v.lou textiles dress comparison

This picture below is showing the three different styles of dresses I make all size 2. You can see how the first dress with the sleeves is quite short but fits normally through the chest. The second dress is probably true to size. The third, with spaghetti straps is roomer across the chest and is also a little longer.

Below are the size 4 dresses. Same thing.

One year anniversary

I CANNOT believe that it is March already and I have not written one single post in the new year! Crazy! Honestly, blogging is at the bottom of my to-do list and at the end of the day, I am usually too tired and too sick of the computer to write anything. However, I do want to show these pictures that I took on a recent trip to Moab to celebrate my first wedding anniversary.

Here are some pictures of anniversary flowers. I was trying to be artistic. They looked so pretty. Also, I was trying out the macro feature on my camera.

This first picture is in Canyonlands. We drove to Moab late friday and it was getting dark so we decided to wait until the next day to do a hike. When we woke up in the morning, it was cold and snowing. This picture is looking back on the road leading into the park.

This picture is taken from the front seat of the car. Scarey. We were wondering if we should turn around at this point.

Here we are, not half hour later and it appears to be clearing up. Yeah! This picture is of a bunch of ancient 6000 year old salt. The debate among scientists is whether a meteor hit here and exposed this salt from the ancient sea beds or if the salt pushed its way up from below.

This is our second hike of the day. We have scaled a cliff at this point to see ancient peoples food storage and this is a view below. Don't fall off the ledge. Yikes!

This is also from our second hike.

This was our third (and final) hike of the day. My mother-in-law gave us this very beautiful photograph of an arch, and we weren't really sure where it was taken. Well, we found the arch on our hike and this is a view looking over the arch into the desert below. It was such a great trip, even though we had to drive home the next day.

new year to reflect, looming national day of bankruptcy

You may or may not know about the new CPSIA law that will go into effect on Feb. 10, 2009. This law is in response to all of the lead-in-toys-problems in 2008 and 2007. Congress has passed a sweeping bill that encompasses every aspect of everything pertaining to children under 12 to keep lead out of children's products. While I applaud the idea behind the bill, the actual bill has placed the responsibility of testing on the small manufacture instead of the actual manufacture. What does that mean? Here is my personal example. I make clothing items, stuffed animals and pillows for children under 12. I buy my 100% cotton clothing blanks from a company in the United States. I buy my fabric and thread from my local fabric store. I buy my screen printing inks from a company in the United states that certifies there is no lead present in the ink. Yet I am responsible for testing each and every single one of these items for lead at the price point of approx. $70-$100 dollars per item component. By item component? That means that I must test
a) each dress, t-shirt, onesie
b) the thread on that dress (or clothing item) (although I don't know how that will work since the dresses come already manufactured as dresses.)
c) the tag that has already been sewn in the dress stating the fiber content and washing instructions d) each piece of fabric I applique onto the dress (don't forget at $70-$100 dollars per each different piece of fabric, I usually use three pieces) or use to make a stuffed animal (up to 8 different fabrics for stuffed animals plus the poly fill and embroidery thread)
e) the thread I use to stitch the applique or make a stuffed animal

The items that I purchase have been tested for lead or have no lead present to begin with. However, because I alter these items by printing on them or cutting them up (like with fabric to make stuffed animals or appliques) I have now, under the law, become a manufacture. Because I do not actually manufacture the clothing items, inks or fabric I use, I have no way of knowing if all these items came from one or many batches, that is why I have to test every single component.

That means a dress I have been selling for $20 will now cost me $490-$700 to test. If you have seen any of my dresses, I like to make each design one of a kind. The testing process destroys the item that is being tested. Stuffed animals I sell from $20-$35 will now be $1000, again destroyed in the testing process.

My question is, why are we putting lead into children's products in the first place? Why are the large manufactures not testing before selling to the public? Why is the burden being placed on the crafter who is only altering the items by cutting and sewing? Why are we forced to test items like cotton that obviously have no lead present?

I urge everyone to read about this. It not only effects me as a small business owner, but also charity organizations. We will no longer be able to donate handmade quilts to our local hospitals, no longer be able to donate childrens clothing or toys to local thrift stores, or shop from these stores for items for children under 12, no longer donate coats or shoes to needy children. Also, testing becomes too high for companies making items used in schools such as microscopes. What about your child's sports uniform? That will have to be tested. Children's books? Those too. A bike or tricycle? Yes. Big manufacturing companies can afford to test. Small independent businesses and crafters can not. Please click on the "save handmade" button on the right and/or explore these links for more info.

http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/14/smallbusiness/toy_law_threatens_small_companies.smb/?postversion=2009011509

http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/20081224_ap_hohonotoymakerssayleadlawharmsworkshops.html

http://www.strquality.com/www/strlab/industry_expertise/cpsia_faq_html

http://www.happypandababy.com/blog/2008/12/16/cpsia-testing-research-for-happy-panda/#comment-4262

v.lou textiles in Piper and Chloe Holiday Showcase

Here is a picture from the Piper and Chloe Holiday Showcase. This was one of the cutest and best displayed holiday showcases I have:
a) been in
b) been to
These guys did such a great job with everything! I sincerely hope they raked it in because they really worked hard to make it look so good. Thanks guys for including me.

v.lou textiles at the Women's Art Center Holiday Bazaar

Here is a picture of my little 3ft. set-up at the Women's Art Center Holiday Bazaar last weekend. Notice the cute printed zipper pouches in the front? Those that didn't sell will be going to my etsy shop in the next couple of days.

Piper and Chloe Holiday Showcase

v.lou textiles will be participating in Piper and Chloe's holiday showcase December 5th and 6th. This event takes place in Farmington. I'm really excited to showcase my kid's items there. Unlike the Women's Art Center show where I will have my hand printed bags and pillows, at this show it will be all my kids stuff: onesies, pillows, stuffed animals and dresses. The address for this event is 46 Robyn Way (1195 N) Farmington Ut. I will have a map to list however, I believe if you look at their blog, there will be a map there.

Finally v.lou textiles can be found online

v.lou textiles can now be purchased online. Beyond the Belly Basics has officially launched their site and right now, it's the only place to get v.lou textiles online. They have 5 different styles, "le petit monstre" in pink and blue, "sumo", "skull w/stars" and "owl". Although they don't have "owl" listed on their site. Hopefully, it will show up soon.

This screen capture is pretty small. You can't really see the products, but I promise they are there. Now I just need to get my own shopping cart up and running!

I have just signed on to do the Bird in Hand holiday bazaar for the Women's Art Center. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm not going to do any of the children's items, only bags and pillows. It coincides with a gallery stroll so hopefully *fingers crossed* it will be a lucrative event. It takes place Friday, November 21 6pm - 10pm, which is the gallery stroll night, and Saturday, November 22 9am - 2pm at the Women's Art Center located at 345 Pierpont Ave. SLC. I have to sit with my booth on Friday, so come say hi! I hope to see you there!

featured in your heart out blog!

This pillow was featured in your heart out blog! Thanks! You can view the link here:
http://yourheartout.com/?p=3278 or go to my etsy shop where it is available for purchase. I don't know why I've not noticed this before but, that is not the best picture is it? It looks blurry. I will have to fix that because that is not a true representation of the pillow. Next time I will use my tripod to take the photo!

DIY lightbox

Here is the DIY lightbox I made last night. I found some tutorials online and decided to go for it. I've been thinking about buying a lightbox, however they can be costly. I thought I would go this route first. It was fairly inexpensive, and super easy to make. I'm having a hard time achieving a quality photo though. I'm doing something wrong here, I just can't figure out what it is. My camera doesn't come with too many instructions for different shooting scenarios and I have already had to change the batteries twice due to the flash eating up so much energy. Any suggestions?

UPDATE:

It's a couple of days later and here are some results from the lightbox. I can't get the white background I want on the clothing items I am placing in there. I don't know if I'm using the wrong lights or they are positioned wrong or what. But, when I take close-up photos of my husband's phone, it looks really good.

more live model poses

Here are some more live model pics that Lizzie graciously sent to me of her son modeling some v.lou textiles apparel. I just can't get over how freakin' cute he is! It's actually really great for me to see these pictures because I can see exactly where the design falls on the t-shirt or onesie in relation to where the garment hangs on the child. By that I mean, looking at the picture that has the skull w/stars t-shirt, I can see that the design needs to be printed a little higher up on the garment so the bulk of the design isn't resting on his stomach. That way, if you wanted to tuck in the shirt, or for a onesie that obviously has to tuck into something, more of the design will be visable.

Hiking in Salt Lake and the bad air quality

Amy and I went hiking again yesterday this time in the foothills behind RedButte up to the "livingroom". What I thought was a beautiful sunny blue skies day was really this gross layer of air over the valley that you could chew. It's interesting how hard it is to see sometimes from down below. The second picture is looking at downtown and really, you can't even see it in this picture because of the air. It not the buildings in the foreground, those belong to the campus. Downtown is further out.

what a difference a week makes!

I went hiking with Amy and the dogs yesterday. Even though the weather was good and we hiked in shorts, (unlike last weekend when it snowed!) it's just another reminder that winter is almost here. I was hoping to get more fall colors, however, everything has basically given up the ghost. It was pretty barren and brown. But still really beautiful.

More things for my etsy store

Here are some pillows I am going to put in my etsy shop. I've chatted with a few people in the forums on etsy and it seems people like my bags but are turned off by the fact that I only have 4 styles in my store. As soon as I perfect pictures, I am going to put these in my shop. Except for the big one in the back. That was a special order for someone in Texas.

It snowed and I wasn't prepared.

Remember in an earlier post I commented on my garden as "teeny tiny moments of happiness" or something like that? Well, it snowed last night and I wasn't prepared. The weather report made it sound like the snow wasn't coming until today so I didn't weatherize. Now...it's all lost. Which sucks because the garden still had so much going on. For whatever reason, my garden struggled in the beginning of the summer and was just in the last month really giving my all the fruits of my labors. So sad.

At least someone is happy about the snow! I had to go out with the end of the rake this morning and beat the snow off the trees and bushes. Nothing has dropped its leaves yet and I was afraid the extra weight was going to snap some limbs off.

v.lou textiles screen printed onesies online!

I just sold some screen printed onesies to a new online store called beyond the belly basics. They sell natural and organic products for baby but, they are going to have a locals section which is where you will find my designs. It's not up and running quite yet, they are hoping for the first of November. I'll keep you posted!