It's finally SPRING, dear Blogophiles!
The above is an illustration by Charley Harper. I absolutely adore his style. Don't you love how the bird is holding a bit of newspaper that says "spring"?
Anyhoo, I've been very busy lately with work things but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting and noming. I've been doing quite a bit of both but have not gotten around to blogging about it. So here's one exciting project that I've been working on.
Doggie Bandanas! As you know, my friend Sara owns a cute, hip dog boutique in downtown Saratoga. A couple weeks ago, she and I were trying to think of some thing to do for St. Patrick's Day that didn't involve bringing in some cheap, crappy shamrock toy made in China to sell. We had done bandanas for Halloween before but they were just triangles we (plus DAWGDOM sweatshop worker Christina) cut and hemmed that the kids decorated themselves. We decided to do it right this time and really design a functional and, of course, super cute bandana. So we fired up the DAWGDOM sweatshop again and got to work! Sara wanted a bandana that had a little channel one could slip a collar through. That way you wouldn't have to worry about tying it, having it come untied or having your dog decide to eat the tied ends. It happens. I traced out a little pattern and made some demos. The tricky part was making the channel wide enough for a 1" snap collar to fit through but not have it too big so it was flopping all around. After much trial and error I came up with a pretty perfect size and shape.
There was nothing of interest in the Week in Review, btw.
And Sara picked up the cutest fabric at Joann's.
Irish-y fabric!
So then it was just a matter of cutting and sewing. We used two different prints on each side so they could be reversible.
We ended up ditching the top stitching (that rhymes!) because we felt it was an unnecesary step. And we're lazy. We just pressed the seams and it looks fine.
Perfect fit!
I ended up making a larger pattern and an itty bitty size for the little guys. We are selling them for $7/$8/$10 and donating one dollar per bandana to local rescues and shelters. Clever Christina came up with the name "Knot-me-not Bandanas". I think it's great. No knots necessary. And even greater, people bought them! Now that St. Patty's is over we are starting to make lovely spring patterns. Here is Sara's dog Fred working hard to sell them. No really. He wants me to stress how hard he is working.
When's my break??
You must come and buy one. OR ELSE.
Byeeeeee!
Byeeeeee!
