Yikes!

Holy Face! It's a good thing I didn't mass produce any of the double breasted corsets yet! From your very honest comments, I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't pursue this style at all. The pattern in it's current state was hard enough to draft and put together, but if I were to employ the methods you guys suggested, I think it would turn into a corset that took many hours to sew and would cost $300.
Thanks for your comments. I should definately do "blog preview" this with every style. Sometimes I THINK I have really awesome ideas, but they're just not marketable. I don't want to stick with the same styles of bodices forever, and I DO want to branch out and put my creativity to use....at the same time I have realized that wearable works of art are really not what everyone wants. I was even just looking for some more hats to go with my costumes, and rather than being drawn to the crazy ornate top hats from www.gypsyladyhats.etsy.com I was thinking, "Man, I would just like black." I feel like such a hypocrite, because you can't imagine how depressed I get when I drop thousands of dollars on all of these amazing luxurious fabrics, and then I have customes that say, "UH...I just wanted a solid black." However, I did the same thing. *sigh*

Double Breasted! Because 2 is better than 1

It just occurred to me, I hadn't really shown anyone my double breasted corsets! Here's where I jumped the gun a bit. Usually, when I design something, I throw several of them on etsy or ebay just to see if they sell and to figure out if people actually like them. THEN, after really testing the market, I'll draft all the sizes of the pattern, go through a couple of revisions, and then offer them on my website. However, we were wanting to do a steampunk style photoshoot, and I just HAD to have some of these on the lovely girls I used for my models! Anyhow, so now that I've actually got them, I would like to ask your opinion!

So, how this works is it's a normal overbust corset, but then it has half lapel collars up at the top, and there's a flap that folds over the lacings and creates the "double breasted" look. It fastens with pieces of elastic that come out from the side of the flap and hook onto 3 buttons alongside the side seam. Anyway, I would REALLY like some honest opinions on the thing. If you guys think it sucks, then tell me very nicely.....However, if you really think it's swell, or you think it WOULD be swell if I made some changes, let me know!

An Owl with a Gun

If any of you have ever wondered what happens to the inevitable mountains of scraps that our business generates, here's a charming example of what happens to them. This is a "Shoot Owl" (rather than "hoot owl") made from some scraps that I possessed. It all started when my little blonde blue-eyed 2-year-old boy wanted to play with my antique owl necklaces, and I didn't really fancy that notion. I told him that Mommy would make him an owl, and then he yelled, "Shoot Owl!" So, that's how this thing came about. Sorry to any of you that are opposed to guns. It's just that my little guy LOVES "sharpknives" and "shootguns" , as he calls them. And you know, I believe in just letting little boys be boys. My little guy will have enough exposure to the gentle side of life, seeing as both his Dad and Mom make corsets for a living.

Home is Where the Booth Is.

Hey, friends! So, I've been crazy busy lately (who can ever say they're "not busy"? Have you ever noticed how any time you ask anyone how they're doing, they either say, "good" "fine" or "busy"? I wonder if human beings have any other settings. And what about when you're having a total piece of crap day, and someone asks you how you are...shouldn't you say, "Well, I actually have the weight of the world on my shoulders, how about you?" I guess we're all liars.)

Anyway, this week, I learned about why I wasn't sent to this earth to be a carpenter. See this cute little picture of the building right there? This is our new booth at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival!!! Yay!!! www.okcastle.com We finally moved up in the world from having a tent to a permanant structure! The building was built for us, and we got to finish the inside and do any decorative work on it that we wanted to. So, this is the part where I learned that maybe sitting at a sewing machine for hours a day doesn't build rock hard abs and physical endurance. A day of putting up sheet rock, texturing, and painting nearly killed me!! I would post a picture of the inside (the walls are great! I found this color of green that I was in love with...but for some reason the color was named "La Fonda Olive"....what the dickens??? So, like the girl off of Napoleon Dynamite inspired a paint color? Odd....) but I want to wait to show you guys picture of the inside until we put the bodices in there and make it into a swanky little boutique type of booth!!!

I do feel like I made some small accomplishment with the outside. I went and picked out some cute metal grates to go on the side of the window and up by the roof, and then I picked out the lantern by the door. And then I did the most important part! I stood on the ground at 9:00 at night, holding a goofy little flashlight shining up on the building, while my tall skinney 6'4" 17-year-old brother perched on a ladder screwing the decor onto the outside walls as I yelled out instructions on where to place them. That is about the extent of my carpentry abilities.

Thus, if any of you are in the area, feel free to come by any of the 5 weekends in May!! I will be there with lots and LOTS of amazing corsets.