due to my busy-ness last week, this feature took a little unplanned vacay. whoopsie-daisy!
so, lots to share this week. enjoy, and as usual, feel free to comment and discuss at will!
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-times are tough and getting tougher financially. food and gas prices are soaring and clearly, many people are feeling the pinch (via the new york times). what i am curious about is…does the ever increasing cost of fuel put the breaks on your ventures out in to the world? what about when it comes to shopping? do you take less trips into town to indulge in fashion-finding missions (retail, secondhand, or otherwise)? have you turned to alternate forms of transportation? when money is tight, what becomes a priority for you? does satiating your style bug become less important in the scheme of things? has it already?
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-ever heard of the lipstick theory of economics? seems that mr. lauder (of estee lauder) noted that sales of his lipstick seemed to shoot up precipitously when things, particularly in terms of world and personal finance, are a bit unstable (via the new york times). in times of economic uncertainty, women seem to be more likely to buy a couple of relatively inexpensive lipsticks (or the equivalent) to give their mood a boost, rather than dropping hundreds of dollars on say, a designer dress. obviously, the beauty companies are banking on this percolating trend. and it seems to make some sense as far as economic theory is concerned, say experts in that field. but thus far this year, the numbers haven’t borne said theory out.
what about you? when the budget belt is tight and getting tighter, do you find yourself forgoing those big ticket items, instead choosing to go for little luxuries? what else do you do to stretch a dime, while at the same time satiating your need for a fun little sartorial pick-me-up?
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-according to carole white of the premier model management agency in the UL, there is a dearth of black models in modeling and by extension, media because, and i quote: “according to magazines, black models don’t sell.” british photographer nick knight says the problem stems from those in high places in the fashion industry, who believe that black models are ‘”not aspirational” or “don’t sell in Asia”‘. (via the independent). what??
does that imply that “white” is that color of money? is “white” the only thing that is or can be considered beautiful these days? i call BULLSHIT. what happened to the healthy diversity in modeling and fashion that was in vogue in years past? what is this apparent racism in the fashion industry REALLY all about? anyone else think this apparently lack of diversity in media is reprehensible and disgusting?
for further reading on the same: jourdan dunn is the color of money (via the times online)
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and a positively ginormous pile of the quick and dirty!:
-my absolute FAVORITE new york city boutique, i heart, now has a blog! ’bout time, gals! now you just need an e-commerce site so we can enjoy the wonderfulness of your store even at a distance…
-as a guest blogger on design*sponge, illustrator/designer julia rothman shows how to turn a drawing into a repeated pattern, w/o the help of handy tools like photoshop. it can be done! would be a cool way to turn an illustration you’ve made into a cool piece of printed fabric, for starters…
-woot, a knit bias stripe stitch pattern! thanks, vogue knitting!
-make an effort to take good photographs! it matters! people are looking, and they DO notice poopy photography/imagery. at least, i do! do you? the 10e20 blog offers up 21 ways to shoot better photographs.
-craft: spread the word: knit1 (the fun knitting/crochet mag put out by the makers of vogue knitting) has a page with free downloadable pdf’s of v. cute patterns. that are free. yay! (on a related note, i am grooving on the colors in their ‘ginormous baby blanket’…oooh! ahhh! rainbows!)
-love this tutorial for a quilt on oh fransson! that features ‘crazy’ nine patch blocks. the fractured, offbeat look of said blocks makes me think of some of the work of modern quilt maven, denise schmidt.
-the purl bee gives us the run down on thimbles…calling them an essential for any sewing kit. and depending on your sewing needs the project you’re working on, i’d have to say i agree.
-i need to make one of these super cute yoga mat bags using the pattern and instructions offered up by bored and crafty, stat. one made out of some patchwork fabric would be mighty me and quite lovely, methinks.
-show those plastic sandwich bags the door, forever! check out this little how-to on how to make a little reusable sandwich wrap, from the small object.
-damn right, san francisco is crafty! feisty elle put together a great google map with points that correspond to artsy-craftsy destinations-of-interest in this here fair city by the bay. i cannot even express how awesome this is. thanks for doing all that work, feisty elle! crafters and makers of the bay area salute you.
-i have basically no hair, so this can’t do *me* any good, but i am totally grooving on this how-to on how to make your own hair-ties, on bluelines. if i had long, lustrous tresses, i’d go nuts picking out just the right buttons and baubles to adorn my locks! the crazier the better…
-i recently learned that lion brand yarns has a blog. while i don’t love everything lion brand does (some of their designs are more than a bit clunky/old fashioned in an off way, and some of the yarns are too synthetic for my personal taste), i do like what they do now and again and check in with their site on occasion to see what new patterns they have on offer. this relaxed, slouchy market bag pattern is rather lovely…and it looks easy to crochet, tout suite.
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