My latest creation

I've been working on this one for NINE whole months! :) Meet my newest little lady, Willa. She was born on June 11 and is just the sweetest little thing! Since she was a "surprise" baby (we didn't find out what we were having) I wasted no time after she was born in making her a few "hip" onesies!
Now that she's a whole 2 weeks old, I think I'm ready to open my shop up to custom orders again. If there is anything you've been wanting, please let me know, I'd love to make it up for you! I do have to limit myself to existing applique patterns and fabrics I have on hand (check them out, I've added new ones!).

The Nesting has Set In!

Well folks, it's happened. I'm 8.5 months pregnant for baby #2 and the nesting has hit full force! We kicked my 2 year old daughter out of her bed this past weekend (okay, so she very willingly transfered to her "big girl bed"), I got the nursery kinda set up, AND I made the Going Home From the Hospital Onesies for this little girl or boy who is boppin' around in there!
We're pretty excited to see exactly WHICH outfit is going to be used! :) My daughter has said it's a boy from the very beginning and I'm starting to believe her. We soon shall see!

In other news, I am officially done taking custom orders until further notice. Mostly because I got THIS whopper of an order the other day and I think it will take me until my due date to finish it! A friend of mine ordered TEN custom bibs for her little girl who is due in July. I'm so excited to be making things for friends and she has great taste in her fabric choices :) I did throw in a couple of extras so hopefully I can update my Etsy site with just a few more new bibs before this little munchkin arrives!
I also did this hand-dyed twins boy set with elephants. Cute, huh? I have come to both dread and LOVE when my customers say "Do whatever you want!" which was kind of the case with this set (she knew what colors she wanted but that was it!). It was really fun to put it together and make them the same, yet different. Ah the fun of twins!
Even though I am not taking customs, I HAVE been replenishing my fabric supply (which is, of course, half the fun of making stuff - SHOPPING!). I have updated my flickr account with all sorts of new hip and trendy fabrics. Check them out here!

Have a great day!
jesi

I can finally feel my fingers again...

Holy Chilly Craft Show, Batman! We all nearly died of hypothermia. Okay, so it wasn't QUITE that bad, but it was cold (low 40's), rainy and just plain cold. But we survived! And we actually had a lot of fun despite the weather.

My friend Nicole and I set up our tent (it was probably a hilarious thing for others to watch since neither of us really knew what we were doing) and set up our gear. I'm actually pretty happy with how the booth turned out, although next time I definitely want to get a sign or something to hang on the front to say who we are and what we have.


And me and my favorite craft-show booth-sharer, Nicole. Yes, I have on a winter coat, hat, scarf and even had long undies on.
Unfortunately because of the "craptastic" weather, the turnout in Boulder was less than stellar. I did, however, get to meet a couple of people who came from Denver which was really great, and did sell enough to cover my booth space (and the 37,294 cups of Chai Tea I had to keep warm!).

So the bad news was that it was not that great of a sale. AND we didn't get in to any of the other sales at the Boulder Farmer's Market which is very sad as I really think it would be the perfect venue for us. We are on the waitlist and I talked to the director and told her we had a lot of people asking if we'd be back so hopefully that will help move us up the list!

The GOOD news is that I have an absolute TON of bibs (I was a sewing Mad Woman and made up almost 30 new ones in the last week), five adorable bib/onesie sets and a bunch of shirts and onesies. I will have them online within the next week or so and I think you're going to love them! I specifically tried to make some cute gender neutral ones (which, consequently, was what sold at the show) too!

So check back soon to my Etsy site to see the huge inventory I'll have soon!
jesi

Hip Violet is on the road!

Come and visit me at the Boulder Farmer's Market this weekend (April 25) in Boulder, CO! I'm so excited to be bringing all my bibs, onesies and tees! I have been VERY busy sewing and I have tons and tons of new fabrics and designs. Many of which will probably never make it to my Etsy site!

Click here for more info on the Boulder Farmer's Market.

I am also excited to be sharing a booth with my friend Nicole who makes the awesomely cute and cool felt barrettes that you've seen on here before. It's going to be a great day!

See you there!
jesi

Fun with Celebrity Gifting

Over the last few months I have been lucky enough to get accepted into a program that sends gift baskets to celebrities. It's a great way to get exposure, and if you're lucky enough to get a picture of your product on a celebrity kid - you're good to go! I'm just excited to get my products in the hands of some famous people who might help spread the word!

This is a bib and onesie set I did for Molly Ringwald. She is due in August for boy/girl twins. The onesies are custom dyed and they both come with matching bibs.

This is a shirt for one of Jennie Garth's girls. And this was for Brooke Burke's youngest son.This was was really fun to do! It was for Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale's youngest son. I hunted down some black & white houndstooth to make a ska-inspired baby bib!And another black & white bib, this time with skulls for Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz's new son.And this sweet little birdie was for Jessica Alba's daughter.I'm not sure if I'll do many more until I figure out if these got me anywhere, but it was fun to do and very surreal to think about sewing up something for someone famous!

In "real life" news, we recently moved which is why I've taken a hiatus from sewing and blogging. This was how my sewing room looked for a few weeks:
I finally put it all back together yesterday. Ah... much better!
Eventually I will *gasp* have my very own ROOM in the basement dedicated to my sewing. I already have so many ideas for what I want it to look like! Luckily my husband is a carpenter so he can usually magically make things like cubby holes and shelves magically appear! Unfortunately it's going to be a while until that room is done, but I'm excited that it will happen eventually!

Happy Spring!
jesi

The Monsters are HERE!

I posted about my new monster applique a few weeks ago and now they have arrived on BIBS!
They are so much fun to make. I love that they all have their own little personality and I love figuring out which buttons are going to make the best crazy eyes! :)

I have also tried making a few bibs out of "upcycled" material. I found this great skirt at Goodwill a looong time ago that I just KNEW would make an awesome bib (or two, or three) plus I love the idea of reusing and recycling fabric. At one time I thought this was going to be my niche in the bib-making business but I'll admit it - I love buying new fabric too much! Anyway, this is my upcycled bib:
I am actually thinking about offering a new kind of custom on my Etsy site where customers can send in their own fabric to be made into a bib or an applique for a shirt. Maybe a nifty old concert tee of theirs, a piece of fabric from their favorite old set of sheets, or something like that. Maybe I'm just a weirdo in that I keep stuff like that... I have an old R.E.M. concert tee from 1985 Fables of the Reconstruction Tour (no, I did not go. I was 9.) that I got back in 8th grade and thought I was sooooo cool. I still have it. I think it would make an awesomely cool and hip bib. I also kept 2 cushions worth of fabric from the fabled "orange flowered couch" that at one point lived in my parents old bedroom. Then in our basement forever, then in my college dorm rooms, then in our first house. It is really obnoxiously bright but also wonderful. I have been wondering why I still have it and what I should make out if it. Maybe a bib! Or a cool applique for a shirt for Violet although I hate that she grows out of stuff so quick. Maybe mommy needs a new appliqued shirt!

ANYWAY, my point being if anyone has something like this laying around and they wouldn't mind being a guinea pig for my new idea, please contact me and let me know! You'll get a discounted rate on teh bib and you'll be able to say that yours was the prototype! :)

Trunk Show Success & My New Best Friend

Our Kiddie Trunk Show was a huge success! It was so much fun to meet up with other local "kiddie" crafters, and meet a lot of local parents who came out for the festivites. Plus the Red Trolley Ice Cream & Coffee Shop where it was held was to die for! Yes, I sampled both coffee (well, tea), their amazingly yummy breakfast granola, and a bowl of ice cream for lunch :)

We were set up in their back room. Here is what my display looked like:
And here is my friend Nicole from marmalade on the right, and my new friend Claudia from Sew You! set up her great capes and aprons on the left.
We had Anya from the Music Train come and set up her stuff and she did two performances during the day. It was so fun to watch the kids play the instruments and sing along! It was so crowded during her morning performance that you could hardly get in the door! Thanks to everyone who came out to support local and support handmade! We all greatly appreciated it!

AND... my big news of the weeek... I GOT A NEW SEWING MACHINE!!! One that will hopefully stand up to the rigors of bib and onesie sewing a few hours a day. She is my new best pal.

Meet Penelope. She is a 1979 Bernina 810. No bells and whistles, but completely easy to use (I learned how in about 10 minutes), oh-so quiet, and built out of sturdy metal to last forever. I am SOO happy!
I also thought I'd show a shot of my updated workspace. I started out at first with one little tiny basket of "scraps". Now I have three huge ones! From left to right are fleece scraps, pattern scraps, and the cutout middle of the bib scraps on the far right. I have a hard time throwing things away, huh? But all the scraps do come in handy for my appliques and I am rifling through them often ;)
Later!
jesi