Flashback Friday: White House Historical Association Projects

As we mentioned before, we are about to start a huge project with the White House Historical Association.   There are actually three aspects to the project: adding to two programs we previously worked on with the Association, and creating a new one specific to the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.

Over the past few years, Marilyn has been tasked with creating three different sets of costumes, two for interactive educational programs called First Kids and Paths to Freedom, respectively, and one for a special reenactment commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. 

In First Kids, Elementary to Middle School-aged children learn various stories about children who lived in the White House, such as the time Teddy Roosevelt's son brought a horse all the way from the stables to the second floor of the White House in order to cheer up his sick brother.  Then the kids get to try on clothes from the period and reenact the stories they just heard.  Paths to Freedom is also an educational program, in which students recreate scenes around signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.  Our costumes needed to be historically accurate, yet easy to slip on and off and adjustable for any size child.  Easy, right?  Right!

Adding to the previous programs will be fairly straighforward.  We will add sizes and update numbers to meet the current needs of the programs.  In this vein, preparing for the reenactment for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 will be very similar to how preparations for the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War played out two years ago, in that we will create about 30-60 costumes overall of historically accurate, heavily researched costumes for a special event, but of course 1812 was a very different period from 1860.  Society and fashion in those two years were just as wildly different as 2012 compared to 1964.  


1850 looked a lot like this: 


1812 looked more like this: 
  

Which period are you more drawn to? Do you have any interesting facts about the war that time forgot?

We will keep you updated as the costumes come out, and let you know about the events at which you will be able to see them!

Vintage Gowns from the Shop

It is smack dab in the middle of bridal season here and everywhere, and this bridal (etc) shop has been buzzing with wedding talk even more than usual.  Meghan and I both got engaged around the same time this year, and will be getting married around the same time next year.  This week, Meghan returned from a visit to her parents' house with her mother's wedding dress, and we clearly had to take a break to check it out and play with it.


We oohed and aahed and made some plans for how she will want to update the Princess Diana look for her 2013 wedding.  Then I brought out my mother's dress, which I just got back from the cleaners and will also be updating to wear at my own wedding: vintage hippie chic from an actual 70s hippie dress.  Then Marilyn brought down her own wedding dress from 1977, a beaded sheath dress complete with adorable jacket extension, and we had a grand old time comparing the styles and decades, and getting really excited for all the things to come.  

1977, 1986, 1975

We can't wait to begin the process of updating these sentimental dresses for our own weddings, and to show our mothers (and you guys!) the results.  We would love to hear about your vintage wedding dress (or anything else) experiences as well; leave a comment or send a picture!

New Faces at the Studio

Our little family is growing!

We are about to start gearing up for a huge project with the White House Historical Association (more on that later), so we started looking for some people we could call on as over hire to help if and when things start to get hairy.  At first that's all we were looking for, but the women we found have been so great to work with that they've been coming in almost every day since they started working with us.

If you are privy to our email newsletter, you know about Barb, a good friend of Marilyn's and costume director for the Mt. Hebron High School theater department. Barb started working regularly with us about two months ago, but we have since added two new faces to our midst, in Katrina and Meghan.  Katrina is our pink-haired steampunk lady with a million ideas for expanding our upcycle collection, and Meghan is a (very) recent transplant from the School of Architecture at Georgia Tech.

We're so glad to have these interesting, talented women bringing in their own styles and opinions as we grow and change.  If you come by the Farmer's Market most weeks (Thursdays 9-2), I will be at our booth with one or several of those ladies helping me out.  Come on over and say hello!

Meghan and Marilyn in our first week at the Farmers Market

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!

Checking In and Studio Walkthrough

Hello everyone! It's been a bit crazy here at the studio and I apologize for the lag time between posts. In the meantime, if you haven't already you should check out our video shot by meetlocalbiz.com, and see a bit of what we've been up to!

C Street Arts Festival Submission Deadline for Artists Extended!

The submission deadline for artists has been extended to March 16 for the C Street Arts Festival! If you're interested in submitting (and we know you are!) please sign up here!

The Arts Festival will be an outdoor market for artists to display and sell their wares along C Street on Saturday, June 9 from 10a-5p. There is detailed information regarding fees and provisions on the sign up page. We signed up this week for a booth and we are so excited to help with this cause!!!

For those of you who don't know, Marilyn is a founding member of the Laurel Arts District Exploratory Committee, or LADEC. A large portion of Main Street in historic Laurel has been designated as an arts district, and LADEC was formed as a means for the business owners and artists already here to help guide the formation and atmosphere of said arts district. We have had a few meetings and are really excited for all the potential Main Street, using C Street as ground zero, have to offer. We're thinking performance spaces, galleries, coffee shops, indoor and outdoor venues, everything an arts district can and should be. We can't wait to get this off the ground and there will be many more posts in the future regarding this project, so stay tuned!

A few weeks ago, Venus Theatre hosted an event called "See, Get, Give," (see a write up of us in the Baltimore Sun!) in which people gathered to literally cover the walls with ideas and inspiration for the future of Main Street.

Marilyn and Caroline discussing plans in front of one of the signs

Did you know?

Adding to the fray