bits and bobbins

okay, this is crazy old news, but…

about six gazillion years ago (ok, really, like three years ago, back in ‘07), when i was living out in san francisco, i did an interview for a documentary on thrift town, a bay-area thrift store chain.

anyway, i was waxing nostalgic about thrift town today with pete (oh how i miss that place!!! AHHHH!!!), and decided to google around to see if anything ever came of the doc. and voila! i turned up the documentary in toto, on the ever amazing youtube! yay! it’s embedded above.

the documentary is called thrift town: get used. it’s only about 10 minutes long (so, really, a short). i make a small appearance at the beginning of the film, and then at about 6:27 i get a longer bit…where they show me shopping around the store (checkin’ out the clothes, shoes, and patterns, haha!) and i get a few seconds of face time just after that where i dork out and say some nice stuff about thrift town and thrifting in general.

[btw: the acid wash jumper dress and pink earrings i'm wearing in the documentary are thrift town finds. you can get a better look at the acid wash jumper here if ye are so inclined...]

for a long time i have been yearning to take books from my collection, and show you and share with you their interesting insides. not all of them are “fashion” related, but are inspiring all the same. i can’t keep all this good stuff to myself! i want to share it!

when i can find the time (i have so little of it these days, what gives? *sigh*) maybe i will share some peeks into my books with you. cool?

perhaps they will inspire you somehow, even if it’s for something as simple as a clever color combination in the clothes you deign to wear or perhaps a personal touch you can maybe add to something you’re making (clothes or otherwise)? or maybe they can just fun to look at!? i think so!

most of the books in my library are craft, art, or fashion related. i am a book lover, a book addict. i especially love old books, and seek them out wherever i can: thrift stores, antique fairs, amazon, ebay, you name it. i love the old, sometimes forgotten tomes and styles of the past; old books are a lovely window into past styles, fads, and norms. so, so fascinating, no?

here’s a book i found at a thrift store this past week for one dollar: golden hands bargello.

looks like it’s from the 70s. for those who don’t know, bargello is a style of needlepoint embroidery, usually employing wool yarn, which is stitched to a canvas backing. you often see it adorning old pillows, ottomans, and the like, but it can and has been used to adorn clothing and accessories. decorator/ceramacist jonathan adler has famously used bargello on some of his pillow designs.

i love bargello for a bunch of reasons: it’s graphic, it’s textural, and there’s a lot of potential for colorplay. i love bargello best when it’s especially colorful…the more riotous the colors, the more i like it, as is my way! i have a small collection of bargello pillows, i would like to add to it over time, if time and money will allow!

anyway, here you go:

love this shot and all the pillows, immediately made me think of the interiors work of wary meyers (whom i LOVE):

love the bottom pattern here:

patchwork! yes!:

more patchwork, yes x2!:

this one is especially timely for me…i found a tiny little ottoman at a thrift this week that i want to restore/restyle/referb, and seeing this page (and the whole book, really!) totally makes me want to stitch up a little bargello topper for it!

fun, eh?

found over the past couple weeks, here in san fran, at goodwill and thrift town (aka my usual haunts).

these clip-ons reminded me of little doilies:

handmade acrylic pins, part of a larger cache of oversized 80s acrylic jewelry i scored all at once (including MASSIVE earrings, not shown here):

ikat is one of my textile loves. and i have a thing for clutches, oh yes:

always a sucker for polka dots and le orange (natch):

almost fluorescent vintage slip. probably the greatest vintage slip i’ve unearthed as yet:

a lovely silk dress, originally from banana republic. giant orange flowers, oh yes! doesn’t fit my currently burgeoning pregnant bod, but will *hopefully* fit afterwards. i’m crossing my fingers and toes!: