Everso Clothing

My Mini Mod, All Grown Up: Rachel Ullrich

2009-06-03T10:25:00.009-05:00

I've known Rachel Ullrich since she was a tiny little neat teenager with taste, style and interests well beyond her years and location. No offense, North County area of Metro St. Louis.

Now, she's a tiny little neat grown up and first-time expectant mama. I am over the moon with happiness for her and completely delighted by her TMI (no such thing to me) blogging about her pregnancy at Oh My God, This Is Really Happening. Baby Daddy drama, kickass vintage toys, doulas, and SO MUCH MORE!

I love her.

Rachel U. knitted the teeny sweater above for her 'little booger.'

Lil R was also inspired to open up an etsy shop after loving hand-embroidering modern chairs on onesies & snap shirts for her own sweetpea-to-be. The results have kept me squealing all week. SO CUTE.

Saarinen Tulip Hand Embroidered Onesie 0-3 Months

Eames LCW Lounge Chair Side Snap Shirt 0-3 Months

Hand Embroidered Bertoia Diamond Wire Chair Onesie 0-3 Months

Eames Rocker Side Snap Shirt 0-3 Months

I'm a sucker for an Eames rocker. Every baby should have one AND wear one!

From her etsy bio:

I happily reside in a gorgeous chicago flat with my boyfriend, two chihuahuas, two cats and four birds. When I'm not tending to our menagerie, crafting or coming up with some new hair-brained scheme, I can usually be found thrifting or eating breakfast.

I have always had a crafty tendency and have worked in many crafty fields from yarn dying and knitting to taxidermy to floral designing to cleaning estates and junking. Until now, all of these things have been my own selfish hobbies or jobs. I've consigned lots of hand-made items at different boutiques from time to time and have always intended on opening an Esty shop for this knit so-and-so or those vintage knick-knacks, but nothing motivated me enough until now. I'm currently experiencing my first pregnancy and happily embroidering my way through it. My shop is intended for me to share the hand-made items I'm making in preparations for my own dude, and hoping that you or a little baby or child friend you know will enjoy them just as much. In the meantime, I'm sure I'll find lots of awesome vintage items at estate sales or thrift spots that are too awesome to pass up that I'll be able to share with everyone as well!

Uh, oh! Looks like it's a boy!!! And I happen to know for a fact that she sometimes has 2 breakfasts. At Lula.

Peek into Rachel Ullrich's fascinating preggo life, and throw her some business. You'll be doing yourself a favor!

SURLY SHOP

2009-05-26T10:39:00.006-05:00

Misses November Postcard by Stacey Earley

Chicago illustrator/painteuse & Everso buddy, Stacey Earley, just opened an Etsy shop offering postcard prints of her outstanding series of paintings featuring female nudes with animal heads. And they're calendar girls! At three bucks a pop, these cards are not to be passed up and beyond frame-worthy. Buy them all for yourself and double up for your BFF!

Miss June Postcard by Stacey Earley

Earley also recently returned from opening The Windy City Show at Kayo Gallery in Salt Lake City and an exciting visit to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas (a stone's throw from my fave, the Liberace Museum).

Miss September Postcard by Stacey Earley

Support independent artists and all-around rad ladies.

Miss March Postcard by Stacey Earley

Friday the 13th: Lulu Voodoo!!

2009-03-13T15:07:00.005-05:00

I have been desiring to write up charming & gorgeous (black) art & (witch) craft powerhouse, Lulu Voodoo, for quite a spell. Laying Friday the 13th before her adorable lil feet seemed a proper sacrifice, so much so I wasn't the only or first to be moved to such a tribute.
Karswell, the charismatic cult leader over at The Horrors of it All (phenomenal pre-code comics blog & SO much more), is featuring an Evil Doll theme today at the bewitching Miss Lulu's suggestion.
Go! Love! Buy the t-shirt!!

Now. Back to what else makes LV so special.
Firstly, the magic that is Lulu Voodoo's Etsy Shop. Check out the hand-embroidered tees & extra rad belt buckles:

Second, her enchanting collage art that I am crazy lucky to have several pieces of in my personal collection.
This being my favorite:

And lastly, but mostly, our decades-enduring friendship (as evidenced by Polaroid, Halloween '95):

Happy Friday the 13th, Lulu! Love you!

andwabisabi on etsy

2009-02-26T15:15:00.005-06:00

Andwabisabi designs super-duper ADORABLE PDF cross stitch patterns that sell for just $2.50-$7.50 per pattern. A STEAL.
One of the first craft hobbies I picked up as a child was cross stitch, so I have a real soft spot for this shop. What a sweet little gift/project for all ages!

From andiwabisabi's etsy profile:

Hello! My name is Grace. I'm currently an undergrad student in illustration design. During my free-time I like to keep my hands busy whether I’m baking, cross-stitching, or making earrings. My love for cross-stitching has inspired me to start creating drawings on muslin or fabric with colorful threads. What I like most about my work is the spontaneity. I’ve been working with thread on fabrics and I love how my work starts out as something but evolves into something else by finish. It’s ever-changing and non-permanent, and exciting to work with.
I usually draw about things that relate to me or my family, my childhood, places I’ve been to or wish to visit, or just about little stories I make up. I would like my work to spark interest in viewers and remind them of their childhood experiences and long-lost thoughts. I’d be interested to know how they relate to my work and how they interpret it.

안녕하세요. 십자수를 너무 좋아하는 선영이입니다. 몇년 동안 도안을 사서 십자수를 놓다가, 저더 한번 도안을 만들어봐야겠다고 생각해서 시작했어요. 아주 쉽고, 심플한 십자수 도안들이에요.

So what is wabisabi?
Wabi sabi is an Japanese aesthetic, it's about finding beauty in imperfect objects, accepting its flaws and the wears and tears of time; the impermanence. And in the modern world I believe this is something we really need to embrace.

Love love LOVE.

My Favorite Kelleee

2009-02-24T14:17:00.008-06:00

Kellee & Gency.

I fatefully met Kellee from My Favorite Mirror at the Constructor craft show last year. We were reunited on Facebook and will someday be together again in the flesh, preferably at Storybook Land.

My Favorite Mirror collaborates with independent artists to create pocket mirrors, key chains, mouse pads & coaster sets with awesomest darn images you ever did see.

I just received & highly recommend these:

Wolf Baby vs. Fox Baby Keychain by The Black Apple

Honorable Tiger Pocket Mirror by Berkley Illustrations

Get out, Dude! Pocket Mirror by The Little Friends of Printmaking

Underwater Circus Pocket Mirror by Jaime Zollars

Her Words are so Flowery (G.I.R.L. no. 9) Pocket Mirror by Jen Corace

You can also catch Kellee & My Favorite Mirror at a craft show near you all summer long or on her new hit reality television show, America's Next Top Hobo (ANTH).

When in Bklyn..

2009-01-16T14:41:00.002-06:00

I've loved the Fred Flare web store long time.

Always perfect for a gift (for me) and the home of all things neat and cute, I was naturally psyched to learn they opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Brooklyn. Of course, two trips to the Borough of Kings later and I still haven't actually made it in the door, but some handmade Valentines created by moi are in transit right now (pictured above).

Why? For a good cause!

All valentines will be sold online and in our new Brooklyn store for the super friendly price of ONLY $4 EACH and ALL the proceeds from the sales of these valentines will go directly to Elder Craftsmen, an NYC based organization that brings craft workshops to local senior citizens. Our last charity event raised $5K. Can we beat it? With your amazing creation in the mix, I know we can!

Check out the Flickr pool.

So buy buy buy starting the last week in January and be charitable to some NY senior artists and downright sweet to your Valentine.

Xmas Card of theYear

2009-01-02T19:20:00.005-06:00

Kime Buzzelli is my hero.
Her art is just my absolute favorite. I think I found her etsy shop a year ago or so, or may have even caught an article online that linked me to the shop. I can't remember. All I know is I'm in love with all her gorgeous images. I want to be one of those girls, have those toys and clothes and awesome make-up & hair.

My fine art & costume design background serve me well with my children's clothing line, but trust me, 10-15 years ago, who Kime is now would have been the prototype of who I would have hoped to grow up to be. Make sense? Her work makes want to paint & draw again, which is the best result of admiration: inspiration.

She also has a super rad boutique in Echo Park called Show Pony. I'm telling ya, this mofo is living the dream.

Anyway, I am Kime's friend on Facebook and was lucky enough to make it onto her Christmas card list after gushing over an image of this year's card. Got it in the mail today. I can't tell you how happy it makes me.
A million thanks, Kime!

And thanks again to Kim Romero. She does sooo much for me & this time, I received amazing O'Button ornaments (you can see one to the right of Kime's card) and a leopard ring I admired from afar. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

On the left side over there, you can see a gingerbread girl ornament made by the talented hands of 4 year-old princess-in-training & Hannah Montana enthusiast, Amy Gruber. That also gets me completely giddy every time I catch a glimpse.

How am I ever gonna tear the tree down??

See ya, 08! Thanks for the Memories!

2008-12-31T15:55:00.004-06:00

Thanks to all of you out there reading, buying, encouraging, inspiring and all that other good stuff!
Especially:
Mommy
Kim Romero and circles are forever
Laurie Richter and Fly Right Gifts
Shorty's
Renegade Handmade Store
Etsy
Venus Zine
Katie and Molly
Michael
Kim M.

Here's to a brilliant and beautiful 2009!

xo, r.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 20

2008-12-20T10:46:00.004-06:00

The animated video for Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson from the album The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs is one of the most precious and adorable things I have watched. The song is so sweet and sad and moving and beautiful, I immediately made fun of it upon first listen so I wouldn't just start crying.

Needless to say, I've been playing it in a loop for the last 20 minutes (which means more like 45 minutes). I LOVE IT.

And actually, if anyone is reading this, I'd love to send an iTunes gift of this song to the first 5 people to post a comment (include email address).

Watch the video here.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 19

2008-12-19T10:35:00.003-06:00

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 17 (I give up on the catch-up)

2008-12-17T21:53:00.005-06:00

Sirius XM's Christmas channels have been a delight in my life lately. Not so much the Amy Grant, or the creepy heavily-rotated "Celebrate Me Home" by Kenny Loggins (Sheesh. Blecch), but I really have renewed adoration for the Ray Conniff Singers.
Now THAT'S some holiday music.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 13 (yes, I may not catch up)!!

2008-12-16T20:46:00.002-06:00

I'll admit to being behind on (or downright oblivious to) the trend of Ugly Christmas Sweater parties and such. But I support the idea. Kind of.
I'm at least willing to admire the sheer overdone insanity of some of these masterpieces.

I even think these three are classy. So there.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 12!!

2008-12-15T13:51:00.002-06:00

There will never be anything like Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Everso brings to you, courtesy of YouTube and broken into 6 parts, Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special:

The part with Little Richard especially cracks me up as my grandma recently declared if she could have dinner with anyone, it would be Little Richard (and Woody Allen).

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 11!!

2008-12-15T10:48:00.003-06:00

OK. So it's not Day 11. It's day 15, which happens to be National Cupcake Day!

I made the above Vegan/Booze-free Tiramisu cupcakes for a holiday party & they were quite a sensation.

Cupcakes Take the Cake is always an amazing resource for cupcake porn. Check out the Abominable Cupcakes. How rad would those be on Chrismas?

Metalcakes, one of my local baking crushes, features the Danzig: Twist of Candy Cane Cakes today. SWOON. Follow all the Merciless Instructions and whip them up for your own minions!

Another local baking crush of mine, Natalie of Bake & Destroy, has some relentlessly adorable flickr pics of her Candy Cane Cupcakes with a Happy Peppermint Man by Cage Tomato.

Don't miss Bake & Destroy's Holiday Guide and Etsy Shop. I bought Monster Cupcake Picks for my boyfriend's birthday cupcakes this year and love them SO HARD.

Speaking of adorable last-minute xmas gifts, I just put everything in my etsy shop on sale!
Holla!

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 10!!

2008-12-12T10:26:00.001-06:00

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 9!!

2008-12-11T10:03:00.003-06:00

Our actual Christmas tree!
I've had countless fake trees, but this is the first real tree of my adult life.
Pret-ty exciting and like most things, makes me want to cry.

I was resigned to not having a tree this year when my darling boyfriend said, "we should get a tree, right? It smells good."

20 fussy reasons to not get a real tree and my Sweetie breaks it down to a simple truth: It smells good.

Our gorgeous little tree from outside the grocery store smells GREAT. And I can't stop staring at it. I may make some other decorations, but I'm perfectly content with big lights, popcorn garland, candy canes and Alfred E. for our topper.
Aww.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 8!!

2008-12-10T12:25:00.002-06:00

eco gift wrap by tomate d'epingles on etsy

Christmas 1977, Santa brought 4-year-old me a Fonz pinball machine.
Few presents have compared since.

Even as a pre-schooler, I thought of myself as a Pinky/Leather Tuscadero hybrid. I pretty much still do.

I looked around YouTube for other stuff from Christmas 1977 & found this clip from The Carpenter's Christmas Special. It's influence on me is immeasurable!

xo, Rachie

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 7!!

2008-12-10T11:42:00.002-06:00

Goodness gracious.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 6!!

2008-12-10T11:11:00.003-06:00

Yeah, yeah, I'm still backed up on the Xmas blog posts. It's a busy year!

Here's a clip of my all-time favorite, Heat Miser, from The Year Without a Santa Claus.
He's Mr. Heat Blister (gross!), he's Mr. 101!

He's toooo much!

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 5!!

2008-12-07T07:11:00.002-06:00

(I know it's actually day 7, still catching up!)

I finally visited my first Paper Source shop in Oak Park a couple months ago.
That's how I know I'm a hopeless aging nerd, the paper store gets me hot.
The Gingerpaper House Kit above is too awesome.

The gifts at the Paper Source are cute out of control.
I really love the Pigtail Kit:

AND the Jailbird Penguin:

For those of you who like to donate toys and gifts during the holiday season, my friend, Jessie, wrote a great article on where to donate in Chicago.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 4!!

2008-12-06T16:18:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to play Christmas blog catch-up!
I missed a few days because I was pretty exhausted after volunteering all week at a grade school holiday market. It was a total blast. I helped little kids pick out gifts for their families and friends. The kiddos took it so seriously and the whole thing was really sweet and put the holidays in a nice perspective for me.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 3!!

2008-12-03T20:56:00.003-06:00

We watched a chunk of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tonight. I get a ridiculous childhood throwback with this little number. I remember being scared at first of the Bumble and being freaked out that they just moved on so easily after thinking Yukon Cornelius fell to his presumed death.

I love some Yukon Cornelius. I adore when that crazy doormat Rudolph says "By Doze!" I dearly love and over-identify with the Misfit Toys.

We're on the Island of Misfit Toys
Here we don't want to stay
We want to travel with Santa Claus
In his magic sleigh!

A pack full of toys
Means a sack full of joys
For millions of girls
And for millions of boys
When Christmas Day is here
The most wonderful day of the year.

A jack-in-the-box waits for children to shout
"Wake up! Don't you know that it's time to come out!"
When Christmas Day is here
The most wonderful day of the year.

Toys galore, scattered on the floor
There's no room for more
And it's all because of Santa Claus.

A skooter for Jimmy
A dolly for Sue
The kind that will even say, "How do you do?"
When Christmas Day is here
The most wonderful day of the year.

How would you like to be a Spotted Elephant?
Or a Choo-Choo with square wheels on your caboose?
Or a water pistol that shoots -- jelly?
We're all misfits!
How would you like to be a bird that doesn't fly? I swim!
Or a cowboy who rides an ostrich?
Or a boat that can't stay afloat?
We're all misfits.

If we're on the Island of Unwanted Toys
We'll miss all the fun with the girls and the boys
When Christmas Day is here
The most wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful day of the year!

And there's always tomorrow..

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 2!!

2008-12-02T16:59:00.007-06:00

I super love peppermint and I super love Etsy, especially at Christmas.

I searched around today on Etsy and found some amazing peppermint-y/candy cane-ish items, perfect for the holidays. Like the Elf Gift Tags above, by paperheartpress.

And this peppermint stick and mistletoe soap set, courtesy of sunbasilgarden.

These peppermint christmas cards by thecraftypantry.

Delicious homemade peppermint bark from DoubleDippedSweets.

Lonely Peppermint Tree print

Peppermint Striped Twine, by littlepinkstudio

oh deer stickers by PaperPumpkin (with peppermint tree, it's a stretch, but I LOVE)

Candy Cane hand-embroidered onesie by Beetastic

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 1!!

2008-12-01T15:58:00.003-06:00

I'm still gagging down Thanksgiving leftovers, but ready to go all nutso for my favorite holiday.
Going to try to post all Christmas-y stuff for the next 25 days!
Recipes, cartoons, craft projects, gift ideas, music..we'll just see what happens.

Let's start it all off with a little wonderful insanity from Germany in the 70's, Christmas with Heino. It's long, but pretty great from any point in the video.

I'll continue the Frohliche Weihnachten theme with a recipe for Springerle cookies, and a super fancy Springerle rolling pin from Sur La Table:

Or a classic one available at everyone's favorite, Target:

My work here for today is done. See you tomorrow for Day 2 of my I Love Christmas Extravaganza!! xo, Rach

Stockins Stockins Stockins!

2008-11-25T16:17:00.003-06:00

I made stacks of these today. Not sure exactly how I will finish them off. Contrasting fabric cuff and loop? Rick rack? Bells? Fur? All of the above? None of the above?

Last year's versions were cut from a vintage baby quilt and had gold wings attached.

This year's models are recycled from vintage tablecloths. Some may make it to the shop, but most are gonna hold the cookies and goodies I'll be handing out for Christmas.
I'm considering putting together some stocking and bib sets.

We'll see. I'm running out of time!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

2008-11-20T16:12:00.002-06:00

Today is my mama's birthday. She's a very special lady. So talented and generous. I miss her dearly now that I live several hours away.

She makes gorgeous wreaths:

Neat ATCs that she uses as business cards:

And amazing decoupage suitcases (vintage cases AND vintage images!):

Visit her blog and Etsy shop.

Love you, Mama! Hope you are having a beautiful birthday.

Some Etsy Favorites

2008-11-19T12:26:00.002-06:00

Etsy
Buy Handmade
rachzel

I super Heart AnomalyJewelry on Etsy!

2008-11-18T16:53:00.003-06:00

I had a brief interesting morning conversation about Astrology.

The boyf speculated that there must be people who are so into it, they would attempt to conceive at a time that would have the baby born into a certain disposition. Hey, it's morning, you have to talk about something.
We mainly called shenanigans on the idea that everyone born during a certain window of time has the same personality.

I'm an Aquarius with a Cancer rising, if anyone's keeping score.

I personally wish my parents would have kept it in their pants for a couple weeks longer so I could wear, with accuracy, Anomaly Jewelry's Zodiac Kids Pisces necklace. Itta make-a me crazy!

Or better still, maybe they could have gotten it on a couple weeks sooner and I could honestly sport the wickedly awesome Capricorn necklace!

OR, I could put aside my mermaid obsession and regret not being born a Gemini, Virgo, or Two-Headed Kitten.

Anomaly Jewelry is offering free shipping until Christmas. Do it. Do it. Do it.

Finally, Blogging!

2008-11-17T14:22:00.001-06:00

I'm finally jumping in the game to blog about the children's clothes I make, my crafty interests and all the neat people I admire that give me such inspiration!

A dear friend of mine just single-handedly started designing a web page for Everso and really lit the fire under me to start with the writing. Thanks, Kim!

I'm gonna cop out and throw up some links until I have more time to get down to some real gabbing.

*clothREvisited featured our Kiss Baby Gown in July

*Our etsy shop was featured in an article for Associated Content about the Best Etsy Shops for Creative, Cute Kids Clothes in early October

*Green Baby Giggles reviewed our reversible bibs & recycled t-shirt baby gowns for their blog devoted to Earth-friendly baby items in October

*And a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be interviewed about Everso Clothing as Venus Zine's Reader-of-the-Week

Thanks, y'all & I'll be back with all sorts of good pictures & chit-chat soon enough!

xo, Rach