Roo Pocket

It's so much fun designing the new children's collection with Devon on advisory board, and
she definitely knows what she wants .This knit dress that I just made her was originally
intended to have a lip shaped "kangaroo pocket" (to keep her little mitts warm) but as soon
as she heard the word "kangaroo," she was adamant that the pocket open only at the top.
How could warmth be more important than having a place to store your "Roo" and
"Mom, can we please go to the Disney store and find a Roo for my pocket?"

Time for Us

Happy 2014 everyone! So excited for the fresh start that a new calendar year always brings. These last
few years have been about rebuilding our lives as a family, and now we are finally at a place where we
can begin to move forward together. I have a pretty long list of resolutions (all important) but at the top
will always be to make more time for us:)

First's

 

First visit from the tooth fairy!                                                                              

First "big bike" riding lesson!

The Trumbos

This precious creature is Miss Ella Fritzgerald, part of the beautiful family of Isaac and Beck Trumbo.
An amazing photographer and model/stylist duo, of whom I've had the great pleasure and fortune of
reconnecting with (thank you, Facebook) Isaac shot my current women's collection on Beck, which
just went up on our new site: leathertongue.net

This couple makes such a creative and talented team, I literally just sent them the clothing. They
did everything else, and it turned out just like I wanted....AMAZING!!! Hanging out with them again
was as if no time had passed (even though it had been 10 years) Devon LOVED them so much that
she shed big tears when we parted ways. Hope to see them again soon:)

Making lists...

 It's VERY cold in SF right now, so we haven't been out of the house all weekend and I've been making lists,
 all kinds of lists...lists of what I'm sewing this week, and what I'm finishing by the end of the month.
 Lists of how many children's pieces/ verses women's pieces/ verses private client work I'm doing over
 the next three months. Lists of what I want to buy for who for Christmas, and lists of what I want to do
 by when with the website.

 I always get very "listy" around the end of the year, and the list I'm most excited about right now is the list
 of what I want to do for vacations! The idea for our first vacation came to me while I was trying to figure
 out locations to shoot the new childrens line on Devon. I wanted us to rent a car and just drive along
 the coast, shooting where we felt like it and staying in some quaint little bed and breakfast along the way.
 The line will be ready to shoot by end of February (which just so happens to be our 10 year wedding
 anniversary) So this year we'll be shooting Devon's Spring 2014 line in Bodega Bay: riding horses, sailing,
 and most certainly at the old Potter Schoolhouse (from Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds") equal parts
 romantic and eerie.

Black Friday Finds

 I wasn't going to be any part of the craziness of Black Friday (except for the fact that I had to work)
 and we had our first big sale ever on that day at Britex. I was chosen to hand out sale flyers in
 Union Square. It was the first and last time I'll ever do anything like that again. It's very interesting
 how people treat you when you walk up to them with a flyer, it's like you have leprosy or something!

 Anyways, I really didn't need anything new for myself, but I couldn't resist walking by Zara on the
 way home....they always have the cutest things for kids:)

 *Devon's wearing her new leopard printed fur flats, a leopard screen tee, and patchwork jeans from Zara* 

Park Days

I love my weekends with Devon. Sundays are park days and we have two favorite parks close by.
Both are beautiful, but we prefer the one with the view of the Cathedral. Center display is the
most gorgeous fountain (perfect for making wishes) and people are all about their doggies there.
It's also the place where we met Zohanna. The very first time they met, she and Devon instantly
connected, smiling and laughing as if they'd always known each other. The next morning, before
she even got out of bed, Devon asked me:

"Do you remember the little girl from the park yesterday?"
"Yes"
"Well, I'm sad because I'll never get to see her again"

So I figured it was definitely worth it to try and go back that afternoon- Maybe she would be there
again and we could exchange numbers? So we went, and she was there! It's almost refreshing to
me that she's been able to make friends outside of the already "clicky" group of girls she goes to
school with. Her grandmother told me that Devon is one of Zohanna's first friends (as she's
younger than Devon and doesn't go to public school yet)

As I'm sitting here watching them laughing and taking turns pushing each other on the swings, the
bells on the Cathedral just started to chime songs- looooong songs.... maybe for Christmas? I
don't know but it's so beautiful (even though slightly out of tune) and the birds are chirping and the
sun is shining....It's almost Thanksgiving and I'm wearing a tee-shirt, denim vest and jeans.
There's not a cloud in the perfect blue sky.

Spring 2014

 Devon Rose's Etsy is currently on vacation mode while I'm designing our new Spring line-up, the
 first new collection since 2010! So it's good to be back in the "kids" saddle again and as the line
 matures while Devon matures, I'm feeling lots of bright bold color in luxurious fabrics: silk
 taffeta's for special occasion dresses, wool felted cropped jackets and chunky sweaters for colder
 days, and pure cotton french terry's and uber soft waffle knits for layering pieces. This range will
 be designed San Francisco weather specific as it will be sold only in San Francisco, since the
 fabrics I'm using are rare designer end cuts and once they are gone...that's it)



 Inspiration: a co-worker went to (I want to say Belgium) and brought back this amazing
 magazine featuring graduate student work. These "alien" kids are the most amazing things I've
 ever seen in the children's wear world.

Le Petite Posh

 When our family relocated back to San Francisco in March 2011, we took a long break from doing
 children's clothing to focus on doing private clients for women's wear, now we are finally in a place
 where we can do both! So we are excited to be a part of SF's A-list voted "Best Children's Boutique" Le 
 Petite Posh's trunk sale this Wednesday, November 20th. Please come by and check out ours, as well
 as three other SF-based children's designers wares. This beautiful boutique also hosts a special weekly
 "story hour" every Tuesday from 2:30 to 3:30....stories and snacks for your little ones while you shop!

Raven and the Evil Queen

 Even though she changed her mind a million times after she decided to be "Raven" from "Teen Titans
 Go" I was super excited to be able to coax her back into her original idea this year. Once again, I
 find myself being grateful for my awesome fabric connection (thank you, Britex!) I found the perfect
 cloak fabric and it was all cake from there....much different from her Pikachu costume I made her
 last year (see bottom pic)







I was a reworked "Evil Queen" with the aide of the most genius and wicked crown EVER! It 
was handmade by Alex at OuterLab completely out of leather. I added some of my pieces from 
my new women's wear line, Leathertongue and DONE!





 Isaac shot this crazy pic of us trick-or-treating in Northbeach right as the sun was going down....



 Devon's costume from last year...Pika Pika PIKACHU!!!

One Year Later......

It's been a year since I've posted on this blog. Devon's about to enter the first grade! She's so different
now. She sings and counts in Chinese (since we have her in the immersion program) Isaac tests her on
walks home and it always amuses the locals in China Town to no end. Sometimes we've seen her be
excluded, being the only "non-Chinese" in her Summer program (actually she is 1/4 Chinese) It makes
us sad and reminds me that I had the same situation as a child, only the other way around (being 1/2
Chinese in a small central Texas classroom) But it doesn't really bother her too much. She always finds
the positive side to peoples actions.

Instead of "Why is she so mean?" it's "Why is she so unhappy today, Mommy?"

We have our weekends together and we try to visit as many parks as we can. She always finds a friend
or 2 or 3 to play with. She loves to dress up (and prefers it to be an actual dress) She is crazy about
Adventure Time, Hello Kitty, and really any stuffed animal on the planet. She loves to play WOW with
her Papa, and draw...and I LOVE it that she still wants to play with me all the time- right now it's
PILLOW FIGHTS!

These pics are from 4th of July weekend...good times:)

The Perfect Accessory

Devon's definitely (already) a "shoe girl". We scored these adorable gladiators from Zara,

but really we need to be thinking about "back to school". I'm in love with these Frye boots....

... the perfect accessory to all the new dresses I'll be making her in August:)

Her new favorite thing...

 ...skin art! Devon's workin on her sleeves ;P

Check out this pic. It's the first time she wore this "Liberty of London" dress that I made her

.. can't believe it still fits her!

Vintage Kick

 Cutest Keds and Levi's jacket from little reader vintage

My new favorite thing...

...linen coffee filters at gds cloth goods

I've been using mine two to three times a day. It washes out beautifully and I feel like the coffee tastes better too:)

Mr. Gaultier

This show is total eye candy! Mannequins looking freakishly alive since their faces 

are projections of "real motion" models. So they can sing, wink, and "talk" to you while

you check out all the intricate detailing on EVERYTHING...and you're allowed to 

photograph EVERYTHING...way better than the Balenciaga exhibit (although I am a big

fan of his as well) but I could stay here for days...

Happy Fathers Day!

This is one of my favorite pics of Devon with her papa. Hope everyone has a wonderful day spending time with their father! Ours will be pretty chill, but we are taking Devon to the Circus Center to see Wonderland this afternoon:)

My Tiny Artist

 
May 2012

Graduation

Well, here it's been months and months again and I haven't made a peep on this 
sad and lonely blog. I'm not really sure why it's been so hard for me to get back 
into the swing of it again, but I think it's mainly because I had been forced out of
the habit by our relocation to San Francisco while I was without Internet access 
for such a long period of time. Also, I have been re-thinking my life and what I 
would like to focus on. I do know that I would really like to keep this blog going 
for friends and family and really anyone who is interested in whats going on with 
Devon, her creative ventures, things that I have designed and sewn for her (soon
 there might even be things on here that Devon has sewn and designed for herself) 
and also anything and everything that I can get on here that inspires us! That being
 said, a quick update on Devon: She had her pre-school graduation last week and
 is super excited to be attending kindergarten in August! In fact, August will be a
 particularly active time for us since we will also be moving to a new location in SF
 and all of us will celebrate our birthdays that month. ...a quick update on designing: 
I am no longer working on the children's line "Devon Rose" for sale on Etsy. I will 
still be designing and sewing clothing for Devon's personal wardrobe and I've 
amassed quite a stash of fabrics from working this past year at Britex. We'll
 eventually re-open the Devon Rose Etsy again to sell gently worn items that I've 
made for Devon (that she has outgrown) at a greatly reduced price, as well as pieces 
from Devon's ever-growing vintage collection. I am in the midst of creating a new 
women's line that will be available for sale on-line in September...so anyways, 
I'm hoping to get back into the groove of blogging again:)
Please enjoy these pics of Devon...

...playing music in Dolores Park

...modeling her new sequin purse (she woke up one morning and decided that the
 perfect accessory had to be a shiny,black bag and she did not stop shopping 
until she found one) 

...mug shot on Easter morning

... with Lady Rainicorn!

Wish list...

...for the kitchen, dots linen tea towel

...for Devon's room, crochet valentine garland

...for our room, dream catcher clock

...for the living room, rustic coffee table

...for Devon, chalkboard growth chart