thursday poll – edition 98

now that we’ve told you all about the stripes trend we’re loving right now, i want to know which striped item is your favorite!

do you like bold and bright, like the WTF lace and stripe short sleeve top:

barely there stripes like the crinkle tunic:

textured stripes like the downtown date dress:
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partial stripes like the super tank mini dress:
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bold, all-over stripes like the dinner time tieback dress:
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or multicolored stripes like the super stripe tank:
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the winner of last week’s dress poll was, by far and away, the downtown date dress with 60% of the vote!

A new take on MOD

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Whenever I hear the word ‘stripes’ used in the fashion the thought of Mods and Rockers of the late 1950’s early 60’s spring to mind.

Twiggy, The Who, Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol and his Factory are all icons that I associate with this trend.

Stripes are back again but not so 60’s this time around; think subtle, playful, girly stripes that give a pinch of boy, we’re moving away from the bold black and white signature stripe that has been so dominate in the past to a new refreshing, colour palette. Just look at what the designers for Spring Summer 2010 achieved.

Crazy coloured stripes, contrast stripes and stripes worked into knitwear. I think I might be a wee conscious to walk out in the red and blue Marc Jacobs number, However the cute little numbers in our Stripe shop will work just fine for me.

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how beautiful are these collages? they are from the etsy shop knitalatte, run by  a woman who is a family physician but makes things like these cute little crochet covered rocks, which she arranges into collages and photographs.  her blog, resurrection fern,  is full of inspiration as well – go check it out, she has tons of lovely photographs of her projects and nature.

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one of the coolest things i saw at bonnaroo was the booth where you could build your own drum! i would totally love to try this- it requires a little effort but the end result makes it totally worth it!

unless you have the ability to carve your own drum shell, you’ll probably need to buy a shell and drum head to start out with. some websites sell kits with all the supplies you need – find some here and here.

once you have all the supplies, here’s a step by step tutorial on how to make your drum!

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what you need:

  • djembe drum shell
  • djembe drum head
  • metal rings
  • djembe ropes
  • hammer
  • wood glue

1. apply a 1 inch circular strip of glue along the top edge of the drum shell.

2. grasp the drum head on opposite ends and pull with your hands. pull enough to stretch the head out and be careful not to break it. this stretching allows the natural fibers to become acclimated to the tension exerted on them during use on the drum shell.

3. pull the edges of the drum head over the glued rim of the drum. the head sits taut over the drum shell, with about 2 inches of drum head hanging over each side.

4. place the metal ring over the drum head. it stations loosely over the side of the drum, with the edge of the drum head between the ring and the shell.

5. lace djembe rope between the metal ring and the drum head, creating a crisscross pattern from top to bottom of the drum shell. this rope provides additional pressure on the metal ring and drum head, securing both firmly to the drum shell.

6. hammer the metal ring into the drum shell to tighten its grip on the drum head. this ring and the glue on the drum rim insure that your drum head can take the pressure of use when your drum is complete.

you can personalize your drum with hand-painted decorations, and at bonnaroo they were even tie-dyeing the drum head, it looked really cool!

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this girl was painting her drum shell wearing one of our dresses!

instructions found here.

frank the bird

a heart-warming story from one of our free people girls…

“this morning i was walking back from the jharoka (the cafe down at the navy yard where we work) with my coffee and i spotted frank in the grass by our building.

he couldn’t fly, and i started to feel sad cuz all the dogs that come to work with their parents run around in that grass…
and i wasn’t sure how frank could avoid all those paws.

so my friends helped get a box and some gloves and we scooped up frank and put him inside with some grass so he felt cozy.

i called the schuylkill wildlife rescue center and they were so nice and said bring him in!

so i drove him up to the rescue and they said it was nice that frank was there because he still had his bloodfeathers and probably wouldn’t be able to fly for another week or so…

i’m glad such a place exists and i’m glad frank is going to be okay. :)”

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isn’t he the cutest?!? check out the schuylkill center’s website for more info on the awesome work that they do.

spring display giveaway!

you probably remember these beautiful butterflies and dragonflies that flew into our stores for our spring display – well now that our new summer displays are up, they have gone into hibernation…and we want to give some away!

this giveaway will stay open until friday at midnight – and all you have to do to win is leave a comment below, and make sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win.

we will select a winner for each day (tuesday,wednesday, thursday, friday) to receive one of these amazing display pieces!

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i am so jealous…i loved these displays and they’re even prettier in person because you can see all the details and craftsmanship that went into creating each one :) plus this is the first time we’re giving away some display items so it’s pretty exciting!

good luck!!!

**UPDATE Monday June 21 – the four winners have been selected and contacted. Once we hear back from them, we will announce on the blog.**

Bonnaroo Day 2 – Sweaty Hot Saturday!

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Wow Saturday at Bonnaroo was very VERY hot! I’m surprised I made it through :)

I did manage to snap some girls in cute outfits though.

 I quite like the style of Bonnaroo it’s not as high styling as Coachella  but hey we’re at a festival right.

I liked how girls wore florals with aztec prints and how they rocked bandeaus with their shorts.

I liked  they didn’t care if they got sweaty and passed out on the side of the dirt tacks.

I loved that they danced their hearts out under dirty water fountains and that they swung their hair around like they just don’t care.

The sweet smell of patchouli covered the air.

Bonnaroo I had fun with you

xoxo