Weekly Colorfix: Tomato. Toe-ma-toe

Red cambridge lawn, a very light weight cotton from fabric.com

My husband is Australian so of course when he orders tomato soup people usually don't understand him.  For some reason today the color tomato or toe ma toe kept popping up in my life. I'm working at my regular fabric job off site and I am choosing fabrics to create half yard bundles. These things need to be beautiful! 6 half yard pieces of fabric to create your own world, create a quilt, a bag, whatever. I put together the most peaceful dusty blue collection and one print had a bit of a tomato color in it.

 I wanted to  focus on this color but this red orange tone was not the star of my bundle, dusty blue was. It was a challenge. I figured it out and found a perfect tomato with dusty mocha polka dots on it. It all worked out.
Then I happen upon a customer, a blogger from NYC, Brett Bara, choosing some felt. She is working on a project and has to use red felt. What reds does she go with? A lovely tomato red. Tomatoes are everywhere. By the way, check out her blog, so many fun things to make!
Have I mentioned I have been gardening like crazy and am now up to 9 tomato plants?
Call it whatever you want. Red orange, tomato, tangier orange (j.crew), modern red (j.crew), red (anthro), babucshka (Akris) or sedona (gap men) or tomato toe ma toe. It's a color worth checking out.

Anthro

Pantone color palette forecast

Akris at Bergdorf

J.Crew chino

Mens Gap

Tomato and coral fabrics from fabric.com

J.Crew chino short

I am loving this red orange tomato color. It can border on rust, geranium, burnt red or sunburnt brick red. It is truly a lovely and beautiful shade. Can be vintage faded or rich looking silk.  I think it may be a must add to the wardrobe.

Happy Long Weekend!

Beach bag from DAG Bags

Happy Friday Friends,
It's a long weekend here in the states and it's been raining cats and dogs here in NYC. ugh...tired of it. To cheer things up though I put together this treasury on etsy.  Beautiful blues and spunky orange items for that beach getaway. Here are a few of the treats you will find.

Turkish beach towels

Lanterns from BellaHoneyArt

Beach hat from RocksandSalt

Enjoy this weekend wherever you are!
Tracey

Which dress should I make?

Hi Friends,
Today I am writing over at etsynyteam blog. Formerly the newnew, you should go check it out. You have the opportunity to vote on a dress for me to make. I have taken on the challenge of making a dress from Built By Wendy dress book. I hear from so many friends, colleagues and customers how they can't find a cute easy summer dress to make. Well I am taking it on. Call it my own Project Runway, Fashion Star or some other reality show name. This should be fun!

Here is a sneak peek but to get the full low down check out the post:

Which one should I make?

I will be posting my progress here and at the etsynyteam blog.

Thanks for reading!

Sometimes...

I find myself completely lacking of what to write and other times I think omg I need to write about this. Maybe I shouldn't see this blogging thing like that but just a way to keep my creative ideas and craftiness in check.  Working on lots of projects lately and my head is just all over the place.  My aprons that I worked on for a restaurant in Nantucket were a hit but the fabric is lacking. The fabric we wanted to use I can't get for 9 weeks.  As I write this now I am working on some menswear I need to email today. I just need to sit down and do one thing! Why is it so hard? ahhh. Well to top it off I need to email 4 pieces and the 4th file is now corrupted. What is going on? I had a great weekend!

Anyways here is the apron that was sent off last week. I am working on finding a heavier ticking stripe. I used a yellow webbing for the belt. The client was pleased! Thank god because Saturday night I had a nightmare that she didn't like it.
A little tip here, don't use all of the yellow webbing by pulling thru the waistband. I just clipped off and sewed down twice at the entrances to the waistband. This way you are saving about 12" of belt.
2 pockets size 6" wide grace the front, bar tack those at the top since these are a stress spot.  The men's aprons are the same thing but 5" longer.

So how was your weekend? Do anything crafty? Make any thing? Garden? Cook? Bake?

Please share! I would love to read about it.

I am working on our new garden in our new back yard. It is a complete blank slate. 

It's a rainy day here in Brooklyn and I just made a trip to Home Depot to buy more plants. Wish I could plant them today.

Needless to say there is lots of work to be done!

Crafts in Chelsea

This Saturday is Crafts in Chelsea. A market filled with designers, crafters and artisans in New York City. The market also benefits PS 11.
Hope to see you there!

Crafts in Chelsea

What's been going on? Vintage Nautical.

For those of you who write blogs some of you know that sometimes it's hard to do. Life gets away. We should make time. I tell myself just schedule a time.  So I decided Monday mornings, Wednesdays and shoot for a third day. Two weeks have gotten away from me. It's frustrating but I have had lot of good things going on.  I work four days out of the week at Purl Soho.  Then I dedicate the other 3 days to designing and creating my own product and designing menswear when a gig comes up. The one line I work on is called Smiths American Workwear. Then in that little amount of free time I also teach sewing. Sometimes I feel like I am not doing a good job at balancing everything. Do you ever feel like that? The past two weeks have been abnormally crazy because we moved into a new home. A full two floors with a back yard and garden I am dying to spend time in. The blog has been on my mind, I think what can I write about that will be interesting. Then I thought well I will tell you I have had a few big things, cool things happening in my professional life.
Right now I am working on an order of aprons for a new restaurant in Nantucket called Cru.  I am very excited about this project because of the inspiration and direction and style! Cru is taking over a location right on the water. If you have been to Nantucket there are not alot of these.

Jane, one of the owners, is the person I have been working with. The style is vintage yacht, leather, antique brass, the staff will be wearing very fashionable yet understated denim for their uniforms and I will be making the aprons for the servers.  I did some brief research to get in the mood.

vintage nautical life rings from http://www.fun-shop.com/03-31065/Vintage-Nautical-Life-Rings.html

found these on a blog called Anthology http://www.the-anthology.com/2009/07/mens-white-shirt/

Seastyle on etsy

  

I love working on projects like this. I showed Jane some fabrics to choose from. We are playing around with stripes, a fabric called essex from Robert Kaufman, canvases and nautical themed trims.
I will report more on this on a later date. I sent some sketches to start with.

essex yarndyed from Robert Kaufman at Purl Soho

These are some swatches from my designs. 

  

These fabrics above are a nice cotton and canvas weight. Essex is great for tea towels, aprons, and a great replacement for anything denim.

Hope I inspired you to go get some nautical for your home, garden or yourself this summer.