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11.29.2011

holiday shop open!

anna allen clothing: holiday 2011

I just listed the items in the shop! Thank you so much for all the comments on my holiday collection! I'm just so grateful to my brother John who was able to take pictures last minute for me! Hopefully every year I will be able to have a little holiday shop. They are so much fun to put together! Thanks again for all of your support! It really means a lot to me!! xo


11.28.2011

holiday 2011: lookbook

anna allen clothing: holiday 2011
anna allen clothing: holiday 2011

I worked all day trying to update my website and various things on the web. It took me forever to upload the lookbook! Something that should have been incredibly simple turned into hours longer than I planned. Oh, well. I got it uploaded anyway! Next I'm going to be working on my shop and will open it soon, so be on the lookout! I might surprise you with an earlier shop update. I hope you enjoy the photos of my holiday collection. John did a simply fabulous job. He has a way of capturing exactly the feeling I am going for. I was a bit worried that we wouldn't find any color among the grey, but you know there is a lot of color in nature during this time of year, you just have to look for it!

This year I wanted to do something really special and festive and one day I got the notion that I would like to make something in silk velvet. I've heard it is a rather troublesome fabric to work with, but I was determined! It's absolutely gorgeous. The color in this velvet is so intense, I knew it would make even the simplest of designs sparkle. I picked a beautiful rust for the top and a very deep dark black for the dress. The fabric is not easy to work with but with a few tricks, it's definitely manageable and actually, I find working with this fabric quite rewarding!

Btw, I updated my blog banner today as well and cleaned up a bit. It has been awhile since I've updated here. Hope you like it! xo



Photographs by John Allen

11.27.2011

holiday 2011: coming soon!

holiday 2011

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday! At least for those who celebrate it. Jed and I came home yesterday and the journey was a bit more exhausting than usual, complete with pouring rain. But we finally made it home, safe and sound in our cozy little apartment. Thanksgiving was really a wonderful time and quite relaxing! But now is the time to get back to work and get a lot done before our next holiday! I'm going to be opening the shop again on December 1st (at least that is the plan), though I admit I'm itching to open it before then. Starting tomorrow, I'll be sharing some pictures of the new things I will be selling. Everything will be made-to-order so if you are interested in anything, plan on an extra 2-3 weeks from date of purchase. I hope you will enjoy my little festive collection. xo

11.22.2011

photo shoot for holiday 2011

holiday 2011 "blooper" shots

holiday 2011 "blooper" shots

holiday 2011 "blooper" shots

Yesterday John and I went out to photograph my holiday collection and we were able to accomplish the whole shoot in about 2 hours. Pretty good I'd say! It was cold and rainy, though the rain stopped by the time we started shooting. I was glad to have it done, but it really was fun spending the afternoon with my brother! He knows his way with the camera. I only wished I had a camera to take a few shots of him taking photos. This season I didn't have time to rope someone in to model for me, so I did it myself. Sometimes it's just easier, since this was pretty last minute. I'm very pleased with this collection and am super excited to have something for the holidays this year!

These photos are all "blooper" shots (however even John's bloopers look awesome!). I wore grocery bags over my shoes and oversized rain boots when walking around since the ground was so muddy. The first one was taken just as the kitty was about to jump on me, before John stopped him, thank goodness!!!

So far our thanksgiving break has been marvelously fun. I hope you all are enjoying the holiday! xo

11.16.2011

WHEW!

hair dryer curls
hair dryer curls
my feet for no reason.
ginger snaps

Well, it's been one completely CRAZY few weeks here! I've been working like mad on my new winter/holiday collection! But guess what happened last week just as I was finishing a sleeve? My serger broke!!!!!!!!! Well, the needle on the needle plate broke. So I was frantic to find a replacement online. I found a place (I THOUGHT I found a place, that is) so I went ahead and ordered the part and paid the extra twenty some dollars to have it by the next day. I knew it was the weekend when ordering, so I didn't think I'd get it til Monday. Well, I had this sick feeling that it might not get here in time, so I looked online to see if I could track the package. I hadn't heard anything as far as a confirmation shipping number, so couldn't track it. I did some investigation on the company and guess what I found? It was a fraudulent none-existent company by some crazy guy in TN who apparently keeps opening fake sewing part shops online. So when I found this out I decided to go find another company that sold the needle plate. I found one, or so I thought! It had good reviews and even noticed Design*Sponge had them as their friend on Twitter, so I thought what the hey? And guess what? When I got my PayPal invoice back, guess who's name was on the bill? THE SAME GUY!!!! Arghh! So not only was I ripped off once, but twice and both times I paid for express shipping! Gahh! Anyway, to make a long story a bit shorter/longer we got in touch with PayPal (via phone) and got my money back by the next day! So I've learned a few things through this whole ordeal. One, don't order sewing parts online and be very leery about ordering anything sewing machine related. At least be certain who you are ordering from. The only times I've been ripped off had to do with a sewing machine on eBay and now this. Second, PayPal rocks! They were awesome. If you ever have a problem like this, don't wait around doing the online form, just give them a call. And third, if you ever need a part for your sewing machine, call your local sewing shop!

So after all that, I decided to take a trip down to my local Vogue Fabrics and I brought in the broken needle plate with me to show them. They told me I could fix it by ripping out the broken needle (it was hard, that thing was really stuck in there!) and then super glue another needle back in there (sewing needle that fits in the slot and cut to size). And guess what? It WORKED!!! I am so thrilled! I was able to finish my collection and all the seams are beautifully serged! They are also ordering me a new needle plate, since my little makeshift plate probably won't last forever. But it's nice to know I can fix it if it ever happens again. Btw, I took pictures while working on it, so I hope to do a bit of a tutorial on how to fix a needle plate if it ever happens to you. It was pretty hard to find any information about it online, so hopefully this will help someone out there!

In other news, I'm heading back home tomorrow for vacation which will include a highschool performance of Pride and Prejudice, a photo shoot with my brother, lots of coffee with good friends, hopefully a bit of shopping in my favorite little Mt Vernon town, annnnd lots of Thanks Giving! I think we have two Thanks Giving dinners to go to next week. It sure will be full! And that's a good thing too, because we've been living off of one week of groceries for the past two weeks and we are ready for some down home cookin'! :) See you all when I get back! Have a super duper holiday! I have A LOT to be thankful for, that's for sure! xo

p.s. lately i've been doing this to my hair after a shower. works so well and so easy too!

11.11.2011

3 day sale! {all sold}


black linen top with vintage trim.

Edit: Wow! Everything has sold out! Thank you guys! That was fast!


I updated the Big Cartel shop with items from a few past seasons that I'm selling for 50% off! Today through Sunday. All of the garments are in size small. Anything sold will ship Monday. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

***SHOP***

11.07.2011

it's getting darker...

sample dress
sample dress

It's getting darker now with the time being an hour earlier. Took these quick photos after finishing a sample dress. Will make a few changes to the design, but I'm pretty happy with it! It's quite twirlable, I'd say. ;)