July 1, 2010
 Fleece Baby Bunting: Blue Animal Prints I started sewing with fleece when I moved to the Northeast and started my company, boysenberry. It was simply a demand from my customers to make polar fleece clothing for them. At the time company consisted of a small line of infant clothing and my first fleece was what I now think of as the “bring baby home from the hospital” bunting which has consistently been a best seller for me. It’s a simple to make baby bag that I have developed and changed over the years to accommodate car seats and safety issues that cropped up. I found a wholesale/retail source at Mill Direct Textiles if you are looking to purchase Polartec® fabrics in small to medium quantities they have a decent selection and excellent customer service.
Over the years I have been discovering, and Polartec® has been developing, lots new fabrics. The 200 weight basic fabric and prints are a joy to work with and of a quality that I has not yet been reproduced by others. Being a small Vermont manufacturer struggling to compete with cheap imports, I always like to emphasize the fact that these fabrics arw made in the USA.
As the 4th of July holiday approaches I am thinking about the games we 7 siblings played as children, living at the end of a court where the other families had a brood of kids, mostly 4 or more. Never lacking playmates, we spent the hot Maryland days playing outside: kick ball, tether ball and hosing each other off as well a various ongoing pretending and story making.
I remember one scenario where we put a blanket in the yard and pretended we were in the ocean on a raft. In my memory we spent hours imagining we were afloat, tossing in the waves, rescuing someone who fell in, pretending to swim, landing on a dessert island, I don’t remember that we ever got rescued and don’t think we were lost or shipwrecked.
I’m guessing now that it was not actually hours, after all how many ways can a group of kids, but maybe my memory is accurate. We moved through our world without a sense of purpose, any feeling of urgency, or any pressure to be anything. We were just a bunch of kids on summer vacation, playing. The best kind of childhood ever.
Peace,
Beth
June 28, 2010
As I was creating this hat I started thinking about the days before fleece was invented by Malden Mills/Polartec® and how this and other fabric inventions have changed fashion. Does anyone remember those tights we had to wear in the winter? The ones that didn’t stay up. On my stick thin elementary age body the crotch would creep down half way to my knees taking my underwear along with them. This was before spandex was added to everything. I remember a constant struggle to keep this from happening.
Part of the problem may have been that I was the third daughter and thus these tights were double hand me downs which was the story of my younger years. When I was a teenager and had my own money I went a little crazy buying new clothes.
June 10, 2010
On this cold & raining Thursday, I offer a look at a Polartec® Windpro® wind proof water repellent hat, perfect for  a Vermont day in June where one has to crank up the furnace because it’s 55 degrees inside!
I recently resigned from the school board that my kids attend and I felt a bit like a quitter. Today I woke thinking of a rainy day card game we used to play as kids called Shanghai , my kids play a similar one called 7 Crowns, (actually 5 Crowns but I’m into Seven right now…). We played it a lot, mostly sisters Clare, Laura & Kristin and I. One day I think I was loosing multiple games and quit in the middle of a game, after which I took endless flack for being a quitter, (and I do mean endless because they still rib me about it from time to time).
June 7, 2010
 As I continue to try to find a life in the blogging world, and my new obsession with the 7 Siblings hats, I’ve been looking around at hats from the past. I especially enjoyed the Vintage Fashion Guild history of woman’s hats. I was reminded of all the time we spent as kids playing dress ups, somehow we thought we were the elegant ladies from some unknown era, when actually we were probably wearing my mother bridesmaid casts offs. I do recall a certain amount of Queenly behavior and the theme often being a Cinderella story.
I seem to be in a little blue period with my hats right now. This was was made with Polartec® which I purchased through Mill Direct Textiles. I used the wrong site of the printed fabric to create a little piping-ish edge at the top of the brim.
May 31, 2010
We Frock kids were a gaggle of seven and as children I think we traveled the world as a force unto our selves. These hats are a tribute to those years, to my siblings and our family. We are all grown up now with smaller gaggles of our own but for me those crazy childhood years are in every breath I take. Recently I found myself thinking of a hat as the 7 siblings hat. I’ve been making versions of this hat for years and it never seems to get stale for me or my customers. After many mutations this hat now begins with 7 squares, a circle and a couple of bands to form the brim. Always fascinated with color and texture I’m playing around with inside/outside~right side/wrong side with this group of fleece hats. I’m thinking to do a group of 7 named after each one of us: Ann, Carol, Scott, Beth, Laura, Kristin, Clare the collector addition or some such silly thing… This is just the beginning, I don’t know what the evolution will be but keep posted for Frock stories to follow. Peace, Beth
May 20, 2010
Well, sadly, in the process of updating my website, (b frocked by Boysenberry), my photographer daughter being sick for 2 weeks, about 300 girls softball games in the past 3 weeks, I sort of lost track of the thread of the concept. Yesterday I noticed the apple blossom peddles all over the car and we has missed the chance to post the beautiful tree in full bl oom….maybe next year.
I am very excited about a new fabric line made from soy protein, which is a by-product of tofu manufacturing. I’ve been working on simple cool summer outfits for baby & woman…let me know what you think
Peace,
Beth
April 18, 2010
 Our Crab Tree: April 18th Just learning the blogging thing….Here’s the tree on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. It’s a start. Show with a lovely group of my fleece and organic cotton designs. Green “Grow Bag” for newborns, a couple of toodler jacket and pants sets, yellow fleece vest, silvery-purple woman’s jacket and pants. If the sun come out those leave will finish popping out and them Rhianna & I will really let the games begin.
March 22, 2010
I’m thinking about being a blogger….I think my theme will be about the Blossoming Crab Apple tree in our yard. My daughter Rhianna and I are going to follow this tree though all the seasons, as it relates to my clothing line and our feeling around how this tree speaks to us and how it feels about the changes and my designs…we are going to have some fun with this…it may not be a 365 days of the Crab Apple tree but who knows where this will lead us..stay tuned!
« Newer Posts |
|
