fun to re-thread. So with my tweezers close by for easy threading, I pulled out my machine and went to town. I figured out that I just need to be patient with the old thing. I can't treat it like I do my trusty sewing machine. A steady constant pressure on the foot gives it a nice even serge - too fast, or stopping along the way makes my machine skip stitches.
I made something for each member of the family. I got a wool scarf, Andy got a serged hankie - pocket square and the boys got place mats. I'm looking forward to using this thing to possibly make my first dress this fall. I can't believe how fast I can make things with this serger - the projects below took barely any time to make.
My goal is to make *something* that isn't a bow tie each day this week and share them with you. I have so many projects I've been dying to try.
Happy Monday!
-Ellie
My first T-Shirt Overhaul
I know there are all sorts of crafts out there involving turning your old t-shirt into something cool and fun. Yesterday, I got so excited when I found this (Rediculiously easy) tutorial on Cutoutandkeep. Now I'm going to be fishing around for T-shirts in all sorts of colors to make cute little shrugs. If you don't know how to sew, you should try this, it's very hard to mess up. The only thing you need to know is to use a knit stitch on your machine.
I know you're jealous of my pink tile bathroom. Just admit it.
Nifty Car Organizer
I'm loving this Nifty Car Toy Organizer. Check it out. I wonder if I can get one made before our major road trip starting on Monday. It sure would be nice to have a place for the kids stuff. Our car is TINY!!!
Image from instructables.com
Women's Ribbon Belt
This morning, I made this pink and red ribbon belt. I'm experimenting with different accessories to hopefully start an online shop soon. I thought this turned out pretty well. I love the colors, but I would like to get a sturdier set of D-Rings. And maybe a bit more feminine too. What are your thoughts? I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the fabric store and snatch up all the ribbon they have like this.
It also makes a pretty fun baby toy. Although I think this baby thought the camera on the macbook was even better.
Speaking of cameras, I'm going to just bite the bullet and buy another camera today or tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can sell some things like this belt and bow ties to justify the purchase of 2 cameras in a matter of 6 months. Too bad Canon couldn't fix it, it was a great one. They didn't care about my sob story, apparently.
Ikea Scrap Fabric into an Adorable Purse
Yesterday, I had the wonderful pleasure of spending the afternoon with a very sweet six year old girl. The first thing we did together was make a purse. She completely designed this purse. Choosing the fabric, size, and decorating it with bows. She even had ideas of how she wanted the straps and the pockets to be. I was so impressed with her enthusasm and we had so much fun creating. She told me I'd be a good mom to girls... maybe someday. Or maybe I'll just have to have fun with other people's daughters.
One great thing was that all this fabric was FREE from IKEA. They have a bin filled with small pieces of remnants that they said I could take. The pieces were very small, but not too small to make a purse, apparently. If you are a sewer, check out your IKEA for super fun free fabric.
I'm thinking about taking some of the pieces I have to decoupage a shelf... but that's a post for another day.
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