For the love of Fabric!

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On this Valentine's Day, an ode to one of my greatest loves, beautiful and unique fabric! 

And then I saw it - peaking out of a rack at a thrift store - this gorgeous, unique chunk of fabric. It was love at first site, a dress from the 70's I surmised. There was this beautiful, crinkled, watercolor fabric with so much potential! The existing dress was quite sad and falling apart at the seams. I had visions of possibilities in my head...!

I love working with denim, and I felt like it would be a fun way to make this piece more wearable and season-less. I envisioned someone wearing this piece as a wrap dress, a casually glamorous swimsuit coverup, or over shorts or jeans etc. 

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I draped, and draped and draped...

Sewed, sewed, hand-sewed and hand-sewed....

I often get attached to the pieces I create and this one was no exception. I sold it as I am typing this post and so guess it is time to let it go to it's new home in Dallas, TX! The love story carries on... 

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This piece is a little bold, but reminds me how we often get intimidated by clothes or just getting dressed, and we shouldn't be! Try rocking some bold colors and/or little glamour in an unexpected way! 

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And as I cannot bear to waste beautiful fabrics, I handmade these pretty earrings out of the remaining remnants :)

shop

Happy Valentine's Day Friends, if and however your celebrate - cheers!

xo,

Erin

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Sentiment and Souvenirs

Happy Friday!

So when you live in a very small space, and you are inherently someone who does not like to get rid of things, editing the new stuff you bring into your space becomes very important. Although it's taken over 3 years, I am getting better at it, just don't look in my closet- hehe. In my tiny apartment, I want to be surrounded by those items that have meaning to me. 

When I travel, I feel like one of my languages is fabric- it's how I connect to the people and culture of the place I'm in and it's usually the only souvenir I'll purchase. A while back, my fiance came up with the great idea of using fabric from our travels to make throw pillows for our sofa. It gets him involved when I'm hunting for fabric on trips and keeps us surrounded by our fun travel memories. It also keeps our place tchotchke free.

Almost a year after our Columbia trip, I finally got around to making our pillow. You can read more about that trip here: http://erinelsie.blogspot.com/2013/06/cartagena-mania.html . I had found these beautiful hand printed/ batiked wraps. 

 Our eclectic pillows: our Columbia and Hawaii pillows added to his Morocco pillow.  

(You can read more about the Hawaii fabric here: http://erinelsie.blogspot.com/2012/08/small-island-big-inspiration.html )

Also, speaking of sentimental projects- I recently did a custom tee-shirt blanket for a customer to give to her daughter who is about to graduate college. It was special to be handed the responsibility of preserving these memories and more special that she loved the final result. If you have sentimental tee shirts that you perhaps no longer wear but don't want to discard, tee-shirt blankets are an awesome solution. They are so cozy and even better you can just throw them in the washing machine like any old tee shirt! 

So colorful and cozy :)

Alright friends, thanks for taking a little time out with me- back to work I go!

Have a happy weekend!

 xo
Erin
http://www.erinelsie.com
Follow me on Instagram: ErinBlank_Designer

A little spring in my step...

When profoundly sad events happen, it causes me to personally reflect on my own life and re-instills my resolve to never take love ones for granted, never give up on my dreams, and to never live in fear. Recently, my dad sent me a sweet text. These days, text messages are a very common occurrence, but not for my dad. He rarely sends them to anyone, and so his make a big impact with their small, yet powerful messages. The most recent one was, "Just finished playing golf, and decided to drop a line to say mom and I love you." and the previous a few months ago, "Just a message to tell you I am proud of you. You got it together. We love you." As an adult, I sometimes forget how nice it is to hear encouraging words from my parents and they often come at just the right moment. My dad's text brought me back to a dad moment 10 years ago when I was in a distraught, post college breakdown of "what to do with my life." His words have stuck with me and have finally come full circle (paraphrased), "Erin, calm down- just keep working hard and following your heart and I have no doubt that you will end up doing exactly what you want to be doing." Sometimes if I over-think about the current state of my life, I realize it is a great risk- but it never phases me in the end. It is a joy to wake up excited about what I am doing and to fall asleep overwhelmed with ideas spinning in my head.

With all that said, I am feeling more inspired than ever in these past couple of weeks. This past Saturday, I woke up with the idea for the below tee-shirt transformation, made it within a couple of hours, and wore it out that night. It's been a while since I have made anything for myself, and it felt good. The front is made from a remnant of an awesome, silk blend fabric and the back is taken from one of my boyfriend's old tee-shirts. Recycling with an old tee-shirt can be lux...even chic. Going to make more of these to sell ;)

Also, with a pending lookbook photoshoot coming up and a million ideas, I have been furiously trying to finish up my latest little collection. Everything handmade, and everything special and unique. Special props to my neat and tidy boyfriend for being patient as my materials remain strewn all over our tiny apartment. A few sneak preview photos below :)

One of my takes on the crop top trend. It's a little less intimidating when you're mostly covered in the rest of the top. The main print fabric is from a vintage Hawaiian shirt (before photo is below).

A super cute, high-waisted skirt- my favorite features are the pockets and super fun lining. 

(before)

current top in progress:

Also, I was super excited to receive these leather remnants from one of my dear friends! It's such a joy when friends take part in what I do. I can't wait to work it into some special pieces such as my leather earrings. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/128629441/graphic-chevron-leather-earrings?ref=shop_home_active

Alright, back to work for me. Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey. Wishing you all the best!

-Erin

http://www.erinelsie.com/