Come See Us at the Frank & Gail Farmers Market on Main Street

This Thursday from 9am to the afternoon we are going to start participating in the weekly Laurel Board of Trade's Frank & Gail Farmer's Market that will be occurring all summer on Main Street.  This week we'll be selling scarves, bath sachets, moth bags (great for keeping your winter clothes fresh all summer), and notecards, among other things.  We are keeping it simple for this event, leaving the full garments behind and just bringing accessories like purses and aprons that people can take away easily.

We've visited the Farmer's Market every week since it opened for the summer to show our support as customers, so we're excited to play our part as vendors this week. There is always some form of entertainment via Deb Randall, artistic director and founder of Venus Theatre, other vendors like us sell jewelry and other items, and the food is (of course) delicious.

I will be there with one or two of our newest interns, and we'd love to meet you and get some feedback on our stock, what we can bring more of, and what people might want to see in the future. I'll be Tweeting and Facebooking pictures all day, or come on over and check us out for yourself!

The Inaugural C Street Arts Festival

At 7:30 in the morning on Saturday, June 9, Marilyn and I set up our booth at the Inaugural C Street Arts Festival and prepared for a long, hot day of selling our wares. It was my first Arts Festival behind the booth, so I was really excited to be there and experience "the other side," as it were.

For the previous several weeks, we had been working hard to produce a hearty sampling of what we do, retail-wise, from the higher end upcycled dresses to the more portable scarves and notecards.  As it turned out, we had the best seats in the house. Situated in the grass, next door to the Maryland Writers' Association and between the performing arts tent and the crepes truck, we got to listen to great performances and readings of new works, and smell (and eat) amazing crepes all day.  I mean, who can complain about that?  Not us, that's for sure. 

Everyone who came seemed to have really positive feedback about what we were doing, and quite a few people had some fun suggestions for an even better event next year.  We sold some of our favorite scarves and generated quite a bit of interest for our sewing classes.

 The result (via Instagram) of some of our most recent upcycling adventures. 

These dresses just got put up on Etsy, so check them out!

 Marilyn and another volunteer from LADC getting ready for the Fair to open

 The event photographer thought this was great because he captured my

 "true" self... I really hope that's not the case. (Credit: Lew Lorton Photography)

It was REALLY hot. (Credit: Lew Lorton Photography)

All the vendors were really happy with the people who came out, and everyone sold well. All in all it was a very successful first run, and we are excited for it to be even bigger and better next year.

Fabric Tour in NYC

On May 3, Marilyn, Dori, and I took a day trip up to New York to tour the fabric district. Lasting from 6am to 10pm including the four hour rides up and back, it was a very long but equally satisfying day.  We each had different goals in mind: me to find notions for my wedding dress, Marilyn to find fabric for a skirt for a client, and Dori to have an adventure! All three of us succeeded in our quests, and I took a lot of really grainy pictures in the meantime.

Enjoy our trip, and let us know if you're interested in coming with us on our next one!

Our chariot

 Times Square is pedestrian only now... what?

Of course we went straight to the silks

 Marilyn explaining to Dori the most important
rules of creating patterns for specific fabrics

Notes!

Heaven in a fabric store

The indomitable button

Second stop

Marilyn's favorite fabric; she comes and checks on it every trip

Noms

...and it just so happened, my friend from Russia was in

 NYC on the same day! Talk about good timing!

So many trims, so little time

If you look really hard, you can see Dori buried in trim

Did anyone else not know this brilliant invention existed??

Right before I got in trouble for taking pictures inside the store

Success! Applique for my wedding dress :)

Yes, this is a real place.

We returned home that night tired, happy, and laden with our purchases from the day. Marilyn is from New York and I just love visiting, so we're always looking forward to the next trip.  Let us know if you're interested in coming with us next time!

Flashback Friday - Hosting Laurel Board of Trade's Business After Hours

Today's Flashback Friday comes from the recent past, as we catch up on the last several big events we've had.

On March 15, we hosted a Business After Hours for the Laurel Board of Trade, of which Marilyn is a member.  According to other members later, we had a record turnout!  Please forgive the poor quality of the pictures, I took them with my phone.

Since this event, the Board of Trade Administrator, Gail Reinhardt, in the pictures below, passed away suddenly after a brief battle with cancer.  She is sorely missed, and we are glad to have these pictures to remember her by.

Some of our brochures and portfolio photos up for display

As you can see, the English trifle was the greatest draw

Marilyn and Cathy Morgan.
And while you're at it, check out that LBD and shrug on Etsy! ;)

From left to right: Gail, Karen Lubinecki, Janet Able,
Michelle Arsenault, Deb Randall, Bernie Robinson, and Bob Everett

The growing crowd

Bernie and Cathy

Janet, Michelle, and Gail resting in the consultation area

Marilyn being the hostess with the mostest!

We loved hosting this little/big get together and we love having people come see what we do here in our little corner of the world.  We have hosted other non-networking parties and get togethers in the past as well, as we detail in this previous post. 

Hello Again

Hello all!

Sorry for the long absence, I have been in New Jersey shooting a feature for the past several weeks, so I haven't been able to do much (or any) blogging.  Look forward to a couple recaps in the next week, and once we're up to speed we'll be back to our regular weekly blogging schedule.

I'm so glad to be home and back in the studio, and so excited to share all the awesome projects we have coming up this summer!