drew-o-rama

OUTTA TOWN

I'm out of town for a week. See you next week after Independence Day, Canada Day, and whatever-else-day!

KNITTING ON THE RUNWAY

My alma mater had its senior fashion show a few weeks ago and I wanted to share a few knitted garments from the show.

images from aliasimaging.smugmug.com | click to enlarge

I'm always intrigued by knitted garments on the runway mainly because I am curious about the construction techniques. How'd they get that to do that? Did they knit it by hand or on a machine? Where'd the designer get the yarn? Is any part of the garment sewed?

images from aliasimaging.smugmug.com | click to enlarge

Going back to school and getting my degree in fashion is something I've seriously considered the past few years. Although, I keep asking myself what I'd do with my new degree after spending $40k+ on tuition, living expenses in NYC, and expensive design school supplies, all just because I just want to learn how to sketch, design, make patterns, and sew. Oh well, maybe in another life...

For more on knitting from a high fashion/runway perspective, check out Olga's blog, Knit Creations of a Curious Mind.

UPDATE...

Be sure to check out Kitsch Café Vintage during the next few days as I will be adding new items to the shop, including these two beauties:

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I love vintage illustration, so I jumped out of my skin when I found this tray with Amish characters as well as the Euro woman and child print.

Check out Kitsch Café Vintage for updates this week!

BENCH MONDAY, 22 JUNE

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I didn't feel like standing on the bench today, so I thought I'd let the bench stand on me.

I HEART BAGS

I love these super cute bags from Japanese company, Shinzi Katoh:

images from shinzikatoh.com | click to enlarge

Some of them are a bit girly for me, but I can drool over the crazy cool vintage-y illustration, can't I?

COLLAGE

Here's one of the blogs I created at last week's collage workshop I took:

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The workshop was taught by this crazy talented man. I learned a lot and was happy I took the class!

BENCH MONDAY, 15 JUNE

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My siblings and I used to play a game we called "Bee Sea" in which we had to get from once side of the room to another without touching the carpet, aka a sea of bees.

COLLAGE WORKSHOP

I am so excited! This weekend I will be attending "The Art of Collage: An Exploration of Materials and Techniques." Hosted at Northern Kentucky University and taught by Randel Plowman of "A Collage a Day", the class will be exploring various transfer methods, uses of glues and other mediums, and other techniques.

some of randel's collages from his blog | click to enlarge

I'm a huge fan of Randel's work, so I can't wait to see what he has planned. If you are in the Cincinnati area you can still attend this event. There are a few spots open. Click for more info.

KITSCH CAFÉ STUDIO BLOG

About a month and a half ago, I asked all of you what you thought of splitting my blog in to two since I was going to be starting my own crafting/vintage business. I went ahead and made the split, creating the Kitsch Café Studio Blog!

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I've been posting every few days. So far, some of the content is similar to drew-o-rama. I'm hoping to do that less and less and I figure out exactly what I want the other blog to be. So, stop by and check out what I've been up to!

PENELOPE'S

A few weeks ago, when Blake and I were in Chicago, I DRAGGED him to W. Division Street, home of the Renegade Craft Fair (which I am applying to- wish me luck!) so I could go to a cool shop I found online called Penelope's. I hearted it, big time. I wish I could afford more on my crafter's salary, but alas, I could not. However, a boy can dream, right! Here are my picks from their website.

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That pea coat makes my heart flutter. Oh, and the cropped plaid and the cropped blue jackets I will gladly give my left arm for. And that amazeballs cropped toggle coat makes Paddington Bear's look like barf.

Sailor's shirt in gray? Thanksies. Gingham blue, always cool. Wacky neon colors? Sure. And you all know I love me some stripes. (I tried this one on when I was there and I looked like a fat patient in one of those unflattering hospital gowns. I can still admire from afar, right?)

I'll take one of each, please. Thanks!

Penelope's
1913 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL

I'M A CELEBRITY! KINDA, SORTA...

Wow! My interview is up at Creature Comforts blog. Thanks so much to the author, EZ, for the interview. It was great fun answering her questions and sharing some info about myself. As I said in the interview, I hope that I can inspire others to be themselves, find their style, and be happy!

PACKAGING

I finally found the time to create packaging for my vintage fabric covered note cards...

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Ok, it's just a band of paper wrapped around the cards, secured by a sticker. But sometimes the simplest ideas can be the nicest.

Check out the cards, now in the shop.

RICA TAKADA

This made the usual blog rounds a few months ago, but I totally dig the retro illustration of Rica Takada...

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I heart Takada's vintage style. It's very folksy, colorful and fun. Check out her bold color and wonderful style on her website.

BENCH MONDAY, 1 JUNE

Here's today's Bench Monday photo:

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I keep asking myself what I could possibly come up with next. I guess that's part of the challenge of it all.

Oh, and I love my new blue blue jeans.

ETSY CINCINNATI

I live in Cincinnati. Most people that have never been to Cincinnati know nothing about it or they think it's something that it's definitely not, i.e., a mid-western conservative, dying, rust-belt city.

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Without going in to detail, the city hit a low point about 10 years ago and has been slowly climbing upward. The city is waking up from a slumber, shaking itself off and moving forward at full force. Once negative and apathetic natives are changing their minds about their city and starting to contribute on a grassroots level. Plus, I guess I've always liked rooting for an underdog, or at least enjoy the hard work it takes to reach a goal.

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Thinking I could so something to help, I started my designcincinnati blog a few years ago. Since I opened an Etsy shop, I thought it'd be great to create a series of interviews about Cincinnati Etsy sellers. I'm proud to introduce these artists, and Etsy in general, to my local readers. I thought it'd be nice if I share them with a larger audience here on my studio blog.

Check out the Etsy Cincinnati interview series on my other blog and maybe you will find a new favorite artist.

artists above: 1. FiveDot, 2. Sky Dreams and Frog Cottage, 3. Arian, 4. Andrew Neyer, 5. Randel Plowman (visit his cool blog, too.)