When we were in California just over a week ago, where you can hang out at the beach in the middle of winter with no pants on,
we stopped in to say hi to the fine folks at the bicycle company Rivendell. The camera wasn’t handy, so we worked with Beck to come up with this drawing of our visit there.
As you can see Rivendell is a magical place, that’s why we make a point to stop in when we’re travelling south. I don’t need to say what is really at Rivendell, whether there are ponies or fairies, or whether the UPS man rides an elephant. It doesn’t matter, because that’s what you feel like when you leave. So who am I to say which of these things depicted are ‘real’.
You will notice that in the center is their fearless leader G. P. (who doesn’t wear a crown or carry a sceptre, but Beck gave those stickers to me and they seemed like the best place to put them) who is handing Beck this book:
It was a great read that I recommend to anyone, though Beck didn’t understand most of it so we had to summarize it for him in terms he could understand,
You know how Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader? Well, you don’t need to do what the evil Emperor says to get the treat you want.
Thanks Grant.
Here’s a picture we pirated from Riv’s website
They were actually some of first inspiration for the first products we made, hauled up in our Olympia abode reading Rivendell Readers, geeking out on steel and wool by the light of the sewing machine lamp. They are a super group of folks with great bikes and a well thought out selection of goods, we love ‘em. Just look at that photo up there, who wouldn’t want to be out there right now? Check them out.
Holiday Hangover
We’ve returned to the land of rain from our California tour 2011.
Here’s a shot of our booth at the 3rd Annual Renegade Craft Fair. Thanks to SF for all the patronage and a special thanks to all the bike geeks that stopped by for a chat!
Eric updated our dress form with a beefy 24″ rim as a stand giving her much needed support and a little more edginess. We also introduced our felted wool crepe skirts, the Ingrid Bergman Riding Skirt! (They’re pictured in the background)
We sold out of our waxed canvas aprons and our waxed canvas M.U.T.s!
And we brought along a dozen of our new bags, the Bartender. These handy dandies are now available in our webstore and in our Etsy shop!
After the show we headed south to see good friends and eat good food. Here we are at the beach behind Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing. We had squid rings!
And we can’t go through Santa Cruz without a stop at Marianne’s Ice Cream. So many flavors, all handmade!
Then the Christmas blur of wrapping paper, twinkling lights and sweets began.
Santa made it to California for Beck Otis. He made out like a bandit too! Just look at the size of his stocking!
Shel Silverstein kept us company on the long drive home on Christmas day.
We returned home to a clean house (thanks, Mom!) and even more gifts from Santa and my family! We also got a new wood stove to replace the pellet stove of doom (thanks, Dad!) and our dog, Gus gave us the best welcome home kisses.
HOLIDAY DELIVERY!
Hey folks. Just a little note to let you know I’ll be away from the sewing machines from the 16th – 26th of December. This means I won’t be making orders placed after the 15th until the end of the month. I will try to post inventory in stock on our Etsy store while we’re away for those last minute shoppers. Thanks again for all your patronage and happy holiday!
Randi Jo
Our new advent calendar I made this year… isn’t it swell?
Renegade Sewing!
Just a friendly reminder that we’ll have a booth at the 3rd annual Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco on December 17th & 18th. If you’re in the bay area, you should come check it out. We’re booth #20! Hundreds of vendors and free admission!
A Few New Projects
It’s been all hustle and bustle in the studio lately. The holiday season has begun and my project list hasn’t stopped growing. Here’s just a couple of the projects in the works.
I’m pretty excited about our new three panel cap for a client in California. I’ve tried three panel caps before but they always looked a little too bunchy and misshapen and gave the appearance of a pinhead.
And then I remembered the wondrous dart.
I made a tapered and curved center panel with a dart that extends to the middle front of the cap. You can’t drape a rectangular piece of fabric over a round object without some manipulation. Take a look.
It’s pretty shapely and sophisticated for a cycling cap, I think.
Here’s the back:
And then I got an order from the illustrious Rivendell.
Somehow (I mean, finally!) my saddle covers have won the approval of a certain G.P. and I’ll be shipping them 30 on Monday in two sizes. This run is in an exclusive Rivendell color of Ash Grey with assorted neutral underflaps.
And (!) in addition to the saddle covers, a new batch of Rivendell caps in organic cotton and hemp will be up for grabs!
Oh, happy day!
el día loco negro de perder nuestras almas
In case any of you would like to participate in the “crazy black day of losing our souls,” feel free to use coupon code “thanks15” at checkout for 15% off your purchase. Coupon good for this store and our Etsy shop www.bicyclerandi.etsy.com.
In case you participate in National Buy Nothing Day, the coupon is good through Sunday!
Happy consumerism!
Smorgasbord!
Without further ado or hesistation, I would like to introduce three fine prints for your saddle cover needs:
Aren’t they handsome? Go order yourself (or a loved one) one of these dandies and feel that much more dapper.
It feels like fall in our neck of the woods. The leaves are falling, the rain is falling and the rubber boots and wool mittens are at the ready. It’s our favorite time of year! We’ve had some rather large backyard visitors recently. Unfortunately, they have a palate for Japanese Maples and grapes both of which resided happily alongside our little bike shop barn until their arrival.
Our first garden at our new place proved fairly bountiful with nine pumpkins, several butternut squash, carrots and potatoes. We’ve been dining on various soups & stews with the occasional squash risotto.
Beck learned how to carve a pumpkin (or two) this year. We made the classic jack-o-lantern and a Mouse Motel (how’d you guess, Martha Stewart!) that were both satisfactory.
Halloween costumes have been the topic of choice for Beck for many months prior to the holiday. His ideas ranged from a yankee doodle fox to an acrobat. He has also become quite enamored with Star Wars ‘guys’ since he discovered Eric’s stash of figurines from his childhood. He can tell you who’s who and which space ship they fly and will only let Eric or I play with one measly Luke Skywalker, the rest are for his use only. With all the Yoda and Ewok talk, a Star Wars costume was bound to be at the top of his costume list. Thus, I introduce the Jedi Fox!
And what’s a Jedi without his safety tape wrapped bamboo light saber?
In sewing news, I rearranged and organized my studio which was in dire need of attention. My dad made this awesome table for me about 6 years ago. Since that time I’ve always had the long end pushed against a wall but I brilliantly decided to reorient it and now I have a walk around table that is the perfect height for my 5’10″ statue. Now if I could only get lovely looking boxes to store my enormous fabric stash.
Lastly, I would like to invite and remind all those in the CA bay area that the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale is quickly approaching. This both excites and worries me greatly. ”Yes, I got accepted into this awesome show and I get to make some non-cycling specific goods!” and “Holy smokes, when am I going to have time to make everything I want to make!?” I see late nights in my future.
P.S. I’ve also been making something much more extraordinary than woolen caps and dandy bags. I’ve got another little munchkin in my belly! I know, I know, munchkin probably isn’t the preferred nomenclature. Fetus, please. Anyway, come February I’ll be incapacitated with another snot-nosed protoplasm so get your winter orders in early!
Busy as a Beaver
Apologies to the Super Fantastic Thrice Weekly Sewing Challenge fans. The last three weeks have been packed full of projects. I was challenged plenty and accomplished more than expected in part due to deadlines and mostly to the arrival of Nana who took Beck on adventures near and far allowing me to spend many an hour in the studio.
Here’s a photo log of what I’ve been making.
I finished the merino jerseys for Team Donkelope for the Rapha Gentlemen’s Race!
I was up until 1 a.m. sewing on the buttons while watching a horrible romantic comedy.
The gents got matching European linen caps too!
Here are the six Gents pre-race and Greg’s border collie, Raz!
Then I had to catch up on the regular web orders and start on a large order to Circles bike shop in Japan.
Which included eight shop aprons, two in waxed canvas – a new offering at RJF!
And of course when it rains, it pours. Another order for more Rivendell caps to fill!
And some where in between there, I made these two sweet hats for the ladies of Signal Cycles.
Whew.
What next you ask? Preparation and stock making for two upcoming events:
and
I shall return to the land of SFTWSC in October. I promise. There’s Halloween costumes to make after all!
P.S. My talented brother has updated our web store and shipping module! This means no more convoluted pages, a new ship by weight calculator and international shipping options! Three hip hip hooray’s for Ruben!
Some goods and a pig.
Well, maybe thrice weekly was a bit ambitious…
Hot off the sewing machine this week:
Wool and linen caps, saddle covers and one M.U.T.!
Today, Beck and I decided to make a Pig. I copied a pattern from Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing & Fabric Crafts that I checked out last summer at the library. I’ve sort of had an infatuation with all things Martha since high school. It’s a good thing. Right?
Here’s the pig parts. Beck picked out the fabrics. Shades of blue in various wools.
Here is Oink Oink in all his indigo glory! I’m a little disappointed with the 1/8″ seam allowances (who does that, Martha?) and we didn’t have a pipe cleaner to stick in his tail so we used some wire for now. As far as good show pig proportions go my dad would tell you his frame is too short and he’s got too much excess fat and weak rear pasterns.
I think Beck likes Oink Oink alright though. He already offered him peanut butter and jam and we read him three stories. Pretty luck pig, I’d say.
one piece at a time
Slowly and steadily working on the Donkelope jerseys. Here’s a sneak peek…
Back pocket buttonholes.
Pieced sleeves.
Now, back to the studio!
