New Skirts and a New Design

I love a denim skirt AND I love applique. Denim is so satisfying to sew. So well-behaved, predictable and substantial. And the seams always come out of the serger looking perfectly cut and stitched. This is one of my very first attempts at applique and I must say, it looks darn fetching. I know there's different schools of applique: so people believe hand stitched is best, some people don't fully finish the edge so it starts to fray, which is something i've never understood. They always say, "the applique will fray over time, adding to its' charm." Really? I don't really think that anything becomes more charming as it frays. I think that means, it's going to look cruddy and cruddier. Oh well. Either way, I like my applique tightly and neatly zigzagged with NO fraying. It is painstaking though, which is why I'm charging more for this skirt. Who knows? I may grow to like the frayed "charm" the more applique I do. This denim is taken from an enormous western style dress that I bought a while back at the Fruita Thrift Store.

                                                                                                                                                                                   I'm really a fan of this one. I love black floral fabrics and of course, gingham. If the gingham becomes too much, I hope somebody will intervene. There's something somewhat Anthropologie-y about this skirt. At least that's what I like to think. I love Anthropologie. Curse them and their beautiful, expensive things! I have some other skirts to show that I'm extra excited about, but I'm going to do that in a seperate post since I start to get a little nuts when shifting around all these pictures in blogger.

The tablecloth that dreamed it was a skirt.

WELL! It's been too, too long since my last post. I'm really going to try harder to make them a weekly affair. But between all the skirts and now the peacock feather goodies and the fact that time management just isn't my strong suit.....I suppose this is what interns are for. I know this sweaty city is just teaming with wide-eyed 20-somethings just dying for a chance to boost Teablossoms sales and show off their newly acquired webmarketing skills. If only I can find the time to write that craigslist ad.... Here are three skirts that I made from two vintage tablecloths that my mom brought from Colorado last month and I'm happy to say that 2 of the 3 have already sold! This first skirt was made from one tablecloth and Lauren in Austin, Texas said it was keeping her cool and that it was the best-fitting skirt she owned in 10 years. Go me! Lindsay in Denver, CO bought the skirt with the green sash. I really like all these skirts and might just keep the one with the white sash (unless you fancy it of course). I cut them as your standard circle wrap skirt but then included and cute little ruffle piece at the top which I'm quite fond of. I think that ruffle will definitely become part of the signature Teablossoms look.

I would also just like to take this moment to offer a shout out to my fiance' in taking these pictures. These pictures were taken using some new, fancy and HUGE lenses that he bought for his videographing. I don't normally brag about his lense size online like this but just look at the depth of field in this pics. It just makes such a difference.

Teablossoms first photo shoot

Hello! Welcome to my first blog post on my blog devoted to my latest scandal: Teablossoms! It's handmade clothing, it's freerange peacock feather accessories. It's....a state of mind. I've always wanted to make clothing for a living and be self-employed and have an excuse to have fun and frequent photo shoots starring ME! And I was recently fired from my lame office job, so it seems god is closing a door and I'm opening an Etsy store. Quick disclaimer: I've been a very fairweather blogger in the past, but I'm gonna do my best to produce the all-important content and photos!! Without further ado, let's see some sexy pix from my first photo shoot featuring my first three Teablossoms...Yes, it's true. With my very first Teablossoms skirt, I reveal the seedy truth about myself: I'm an Amy Butler WHORE! Just like the rest of you. It is pretty though, isn't it.

Girl makes some pretty fabric, what can I say? You know what else I discovered? Ladies love skirts you can wear as shirts! Jeff (my fiance') , who was snappin photos was like "No, don't wear it like that." But every female who sees this photo is like, "Oh, I LOVE that you can wear it as a shirt!" I know what girls like. Perhaps I'll snap some with it on my head and the Nun community will be signing up on etsy. The best part is that I get to use the tags "whore" and "nun" for this blog post.

Try as I did, I still managed to flash some folks during this clothing change. Good thing Jeff was around to protect my honor. I called this the Just Bee skirt on my etsy store. Which is here, by this way. And I have bad news (for you): it's been sold. To my friend Lindsay. She loves it and hopefully I'll have some pictures of her wearing it to share. I have a prediction: Bees are going to be the new Owl which has been the new Black of fashion this summer. You heard it here. Let's see if I can find a detail of this Bee fabric cuz it's just Beeautiful!

Here we go. This is good because you can behold the bees as well as my design m.o. Teablossoms is all wrap skirts all the time! (with the exception of the Amy Butler one above, that's just an a-line). Wrap skirts are one-size-fits-most. Whether you're skinny, curvy, preggers or just want your kids to be well-dressed siamese twins for Halloween, chances are there's a Teablossoms skirt for you.

I call this skirt Tropical Shimmer, Be a Hawaiian Goddess or Just Look Like One. I'd say the biggest challenge of working with this fabric was trying to get the color right in photoshop. Sheesh! It's really bright and quite shiny. I'm not sure I ever really did it justice. Oh well. It's silk jacquard. Which I think maybe means fake silk because you can machine wash and iron this baby just fine. Not at all possible with 100% silk. Perhaps it's a blend. Anywho, here I am rocking the tropical shimmer in front of the Revolutionary War monument in Ft. Greene park in Brooklyn.












That's all for now! Stay tuned for some juicy peeks at a suitcase full of vintage linens that my mom lugged all the way from Colorado last week as well as my foray into soldered glass pendants. This was a fruitful photo shoot and I'm super grateful to Jeff for his fashion photography skillz. If you're curious what Jeff does when he's not directing me Austin Powers-style, here are his webisodes starring food critic, Josh Ozersky.