Labels

While we're staying with my Aunt in Neptune Beach I'm helping her with some label designs for her custom western shirts.

Bound to the Mainland

Well, we're back on the mainland now. To welcome us home Katie's Dad and brother picked us up from Tampa Int'l and took us out to lunch. Lunch was good; we sat outside under some Live Oaks and enjoyed the perfect early-winter weather of Florida, and they had some local food options.

Coming back to FLA has been a culture shock from day one - so much sprawl, so much lost land and habitat, so many unneeded parking lots! I suppose "the Universe" wanted to really drive the point home; so after lunch we promptly got rear-ended while waiting at a stoplight. Ambulance, firetrucks, sheriff's - the whole deal. Fortunately we're all okay.

Thanks again to everyone that's helped with our move.

More to come...

Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Stuff for sale on Etsy

I'm trying to sell off a few things before we move. Prices are real cheap!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/circleavintage?ref=si_shop

Type II Jacket and Silversword

Old Maui

One of the interesting things about working at Haleakala National Park has been getting to go through the old photographs. I'll be posting a few of my favorites over the next week. Click on the image and spend some time with the details - the clothes, the briefcase, the rifle, the liquor (Okolehao).

A-1F, black selvedge jeans

Here's the fit pic's of the new jeans that I made. I'd like to make another pair and fix a few things, but I'm going to wait until we get back to the mainland.

Flight

Here's a few pic's of the Halloween costume that k-bot (Caitie Krow?) made. We don't know anyone here well enough to go to any Halloween parties (or maybe our age-group is just getting older), but she was able to wear her creation to work.

I think it's a great costume, and perhaps a symbolic one as well - something about desiring change and migration. Just a few days after we took these images she was offered a job in Jacksonville, FL. So we are preparing for a return, literally a flight, back home to the Southland. It's not the Southern Appalachians, where we really desire to be, but it's a lot closer to that region than Maui is and we are both really looking forward to being with our friends and family again. I figure the old saying "as the crow flies" doesn't necessarily have to mean following the straightest path to one's destination.

Jeans, Black Selvedge, Model A-1F (Forest Punk Edition)

Okay finished these this weekend. Still tweaking my A-1 jeans pattern. These are made with some 14oz, black selvedge denim, open-top tack buttons for the fly (painted black), vintage rusty metal button for the waist. Back pockets are riveted and half-lined, so they're extra durable. Fit pictures and more details soon.

Hartford Denim Co.

Thought it might be nice to bring this awesome small business to your attention. I really like the rough-hewn character of what they do - it's crude and beautiful at the same time. When compared to a lot of over-obsessive denim maker's out there their stuff is original and really refreshing. And it's all made by what seems to be bunch of really great guys.

Check 'em out - http://hartforddenimcompany.com/

This weeks project: Black Selvedge Denim Jeans, A-1, v.2

Went camping this weekend, so not as much sewing time. More images to come.

C.C.C. Surveying Downed Trees, South Dakota, c. 1933

Home-made Pomade

I made this early this summer. I don't use it very often, mostly for greasin' my dried up hair and scalp after being in the saltwater and sun at the beach. It works okay for that, though I think the wax isn't fully dissolved; sometimes there's little dust size bits of it in my hair. Need to work on that.

Here's the recipe:

1 tsp beeswax
1/4 oz coconut oil
1/2 oz jojoba oil
1/2 oz almond oil

Place a glass container of your choice into a pot of water. Add wax and oil into glass container. Slowly heat up the water until the wax has melted. Remove from heat and once it starts to cool mix in essential oils of your choice. I used the following:

3 drops cedar oil
1 drop eucalyptus
1 drop patchouli
1 drop tea tree

These seemed to combine well and made a good woodsy and somewhat earthy scent.

Broadcloth Boxers, v.3, black & white chambray

I've run out of knit fabric, but I'm still trying to perfect my boxers pattern, so here's a broadcloth version. These are loosely based on American WWII military issue boxer shorts. I like the look of them, but I overcompensated for the lack of stretch by adding too much extra material in the body; I'll bring in the body some and reduce the number of pleats on the next pair so they're not so baggy. These seem to have a lot of extra sag around the seat too.

Materials: black and white cotton chambray; vintage enameled work shirt buttons.
Construction: single needle, hand-felled seams; hand-punched keyhole buttonholes.

Penny Shirt

I made this little t-shirt for our friends beautiful baby girl, Penelope. Katie made the rabbit - all organic materials, and stuffed with cotton from our garden.

Big Fish

Knit Boxers, v.3, salt & pepper and chambray

I'm still working on the non-elastic knit boxers pattern, and since I've run out of knit material I decided to cut up a cotton cardigan from the thrift store. The fabric for the band and fly facing is from a blue chambray shirt, also from the thrift store. The buttons are some vintage (1930's or 40's) metal workshirt or trouser buttons. The fit still isn't quite what I'm imagining, but I'll certainly be wearing them.