ErinElsie: handmade

Showing posts with label handmade. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ― Lao Tzu

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
― Lao Tzu

That quote was on the little tag attached to my bedtime tea a few nights ago. Of course it felt timely with spring around the corner, but it also felt fitting to my type of designing and making. I can sometimes get rattled by the fast pace of the fashion industry, always feeling behind. The reality is that I don't make fast fashion items. The world is already full of so much stuff. I get inspired by the challenge of hunting for beautiful vintage fabrics, near and far.
This process is not the fastest, but I want to make pieces that people treasure, keep, and even pass down to others.

Before I work with any fabrics, I wash them all and often by hand. It's tedious and involves some testing, but then I can figure how to tell the customer to take care of the end garment.

The beautiful colors and prints may all seem random at first, but they eventually form little collections and it's my favorite part of the process. I make a huge mess, and then the ideas and stories starting coming together in my head. I'm currently in the "huge mess" part of the process with my latest batch of fabrics for spring, so stay tuned for new pieces ahead. All in good time!

*** These are some of my current favorites! ***

Happy Spring friends, hopefully these New York temperatures warm up soon! Live in Color 🤗!

xo,

Erin

Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!

*** CLICK TO VISIT MY ErinElsie SHOP for the latest! ***

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErinElsie?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Happy Fall! It's been a while...

Hey Friends, Happy Fall!

I hope this finds you all well. Summer seems to have flown by in the best way; a little travel, a lot of amazing outdoor music, beautiful park days, some amateur gardening success, and quite a bit of freelance work.

ErinElsie accessories have been selling, so I'm busy trying to restock my online shop in time for this holiday season. Please keep small businesses in mind when doing your holiday shopping. Gifts should be special! I have been collecting some beautiful fabrics from near and far and they are now being recycled into one of a kind earrings, scrunchies, and some lux winter hats. Follow along for all the new items and updates ahead!

***

A few new items below - click on the image to shop or for more info!

Some beautiful fabrics salvaged from some vintage garments!

Pretty gold dangles, for all my hometown LSU and Saints fans!

Handmade from bold recycled sweater fabrics :)

***

One of a kind items, one of a kind packages. Love my customers!

Fall Feels in my neighborhood!

Thanks for stopping by. Hoping you all have a lovely weekend! Live in Color 🤗!

xo,

Erin

Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!

*** CLICK TO VISIT MY ErinElsie SHOP! ***

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

For the love of Fabric!

***

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.

***

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...

***

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!

***

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

Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Living in Color! - Textiles of Chile and at Home with Our Sentimental Souvenir

Living in Color! - Textiles of Chile and at Home with Our Sentimental Souvenir

It's fall ya'll and I'm back from a blogging hiatus. This past spring, I did a road trip adventure through a region of Chile. Of course I couldn't get enough of the textiles and art. We've started a tradition of collecting fabrics from our travels to make throw pillows for our sofa. It keeps us surrounded in our colorful memories!

In Chile, we were on the hunt for an authentic Mapuche textile. The Mapuche are one of the most native indigenous inhabitants, and are best known for their wool textiles. Chile is home to some of the finest wool in the world and the Mapuche have long woven this wool into fine ponchos and home furnishings.

Source: http://vidamapuche.blogspot.com/2010/

I love that this shopping instantly made us dive into the story of these native people and their craft. It gave us an appreciation for these artists and the lands they inhabit. There's a strong chance you and I have seen copies and reproductions of their work pop up in mass market chain stores without even knowing it.

Source: http://vidamapuche.blogspot.com/2010/

We found a great market in Pucon, Chile selling Mapuche textiles. They are not cheap, but as a maker, I totally understand needing to be compensated for your work.

So many beautiful things, I wish we could have bought them all!

Ponchos and high quality wool everywhere!

Color inspiration overload!

Another fun shopping stop was a cultural center and local artist collective in Licanten.

We were excited to also find an awesome coffee stop next door after being on the road all day. For a girl who enjoys a proper coffee moment, they don't really offer to-go options, hehe. You have to sit and have your coffee! They served ours in a pottery native to Chile, mostly produced in the village of Pomaire; which we later learned eating and drinking throughout our trip.

We picked out this beautiful green Mapuche textile for our pillow.

Floor time! I am a total floor person, so I made this pillow big and full to double as a cozy floor cushion.

We are loving what this tradition adds to our home. Live in color friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a lovely week!

*Check out this old post about our sentimental souvenirs :)
http://erinelsie.blogspot.com/2014/04/sentiment-and-souvenirs.html

P.S. Shop great new items in my ErinElsie online shop, created with special bits of reclaimed vintage fabrics, recycled denim, and leather remnants. Save 15% off these totally one of a kind items by using code FALL15 at checkout or the shop link below!

Click here to shop ErinElsie!

Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!