A walk down memory lane...

While cleaning out my desk yesterday, I found many old business cards I've made over the years. It made me a little nostalgic and proud of all that I've accomplished professionally. For all you new readers, I established my business back in August of 2008, after I'd spent a few years making purses and sewing clothes for friends. I finally decided to take it more seriously, making it my full-time job. I started an Etsy shop, shut down my Sally Ann Accessories Myspace page I'd used for about a year, yeah that's right, I started on Myspace! And I started a blog. Enjoy some old photos of my development over the years.

From my first photo shoot for my Etsy shop. August 2008. I used to go over to my mother's house with my giant tote of new pieces, and my step dad would photograph all of my week's work. This purse, above, was made out of vintage denim with some silly Elvis prints appliqued to the exterior. All my totes even had "Handmade by Sally Ann. Wash with care" tags inside that I printed on ribbon. It's crazy to think of how long ago this was!

My first "show". I was a vendor at an Earth Day Market in 2009 at the Grand Rapids Public Library. I was so inexperience with shows I just put everything on a big table, didn't even think to bring a tablecloth. Funny old fact: my first purse display was an old IV rack my dad salvaged from his old hospital before they rebuilt their new location. Comparing my recent booth to this is a world away!

September 2009. Purses I used to make from salvaging old handles from the thrift store. This purse was made from old upholstery fabric and the final scraps were finally used in my new line of purses? Recognize this fabric? I loved this purse so much. Sometimes when I look through these old photos I wish I'd kept more of my work, and taken more photos of my workrooms from back then. Another reason I had to go to my mother's house for photos, I was too poor to afford a decent camera. 

Then I moved to Georgia in October 2009. My sister lived here and I was able to fully commit my time to sewing, quit bartending for a few months, and get my head on straight. I continued to make more purses and then took the full plunge into blogging, writing sewing tutorials, and posting more about my life. Read this original post here.

And this one here.

Then I started introducing fun sewing projects, like this one: a t-shirt grocery tote. Here.

And in the fall of 2010, I decided to start designing and repurposing lingerie. Here I am with my friend Sarah, the night before my first photo shoot to launch the mini line on Etsy. Read more here.

Posing with some of the first pieces I repurosed into lingerie. I started with simple vintage slips. Hand dyed them. Repaired all the lace. Shortened them. And made them fit today's styles.

Sewing. Learning how to change my sewing for apparel was quite the task since I'm 100% self taught. Around this time I was also mentoring Kaitlyn, sewing with her about 20 hours a week. Progress on sewing lingerie was slow, since I wanted to take my time learning how to sew stretch fabric, something I wasn't completely familiar with. Throughout 2011 I because quite versed in sewing vintage knits and finished a line of lingerie for my first fashion show in December 2011. 

Hope you all have a great Friday! I'm getting back to work on my new line of lingerie and clothing. Can't. Stop. Working. Need more coffee!