The quick and dirty lowdown on the show...

Well, Flickr is finally working with me, so now it's time for a few of those pictures I told you I'd give you.

First, the show. Last Thursday, I had the chance to make my first appearance in public with my brand spanking new business. I worked feverishly for 2 weeks and managed to churn out 5 slip dresses, 3 new bags, two wallets, and a change purse. Here are those pictures I promised.

You've already seen most of the slips I put in (The Miss Mojito, the Mint Julep, the Grape Knee High) but you didn't see these ones:



This is a slip I call "Summer Breeze" after the cranberry and cherry rum concoction one of my favorite bartenders made up for me. I was going to add the button embellishments, but I decided against it for the time being.


This is me modeling the "Wild Whidbey Rose" slip dress I made to wear to my show! This one fits so nicely and looks so cute, I think I may just have found what I'm wearing to Kat's wedding! Carly was suitably impressed when she saw it this weekend, too.




These are two shots of the "Disco" wallet I made to go with the disco purse. I love the fact that I was able to get enough fabric from the tie I used for the purse handles to make the credit card flaps.


I also made this changepurse to go with the plum bag as a special treat for Barbara. She tends to carry her stuff around wrapped in a rubber band in her pocket, and this is a way for her to carry it with a bit more security and style. The back of the change purse looks like this:

it was made out of discarded pockets for the Plummy bag and a breast pocket from a blazer I used for another bag.


This is a trifold tapestry wallet made out of left over upholstery fabric used for another project, and is lined with leftover quilt strips from a quilt I made a decade ago.

It has slits for credit cards, a separate billfold compartment, and a changepurse to hold on to all your coins. It fastens with two hidden snaps on the front.


This is a polyester large size cargo bag, recycled from a men's blazer and a crazy nylon acetate paisley fabric I inherited from my grandmother. The applique on the front is a hand embroidered tattoo inspired piece, done by one of my customers at the coffee shop and donated to me. She had done the embroidery a long time ago, and it was on a shirt that no longer fit her. She didn't want to just get rid of it, since her handiwork was on it, but she had no idea what to do with it. I gave the piece new life with a stylish, heavy duty bag. I salvaged pockets from the blazer for three outside pockets to put stuff in, and then added compartmentalized pockets for the lining to hold pens, cell phones, keys, etc. This bag was purchased at my show by my friend Amber, my first non-commissioned sale!

Here is the setup I had at the bar:


This is what people saw when they walked in that night. In front of my display is my friend Barbara, showing her support with her rum and coke and talking sci-fi with Julie, one of my coffee shop regulars.


Another shot of the display, coming at it from the right.


Yet another shot of the display, coming at it from the left.

It wasn't a huge display but it was an eye opening experience. I was the only crafter there, so the atmosphere wasn't conducive to what I was trying to accomplish. The bar was weird and overpriced, the crowd was odd and the vibe was not what I was hoping for. However, I think it was a good experience nonetheless, because it showed me what I would have to do on a larger scale to get things ready for a booth of some sort. I have to give credit to John, he really made things possible for me that night. He was stellar in his support, and went above and beyond what I could have asked of him. I was so thankful to have him next to me.



I couldn't have gotten this set up without him. He put together the screen for me (Out of louvered closet doors we got at the ReStore), went to the fabric store to get notions and snaps, printed out and cut out tags for my items, cut out business cards, ran around to the Black Drop and back while I was working, and took care of the minute details that needed resolving. He really is the best I could ask for.

I need to get ready for work, but I have more pics to post of that evening, they will follow in a seperate post. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have more time to tell you about my weekend. :)

Hasta, peanuts!