August Lately

Updates

I'm sorry to report that there still is no word on Nicholas Francisco. I continue to hope for a good outcome for his wife and children. If anyone is in the Seattle area, please continue to keep your eyes open. The reward for information leading to Nicholas is now $15,000.

As for August Lately, I've been working on orders and sneaking a few new designs in between.

Meet the roomy shoulder bag:

This particular bag is made from the Amy Butler Belle collection and is a bit livelier than I intended.

The same design looks incredibly different when made with dark brown ultrasuede and a classic floral print:

The ultrasuede is gorgeous in person but what a challenge it is to photograph!

In other August Lately News- The Belle bag is now also available as a design-your-own bag at August Lately:

We're battening down the hatches for yet another snow storm here in Vermont. What a winter! Hopefully I'll get some extra sewing time in.

Sewing Serendipity

What if I added a piece to the top of the hobo template? That's what led to the creation of this bag:

I love it when things come out beautiful on the first try!

I'm a Knockout!

Nah, not really, but I did get a little happy surprise this morning- I noticed that my little front-pocket clutch is featured in the rotating "knockout" images on the front page of etsy.com:

A sign that the rest of the day will go well? Let's hope so!

It's Cold Outside

Which makes it that much more appealing to work on new designs for spring. I have a gigantic stash of fabrics that I don't use in my for-sale products, but instead use them up when I'm working on new designs.

Here's a sneak preview of what's to come for Spring 2008:

Flare Tote- Pleated tote bag with choice of recessed zipper or magnetic snap closure:

Bolsa (means bag in Spanish- guess I retained something from high school!)- A roomy shoulder bag with pleats and darts. Choice of recessed zipper or magnetic snap closure.

I'm not entirely sure what to call this one, or that the design is finished yet, but this is where I'm at so far with this pleated hobo:

Apparently I'm hobo challenged because I've been having a heck of a time working the shape out!

I'm planning to roll these out on the main website some time in early March. In the mean time, keep your eye on the etsy shop!

Still Here

Well, I did have a nice post all ready to go until firefox decided to crash on me. Typepad, why don't you save autodrafts for me? It would be ever so helpful!

January was the month of The Flu in the Hadley house, which is why I never got to that handmade holidays update post. The gifts we gave were gratifyingly appreciated and it is definitely something we'd like to continue for years to come.

That apron I designed? It came out so nicely, and I got such good feedback from it, that I decided to add aprons and matching dish towels to my product line. It's an idea I had been toying with for some time, and the enthusiastic response I received from the recipient sealed the deal. I'll be adding several reversible fabric combo options later today.

In January, I spent much of my time on the couch with one arm around a sick child and a sketchbook on my lap. Now that things have gone back to normal for the time being, I will be working on bringing my 2D imaginations into 3D reality. Stay tuned!

My Handmade Hoildays- An Update

So far, my husband is definitely in the lead. He has already completed the bunk beds, and since they’re hard to hide, the boys are already happily sleeping in them. We’ve reformed our original plan- the surprise/Christmas day element will be the pirate theme- complete with handmade pillows, pencil cups and pirate flag curtains from mom.

My husband has also completed my much wished-for kitchen cabinet doors, something that I have been waiting on for over five years, since we moved into the house. They are absolutely beautiful and the fact that my husband made them for me makes them so special. Home Depot could never compare.

Me? Well, I did manage to make half of an apron (which is on the list for two of our family members) before I decided that the flouncy pattern I bought was not easy- at least not for me. I’ve never been one for patterns, so in my usual style, I decided to wing it, and drafted my own pattern. It will be a grand experiment, at the very least!

I’m planning to sew like crazy to get as many August Lately orders out of the way as possible today so that I can dedicate the weekend to holiday gift sewing. Wish me luck! I’ll be back with another update next week.

Did you take the handmade pledge? If so, how are you doing with your holiday gift making?

It's a Blog Happy Day!

I'm a crafting hero. Well, I'm not so sure about that, but Lisa over at Craft Boom called me one! She was very kind in asking me to do an interview, and it was posted today! I must say that I feel a bit out of place among such incredibly inspiring women as Amy Karol and Amanda Blake Soule, but am very, very honored. Thanks Lisa!

And, when I came here to log in, I noticed that Rare Bird Finds, one of my absolute favorite blogs (run by some of my very favorite indie ladies) is the Typepad Featured Blog. Congratulations Sharla and Mei-Lynn!

Wow, that was a lot of exclamation marks. No more coffee for me.

Cyber Monday

It's that time of year again- cyber monday! To kick off the holiday shopping season, August Lately is offering free USPS Priority Shipping on all US orders over $50 through December. Just enter code HH07 at checkout.

Happy shopping!

Handmade for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and you know what that means! Holiday season will soon be in high gear.

This year, my husband and I are putting in a real effort to make and buy as many handmade gifts as possible. Judging from all of the handmade holiday action on the web, it seems that we’re not alone.

The ladies at Sew Mama Sew are running a fantastic series on their blog- Handmade Holidays, 30 days of gifts to sew.

Each day features links to projects (all available for free at various blogs and craft sites) with a different theme. I haven’t started actually *making* anything yet, but I have found the perfect gift for almost everyone on my list through this series. Thanks gals!

Buy Handmade: Take the handmade pledge!

From their website: “The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left people all dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. The connection between producer and consumer has been lost. Buying handmade helps them reconnect. We created the pledge as a call to action for consumers to be conscious of how they spend their money this holiday season. We want people, whenever possible, to support independent creators and shop outside the big boxes.”

At first, I thought that it would be difficult to go all handmade with two little boys in the house who have visions of toy trains and yu-gi-oh cards dancing in their heads. But as we’ve gone over their lists, we’ve found that nearly everything (with the exception of the aforementioned yu-gi-oh cards) can be handmade with a little creativity and effort!

So, I think, since I didn’t see any Chris Cringle on the pledge list, we’ll ask him to bring the yu-gi-oh cards, and the rest will be handmade from mom and dad. Our boys may not appreciate it much now, but I think they will some day.

The Perfect Gift

A unique twist on gift certificates! Order any Design Your Own item for the holidays and I will send a beautiful paper certificate to give to the recipient.

Here's how it works:

You purchase a certificate for any Design Your Own item from the website. When you check out, you will be charged for the item, as well as the shipping. The lucky person who receives the certificate can visit the website, choose her favorite fabric, and enter her shipping address. Two weeks later, her new custom gift will be shipped directly to her.

Easy, right?