LOCAL SPOT: a. ell design & atelier - now carrying Ivy & Co.!

I am so excited to announce that Ivy & Co. head bands, boho wraps and clothes pins are now sold in a. ell designs & atelier! The shop is located on Kauai in Old Town Kapaa (with a new store opening soon in Portland!) I've known the owner for about 7 years through our businesses (her store, my dance classes), so I was so excited when everything lined up for me to put my products in her shop.

This is the display Kit & I created. My vision, his drilling, then he painted it, (without my permission, and I about had a cow), but it turned out great. You know me, I was going to paint it black! Regardless, it turned out awesome. It's a wooden picture frame and a wooden box I found at the Habitat Restore.

Some close ups of the head bands and bohos that went to a. ell designs & atelier.

For starters, they carry a.ell designs (aloha shirt on the left, and the polka dot shirts in the middle). 

They have fun hats. The one on the right is part of the a.ell designs collection. (Buy it here!)

They carry some great bags from local designers: Clutch and Denise Tjarks.
I love my Clutch coin purse!

Bikinis by Kauai designer Kaikini and Barcelona-based Desigual.

I love the raw edge on these Kopa Kauai soaps. Sandalwood, Lavender, Lychee, Papaya - they smell wonderful! 

Since I'm obsessed with tea towels right now, I think these Cultivate Hawaii tea towels are perfection. Made with 100% organic cotton!

Their extensive jewelry display contains designs by:

Caitlin Ross Odom

Malacologie

Fine Jewelry by Angelina

Art work by Heather Brown is all over the shop.

Click here to view a. ell's collection of hand-crafted wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses.

I love this quote from the a. ell website:

"Enjoy Island wear with a classic flair, fabrics that are environmentally sensitive, and clothing designs that not only look “hot” but are cool, comfortable and fun to wear.  High quality, naturally eco-friendly, exquisite fabrics and guaranteed workmanship are hallmarks of an a. ell design. Specializing in casual island wear for men, women and children, beach style wedding dresses and home decor."

The next time you pass through Kapaa or Portland, hit up a. ell design & atelier. 
If you're not on island, browse their website.

a. ell designs & atelier Kauai

4-1320 Kuhio Hwy

Kapaa, HI 96746

Monday -Saturday 10-6

Sunday 11-5

a. ell designs & atelier Portland

3535 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Portland, OR 97214… coming Nov. 2014

Aloha, Rebecca

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DIY American Apparel Jersey T Dress

There's this dress/shirt/shift thing I love at American Apparel. I first discovered it back in 2005, when this other company had printed some reggae logo on the front and bob marley's picture on the back thigh. Needless to say, I never really liked rocking Bob that close to my buttocks (it was a short-lived phase) so I upcycled it a year ago and now it's an awesome Jack Johnson tank. (You can see the creation of that shirt here.) 

In December I finally gave in an ordered a new one for myself directly from American Apparel. It's grey and I love it. Perfect for me to work in.  (That's me on the right... not the left).

Fine Jersey T Dress  - $27.00 - click here to go to the American Apparel website 

Last month I was on Oahu and went in to the American Apparel store, but I didn't feel like coughing up $27.00 for another one. Then I thought, "I should just make one!" Lo and behold, I came across some jersey knit at the fabric store in a fun kelly green for like $3.99/yard- so inexpensive!! 

1- I laid my American Apparel T dress on top of two layers of the jersey knit 

2- pinned it to the jersey knit

3- cut around it, leaving about 1/4" excess

4- sew a seam at each shoulder and down each side (you don't hem the neckline, arm holes or bottom edge!)

5- cut off any excess fabric or any fabric that doesn't line up

 Turn it right-side out, and that's it!

Sorry for the selfies, but I promised myself I would blog more, even if that means my photos aren't as good. I realized I wasn't blogging because my perfectionist self told itself that it could only blog with good photos! 

Anyway... there was this rectangle fabric left over and it looked like it would be the perfect head band!

So I sewed it up and cut off the excess!

I probably wouldn't wear it together, because it's too matchy-matchy. 

So of course, my mini-me, a.k.a. Ivy wanted her own green Jersey T dress :) I whipped it out in about 10 minutes-- headband and all. The photo shoot that ensued took longer than it took to make the dress.

Some reflection of this project:

-it's such a quick project!

-my jersey knit is slightly thinner than american apparel's

-jersey knit is extremely easy to work with - no fraying, so no extra hemming involved

-leave those raw edges alone and let 'em roll!

-back stitching was a little tricky - my machine wanted to eat the edge of the fabric

-i liked using a straight stitch and a zig-zag stitch

Get out there and make one! You won't be sorry!

Aloha, Rebecca

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Pretty Recycle Bin

A few months ago our trash service decided they weren't going to pick up trash twice a week anymore. Instead, they were going to pick it up on Sundays, but then on alternating Wednesdays they were going to pick up Recycling and Green Waste. The recycling bin they provided for us was kind of far from our house, since there are a couple homes on our property that share the trash service. So what happened next was that piles of recyclables were ending up in our kitchen, next to the indoor trash can, and on our deck, before they were taken over to the main recycle bin. Something had to be done!! Of course, I made something...

I saw this pin on pinterest and was inspired.

Source: delightfuldozen.com via Randi on Pinterest

Here's what I used:

-metal trash can (I think it's a 16 or 20 gallon), $25 at ACE Hardware (kind of pricey, but that's what you get on an island!)

-4 yards of fabric (I got 2 yards in the polka dot, and 1 yard of the yellow/grey, and it wasn't quite enough. I supplemented by making the bottom out of some grey fabric I had at home.

-thread

I mainly followed the fabric bucket tutorial from Inspired by Family Magazine here. I use it alot :)

I measured the top of the trash can circumference and the bottom. I cut out fabric with the appropriate top length and bottom length. Then I stenciled a circle with fabric on the bottom to create the bottom part of the bag. 

Follow the original tutorial for all the details. I didn't use any interfacing, however, I did stitch some thick terry cloth in the shape of an 'x' spanning the bottom circle, just for a little extra re-enforcement while carrying it. The other revision to the original tutorial is that I added a strip of the yellow/grey printed fabric along the top and inserted elastic in it so that it would be secure when folded over. 

I will admit, my husband was smirking through the whole process of me making this, haha. He just didn't see why it needed to be, well, pretty. I sensitively told him to just let me make it and to try not to go searching and analyzing the reason behind it. It's a girl thing. :) We like things to be pretty. And this pretty recycle bin now sits on our deck, instead of piles of recycling.

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Ruffled Dish Towels

In November I bought a pack of dish towels from Ross. I had an idea to sew ruffles on them and give them away as Christmas gifts to "everyone I knew." Well, November and most of December passed and I hadn't even opened the package of dish cloths, let alone sew ruffles on them. I still really wanted to make them, but alas, it was Christmas Eve! So I figured I would make some for my mom, since she still uses the same dishtowels she used when I was growing up under her roof.   

 

Realization #1: I had bought dish towels. 

You see, I was expecting to find the oblong rectangular hand towels, not square dish towels. Well, it was Christmas Eve. I had to make do, since there was no way I was going to go out shopping for hand towels.

Realization #2: I had no brown or grey thread.

I only had brown and grey single fold bias tape to put along the raw edge of the ruffle. I actually had a vintage spool of brown thread I tried using, but it was  breaking every 2 seconds. Once again, it was Christmas Eve and I was not going out shopping for thread.

Realization #3: This was taking a lot longer than I anticipated! Maybe it was due to the fact that it was Christmas Eve and I felt slightly rushed, but I'm kind of glad I didn't attempt to make these for "everyone I knew."

Aside from them being the wrong shape, having terrible thread lines and being time consuming, I do like how they turned out. My mom has one hanging over a cabinet door in her kitchen, so that means they were a success! After all, they're just for wiping up messes. 

Aloha, Rebecca

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DIY Starfish Costume

Somehow Ivy got it in her head that she was going to be a Starfish for Halloween. I have no idea how she came up with this. Why couldn't she be a Super Hero? (I made a cape for her already, see post here). Or Rapunzel? Or Cinderella? We have those costumes... (see post here). But no, a Starfish. I have to admit, I thought it was a great idea, (super creative) but I didn't want to get it wrong, because I knew my decisive child had some type of vision of what her costume would look like. After a little prying and convincing, we decided it would be a Starfish Princess costume. (That was my vision, and what I knew I could pull off). I went to Sew Special and Ben Franklin and got some fabric and accessories. Ivy had a hacking cough, so we couldn't go to church the next day, so I had a whole Sunday to put this together.

Supplies:

-white leotard (Ivy had a white leotard already)

-white tutu (I got one from Icing for $6.25)

-1/2 yard of orange seashell fabric ($2)

-1/2 yard of white star fabric ($2)

-1 yard of green star fabric (had this)

-faux fishing net ($6.99)

-starfish ($4.99)

-yellow mesh netting (had this)

-orange bias tape (had this)

-green leaf ribbon ($2.99)

-glittery gold Christmas leaf decor ($4.99)

-headband ($1.50)

-small piece of felt

-sewing machine

-scissors

-glue gun

-thread

1. I cut out 4 large stars for the skirt, and 4 smaller stars for the bodice. (Green was the underneath color. I just layer the fabric over the tutu and made it a little wider than the tutu. Same for the leotard. I wanted it to slightly wrap around the tutu.) 

2. I sewed the stars together right side in, (orange w/green, white w/green) but left a little seam open so I could flip it right side out.  

3. After flipping it right side out, I re-sewed the edges so that they would lay flat.

4. I layer the stars over the tutu, and sketched a hole over the waist band, then cut out a circle. This was a very ghetto way of doing this. I tacked net and "seaweed" (the green leaf ribbon) to the orange star and glue gunned starfish to the edge of the orange star. Then I sewed orange bias tape around the waist. I wish I thought through this part a little better. Luckily Ivy is a skinny-mini and can just slip this on over her non-existent booty, but in all honesty, I needed to put some type of elastic waistband here. Oh well... 

5. I tacked a few piece of the yellow mesh netting onto the tutu, to give it some "life & depth" under the starfish.

6. Since all the Christmas decor was out at Ben Franklin, I picked up this gold Christmas leaf decor thing. I think you're supposed to put them in a vase? (I'm not really all about putting fake plants in vases.) I made sure to choose one that looked like seaweed. I cut off some pieces and sewed them under the orange stars on both the bodice and the skirt portion, so they would "peek out" from under.

   

7. I got a yellow headband from Icing for $1.50 on clearance. I cut a circle out of white felt and glue gunned the mesh, the leaf ribbon, the gold Christmas seaweed and a starfish onto the felt. When it dried, I glue gunned the felt to the yellow headband.

Of course, as is the case in every Ivy/Becca project, it results in an informal photo shoot. No children were harmed in this shoot. All pure fun! For this particular shoot, I chose the beach in front of my late grandma's condo, where she lived for at least 15+ years before she passed away last year. It's 2 blocks from my house, and I hadn't been to the condo or the beach since July 20, 2011, (the day before it sold.) My, Ivy and my dad (it was his birthday) had gone there for one last swim in the pool. My grandma taught kids to swim for much of her life, and being the fact that Ivy just finished her first round of swimming lessons, I'm a little sentimental and wish my grandma were here to teach her. My grandma also had lived on a boat in Florida and had such a love for the ocean. She definitely passed that on to her family. Maybe that's why Ivy chose to be a starfish?!

 So for $31.71 plus tax, this is a custom-made Starfish Princess Costume! Not bad. And to think I almost gave in and picked up a Wal-mart costume for $19.99...

Be safe this Halloween!

Aloha,

Rebecca

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