gargamels, fiddlesticks and other PG bad words

wow, 3 blogs in 3 days. can you even believe it? this is a sure sign the wheels are spinning.

unfortunately what happens when the wheels spin is that i kinda become this out of body personality that has a hard time focusing on anything BUT what is going through my mind at the time. you can talk to me, but there is a very good chance that i don't hear a thing.

bad, isn't it. yes...but from what i have heard from other creative folks - it is completely normal. this is the time that i call my 'manic state.' i get this odd headache that doesn't really hurt, but makes me unable to focus on ANYTHING but textiles, fabric, designs, lines, etc. it is kinda crazy.

when i should be focusing all of my energy on finishing up inventory for the second upload of daydream believer, i am instead dancing in la-la land designing my next line. crazy, i know. but i cannot make it stop. i have visions. (haaa, famous last words) kinda weird, huh?

are you still there? or are you thinking, hmmmm...now may be the time to give up on this crazy lunatic known as the girl behind BG. well, if you stick around...i promise it will be good.

i just cannot help all the turning wheels. mostly because i got my hands on some amazing old patterns that were my grandmother's. and then i got one of the most delicious (and expensive) fabrics in the post. the texture on it brings me to tears. and all of these fabulous buttons that keep coming from Little Red Cottage in the most fabulous of colors. and then the songs. shame on me for listening to my golden oldies, they make my head spin. and now i cannot help but to look in my sewing room and find color and fabric combos that i never thought of before. ooohhh, it is dangerous.

but yesterday, i MADE myself get in the sewing room and work. on daydream...and not just daydreaming. hehe.

well, to say that i ran into a minor snafu with the boys shirts would be an understatement. i now have half of the shirts that i ordered, am so fed up with the supplier that i canceled the rest of my order and am now trying to find substitutes. gag. so, to burn off some negative energy i headed to the sewing room to create. singing along to tommy james with crimson and clover, i drafted, cut and sewed some lucky stars pants. i was feeling good. then, disaster occurred when i went to measure.

you see...i could not stop those wheels from spinning all the while i was working. and i tend to be one of those personalities that cannot do more than one thing at a time. so, while daydreaming about opening a small fabric store and sewing school when i move to athens...i somehow did not pay close enough attention to the super-organized measuring charts that i have. see below, count them.

yes, 1...2...3...4. one would think i would have compiled them and organized them by now for when i go to draft patterns, but i haven't. and i made a big mistake. now see this...

yep, that is 4 yards of out of print fabric that is gone. all of the pants i constructed yesterday have the wrong inseams. bad, bad, bad words were said. and pants were thrown. buttons were flung and scissors speared into the cork floor. and then i did what needed to be done. i turned off the lights and shut the door and walked away from the sewing room before it got worse.

well, i have managed to beat myself up pretty bad about it all. but i am just having the HARDEST time focusing right now on the task at hand. i need to go and draw out some of the next line that is in my head and put it away for just a while. then, i need to stop thinking about this fabric store/sewing school that probably wont be (but i have heard that you should never give up on something you cannot go 24 hours without thinking about) when i return to the beautiful state of georgia. but oh my word, how fun? i mean, i already have the design planned out and how i can bring my doggies to work and have fun tunes playing and open sewing nights, etc. sigh...

i told myself this morning that i would focus and get my work done. i would go shopping for substitute shirts and get a move on. well, of course the shirt shopping didn't go as planned, but instead of being bummed...when i got home, i smiled. a big, fat girly grin. know why? not only did i have two of the most fab-a-lous pairs of jeans sitting on the porch in the post from an amazing boutique, and really...i am a girl that can have a complete change of heart with a good pair of blue jeans.

but i also had a happy (a sweet one at that) from a customer.

and then, 14 yards of joel. swoon. i cannot show a picture of that because a girl does have to have her secrets. :)

and on that note...i will go into my sewing room and first things first - get my measurement chart organized. then, i will redraft all of those pants and get started again. i cannot guarantee my mind will stay where it should, but i guess tis better to have a wandering mind that a wandering eye?

cheer up sleepy jean. :)

going once, going twice and SOLD

Okay, this is about to be the most fun.

Here at BG, I love to contribute items to auctions when I can. So, when a sorority sister of mine posted on facebook about a live auction, I jumped.

Want to know why? Well, you should meet Heather. I know her as Heather Kaney, but she is now Heather Burge (funny how we girls always remember the maiden names) the owner of two FABULOUS boutiques in my hometown of Savannah, Ga. You see, she has always been uber-stylish. In fact, when I lived in the ADPi house with her in good ole Athens, Ga she was my GO-TO for style help. Unfortunately, I have always been S.T. Rugglin' in the fashion department. Super ironic considering my choice of hobby/home-business, haha. Anyways, I would walk down to Heather's room and she would give me the hook-up on clothes, what I should or shouldn't wear, etc. And she was always so nice about it although I am sure there were times when she probably should have just laughed at my ensembles. :) And, I will say one night she did my make-up (for I S.T. Ruggle there too) for a formal and I all but fell out when she told me that yes, eyeliner goes on the top lid too! One would think 4 years at an all-girls school and 2 years in all-girls living I would have caught on by then...

Anyways, the girl is awesome. Not only is she uber stylish and has the cutest stores (if you are ever in Savannah, Ga you must check out Bleu Belle and Bleu Belle Bridal) but as long as I have known her she has also been super helpful. She is now a celebrity in the low country and will be one of the dancers in the upcoming Dancing With Savannah Stars, an event that benefits the non-profit organization of Savannah CASA (an organization geared towards the health and well-being of children that have been neglected or abused). This is where the auction and BG comes in.

Tonight she is hosting Fashion For the Kids. It is going to be a fabulous event with a runway presentation and a live auction. Enter the BG.

This is the beauty that will be on the blocks (towhead model with a sour face not included):

A BG Original that knocks my socks off. The top is made of a super soft knit (it almost feels like a bamboo it is so soft) and features a curved boat-neck with a strip of mustard corduroy and fabulous buttons (but of course...you did see my last post, right?). The sleeves are full and sort of 'winged' (I have NO clue if that is the correct design term or not, but that is what I call them...they are full, flared and flowy) with an empire waist and gathered skit. The pants are made of a cross-hatched denim with the signature BG ruffle on the bottom and button-tabs on both legs. This pant is super close to the Sleepy Jean that sold out like crazy in the first Daydream Believer upload. The top is a size 2-3 while the pants are a 3T. I mean, love it. In fact, I may have to bid to get this one back for Lou!

So, here are the details...this is how you can have a go at this super fun outfit.

I will post the photo of the outfit on my brownie-goose facebook page and will open bidding at 5 pm CST. To place a bid, comment under the photo with your bid amount. At 6:30 pm CST (since the auction will start at 7:30 EST) this BG Original will hit the auction blocks at Fashion For the Kids. This is where the fun begins. Heather will start the bidding in Savannah at the amount it is on the Facebook page, and people in the audience at the auction will place bids live, and Heather will enter them as comments on the photo (most likely coming from BleuBelle Boutique). This is where the bidding war commences. Remember...ALL proceeds go to benefit children. After a minute has passed and bidding has stopped (no one has commented in over a minute) Heather will close the auction and the outfit will go to the highest bidder.

So, who is excited?? Let's show our support for the sweet kiddos out there!

my newest love

it is no secret that the girl behind BG can fall madly in love with some sort of a sewing notion. it is the inner sewing nerd in me. whether it is fabric, trim, elastic, thread, lace, etc. when i find something i like, i fall fast and hard. and once i have fallen, i stay very loyal. take for instance my sweet joel. as in dewberry. yes, i feel as though we are on a first-name basis even though he has no clue who i am. i have emailed him once, but granted...i never heard back. sigh. oh well, i still love just about anything that comes with his name on it. however, i have been forced to get creative with joel lately. you see - one of the reasons he is my fave designer (other than his brilliance) is that no one used his fabrics often. at least, not in the arena of children's clothing. however, that has changed all too quick. his latest lines of modern meadow and heirloom have been so spot on and amazing that people have picked up on him. so now, i find myself getting creative and coming up with ways to incorporate joel with a little spin. but that still makes me happy, mostly because it is who i am here at BG...adding my own little twists.

well, my newest fascination/obsession/border-line hoarding beginning is buttons. i prefer the vintage variety (check out the lovelies in the mason jar here that a friend surprised me with)

- but found myself becoming heart-broken as i could never find enough of the ones i loved, mostly because they were vintage finds. well, one day i stumbled across a girl in california that has just about knocked my socks off lately.

you see...i really, really, really was going to keep her as one of BG's dirty little secrets, but the more and more i look at this lovely right here...


i realize i need to share. because it is right to share, right?

well, girls...meet michele. she is the fab lady behind little red cottage. phew, secret is out. she has recently become my favorite enabler. you see...she hand dyes buttons. i have no clue how in the world that happens as it is above my chemisty-lacking-brain, but she does. and let me tell you...i squeal when i see that there is a package with her happy little red cottage sticker in my post. the colors and the variety, all of it just makes me smile. and then, the brain goes into over-drive thinking of all of the ways that i will use these beautifully colored buttons.

if you aren't head over heels for buttons yet, but maybe you have a love affair with trims...still go meet michele. she has the hook-up on that too. you will not be sorry that you did. she is sweet, she is fast and she brings all sewing nerds like me happiness.

go visit her little red cottage. and smile. :)

daydream believer upload ONE

wow...so, here we go.

are you as nervous as i am?

okay kiddos. daydream believer's first upload happens TOMORROW. what is that?? oh yes, tomorrow, meaning

Wednesday, September 28 at 11:00 am CST

head on over to brownie-goose on big cartel (http://browniegoose.bigcartel.com) to get you some goodies.

up for grabs in the first upload are the sapphire nelle, the sleepy jean, the rusty nina tunic and the mocha penny lane. all of the sizing info you need on these 4 designs are below. the sapphire nelles will definitely make another appearance as will the sleepy jeans, but the sleepy jeans fabric is on back-order until november...so grab these while you can! as for more appearances from the mocha penny lane and the rusty ninas...we shall see...

UPDATE ON WAIST MEAS for sleepy jeans - the measurement is for relaxed elastic, like for instance i just stretched the 5's waist to 26"...does that make sense??

i am SO stinking excited about daydream believer you have no idea. it makes me so proud to see it all come together so well to know that months of planning, designing, grading, textile matching, etc. paid off. rock on BG. i have no idea how i will ever up-stage this line. but, i will damn sure try. :)

thanks again for always being so awesome and so supportive of me and my family and my little-bitty clothing line. knowing that so many amazing people have my back means the world to me.

now, back to the sewing room to start on the second upload...

and again....

Wednesday September 28 at 11:00 am CST check it, BG on big cartel. Don't be late. Or Square.

PS - don't forget, if you want local pick-up, enter SHIPFREE at check-out to avoid shipping charges.