Kitchen Inspirations

This past Sunday I prepared an Easter brunch.  I realized how my kitchen is lacking in a few things.  Nothing makes cooking easier and more enjoyable than good quality and fun kitchen utensils.

I am loving the purple and aqua spatulas here. 

Silicone spatulas on Food52

Ceramic spoons from Cor Pottery on Etsy

I met Cor, the above spoon artist, recently in Park Slope at the Co-op Grocery.  She is such a lovely woman and her spoons are amazing.  The colors are eye catching and mesmerizing. I purchased some of her spoons and will be using them in my apron photographs.

Biscuit maker on Food52

I am tempted to make some biscuits just so I can try out this biscuit maker.

I love going to flea markets but sometimes in NYC you just can't find a deal or what you are looking for.  Etsy is only a click away.  I own one whisk.  I feel like when I use it, I need to use it immediately again and will then need to wash it.  I know, woe is me.  But why not buy another one?  Look at this beauty.

Vintage whisk on etsy 

The above whisk is from a shop on Etsy called Lovintagefinds.  The shop is wonderfully curated and has some really amazingly, beautiful items.  I could do some serious damage here.

I have been wanting one of these since I made my wedding registry 2 years ago, 3 years ago.  Mainly for making guacamole.

mortar and pestle from lovintagefinds on etsy

These are the things that Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma imitate.  Nothing comes close to the real, authentic original.

Do you have any favorite kitchen items? Ones you can't live without?  Ones on your wish list?

Tracey

Tea Towel Give Away Winner and some Etsy Fall Finds

And the winner is....the Mackay Way.  Thanks to everyone who commented, I also counted those who did comment on the facebook post.

Winter weather has started here in New York City.  Today is the first day it is below 50!  Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks and time to start thinking about comfort foods, cooking, baking, crafting and holiday shopping.  I haven't browsed on Etsy in a few weeks so I thought I would take a look at some of the new winter items.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was this pie box.  I usually bake a pie or pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving.  Since I need to travel a few hours for Thanksgiving dinner I am always trying to find something to make my dessert more portable.

From the shop Piebox

I love the simplicity, the beautiful reusable pine box and the simple leather tie.

Or these vintage German tart tins.

From the shop Becaruns

Shop DarkPlum

A vintage print apple coaster set.


Edible acorns!
Yes you can eat these acorns and leaves too if you visit this shop, Andies Specialty Sweets.





I hope you found some inspiration this morning.

Have a crafty week!

Flamingo Pink and Apple Green- Lilly Pulitzer

Photo from http://www.lillypulitzer.com/

"They were accessible to most but really only wearable by the few who were so rich that they could afford to have bad taste".  I read this in the NY Times this past week regarding Lilly Pulitzer's death.  If you know the designs, depending on how you feel about them you may laugh at this statement.  I laughed.  As a designer I love the bright colors and some of the artwork.  I don't like the customer it attracts; elitist, snooty and usually bad taste.  The kind of people who buy something for the name.  The kind that like to compete with the Jones.  But enough of that, I love her story.
      Lilly came from a privileged background in NY.  While on holiday in Palm Beach she met Herbert Pulitzer Jr and eloped in 1952.  They settled among the citrus groves on the Pulitzer estate and she like most women of her time became bored.  Three kids and a nervous breakdown later, she escaped back to NY.  After a short time she did return to Palm Beach and under the advice of a doctor she found something to do, she opened up a juice stand.  Her and a friend, who was also a former editor at Harper's Bazaar complained and struggled with the constant citrus stains.  Boom, light bulb.  They made a simple shift dress that was bright and colorful with a large and loud pattern, the juice stains would blend right in.

1960's Lilly Buy this on etsy from nelsonbridge for 210.00

 What amazes me is that the dresses started selling for $22.00 each, expensive back then.  These were basic, simple and cheap construction.  Well the dresses started to be seen in magazines and Jackie Kennedy, who went to school with Lilly, was seen wearing one on vacation.  As my husband says, en fuego, they were on fire.  Everybody wanted one.

From Palm Beach Vintage

Lilly designed until 1984 and times changed, minimal looks were in and bankruptcy was sought.  The label was revived in the 90's and in 2010 Oxford Industries acquired it for $80 million.  Oxford is quite a large company with many, many labels under it's umbrella.  Lilly didn't have much of a part, she consulted occasionally.

Looking at some of the fabrics and designs, a few do remind me of the Liberty of London artwork.  How? the way the motifs blend in with another motif, such as this one.

"Sweet Corn"

      

Maybe not so much as motif upon motif, maybe it is the lsd look of the fabrics.  Maybe this is what happens when you are in the sun so much.
As a textile designer it is enjoyable to create such bright, colorful, whimsical and large prints.  These designs will put you in the mood for a life at the beach or a summer bbq.

Born out of necessity...I do wonder what happened to her juice stand partner Laura Robbins.  How come the dresses became known as Lillys?

Mad Men style on Etsy

Mad Men, the new season number 6, starts next Sunday.  Such an awesome show not only for story lines but also the costumes, furniture and over all style.  I am part of a craft group called the Etsy NY Team.  One of my obligations on the team is to create treasuries showing off some of the goods from our 260 members.  Not every item is only Etsy NY members so we are able to include world wide sellers.

  Tuesday is my treasury day and I chose the subject of Mad Men.  Etsy.com not only sells handmade items from around the world but also sells vintage items.  If you are looking for one of a kind items, want to support local and not something made by unfair labor practices check out some of these items.

To see the whole treasury click here.

From the shop Antique Apartment

From the shop Pyrex Princess

Who wouldn't love to be sipping a nice icey cocktail from these bright pink Bermuda glasses. How fun!

While wearing the below dress and earrings?

Shop Exile

From the shop Toasted Coconut

Find the adorable cute wicker purse at the shop MoyToyz.  Wicker not your style? Carry your things in this sweet little change purse from PinotbyLyn

What will my guy be wearing? How about this vintage suit from the shop Vogue Vintage?

Now that my honey and I are both dressed you can find us having cocktails in these cool Dorothy Thorpe Tumblers found in JunkGirlGreen

And if I get stuck for something to say or have some awesome design idea, while having my cocktail I can always check my Don Draper notebook.

buy this at Invisible Crown

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.

Mod Mad Men Style

Mad Men is finally back after a long 17 months. It was great to spend 2 hours with Don, Peggy, Joan and the rest of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce. Of course the story lines were fantastic! The year is 1966, and the clothes were looking great, neon pop colors, shift dresses and very cool aviator sunglasses.  Many styles that can be worn today.  My favorite dress that I would definitely wear is actually one of Peggy's dresses, without the buttoned to the neck look.

Ignore the cigarette in front of the baby's face and check out Joan's dress.  The print has a tie dye look and I love the wide low neck line with black piping. 

I went thru etsy last night and put together my own list of Mad Men inspired favorites. It's great to see that there is a huge selection of womens custom dresses to choose from. 

Hope you enjoy this treasury list.

Here are a few faves. 

Do you have any favorite characters or outfits?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75128368/pinup-dress-grey-dress-elegant-dress?ref=tre-2561065870-1

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49480857/pretty-pink-and-yellow-clutch-purse?ref=tre-2561065870-2