Patchwork Underground

I’m soooo excited to introduce ya’ll to my very good friend and Eugene Saturday Market mate, Gillian Smithline of Indigo Inspired.

Gillian is a wonderwoman crafter and mama who makes beautiful, sexy AND super comfy hemp clothes right out of her home studio outside Eugene, OR.  Ever since the first day I met her, I have always been inspired by Gillian’s professionalism and work ethic.  This is one seriously savvy businesswoman.

Oh yeah, and I LOVE her clothes!  I am the proud owner of one of her purple womyn wraps, one of her pixied-out watermellon-colored skirts AND one of her racer-back tank tops. So comfy!

OK, I think I’ll let Gillian take it from here.  My questions in bold.

What do you create?

I design, sew an dye every item sold from my Indigo Inspired clothing line.
I am committed to making clothing out of sustainable hemp/organic cotton fabrics.

When and how did you decided to pursue your craft full-time?

I have been a full time designer/seamstress for most of my adult life, I never had the drive to take it very far tho and mostly just made ends meet and had fun sewing and traveling with my designs.

In 2006 I gave birth to my very radical son named Indigo.

Shortly after he was born I became a full time single mom and had to figure out how to create a life for my son without struggle and too much hardship.
I knew I wanted to continue to work at home so I could be around to experience his first “milestones” and I also knew I was an experienced seamstress the next step was just to take it to the next level.
I officially named my business Indigo Inspired and invested in high quality machines, threads, dyes and fabrics.
I started busting out a production line with a few designs and over the years I have tried to keep at least 25 constants in my on-line shop. At the moment I have 36. I have to say I have really been inspired this year..

How did you come up with your business name?

Hmmm, my son I suppose. I really wanted my business name to reflect my passion for being a independent single mom living life for her son. I am truly inspired by his youth and energy.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in starting your own crafty business?

Take time to look streamlined and professional.
Stay true to my roots and support other small businesses for my supplies I use (labels, business cards, fabric, dyes).

What inspires you most?

My son and I live in a super sweet cabin on some acerage in the woods outside of Eugene Oregon. Life in the woods is super influential in my designs; paradoxically so is my growing up in Los Angeles. I love to read European high fashion magazines while sitting in my garden. It’s all about balance I suppose.
Indigo inspired me in all ways.
He is a fearless, happy, delightful little soul and I love to take lessons from him in my acceptance to trying new things and putting myself “out there” without the fear of failing.
Being a tomboyish mama also inspires me to design clothing that looks fashion forward but is also easy and comfortable to run with the kids/friends and play hard.
Right now I have been loving on some looks from the early 70’s punk days and also Thai/Burmese/African body mod styles.
Ancient dieing tribal styles mixed with earth mother mixed with rock and roll.
Music is always on! At the moment Minor Threat is fueling this interview. I also have very strong roots in a fabulous spiritual center down in Los Angeles called Agape. It is a simple and beautiful message they walk and talk. I listen to the music from Agape and sermons most of the time when I am sewing. I have even added a line from one of my favorite songs onto my labels~ Blessed Always.
I need to feel happy and grateful when I am working. I will not attempt to sew, cut, dye or design if I am in a bad mood. I don’t want to put that energy into my clothing, and I find I make tons more mistakes. Having a simple mantra I can repeat is a great way to lift my spirits and help me create and be the working mama I want to be. Blessed Always.

haha.

Do I sound insane Erin?
A spiritual/punk/tribal/high fashion/city/woods/mama? hmmmm

What’s your favorite tool, technique or project?

My favorite part of my process is for sure the designing. Most of the time the designs come to me in dreamlike trances. I love figuring out how to transform an idea into a real live flattering comfortable item of clothing. Divine!
My favorite tool is a silver sharpie to make marks on black fabric.
I also love my big super power magnet for catching up all loose needles and such.

What the biggest challenge (if any) you’ve had to overcome in pursuing your craft?

Making a schedule and sticking to it.

Narrowing down my designs I make for my online shops to what I want to sell in my art fair/market and festival booths.
I am always unsure of what to consolidate into actually making for production for my shows since I vend in an 8by8 or 10by10 space on the weekends. There is really not that much clothing you can squeeze into a space that small…

Learning how to be a business woman when all I really want to be is the artist ♥

If you had time, what new medium would you want to learn/new thing would you want to do?

Oh boy. Time.. I wish I did have it!
I used to have a hand in all sorts of creative endeavors but now it seems like I really only have time for this since I am still doing every aspect of it all.
I would love to learn screen printing, carpentry/woodworking/general handy*womyn stuff..
I wish I could skateboard like a pro.
Hammock weaving!
I have a trombone I really want to have more time to play.
And I just know I would be a damn good craps player if anyone would teach me how to hustle.
For reals.

THE END!

Thanks, Gillian!!  Be sure to check out all of Gillian’s work at her etsy shop!

When I say this crafter is yummy I think you’ll understand what I mean.  Feast your eyes on one of the many goodies available at Le Beckery, Becky’s new Etsy shop:

Hungry yet?

Well, good news: all of the handmade goodies at Le Beckery are made with as many organic and fair trade ingredients as possible.  Becky hopes to expand soon into an all-organic selection of treats with some vegan options, too.  As it stands now, her intriguing edibles include such rarities as Breakfast Dessert (yes, please!) and palm-sized, wheat and dairy-free Lembas.  Everything in her shop seems to be swimming in some combination of chocolate, peanut butter or coconut.

Trying really hard not to lick my screen right now.  Let’s have Becky take over from here.

……………………..

Describe your biz for us.

I’m a baker. I’m primarily working on fancier cookies, but I look forward to adding breads and candy.

When and how did you decided to pursue your craft as a business?

I decided to actually go through with pursuing this as a business in February after entertaining the idea for a couple of months. I wanted to make a profession by crafting something and baking is what I do best. It also is a pretty emotional endeavor for me, I’ve created the recipes over the years with certain people in mind and making them recreates the feelings I have about those people and the time that the recipe came about.

How did you come up with your business name?

I’m not quite sure. It struck me one night when I came back from my other job at a group home. The girls looooove to play with the name Becky and that dirty Pyles song (“Gimme that Beck-ay”) has had them running with lately. I guess hearing my name had it running in my head along with “bakery” and it hit! The “le” part was put in place mainly because someone else had already had the brilliant idea of “the beckery”…unfortunately, they’re not a seller. I didn’t want to confuse people, so I appropriated the French article and made the actual operation consistent with my etsy name.

What does your “average” work day look like?

I wake up at about 8 if I don’t have to substitute teach. I have a glass of water and get going on baking or decorating. By 1 pm I’m ready to ship what I’ve worked on. I take a break and on some days at 3pm I work at a group home for teenage girls. I get back at about 11pm and start working on orders again (while watching hilariously tacky horror films and listening to the click click of my boyfriend writing scripts for his cartoon show). I’m up until about 2 and usually finish the orders in the morning.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far in starting your own crafty business?

1. Postage kicks you in the ass.

2. People are more receptive than you might think.

3. The condensation on the chocolate after you take it out of the fridge makes things difficult, especially for someone as impatient as I am.

4. The very biggest lesson, though, is having realized a dream (even if only temporarily). Who’d have thought it’d come true?!

What inspires you most?

Laughter, people…since most of my recipes are reminiscent of good times and people I love, I guess those would be my biggest inspiration. Nothing makes me feel closer to people than laughter.

Also, nature. I feel most free when I’m outdoors and someplace wild. Believe it or not, it actually really influences my taste and decorative leanings when it comes to baking.

What’s your favorite tool, technique or project?

My favorite project pertaining to Le Beckery is creating different butter or bettercream (dairy free buttercream) frostings. My favorite tool is a good spatula with a defined edge. It makes things sooooo much easier and neater!

What’s your earliest crafty memory?

I have nightmares about my days as a girl scout….gluing felt to more felt while I heard about the boy scouts doing ropes courses etc. Eventually, though, I was in a troop that did interesting crafts …I have a horrendous Easter Bunny door hanging made of a straw hat that was incredibly fun to make and, while it’s scary, it’s pretty cool. We also baked occasionally. My first baking memory, though is sitting with my back against a pea green refrigerator licking the chocolate off of a spatula my mom gave me as a reward for “good stirring”. I was maybe two years old and remember being so excited, but also very aware of how much chocolate I was getting on myself without being able to do anything about it!

What the biggest challenge (if any) you’ve had to overcome in pursuing your craft?

The biggest challenge has been figuring out how best to ship these babies.

It’s also been believing that people believe in me. I was really moved when so many people I knew from the near and distant past became fans of my facebook page and reached out to help me promote this. It really means a lot.

If you had time, what new medium/technique/project would you want to tackle?

I would love to make my own clothes! I have a few very talented friends with fashion projects and businesses and I envy being versatile with that medium. Right now, I think I would settle for learning how to alter my pants correctly.

Thanks for the interview, Becky! You can visit Becky and Le Beckery here.

Summer’s finally here! To celebrate, we’re having a big ol’ sale at our Etsy shop. All of our handmade one-size-fits-most cotton corduroy wrap skirts are $5 OFF for the month of June so hurry over there and snark ‘em up while you can.

Wanna visit in person?

Me too! When we’re not madly entering our new stuff onto our Etsy shop, we’re traveling all over the state of Oregon selling our awesome handmade wares….

• Eugenians will be happy to know that we’re back at Saturday Market in downtown Eugene every Saturday from 10-5 in the 4×4 booths on the block adjacent to the Farmer’s Market.
• Portlanders will recognize us at Alberta Street’s Last Thursday Market every last Thurday of every month from 4-10.
• You can also catch a choice selection of our hand silk-screened panties and handmade flower headscarves any day of the week at the lovely Frock Boutique on Alberta Street in NE Portland.

I finally took pictures of all the yummy head scarves I made for Holiday Market that didn’t sell. I made 150+ and it was an unusually slow market so I’m still rollin’ in head scarves. God bless self-directed self-photography though, seriously. How else could I take this many semi-decent pictures of myself? I love these new-fangled digital cameras.

Check it out…no two alike!

How did I make them? Well, they’re lined with a cute fabric on the side that goes against your head, so first I serged the edges of the lining and the outer fabric together using contrasting thread. Then I attached ribbons to the ends and then I stitched a felt cut-out of a flower onto the finished product using a star pattern. When they’re all hanging over a clothesline together in my booth they look adorable - you can’t help but come in and play with all the dangly ribbons. The display is a babe magnet.

I wanted to post them here first to give ya’ll a first glimpse before I post them on Etsy. I’m going with the 1 Etsy post a day rule - the theory is that your new listing will top-list in people’s searches and bring more traffic to your shop. We’ll see how that goes.

Hope you guys like ‘em! People seemed to like them at market but they just didn’t go as fast as I’d hoped…

All of the artists I feature in my “Spotlight On:” series are personal crafts inspirations to me. Seems to me that no crafter can really work in isolation because we’re all drawing off that single creative principal. The first artist I want to feature in my “Spotlight On:” series is Taryn and Jeff’s business, Mystic Orb Talismans.

For the last two years I’ve been vending at the Saturday Market and Holiday Market cooperative in Eugene, OR. These folks appeared one day out of nowhere with a completely magical booth filled with jewelery and other needful things. They are both very down-to-earth people and totally passionate about what they do. Check out the pics below to see what I mean….these pieces really speak for themselves.

Mystic Orb Talismans - Necklace with Abalone

Mystic Orb Talismans - Tayrn Wearing the Abalone Necklace

Celtic Knot Inlay Necklace also by Mystic Orb

Wonderland Box! Massive Scrimshaw.

Another Angle of the Wonderland Box

More scrimshaw. This necklace is built around a metal screw-cap container.

Oooo. I'm a vegetarian but antler never looked this good.

Adorable pic of Tayrn wearing another one of their necklaces. Love the carving on this one.

Peace pipe!

(Note: This show-and-tell could go on for ages. I spend years in their booth picking everything up and trying it on. It was a struggle to restrain myself from uploading everything onto this post.)

About technique: The little line-drawings are done using an ancient technique called scrimshaw. Jeff scratches the image into bone (or sometimes stone) and then fills the carving in with ink. These images are TINY - he uses a needle-sized tool and a magnifying glass to do it. I never even knew what scrimshaw was before I met him. I guess it’s a sailor thing. (FYI, I strongly suspect these folks were a pirate duo in a past life.)

Jeff also does fantastic wood-carvings and inlays with whatever kinds of rocks he can get his hands on. Lately he’s been using picture jasper in his work which just really gives me the willies! I LOVE picture jasper and the organic shapes in the stone really compliment his earthy designs.

If you want to read more about Taryn and Jeff (and maybe check out pictures of their little goats or their on-going home renovation project!) visit their website, http://www.mysticorbtalismans.com or check out their Etsy shop at http://mysticorbtalismans.etsy.com. They’re new to Etsy and they’re already 70+ listings strong! These folks are truely epic crafters….