Today I am finally going to bite the bullet and try out the front courtyard for pants photos. I have that wonderful pair of new black vines hanging in the studio, and they need to find their way into the Etsy Store and into a new home. It will be very different taking my pictures on street level, and I have decided to change from using a choli in the pictures to a nice shirt instead. I hope they turn out.

I also have finished up taking pictures of that second red work embroidered tin. I love the thistle style pattern on this one.



I also worked on taking pictures of this one and yesterday's box with a vignette setting. I used some of my own embroidery and sewing tools in the scene, and I am quite pleased at how it turned out.



I am going to get this one listed up in the store as soon as I am done here. Then it is off for the photo shoot in the front entry garden. Finally I hope to either work on a pair of chocolate pin stripe pants in a poly cotton blend, or sit on the couch and work on a set of Halloweenish hair falls. It all depends on how I am feeling and whether or not this cold starts to take a stronger hold on my sinuses. I hope to sew rather than braid now. I would rather work on the falls tonight with our television viewing. Right now we are working through the National Parks series by Ken Burns. It has been really interesting. Well I guess I should be off for my close-up!

This weekend was more productive than I thought it was going to be seeing how little work I got done on Friday. I was so hesitant in working on the elephant and peacock belt because I am terrified of messing it up, that I fiddled around with ideas for way too long. I finally decided to just dive in and see what happens around 4 pm, so while not a lot got done, it did get started. Sometimes for me that is a majority of the battle. I cannot wait to get back to work on it today once I am done writing. Saturday was started off with Brunch with our friend at the Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. It was a really nice day, so we opted to sit outside to eat. The food was great and the atmosphere was also pleasing due to the unbelievably pleasant weather. Dan has declared that we must do brunch more often when the weather is like it was yesterday. We went from there to see the movie Moon. I liked it very much, but others in the group were not as big of fans. I am not one to spoil movies, so you will have to see it for yourself and make your own judgments.

Sunday was spent in a rather lazy manner. I tried to call the parents but they were not available, so Dad if you are reading this today, Happy Father's Day. I worked on a set of blue hairfalls most of the day, and they are almost finished. I hope to have them completed tonight and photographed tomorrow for listing. The garden loved the warm weather this weekend, and it seems like I can see a difference in the size of the plants from Friday to today. Hopefully the warm weather we are supposed to have this week will help this growth spurt. The radishes have all sprouted up, but there is no sign of the green onions. Hopefully they will appear soon. I will take pictures of them tomorrow.

The destash continues in my Etsy shop I am continuing to enjoy myself in finding things I no longer plan to use and listing them. I am not quite sure what is wrong with me, but the decorative placement of jewelry findings into neat patterns for my listing photographs has been oddly enjoyable.



I guess it is all those days of tangogram playing catching up with me. Well the sewing machine is calling, and I want to get this belt underway. Hopefully I will have this belt finished before Dan's brother comes to visit this week. I have a feeling that I will get little done while he is here, but that is a good thing. I miss Greg and cannot wait to see him when he gets here. With that in mind though, off to get as much done today as possible.

We went to see Spamalot last night in San Francisco, and I enjoyed watching the light hearted romp through some of the highlights from Monty Python lines and scenes. It was nice to revisit them in a live format and without having to supervise a classroom of high school seniors. We even got to go out for dinner afterward. It was so nice out in the city we sat outside to eat which seems to be a rarity this summer. Alas, the good weather is not holding out though. The fog is already rolling in at 12 pm, and the plants will most likely be denied their full sunshine of the afternoon that they so desperately need. These shifts in weather don't deter the birds though. They seem to be getting more and more used to me sitting and watching them on the patio through the open balcony doors.

In recent days, I have been trying to dive into making the embroidered belt. It is rather nerve racking as I have spent significant hours working on the pieces and I would be so sad to ruin them when constructing the belt. I guess the best thing is to just dive in, but I am still really nervous. In all the thinking and procrastination time I have managed to catch up on my way over due personal check balancing and also discovered some supplies for destashing on the Etsy shop. It has been fun thinking about the belt issues while creating decorative displays out of unused mirrors and jewelry findings.



I am getting rid of this circle cutting mat since I don't need it after the upgrade to my Olfa circle cutter.



There are also sets of mirrors both small and medium sized that would be great for mosaic work or making shrines or some other crafts.



There are also many jewelry findings that I am taking pictures of as well. I will be slowly uploading all the items over the next few days as I need breaks from all the hand sewing and work I am doing. I also will have a big announcement for me in the next week. I still have some things to confirm before I can talk about the details.

Today I am on usual Friday housework schedule as well as cutting out the pieces for the belt and a pair of pants. I would like to fix a choli of mine that I managed to rip, but I will leave that as a "reward" if I get down to work. I guess I better get to it all if I want to get my things repaired!

Last night was the SF Etsy meet-up with the team from Etsy itself. It was a great meeting, and people had some really great suggestions and ideas for the site and improving the overall experience on Etsy. I did not take great notes or anything on the meeting, but Savor did and if you are so inclined you can look them over on her blog. It was great to see so many C level people there and talking with the community at large. They were all very honest and up front with the schedule of things to come and what they are working on for the future.

Today is a classical music day here for me. It just seems right for the mood of the day. The clouds of fog are thick and billowy like a large comforter, and while it is not the best condition for the patio garden, the unseasonably chilly weather is extending my hot tea season by quite a few weeks. Today's pick... Assam. I hope that the garden is not getting too stunted by so many fog filled days, but today it seems like the perfect weather for me to work under. There are a few things to research on the interwebs today and some more pants to be worked on. I am also hoping to prototype the new belt idea in the coming days. Here's to hoping for quick and well done google searches!

I always love to scope out the internet for free patterns for future use as a way to take a break from my work here at Fabulous Pants. It was during one of these sessions that I ran across the patter for the other gift I made for Jozef's birthday this weekend. I found this really sweet little turtle toy that has a removable shell. It was available for free at the time, but is now available for a small $4 fee at Wilsons' Shop on Etsy. This project was a great stash buster for me as I could recycle out some great scraps from other toys to make this one up. One thing that I would say about this pattern as well as other patterns is to read all the directions first before beginning. I did not, so I missed the instruction to add a seam allowance to the pattern before cutting. This may have changed from the free pattern on the blog to the new sold pattern, but I would recommend that you read all directions first for all patterns you work with rather than doing what I do, just diving in and making adjustments later. The turtle turned out cute from tipi scraps and pelican left overs. I made it a more traditional and unimaginative green and yellow tone in color. The pieces to work on this were relatively simple:



They were easy to cut out and would have worked much more easily I am sure if I would have added the seam allowance. Because I did not do that, I had to do some hand sewing in the head region to make it work out well due to the short seams I was trying to pull off to make it more like it should have been.

This project took me literally three hours to do. It was a fun and quick sew. I would highly recommend this pattern to any level sewer, even extreme beginners. The only tricky part to it was the head seams to create the shaping, and even that would be a good thing for a beginning sewer to tackle to learn shaping. Here is the finished turtle in all its cuteness.





Hopefully Jozef loves this one too!

A few weeks ago, I was blogging about making my felt fortune cookie promotions for the shop. I would like to give a huge THANK YOU to Alison of Dirty Ass Soaps for handing them out for me at a craft fair in the Etsy bags! It is people like Alison that make Etsy such a fun community. I love her shop as well. She makes vegan friendly soaps that look like some definite non-vegan food items. I would have to say that soap makers like Alison are so inspiring. Her talent is unbelievable, and the items she makes are creative and so realistic that you will want to eat them. I would not advise eating the soap though! Check out her shop. Here is a mini of it:

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Etsy Buy Handmade DirtyAssSoaps

Today I want to get some things in order around the house. I was so involved in the embroidery yesterday that I did not fully unpack. I am also hoping to get a major component of my choreography done for the show on the 11th. I also want to get jogging again, so I guess I am off for the gym.

I finally got to make that pair of hair flower hairpins for the shop. They are a wonderful medium tone purple gerbera daisy. The color of them actually reminds me of the old lilac trees of my childhood home back in Illinois.





These are a steal for $6 plus shipping. I have some more great silk flowers that will be turned into hairpins in the near future so look for them soon.

Today I am working on more embroidery of that belt. I don't have much time to work on them today though because I am due into the studio early to work on choreography with Ariellah. Hopefully I can update you tomorrow with more fun news.

I can hardly believe it has been a month since I have written in the blogs, but it has been a fun and work filled month. The house seems extra quiet after the holidays, especially since my husband is back at work for the first time in two weeks. The machines are quiet after a month of toy and gift production, and any noise from the animated tree ornaments has now gone back into the holiday boxes for the year. This posting marks a couple of firsts. It is the first posting for the Fabulous Pants studio of 2009. It is the first posting from my desk that was abandoned when our office became a dumping area for still unpacked boxes. It is also the first of my December in review postings. Many things were accomplished last month, including making almost all of the gifts we gave to others and getting them out on time. Only one gift is unfinished, and I am planning on working on that like mad for the next few days to get it finished up and out the door to my father-in-law.

It was a good holiday season here. Dan and I decided to spend one Christmas with just the two of us. It was relaxing, and a tiny bit lonely with out all the family around. I did make my first attempt at my Mom's Christmas coffee cake. I did it a bit differently than she does because I had the luxury of time and a house that was not going to be filled with a zillion family members. I did all the beginning steps of the recipe like she does up until the second rise. After all the shaping, I place the cake into the fridge for an overnight slow rise. It did a great job and turned out perfect and hot on Christmas morning. (My mom bakes hers all in one step the day before Christmas.) Here is mine right before I frosted it and seconds later it was demolished by my husband and I.



So to begin the monthly catch up session, I thought I would let you in on the few things that I did that were Fabulous Pants related. I worked on several sheets of wrapping paper in case of any last minute holiday orders. I have found that making my own wrapping papers is not only relaxing but very satisfying. I like the mindlessness of stamping over and over again for designs. I usually do very regimented stamps every so many inches because I found that my attempts at randomness did not work that well. That problem may have been solved with some of the reading I did over the break for learning new techniques for the shop. I am a subscriber to the magazine Threads, but I never seem to get time to really sit down and read any of the issues. I finally did that a bit, and they had a great technique for creating randomness when making designs. They suggested pitching pennies out onto the work surface and placing your designs where the pennies fell. I am going to hopefully give this a try in a few days when I catch up on other things to see how the technique works out.

One of the biggest projects that I did this break was going through all the fabric I own and organizing it. I have gone into all the big bins and refolded, photographed, organized, repacked, and written a file up on all scraps and pieces. It took me three days of lighthearted effort to get it accomplished. My work on organization motivated my husband to finally tackle all his boxes and items that needed to be put away in the office area we share. We both took all the items off of our desks and decided to start fresh. We filed papers, placed items in order in boxes, and played keep toss with other things. One of the things we decided to toss was my old computer, so I am now writing to you on a lap top that we bought for the both of us to use. The hubby is now on his new and much improved laptop we got him for Christmas. It is nice to be back on my split keyboard with a real mouse and for the first time dealing with dual head monitors. I think I am going to get used to this set up! :) We even hung some new lighting in the office area that was basically unusable at night due to it being a dark corner away from any light sources in the apartment. It is now so inviting and nice back here I cannot see myself working anywhere else when doing computer related work.

Another shop related thing that was accomplished was the tune ups of the sewing machines. While attempting to see what happened to make the serger needles and throat plate not line up, we found that the needle clamps were actually broken inside the housing. Needless to say, no pants can be made until the replacement parts show up sometime in the coming days. It was somewhat upsetting, but I am glad we figured it out now rather than trying to limp the machine along and having something very catastrophic happen to the loopers or other parts of the machine.

On a happier note, I got a some very awesome presents this year. Dan completed my Tori Amos catalog, which makes me a happy girl. I do not have all the singles, but I do finally have all the major albums I would want. He also got me an AeroGarden. Now I know that it seems kind of cheesy, but he and I have joked about getting one ever since we saw one in the SkyMall catalog when we where headed out to California for the first time to see where we would live. For a long time, he joked about making it my housewarming present. Well he finally made good on our joke and got me one. It is actually a pretty neat hydroponic kind of plant system. I of course could not just do the easy thing and plant one kind of pod like you are supposed to. I of course wanted to mix and match even though they make it seem like you cannot. I decided to use some of my lettuce packs and two of the three tomato packs.



The seeds that we bought were out of date by a year, but I thought I would toss them in and see what happened. They did in fact germinate, and in the time that was stated on the pods. I ended up doing one of each starting feed in the water, and when the first feeding comes up, I will do the same with the regular feeding packets since it seems to be working. I do have the lights and water circulation meeter set to the tomato setting and not lettuce. Here is a picture of the garden up close after a week.



The one pod with the plastic lid off is lettuce. It has grown the fastest even though it was not the first to sprout. The back two pods are the tomatoes. I will take more pictures as things get bigger. I look forward to this continuing science experiment in the kitchen. It even makes Dan happy as it reminds him of the Land exhibit that used to be in Disney World. I guess they used to do all sorts of food hydroponics in this particular display, but he seems to think that it is not there any longer.

Well I guess I should get into some other work now. The house really needs to be cleaned after some major neglect from me, and while it is wonderfully organized right now, it is also rather dusty. I also want to get some more work done on the computer with the Etsy store to prepare it for my next time away. More on that soon.

It is Monday, and I am planning on making it a productive day. I have my day one of week three jog to perform. I think my ankle is back to being able to be on the elliptical trainer again, so I am going to do this as soon as the blogs are updated. I am going to then work on the harp. I want to get through lesson one today. I should be playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by the end of the week. Well at least that is my goal. Dan moved the music files this weekend for me off of my computer that is being decommissioned onto the server. Now I am trying to repopulate my iPod and also figure out how to get my playlists back. I am not sure if I can, and I really do not want to remake them, but I will if necessary. I also am waiting to hear from someone about some logins and passwords that I have lost for files I need. I would like to still be able to use the files I bought, but I have not heard from the authors. Hopefully I will hear from them soon and will be able to totally shut down Venus in the next few weeks. I will be moving totally to the laptop then, and Dan will get a new lappy for himself. I feel rather refreshed from doing that cleaning this weekend of the files and computers. I also cleaned up my desk to prepare for the new computer configuration, so it is inspiring me to clean the house. I am going to work on it today. I want to wipe down all the cabinets in the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, dust, vacuum, and also mop the floors. In between all that, I want to work on more of the Brenna birthday gifts. Here are some snap shots of the progress:





The whole pile of letters is for her felt board. I hope to get all the numbers cut out and start on some of the numbers and shapes today as well. I also may start some of the scarf dying processes today for her play scarves. I am rounding out the gift with a book I got from the Chronicle book sale and a wonderful pouch made by SwanAmity on Etsy. She makes some wonderful little bags. Here is the one I got for Brenna.



I am also wanting to get another project finished or nearly ready for completion. I am awaiting some acorn caps from a friend back in Champaign to complete the task, so I can only get so much of it done until I get the caps. Once the holidays are over I will get some pictures of this gift up for you all to look at. I also would like to get another pair of pants cut out, but that may have to wait for a little while. I am determined to not be a crafting mess at the end of December. Well I guess I should get some work done on some things while I wait for the iPod to continue downloading all my files again. It may take a while, and I do not want to try to jog with out it. It really does help to have some high energy music for me. I will try to take some more pictures of today's gifty work for your perusal tomorrow.

Today I woke up to glorious fog! One of my favorite things about living in the Bay Area is the fog bank. I have always loved foggy days, and there were very few when I lived in Illinois. They were a joy to me mostly because I associated them with being at the lake in Wisconsin for the annual family fishing trip we used to all go on. Most mornings would open with a fogged in lake that seemed so full of mystery; it let my over active imagination have a place to play. Along with the fog is some cooler weather. This change is letting me think more about my holiday gift making. It is hard to focus on winter events when it is 85 degrees in the apartment. Waking up this morning and having the cool ocean smelling breeze coming through the window immediately turned my thoughts to my niece's birthday gift. She is a December baby, and I try to make sure she gets her birthday gift on her birthday and not on Christmas. My sister also works on keeping her birthday "hers" by not decorating the house for the holidays until it is over. I will take some pictures of her gift in construction as I make it and post them here so you know what I am working on. I figure she is still too young to be on the computer finding this stuff since she is just in kindergarten, well at least I hope she is still too young to find it. I am also going to get another organizational tin finished up and listed today in the shop. It was fun to do the blackwork for this one as well.



This is the needlework just on the canvas, but I still need to get it all put onto the tin. It should be up for sale today for $10. Also on the slate for the shop must do's today are some finishing touches to the black roses pants. I want to model them tomorrow and get them listed up as well tomorrow. This of course can only happen if we are not fogged in all day. I also need to make some more wrapping papers for the shop. I think the overall plan is to do a half work on the shop day and half on the birthday present. If I can get a good jump on the birthday gift, which involves a ton of cutting and not so much sewing, I will be really happy. I will keep you all updated as to how things are going on my Twitter Feed. Sign up today to get the most up to date information on the shop.

If you have been keeping track of me on my Twitter account you know about my current muscle soreness. I am going to tough it out though and get down to the gym after I get this blog entry finished. Yoga and dance last night seemed harder than usual, and I would like to think this is because my current state of being out of shape and starting an exercise program. I am determined to work through this though and get stronger and more able to dance without getting tired. The iPod has been beaten by my husband. It now works, and I cannot wait to use it today when I go for my jog.

In the shop today, I am going to get to work on that pair of pants I cut out yesterday. The Black Roses fabric is simply fabulous. I cannot wait to see what the finished pair will look like. I also have some retakes of the "I Dream of Asia" Jakarta Pants that need to be edited and uploaded. I also need to take some quick rough pictures of all the new fabrics I have gotten into the shop. Once I get those things done today, I am going to prep and hopefully cut out the new brown brocade fabric I have. Here is a picture of it, although it really does not show the colors too well:



It is a darker chocolate colored fabric with a thatch pattern of golden fibers. I would not have really picked it out myself, but it caught Dan's eye. He pulled the bolt out for me to look at, and I decided it was a winner of a brocade. I hope to get those done and uploaded for fall and winter purchasing in the next few days. This evening, I think I will start working on a birthday gift for one of my nieces. I want to stay ahead of the curve this year on gifts. I will post pictures when it is finished, and her birthday is over. Well I guess I should quit procrastinating and get down to the gym. Remember you can follow me on Twitter for smaller updates if you are so inclined. I also updated the Flickr feed today as well. You can check in there for pictures of new fabrics I get into the shop and make special tailoring requests then before I cut them into pants. Ok, enough procrastination... off I go.

I did not get that much done yesterday. I wanted to be nice and add the cd's I gave Dan for his birthday to the music library so he can add them to his new iPod. OK that was my big mistake. I got logged on to my computer that I don't use as often to get onto iTunes. It needed to be updated, ok go for it. Then I imported the cds, and all seems to be going well. I plug in my iPod to the computer and all sorts of bad broke loose. So I spent a lot of my day working to restore my iPod, that is still having a temper tantrum currently and does not work. Hopefully I can get it restored sometime soon. It is just frustrating that I always seem to break technology just by touching it. I did brave the jog and hope to keep up with my three day a week plan that I found.

On a brighter side, the lime peacock pants are finished, and I am going to go and photograph them today. I am also going to retake the pictures of the "I Dream of Asia" pants. When I am finished with editing photos and listing the new pair, I hope to get to cutting out the black roses fabric. I prepped it last night, so it is laying across the table and half way into the television area of the apartment. I am sure Dan will appreciate not having to tip toe around it when he gets home tonight versus last night. Well here's to hoping I can get this technology back up and running as well as getting things done in the shop.

Ok, I will admit it, I am falling behind in my plans this week, miserably! I blame it on me rediscovering my love for my lap harp that I still do not know how to play. My husband made it for me, and it is beautiful, yet I stink at reading and learning to play. I am a learner who needs an instructor most of the time. I can and usually will practice on my own, but I need the reassurance of an instructor when learning most things. So I usually just tune it and pluck around. No matter what you do with the harp, it almost always sounds pleasant.



I had trouble with the bottom hems of the lime peacock pants, so they are still being worked on. I hope to finally finish them off today. Then I need to work on wrapping presents for my husband's birthday that is tomorrow. Today is also laundry day, so that needs to get done along with some minor house cleaning. All of this may be impacted in a way though if Dan decides to stay home from work and work from here today. While I love the idea of him taking a more low key day today since all the extremely late nights and long work hours, but it makes wrapping presents and using the sewing machines kind of a challenge. It is really hard for him to concentrate with the machines running. If there is any time left in the day before prebirthday sushi dinner, I will cut out the black roses pair of pants. I have made the decision to do the black ones first and then the brown. Tomorrow is a total Dan decides birthday day. He wanted to go and do "free shopping" for his birthday, so we are going to finally spend all those gift cards we got for birthdays and holiday presents last year. These days are always fun because you walk away with a bunch of stuff that you did not pay for. The end of the day is going to be spending his gift card for a wonderful steak dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I have never been to one, but he tells me they are really good steaks. On Sunday I will be gaining a new skill that I have wanted to learn for a long time. I am taking a drop spindle spinning class. I have always wanted to be able to go from shearing to a finished sweater or scarf or socks or something. I have learned how to knit, now I will learn to spin. Hopefully I can then find a class in cleaning and carding. I will let you know how all the weekend plans go on Monday. Till then I hope you all have a Fabulous Friday.

I went and tried my hand at new camera settings yesterday. I could not do it on Wednesday as I said I was going to because someone was down on the patio reading. It wasn't that I did not want to do photography sessions in front of others; I have done them before. This person was just using the umbrellas on the table to shade himself while reading, and well I could not bring myself to go down there and ask him to lower it. He looked too content reading in the wonderful weather. So I went down yesterday and played with some new settings on the camera. I liked that the pictures came out more clear more often, but the fabrics are still not coming through as well as I hoped they would. I guess I will just have to tell my perfectionist self to let it go. I took pictures of the Fading Cobalt Jakarta Pants again as well as some more of the Blue Daisy ones. The pictures essentially turned out the same most of the time, but there were fewer blurry and over exposed ones with this new setting. I am happy about that. Here are some of the Fading Cobalt retakes:





I think they look nicer than the older pictures and have replaced the old ones in their listing. I also got the extra long purple hairfalls finished. They look great, and I almost wished they were mine instead of the purple pair I have. I originally wanted a super long set but cut them shorter when I was trying to finish them in time to wear at a Belegarth event. Needless to say, I did not get them finished in time so cutting them short was for naught. I still love them though, even if they are shorter than I wanted. I am happy though to finally have a long pair out there to go to someone. I will be photographing them today and listing them. I hope to hit the Halloween costume buying frenzy. I will post those pictures soon.

I have also started working on my new product. It involves blackwork embroidery and my favorite thing in the world.... organizational containers! I don't know why, but things to store other things in are a weakness for me. I hope to spread that to others. More details on this project are forthcoming.

On the plate for today in the shop: well laundry for the household. Friday is laundry day around here, and I want to get it all done instead of the long drag across the weekend that usually happens. I am also going to photograph those falls as previously mentioned and list them today. I want to get this new product made and photographed to be listed and profiled here on Monday. If there is time I wanted to get some labels stamped and ironed as well as ironing out and cutting a new pair of pants to be made. One other thing that needs to be done is a run to the fabric and craft stores for some family holiday gift supplies. That all needs to start sooner than later, and I need to try to get in gear for that rather than putting it off. I am on my own tonight due to Dan being at Whiskey Fest in San Francisco tonight, so I hope to put that time to good use. Here's to hoping some cheesy movie on the television doesn't sidetrack me!

I have decided to try to get tons done today and really buckle down and do it. The past few days have not been the best for picture taking because the fog is in and thick. By the time it has been lifting, the sun is not in the best place in the sky for me to take pictures. I have decided to take whatever pictures I can get in when the fog lifts. I am also not complaining about the fog being here. It is actually one of my favorite things about living in this area. I have always loved the look of fog around water since I was a kid. We would go fishing every year up in Wisconsin at Clam Lake, and my favorite days there always started out with the lake so fogged in you could not see it. Going out in the boat on those early mornings was an experience that has stuck with me. I loved the sense of the veil of the two worlds being lifted in some sense of it all.

Other than the picture taking, I need to finally finish off these purple hairfalls once and for all. I am really close to getting them done, so I am making them a priority today. I have to get some labels made up as well. I am going to try to get many of them edged today and will stamp them tonight in front of the television.

In amongst all of this, I need to run some things to the post office and make a trip to the store for some of our household needs as well as some items for the store. If I get all this done, I am going to move on to starting up a new product. More details on that soon.

Yesterday I got rather wrapped up in working on my promotional items that are going to fellow Etsy shop Simply Sarah's Paper Perfections. I decided to stick with my two favorite things, Asian style items, and kitsch. I morphed the two into the following promotional item: felt fortune cookies. I got the idea, but had no clue what to write as my fortune to people getting them at the craft show. Should I just put the same content as my business cards? That seemed rather boring. I mulled over this for days, and finally when on a fabric buying trip, I stopped for lunch at a Chinese food place. In my fortune cookie, I got my answer for what to write inside. "Fabulousness in dress will send desirous eyes your direction." Thank you whoever wrote that one at the factory! So going out to the lovely Sarah are 60 of these handmade felt fortune cookies with my shop information. Look for them at the Seafood, Music and Wine Festival in Panama City Florida. Also look for Sarah, or if you aren't in the are check out her Etsy shop liked above. Here are some pictures of my cookie making day.


Cookies being assembled and glued together.


Close-up of an unfolded cookie.


Sixty finished felt cookies.

I got more done this weekend than I thought. I was trying to keep off the machines, since the hubby needed quiet while he worked on his programming for work. I ended up working on a personal project but also on many things for the shop. On Saturday, I went to the knitting group I have become a part of. It is put on by Knit-One-One, a local knitting school that I will one day take some spinning classes from. I have learned to knit from a very talented friend, and am working on my first project. It is, of course, a scarf for my Grandmother for Christmas. I am hoping I will get it done in time along with all the other gifts I have to make. I then spent some quality lazy time with the husband. He even took me fabric shopping! He is a great man! I found some great fabrics and am really excited to start cranking out some new pairs of pants with them. They are truly gorgeous.

On Sunday, I did my normal domestic duties such as shopping at the Farmer's Market and picking up the other groceries at the store. I finished the laundry that is always supposed to get done on Friday, but always seems to not get done because of my working on pants items! :) I worked on some promotional items for the store that are going to be given out by a fellow Etsy shop Simply Sarah's Paper Perfections at a craft show in Florida. I hope it gets some new people into Fabulous Pants. I also worked more on braiding the purple falls I am working on for the store. They are super long! I really am liking this pair, and I hope that they find a good home soon when I get them onto the store. Hopefully they will be up in the next few weeks. They do take a long time since I braid almost all of the yarns that are attached on the bands. Pictures to come soon.... I promise this time!

Well it is time to get back to work on these promos. I also am down right determined to get the pants that I am working on for a special order done. They are made out of a different kind of fabric I have never used before for these pants, so they are taking a really long time. I really want them done though.... the person they are for has waited very patiently, and they need their pants. I just want them to be perfect. Hopefully this pair will make me gain some confidence though, and hopefully I will branch out further with the pants line because of this. If I do, they will be named after her! Off to work, and I hope you all have a creative day.

Short entry today because I need to get down to sewing early. Today is a tutoring day at 826, so I need to get a ton done this morning before I head into the city. I thought I would just post a quick picture of a newly added blue and gold triangle choli that is up in the store. Right now there is only the medium C/D-, but there will be a large D/DD up soon as well. For now, I hope you enjoy this new fabric, and I promise more creations soon in the store. I have so many ideas, and I am finding that my hands just cannot move fast enough to accommodate them all. I am happy though to have this type of a problem! :)

I hate to think that I have acclimated to the Bay Area this quickly, but things I used to consider just being very warm are now quickly becoming hot to me. Perhaps it is the lack of a breeze, perhaps it is the lack of readily available air conditioning at home, I am not sure, but the high 80's have now officially become unbearably hot for me. It used to take high 90's with very high humidity to make me say that, but I guess it is part of becoming one with the Bay Area. The heat is so bad, I am actually dreading my trip into 826 for tutoring today. With no windows and only two small doors that can be opened in the Pirate Store, it gets really hot really fast in there. I am going to finish up a tooth fairy pillow for the nieces this morning to move onto a special order for this afternoon and evening. Hairfalls are slowly forming at nights, and belt ideas are rolling in my brain. I just need to sketch them out or write them down somewhere so I don't lose them this time! Well lots to do and little time before I need to head into SF! I am slightly sad I have already lost my Illinois weather tolerance.

So recently I had someone ask me what was so artisan about my pants. I had to think about this only a little while seeing as I hand picked the word artisan for a reason when I put it on my tag line. My reply boiled down to the following points. One thing that makes the pants artisan is that they are made in small batches. I do not tend to make more than five pair out of any singular material, unless it is a troupe order. I like to limit the number of alike pairs out there in the world, so each owner can feel like they have something that is not owned by hundreds or thousands of people, like a manufactured piece of clothing is. I also search out my materials and purchase things that I think are beautiful. Then I hold onto that fabric for a period of time. I want to make sure that I don't see a ton of other things made out of the materials I pick. I want to ensure they are unique for my wearers. Another artisan touch is that I make sure all my seams are turned under where ever possible, so there are no exposed cut edges. When that is not possible, seams are sealed with a serged edge to ensure a clean finish. I also have certain special touches I use with my pants to make them artisan. I make all my own labels for the pants from recycled material. Each label is cut from former dress material, seams are rolled, and then I hand stamp my logo and name on each one. For clothing that tags would be excessively annoying, such as choli tops, I hand stamp right on the interior fabric so no tags get in the way, show during performance, or irritate the sensitive skin of the arms or back. Finally, the pants are artisan because each package is wrapped in hand stamped wrapping paper when ordered from my Etsy store. Hey, who doesn't like to feel like they are opening up a present for no particular reason! Treat yourself! So that was my reply, and I think I won them over to calling my pants and products, artisan.