take my breath away miss taylor!

okay, by now some of you may know that i tend to be a little dramatic when it comes to things like colors and textures and buttons and cuts, etc. love me or leave me. :)

well, girls...today is NO different. holy macaroni. do you see this sweetness?

this pattern my dears, is the taylor by the mean princess. meagan is the brilliance behind TMP. she has quickly become one of my dearest sewing buds for many reasons. for one, i am not completely convinced that we weren't separated at birth. it is crazy how our brains think the same. it is like she has half (maybe she has the one that actually functions??) and i have half. weird, right? we too often are right along the same wavelength that it is scary. AND she just so happens to share my sailor seamstress tongue. she 'gets' me, and that is pretty darn rad.

besides all of that...this girl is crazy talented. she just recently started to publish some of her patterns and the taylor is in her etsy shop right now. when she first showed me the design i am sure that people a few countries away probably heard my jaw hit the floor. i am caaaaaaaarazy about a boat neck, and for those of you that may have tried to draft one before, they are not easy my dears. but meagan nailed it. add in those sweet little sleeves and i just die. love it.

today i had to take a little breather from dock of the bay before i turned into otis redding himself (hehe) and i've been busting at the seams (yep, pun intended) to make this taylor. so i turned to my fabric bookcase and found the scrap of coral linen that i saved just because. (you see, this is just another example of why it is a collection, and not hoarding) and then i dug around and found enough of the navy and white stripe knit (this knit is NOT a friend of mine. we do NOT place nice together...but damn if it doesn't make the dress) to make the top. and i got to work. and this is where i got...

i just love it. coral and navy with some turquoise buttons on the sleeves with an apple green button (you know these all came from my fabulous button lady michele at little red cottage, she feeds my addiction) for the back and i just fell out of my sewing chair. notice i did NOT admit to falling out of my rocker. maybe tomorrow. :)

this pattern is way easy. you girls have GOT this and you so need this in your stash. i didn't attach the top to the skirt (i made the top longer so it is like a shirt) only because my dear, sweet, precocious little fireball informed me she promised to wear it if it was a skirt. we shall see...

go grab you a taylor, and tell meagan her other brain said hello.

here ye, here ye...

okay, just a quick post for all the new faces of brownie-goose since my sweet, itty-bitty little 'business' has done sort of a boom over the last month. have i ever told you all how much you rock? for those that are new to BG, i tend to remind you often of how much you do.

because seriously, if it wasn't for all of you...there would be no BG. and you keep me rocking like no other, so rock on peeps.

anyhoo...this is the way that BG works. and bare with me as i need to update my "about me" and "how to order" and all that other jazz at the top of this page but i swanny i cannot find an extra few hours in the day lately.

• i am the sole lady behind BG. i sometime refer to myself as the girl behind BG. if you don't know me, here is some more info on me. i tend to be a pretty far-out girl most of the time, but i am also well-known for being off my rocker as well. there are methods to my madness, but i have yet to pin-point them.

• i am completely, shamelessly, utterly head over shoes (as Louisa calls it) in love with all things pertaining to children's clothing, design, fabric, BUTTONS, etc. it tends to consume me, but it also lets me let the crazy out.

• i do not take custom orders. since i have added chirren #2 to the mix at my house my time is no longer mine. i cannot guarantee time in my sewing room and not having custom orders hanging over my head makes life just a little easier for me. :)

• i sell the inventory of my collections in uploads. my latest collection is dock of the bay. it is wonderful and fabulous and i sometimes want to eat the colors and textures. if you follow me on facebook, i post any and every detail about uploads as well as on this blog. i usually will put up sizing info a few days before an upload so that you can choose wisely. all inventory uploads are done on the cartel.

• my inventory is not crazy-abundant. once again, it is little ole 4'11" me in my sewing room in my spare time. i wish i could sew for each and every person, but after 3.5 years i have still not come up with a solution to be able to swing all of that jive.

• i have recently started to sell the patterns that i design. this was a decision i rode the struggle bus on for a while, but once i chose to share my designs - i knew instantly it was the right one. there are some crazy-talented people out there and when i see pictures of what you awesome girls do with my patterns, i honestly smile from ear to ear and am allowed to run off the crazys for a few hours. my patterns are all in my etsy store.

now, clear as mud right? yeah.

so, basically right now what i am doing is working on the rest of the designs of dock of the bay and finishing up the grading and sizing of all patterns that i have designed for it. then, i will put my pedal to the metal as i work on inventory to get it from my lovely sewing room to your house. i have not set a date yet for the dock of the bay upload, mostly because there is SO much up in the air at my house right now. my house is on the market as i will be moving back to georgia this summer (wahoooo). at some point it will sell, and when it does...i have to pack. if it sells soon, i will have to pack all of the dock of the bay up as well and finish after packing. crazy, right? yeah, i have given up on trying to figure out what to do and am just going to let go and let happen. it is my new year's resolution after all.

after i sell all of my inventory, i will then get to work on publishing the patterns that i have designed so that you crazy-awesome-crafty girls out there can make some beauties too.

want to know more about dock of the bay? oh, why certainly.

it is awesome. it is lovely. it is muted but colorful at the same time. it is classic, it is BG and it is coming along quite nicely. for those that have been with BG for a while, you know i find inspiration for my designs in songs and music. this time was no different. most of the designs and combos came to me one night while listening to my otis redding pandora station as it was playing some of the most fabulous songs of my childhood. i was immediately no longer in my sewing room, but on Tybee with my best girlfriends soaking up the sun, drinking cold bevos and shagging on the pier (now before you think bad of me...i speak of shagging the DANCE, not the austin powers kind of shag) barefoot, sun-burnt and maybe just a little tipsy. now THAT my dears, was the most fun. the colors of the coast flooded into my mind while i let the breeze blow gauzy fabrics and textures like linens. and after a few hours of fabulous music, a pen and paper, a few dozen memories revisited and some fabric pulled out of my stash...dock of the bay was born. this little collection of goodies right here was what started it all.

does that picture make you grin as much as it does me?

how about some of these?

now, while i dive back into my sewing room with measurements in my head and designs on my mind and putting that pedal to the metal...i want you to prepare yourself mentally for DOTB. i only wish you had my sweet Savannah friends and shared the memories of leaving St. Vincent's on a half day friday, driving down the causeway while changing out of your plaid skirt and into your bathing suit to spend the next few hours with your toes in the sand and not a care in the world. man, i was a lucky, lucky girl. but since i cannot share all of those memories - i will indulge you in my most favorite movies of ALL time. it will certainly get you in the mood for dock of the bay. go find SHAG the movie, curl up on your couch and enjoy the laid back east coast beach life. i bet by the end of it...you just might be wanting to learn to shag (dance, dance, dance...shame on austin powers!) yourself. you should, it is the most fun. oh, and you may have a new crush on buzz ravenel. oooooohwie.

now, off to the sewing room i go!

when life hands you lemons...

you can make lemonade. OR, if you are like me...you can make the lemonade dress.

OR if neither tickle your fancy, go get you some retail therapy and buy you a lemonade dress. (well, not completely true...she isn't for sale just yet) isn't she fabulous?

oh i just love her. and i am so glad too since it took me an embarrassing amount of hours to perfect her. you may or may not have seen my post on facebook where poor sandra dee was looking like a voodoo doll. i knew i wanted something different (imagine that) that would define the dress as a BG Original. i think i did good, huh?

i find myself swooning over her angel sleeves, the sweet neckline with a button flap and military-style tab all the way down to the soft a-line shape of the skirt and the cute little opening slit in the back. my size, please!

the lemonade dress will debut on the dock of the bay line. however, not in these fabrics. i have to give a huge thank you to meagan of the mean princess for the awesome eye in picking out that amazing blue fabric. she did a fabulous dress out of it (if you haven't seen it, please go drool yourself over her taylor...it is amazing), and i knew i *needed* some too. on dock of the bay, lemonade dress will be just as fine...with a color combination that just might make you squeal for joy.

just a little teaser...before i shade out big time to finish the design-phase of dock of the bay. hope you likey. now to get to cleaning - showing in the house in a bit and i have learned that unfortunately a sewable sewing room does not equal a showable sewing room. fiddlesticks and gargamels.

oh what can it mean to a DAYDREAM BELIEVER

wow. the end of daydream. i am actually very sad to see it go. i said it from the beginning and i still mean it...by far my most fave line EVER. dock of the bay has some really, really big shoes to fill.

and i think you all loved it too, dare i say? i am having a hard time letting some of it go. and usually by the end of one of my seasons i am so far over the fabrics that i don't want to see them again...but not this time. i mean, i am ready for the challenge of new designs and finding fabrics - but i don't know if i can honestly say that if i ran across some of the fabric from daydream at a great price that i wouldn't jump again. yep, i am completely, certifiably nutso. love me or leave me.

anyways - what you really want to know is the info about the last upload. it is tomorrow. i know, i am getting to this blog late...but today, life happened in my house and even though i had a billion things to do BG-wise, i practiced what i am trying so hard to preach...i turned off the light in my sewing room and told it all to wait - i had life to attend to.

so, tomorrow, friday january 6 at 10 am CST the last of the daydream believer will be uploaded on the cartel. be there, or be square.

debuting this upload are the lola bells - both the limited edition and the 'regulars' (the lola is hardly ordinary) and the skyline tank. also up for grabs are some of the ever-popular sleepy jeans, plum hatties, rusty ninas and a few of the lucky star pants. and then it will be done. and for the first time in BG history, the girl behind BG is actually sad to see it go.

anyways - below is all the sizing info you will need for all of the new styles debuting. if you still need info on sizing for any of the other styles, you can click on the daydream believer tab up top and scroll down to see all the other information in posts past. all items will ship or be ready for pick-up on or before next wednesday, january 11th.

and for just a little teaser...i have more of the fabric that i did that sweet little katie top that is pictured in the lola bell photo. i have had many requests for that top...so i might just have to whip up a few of those to pair with your lolas. but i will let you know ahead of time, promise. i will also be working on getting the nelle pattern published and for sale in my etsy shop (yipppppppppeeeee). once all that is done...i will park myself under my shade tree for a while while i dive into the new designs and colorways that will become dock of the bay. this next line is inspired by a song, duh...of course, but also by things in my childhood. and just so you know, i had a pretty cool childhood - so get excited. :)

as always, keep on rocking the BG kiddos. you are awesome and i love everyone of you! i appreciate the snot out of my incredibly loyal customers that, in my opinion, have fantastic taste in children's clothing. okay...now i am just getting cheeky. but i mean it. thank you BG'ers!

xoxo - amy