“My mother never saved anything except nursing school textbooks, but something made her keep that one box of my toddler clothes. Strawberry Shortcake shoes, crocheted dresses, purple printed bell bottom corduroys. Sometimes something possesses you to want to relive your childhood (the good parts) through your children, and dress them in something you can save for their kids…”

So begins the announcement of Vesper’s new line of hand-made cloth goods on Etsy (a very hip online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.) Sounds Familyre isn’t just about music, we’ve got some super talented clothiers too! Many of you are already familiar with the wonder of Mamma-Made (take a look at their new summer line here), but did you know that the beauty, power, humor and grace so evident in the blessed vocal-cords of Vesper extended to her work with needle and thread? These people are so darn creative! Do yourself a favor: click here to go to Vesper’s Etsy shop and see her extraordinary handmade clothing and handbags, as well as Ben’s one-of-a-kind handpainted T-shirts! New stuff is always being added, so come back often, and BUY.

In the meantime, check out some of the pictures from her shop below–cool cool!

Tom Eaton

The whole season is a shot of fresh oxygen, where trees and grasses remember life before they dozed off a few months back, birds and wind delight in frivolous movements, and waking up in the morning is a whole lot easier (unless, of course, your relationship with pollen is compromised). Wouldn’t our New Year’s Resolutions have a better chance of success if we made them in the Spring instead of in January?

What do we do in the Spring? Hair-dying? Knot-tying? Potato frying? Lawn-lying? Ankle-sock buying? Get-in-shape trying?

What spring foods do we eat?
What about Spring music?
What Spring spots do we visit?
What Spring spots do we visit whilst whistling a Spring tune in between bites of Spring food?

Read on for some of our favorite springy things…

Michael Kaufmen:

To bring in the spring…Slo-Ro is flexing muscles, working out at LA Fitness which has a mural of San Diego. Cracks him up everytime he is doing his 10 pull ups. Hey, he is working his way up. Don’t you worry. When not working out, he is “crate-digging” at his public library for lovely music of other territories than the U.S. pop flood. He is learning to identify species of birds and energy bars.

Half-handed Cloud:

Sleeping with the windows open.
Swimming in rivers and lakes.
Bike-riding without gloves or long sleeves.

Megan Slaboda:

Spring line of Mamma Made Clothes
LONG WALKS
The warmth of the sun on my face.
Vacations with the ‘Smith’ family

Dan Zimmerman:

a trip to Longwood Gardens, PA
“The Girl from Ipanema” goes walking..
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
“If Dogs Run Free” then why can’t we?
Care for your mower..
Lila Downs,
New Order,
and oh yes,
“The Santa Cruz River Band”
from lovely Tucson Arizona
(see my MySpace)

Christiaan Palladino:

Lamburgers with your best friend.
Piggyback weekends.
Fleet Foxes on repeat in the car.
Car washing.
Kissing my wife.

Lenny Smith:

I think everyone would greatly enjoy doing what I just did last Saturday and two Saturdays before that. I drove, with my three sons, down to the Batsto River in the South Jersey pines. We had a great breakfast and then went off, with our kayaks, down the Batsto River. It was so peaceful and lovely. The whole 7 hour trip we only saw two other boats: two canoes with couples fighting about who can steer better, branches in the face, and something about spiders! Once we got past them (they did say, “Hello.”), we had nothing for the next several hours but peace, beauty, and a quiet joy. The woods really are “lovely, dark and deep.” NOW we get to the best part: Along the way, while my 3 sons were out paddling and laughing ahead of me, I quietly dropped into the cedar water behind my kayak the following things: any memories tormenting me from the past, any hopes for the future robbing me of the joy of the moment, any regrets whatsoever, any thoughts about wars, floods, earthquakes, famines, shootings and the like, any concern about the election, any considerations about possible invasions by aliens or terrorists. Over the side went my over-active mind, my identification with my mind, my propensity to “take” offense, and so much more. Suffice it to say, when I finally got out of the kayak for lunch on the sandy beach, I forgot that I was not a kid anymore. In fact, I really was a kid again and I remembered that I was allowed to be happy! And NOW I AM. There really must be something magical in that cedar water flowing through the South Jersey pines.

Sounds Familyre and Mamma Made are excited to announce the winner of the “Making A Dress With Rachel” contest from the Works in Progress Month Blog. Many thanks for all the wonderful contributions. After much deliberation, Rachel and the Sounds Familyre committee decided on the perfect name for our new dress.

“BLOOMING HARTZ”


Congratulations Stephanie! Let’s read her thoughts behind her entry:

“The dress could be called ‘Blooming Hartz.’ The petals on the purple flowers look like hearts so it looks like a circle of hearts is blooming. Spelling hearts like Danielson’s t-shirt “hartz” ties in the family theme. Not to mention the blooming hearts of all of the precious little girls who will wear this beautiful dress!”

As our winner, Stephanie will receive the sample dress created during the works-in-progress month.

Finally, “Blooming Hartz” will be available for purchase this spring at Mamma Made Designs as well as at the Sounds Familyre store.

Keep your eyes open for a new collaboration between Daniel and Rachel on the most amazing Easter Dress you will ever see! Get ready for “Easter Lamb!”

Love, Rachel

We’d like to thank you for the pleasure of sharing ‘A Familyre Christmas - Vol. 1′ with you all. It was an exciting project, and so much fun to have everyone involved.

If you missed the download window, don’t despair. There is a high likelihood it will be made available again next Christmas season, along with Vol.2!

The complete track listing for Vol.1:

1: ‘Christmas Eve Nite’ - Danielson
2: ‘For There Is Born A Child’ - Lenny Smith
3: ‘Plant A Little Fir Tree’ - Half-handed Cloud
4: ‘Dayspring From On High’ - Soul-Junk
5: ‘Pat-A-Pan’ - Leopulde
6: ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ - Dan Zimmerman
7: ‘Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming’ - The Singing Mechanic
8: ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ - Sufjan Stevens*
9: ‘What Child Is This’ - Rachel and Jon Galloway
10: ‘I Wonder As I Wander’ - Woven Hand
11. ‘Christmas Is A Holiday’ - Ben + Vesper
12. ‘Immanuel’ - Joshua Stamper
13. ‘O Holy Night’ - Elin

*Recorded with Daniel, Elin, Lilly, and Ida at
the NJ Recreation Rm over Thanksgiving Weekend (2007).

Have a wonderful 2008, folks!

Love,

Everyone at Sounds Familyre

New Year’s Resolutions for 2008!

Daniel Smith:
1) Early mornings.
2) Organize.
3) Blog.
4) Breath deep.

Elin Smith:
1) Answer e-mails.
2) Make more calls.
3) Walk more.

John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud):
1) Locate a Boxer dog in the neighborhood that I can visit.
2) Consider one exceptional situation/crisis outside of my ordinary life to pray for each day.
3) Learn how to edit home movies with computer software.
4) Spend less time on emails (is this bad?).
5) Eat more chocolate (dark!).
6) Find Rafter Roberts and draw diagrams of all the stretches he knows that I don’t yet.
7) Walk through each day perceiving.

Lowell Brams (Asthmatic Kitty):
1) Organize my office and keep it that way.
2) Exercise regularly and lose 30 lbs.
3) When confronting a difficult situation, ask myself “What would John Ringhofer do?”
4) If that doesn’t work, “What would Lenny Smith do?”

Dan Zimmerman:
1) Make sense of the mess and mess with what makes sense.
2) Get rid of more clutter and embrace more ambiguity.
3) Reach into the past and mix it with the present.
4) Celebrate my lovely wife. Dance together.
5) Get out of the basement more. Play out. Stretch.

Joshua Stamper:
1) Eat more carrots. They’re good for teeth and eyesight.
2) Don’t turn on the computer until AFTER 9am.
3) Spend more time outside, especially in the winter.

Rachel Galloway:
1) Create what I love.
2) Live in the joy of the now.
3) Remember who I am.
4) Have a grateful heart.

Ted Velykis (Leopulde):
1) Ted resolves to act his age, NOT his shoesize and to quit smoking (again).

Michael Kaufmann (Asthmatic Kitty and Unusual Animals):
1) Learn to throw a punch.
2) Give better hugs.
3) Juggle four objects.

Were you aware that the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions has been around for hundreds of years? We thought it would be interesting to include a resolution that’s “old school” (as the youth would have it).

Here’s one from colonial American preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758):

Resolution #9 (out of seventy): To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

And on THAT note, good luck with your resolutions, everyone, and Happy New Year!

Well, I can’t believe it’s the last week already! Thank you all so very much for your wonderful comments. It’s making this process so much fun. Well, we have a lot to go through to finish up this garment! Let’s get to it!

It’s time to put our zipper in the garment. Usually I would put in a regular zipper into a children’s garment, but I only have an invisible zipper on hand, so that’s what we are going to use. Invisible zippers are not the best zipper to put into a children’s garment. Visually, they are much nicer because they are hidden into the seam. However, they break easily and that isn’t acceptable for the quality and durability that the standard of Mamma Made upholds. Since this is the sample, we can use this zipper.

This is the center back seam you are viewing. See how the zipper is wrapped underneath the seam? It is a really nice look. Just not practical for children.

Okay, we did run into a problem that I had said I was nervous about in my last blog post. I did end up cutting the skirt too short for my taste. Remember when I said it’s all in the cutting? It’s true. I tried the dress on my size 6 daughter and it just hit her knee at the perfect spot. No room for a good hem. I usually have a good inch to turn up. Now we will need to put a “fake hem” in for the sample.

I cut a strip of fabric to go around the entire hem. You sew just 3/8” to attach the strip so you aren’t losing a lot of length. You flip the strip and topstitch. This will give you a crisp finish when you turn and press. Serge the rough edge and blind hem stitch around the “fake hem.” This is what the hem now looks like. Not bad. Of course during the process of “making the sample” you note all the final changes that will need to be made on the garment you will sell.

Time to finish the bodice. I’m cutting lining pieces for the bodice and sewing them to the front neckline first. Under-stitch, turn and press. The under-stitching really lends to a crisp line in the garment. I think it’s important for the neckline to have a nice line.

I’m going to do the same thing to the armscye and turn the lining to the inside.

Once I get the lining smooth and flat, I pin the bottom of the lining under and topstitch from the front on our contrast belt. This will minimize hand-stitching. I read somewhere that you shouldn’t have to hand-stitch anything and that is the sign of a great seamstress. I semi-agree with that train of thought. But you better be really clean and concise with all of your machine work. I think that the inside of a garment should look as nice as the outside.

Time to finish up by sewing our shoulder seams together and then the lining seams. I’m so excited to see what this will look like on a little girl!!!

And VOILA! LE DRESS!

I’m really happy with how the dress came out. It has all the elements of a simple garment with a little surprise and some twirl factor. It’s important to have a simple design with a strong pattern.

Now, for all of you loyal blog followers—A CONTEST! (note: a different contest than the one talked about in the ‘Mamma Made Contest Winner’ post below). Win this Size 6 Sample Dress that you have helped to create! Post a COMMENT to this entry with the perfect name for this creation! Use your imaginations and merge Mamma Made/Danielson/Sounds Familyre together for this very special dress. Even if you don’t win the dress, it will be available to purchase from both Sounds Familyre and Mamma Made. Good luck! The name will be judged by Rachel and the Sounds Familyre committee.

Keep your eyes posted for an amazing collaboration between Daniel and myself for an incredible Easter Dress! Maybe I’ll blog about that too. We’ll see.

Love, Rachel

PS- If you enjoyed these blog posts and would like to read more, come visit Mamma Made Designs: www.mammamadedesigns.com and sign up to receive the latest news and thoughts from Rachel.

Some of you may remember that November 15 began the Mamma Made Christmas Dress Contest. The prize: a size 2T “Red and Green Snowflakes” dress from Mamma Made Designs. Contestants were required to send in a picture of their little girls along with the childrens’ comments about the dress.

It was a really tough decision with all the gorgeous children and beautiful words. Competition was fierce. After much deliberation, we have two runners-up who will be receiving a special gift from us. . . Congratulations Nadia Elsie and Hannah Shores!

And now, our winner!

Congratulations to Rose Mosling! You won our hearts with your adorable smile and your signing “more please” when you were shown the Christmas Dress.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated!


Also, remember that Mamma Made is offering a special discount for Sounds Familyre fans! Email: info@mammamadedesigns.com to receive your special code for $10 off your entire order good until Christmas! Make sure you write “HUGE FAN” in the subject line.

I’m really excited about where this dress is going. It looks as though the pleat in the front of the skirt is the favorite (and I agree) so we are going to go with that. I took a picture of a dress I made years ago and it helped to inspire me and take our flat design into a new dimension.

This dress has the pleats in front with a contrasting fabric underneath, but the fabric underneath is a bit more prominent than just a “peek.” I wanted to take this concept to our dress, but in a slightly different way. Look how I’m messing with the skirt and the fullness of the white contrasting fabric underneath.

Little girls love full skirts and an easy and cost effective way to get that look is to cut full panels for the skirt and gather them up. The fullness of the skirt depends on how many panels of fabric you cut. Since I was thinking this skirt would be an a-line originally, I’m going to only do one panel of fabric. I will get a bit more fullness with this cut, but not too much.

As we get the front of the skirt ready for the pleats, once again we need to pay attention to flower placement and that the flowers perfectly match in the center front as the pleats touch each other. To get a more puffy “flavor” to the underneath panel, I’m widening the white panel and will gather it underneath the pleat. Hopefully what I’m seeing in my head will be what we see in the pictures when it’s sewn together. I would like to have a fuller, but not too full skirt, and the white contrast fabric under the pleat full enough to make it puff forward and be seen even without a twirl. (Fingers crossed!) This is the fun part of designing. You get to try things and try again. Fun fun.

I’m sewing the white skirt panel to the main skirt panels. I hope this works!

Now I’m ironing the sewn panels and I’m going to manipulate the pleats into the skirt.

Now that the pleats are ironed in, I need to take care of the white panel underneath by gathering it and hoping it fits under the pleats. It does! Yay!

Now that our skirt is mostly in place, it’s time to look at our bodice again. Originally I was thinking of doing a small piping at the waist to off-set the white panel in the skirt. I have changed my mind because the white in the skirt is more subdued with our pleat. I chose to do a 1.5” band of white contrast to separate the bodice and the skirt. I think this brings the white contrasts together as a whole in the piece. I need to sew the band on the bodice now.

It’s time to gather the skirt onto the bodice and see how it looks! You can see from this picture the length of the skirt panel that will be gathered. It should produce a nice looking skirt.

The skirt is on and the shoulders and back are pinned up so that I can take this shot of the dress. You can see how it’s coming along. I’m pleased with the skirt and how there is just enough pop to entice the eye. The fullness in the skirt is definitely twirl-worthy and the white underneath will be shown even more. I like the band too. The one thing I am concerned about is whether I cut the skirt too short or not. I will need to try it on my “fit model” next time around and see where we stand with that.

This blog post was a long one, but as you see we have a lot to get through to get this garment complete. We still have the zipper, lining, finishing touches, and of course the photo shoot with the model. That’s the most fun. I love love love your comments!

Love, Rachel

Week two is already here! I can’t believe it. Well, after mulling over the sketches that you weren’t supposed to make fun of—(Megan!)—I agree whole-heartedly with Joshua that Sketch B is the winner. This is going to be a fun dress. This week we are going to cut out the bodice and think about the skirt. Let’s go to the work table.

Here we have our size 6 basic bodice pattern. You normally start with a “block” which is a basic pattern and manipulate it to become exactly what you want. You should make a mock-up with your initial patterns in a muslin fabric. This process will continue until you perfect your pattern. I’m going to skip these steps because I have already done this to the size 6, so I know it’s perfect. Let’s cut! Fear my scissors!!!!

PAY ATTENTION!!! This fabric requires you to pay close attention to detail when you cut. The most important step to any garment is in the cutting. If you mess that up—you’ve got troubles, my friend. There is a prominent pattern with these bold flowers so you will want a row of flowers exactly centered down the front. Fold the fabric along the center of a row of flowers, then pin down your front pattern piece. Cut with confidence! Don’t let the size of the scissors scare you!

After you have your front pattern cut, you will want to keep the rows of flowers consistent in the back as well. Line them up with your back pattern and let the scissors do their work!

Now you can see we have our basic bodice cut and the flowers are well aligned around the entire bodice. This next week, let’s think about what we want our skirt to do. I’m going to post two sketches and we’ll need to pick one.

Sketch A shows a semi-full a-line skirt with a contrast panel (flat) in the front.
Sketch B shows a center front pleat with the contrast panel underneath — this will peek out when the child walks, twirls, and plays.

Share your comments and thoughts!!!

Love, Rachel

Hello everyone! This is Rachel from the Danielson Famile. For those of you who don’t know, I am also a clothing designer and am part of a handmade children’s clothing company called Mamma Made (www.mammamadedesigns.com). I am very excited to take you through the process of how a garment is developed from start to finish though a series of blog posts.

I’m currently working on our line for Spring 2008 and I really love to design dresses. There is nothing sweeter on a little girl than a special dress that can showcase her personality and simply make her feel beautiful. The dress that I will be working on and sharing with you will actually be available in the Spring—so you’ll have a sneak peak!

I have a little black sketch book where I doodle, but as my sister Megan tells me, I design backwards. Usually designers make a sketch that they love and then find the perfect fabric, but I find the fabric first and then the dress creates itself. I prefer to use 100% cotton fabrics. They wash and dry well, they are sturdy and lend themselves practically for children to wear and thrash, and you can find some really cool prints. I prefer quilting cottons because the quality is higher. When you feel the fabric, it has a solid yet soft feel. When you hold it up to the light, you can’t see through it and it has a nice drape for skirts. Here’s the quilting fabric I have chosen for this dress:

Now I am going to my sketchbook to work on some ideas. You aren’t allowed to make fun of my amazingly horrible sketches. The truth is that when I have the fabric, I see the idea in my head but I have to put in on paper just to make it a bit more solid. You can’t really see what the final garment will look like because you can’t see into my head, but I will share my elementary sketches with you anyways.

I’m going to mull over these for a bit and maybe even change things around. After we get our idea finalized, we will begin to create the pattern. I would love to see your comments and ideas as we are going through this process together.

Love, Rachel