RVA Update

The smocks I've been dreaming about and getting all mushy over are finally ready for purchase! I have had to stop myself from making one out of every one of my favorite fabrics since Ruby is going to need SOME space in her closet for newborn clothes this November.

As stated before, I used a vintage smock as my pattern and went from there. Making smaller and larger sizes is on my to-do list but isn't something I'm 100% comfortable with free handing so I'm trying to figure out how to change things up via tutorials online. A few of you have asked if I would sell the pattern or do a tutorial and I'd love to answer 'SURE' but it's something I'm going to have to do a little more research on before I send it out. Mostly I'm just not that comfortable with patterns, whether it's using them or making them, and wouldn't want to sell you something that didn't work.

This smock reminds me of Danielle Thompson. I'm not sure if it's the fabric pattern or the overall color scheme but I think she would probably agree that the retro-modern mix is not too far from a lot of the colors and patterns that she has on her blog. Danielle, what do you think?

This fabric almost didn't make it home with me. Something about the color mix was so unusual to me that I wasn't sure how I felt about using it with the rest of my vintage sheets. It has since grown on me and is one of my favorites. It reminds me of early Fall. It is lined with a dark chocolate cotton and has vintage lace across the bust.

These pretty, plaid, party bows are made of a thick vintage cotton that I found from a stash at my great aunt's house. She gave me permission to take it home and cut it up so after cutting out a few smock patterns (I told you) I decided it needed to become hair bows. Perfect for the end of summer and early fall. They are small enough for little girls and trendy enough for those of us who have long been out of Stride Rites.

One of my goals for the RVA shop is to fill up a whole section of kids' product so they can get excited about shopping when they come into the store. So many times I've seen little kids come in and enjoy the 'playhouse' feel of the shop and watched as little girls have oohed and ahhed over the kitschy rings or fun necklaces but until now, we've not really had a lot specifically for little dreamers.
One of the first items on the list was dress up moustaches for play time. They are made of two layers of felt and have an elastic band sized to fit most children. It's about time they had some fun with this adult trend!

Sebastian calls them 'Bad Guy' moustaches but I told him Good Guys wear them, too. He was kind enough to pose for me after I told him there were suckers involved. At one point he was totally playing it up and seemed to know how to hit all of his poses but after the third stache, he was ready to get back to his trains.

This one will go in his modeling portfolio.

~Rachel

p.s. Thanks for all of the blog love!