Friday, December 09, 2005


Reindeer

While the main purpose of this blog is to share some of the behind the scenes happenings for Simply June, how could I resist putting in this picture of a cute reindeer I saw playing in my back yard today? O.k., it's my dog Lucas, but what a cutie and what a patient dog. :) Plus, hopefully some day I will be able to launch Simply Dog...

Studio Sweet Studio

I have this great poster hanging up on my French bulletin board and just had to share. It came in a recent Veer catalog. Check them out at www.veer.com . The poster reads Studio Sweet Studio - "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away" Antoine De Saint-Exupery - I love it, how true.
Veer is a wonderful resource for photography, illustration, type, etc.

Working away at adding new handbags to the Simply June store. Also, if you are a designer yourself and want to propose a trade don't hesitate to ask.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005


Wall Hooks

I originally started looking for unique wall hooks to display my bags while photographing. I ended up finding a setup that works better for me, but I now can't get enough of these great hooks. I plan on hanging a bunch of them in my new studio to display some of my bags. These two new finds are from Nadeau Furniture's warehouse sale in Boston's South End. They hold a sale once a month on a Saturday and allow you to walk through their warehouse for great bargains. Check out their website at www.nadeauimports.com as they are also located in other cities around the country. If you join their mailing list, they send you notices before each sale including a $20 gift certificate towards your purchases with no minimum! I got these wall hooks for free! :)

Monday, December 05, 2005


Vintage Hand Stitched Evening Purse

I had to include a picture of this wall art that my friend Elizabeth recently gave to me. The handle reads "Vintage hand stitched evening purse". It's perfect! I love the combination of a rough sketch, a finished pattern and a whimsical handle composed of words. It's found its perfect place in my studio. I actually recently moved my studio to a larger room in our house and am finding it to be a much more productive space. I have four large tables in a U shape holding my computer, printer, TV :), tabletop ironing board, sewing machine and cutting mat. Until this point, I would run into one room to work on my website (office), another to cut material (dining room) and yet another to sew my bags (guest room). My house is not that large... It brings me to my husband Jason's architectural school days when we would have bass wood soaking in our bathtub so it could be shaped for models. At that time we were living in a tiny apartment in Brookline that was not much bigger than one of his models. :)

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Creative Advent Calendar

Check out this website for a creative advent calendar: http://harpold.com/advent/

Thursday, December 01, 2005


Simply June Launch and New Fabrics

Simply June's online store launched Thanksgiving week and is off to a great start. It is so exciting to receive orders and hear how happy people are with their bags and hats.

A number of new fabrics arrived today, so I have attached a picture. I was hoping to update my Blog more frequently, but I have been too busy sewing!

Saturday, October 22, 2005


Crochet Block Book

I used my 50% off coupon at JoAnn's Midnight Madness sale yesterday and got this really great crochet book. It has 200 patterns for different crochet blocks that you can piece together to make blankets, etc. I always think of an old orange, gold and brown granny square blanket when I think of crocheting, but this book has so many beautiful and modern looking patterns. The author also has a wonderful sense of color and style. I can't wait to get started. I have been crocheting a lot of hats for the SimplyJune store and love making them. I can make one in a relatively short amount of time and like the sense of completion. I tend to get a bit obsessive about projects until they are complete. I think I will enjoy making varying crochet block designs and piecing them together when I have enough.

Friday, October 21, 2005


Alexander Henry Fabric

I recently bought 2yds of this great Alexander Henry fabric. I loved the vintage look and the paper dolls. I'm still looking for a similar material that would work well for boys and then I hope to sew some baby bibs for the Simply June store. I may use some iron-on plastic to make them easier to clean.

Monday, October 17, 2005


Silk

These beautiful silks came in the mail yesterday from a recent eBay order. They are even more gorgeous in person. I love the feel, look and texture of silks. Most of these are dupioni silks. The mauve one in the middle is also embroidered, but it is hard to tell in this photograph. I hope to get some of these cut this afternoon for bags.

I also received an e-mail from my label company and the labels were shipped from Australia via air mail on October 11th, so they should be here any day now. I have been obsessivly keeping my eye out for the mail carrier today. :)

Friday, October 14, 2005


Beaded Silverware

This is a wonderful art taught to me by my friend Monica. We got together last year to make these as Christmas presents. They make for a fun and whimsical serving set or a great sugar spoon as seen here. It would make a great stocking stuffer or you could purchase a pretty sugar bowl and creamer set to make a great gift. I think I might make some later today after I finish some more handbags. I am still waiting on my woven apparel labels, but I hope to have enough inventory done before then so that I can launch the site as soon as they arrive. I'm hoping for some sunshine too so that I can take some photographs outside. We haven't seen the sun since last Thursday!

Wicker Display Head

The wicker display head I ordered from eBay arrived yesterday. My dog Lucas was not a big fan and spent some time barking at the "intruder". I have been looking for a display head for my hats for a while. I love the beautiful vintage replicas done by DecoEyes, but they exceeded my current budget. They are well worth the money though.

Thursday, October 13, 2005


Birthday Bags

Birthdays are keeping me busy this month! I love making presents though. Each person really inspires a different design. Here are two bags that I am gifting this week. Happy Birthday Dorothea and Happy Birthday Carey! Both bags feature vintage buttons from my recent eBay find. The brown brocade bag also features the chocolate colored velvet ribbon I mentioned in a recent post.








Fish Fabric and Tote

My friends' son is turning 2 on Friday. Happy Birthday Owen! He is really into fish and has two named Dorothy and Mr. Sushi. :) I made this little tote for him with some cute fabric that I found. I love the colors and I tried to pull out the blue and green with the lining and the ribbon handles. It is the perfect size for a little guy to carry around his favorite things.




Brown Buttons

I just received these great vintage brown flower buttons that I bought on eBay recently. They will look great with some of the Fall fabrics I picked out. They are a nice size too.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005


Fall Bag

I recently designed this new Fall bag with a particular friend in mind. I love the Fall, though we really haven't seen much of it in New England this year. The bag is made with a chocolate brown wool with fine orange stripes. I used wool coating fabric (for making coats) for the flower and leaves as it is similar to a wool felt. I haven't found a good source for wool felt with the colors I like. The center of the flower is a vintage brown button that came mixed in with the wonderful collection of black buttons I recently bought. Keep an eye out for more of this Fall bag coming to the Simply June store shortly. (I'm still waiting for my woven garment tags that should arrive any day from Australia.)


Buttons and Ribbon

Here are some pictures of a couple recent eBay finds. The first is a collection of vintage white buttons and the second is some beautiful chocolate colored velvet ribbon. I have been looking everywhere for velvet ribbon with no luck. Apparently the U.S. companies that used to make them are no longer doing so. This particular velvet ribbon was made in Switzerland. It will make a beautiful detail for some of my bags.

Sunday, October 09, 2005


Goodies

My friend Elizabeth gave me a wonderful bag of goodies recently and I had to share. She hasn't seen the Simply June colors yet, but I can picture using the papers in photographs already. I'm thinking my love of blue and brown has been obvious lately. :)

I love the fabric too. It has a great shabby chic look and feel. Now I just have to figure out what I want to make with it!

Hooks and Knobs

I have been searching around for a fun way to photograph my bags when I am ready to launch the Simply June store. I took a little excursion to Anthropologie recently and found exactly what I was looking for. I love that store and could spend hours looking at everything. Here are my great finds.

Sewn Cards

Here is a fun craft to do with all of those great scrapbooking papers and embellishments that are available. I purchased a package of blank cards in the scrapbooking section at my local craft store and went to town with papers that I had on hand, a glue stick and my sewing machine. I made each one different and as you can see, the possibilites are endless. I tied the finished pack of cards together with some matching ribbon and even used some extra scraps of paper to make a matching set of marble magnets.

Finally Blogging!

I have been wanting to put a blog together for a while, so I have a backlog of photographs and ideas that I want to post here. This is mostly as a record for myself so that I can keep track of my ideas and materials, but maybe others can get their own ideas or see some of the fun new items making their way to the Simply June store.

I took a trip recently to Boston's Chinatown to shop at my favorite fabric store - Winmil Fabrics. They are located on Chauncy Street if you are in the area. They have beautiful fabrics and you can always find something new. The photo below shows my recent haul. I've got to get better at lighting my photographs because this photo just doesn't do the colors justice.














I have also been having some fun on Ebay recently. I have been purchasing a variety of vintage buttons to embellish the bags and hats. Here are some recent finds.