Welcome to Sally Ann

Welcome to my booth, kinda. A little virtual tour per se. Enjoy some close up shots of my booth at Arts In The Heart from last weekend. These photos were from the last day, so it was a little more bare, thankfully. When we first set up on Friday there were so many pieces! A great total of around 280 items in my shop. Now almost 100 of those were little hair bow, but still. That's a lot of inventory. I'm glad it's dwindled down. I marked down the previous lines of lingerie, and priced the clothes very reasonably. 

Are you an artist that sells your work at art shows? Get the Square! It's amazing. Over half of my sales were paid for with a credit card. It works with smart phones and is very easy to use.  When you sign up for an account they send you the reader for free! Check out their website for more info.

Cute little cassette wallets. A venture between my sister and I. We both make these fun little accessories together. I can't wait until she gets out of the Navy, finishes business school, and then we take over the world with our awesomeness and talents! She is actually coming for a visit this weekend! I haven't seen her since June when she came for a weekend to see my gallery show at Mass Canvas (formerly Gaartdensity). We're going to have the best weekend ever!

Cute little hair bows attached to French barrettes. I made a million of them (about 100 actually) and clipped them to belts that hung up around the canopy, location changing throughout the weekend. They're a great way to use up the scrap fabric I'd otherwise throw away in other projects. Good thing I bought the metal French barrettes in bulk, because I'm going to be making a ton of these really soon!

My darling Ursula. She's always an attention getter. So gorgeous. We changed her outfir a few times over the weekend. She's a fiberglass mannequin my mom bought for me in Michigan at an antique store. She's very fragile and a few times over the weekend, had to really yell at some jerks posing with her and leaning on her. I looked over in one instance and they were grabbing her arm and her arm fell off (to remove her arms you just lift up on them, since they have to be removed so often to change her clothes). I about killed that woman! I yelled at her and shoed her off. Guess that's the price you pay for participating in an art festival that serves beer, there are always intoxicated people that don't know how to behave in public. 

My new collection of totes and clutches. The clutches are all listed in my Etsy shop, totes will be up soon. I promise. As soon as I get my DSLR fixed. I can't wait to make more of these soon! My next fashion show, that I just announced this week, is set for December 8th. It's going to feature clothing, lingerie, AND accessories! My previous two runway shows were only lingerie, so this will be fun to dress women for day time as well.

Embroidery from my June show hung on an old door. My gallery show featured 30 pieces of embroidered work, mostly nude portraits, stitched on vintage fabric and framed in salvaged frames, most of which I traded for old housewares at a local thrift shop. Talk about recycling! I can't ever buy new things, and I think it's awesome. Yesterday someone gave me advice I shouldn't emphasize that the word "recycled" or "repurposed" in the tag line of what I "do". That it might discourage customers from buying my work. Au contraire, mon frère. That is what I am about and what I stand for. If it makes people uncomfortable to have second hand materials used in what they buy, then frankly I'm not interested in them as a customer. I want my clients to appreciate what I do for the same reasons I do what I do. And the most important part of my work is that I don't use "new" materials.

The back side of this door was a full length mirror for ladies to step behind and hold up or try on their possible purchase over their clothes. I can't wait to soon have a mobile boutique with a changing room and what not. Possibly even a little sewing station for alterations while people wait. More news on my future plans next week!

People that didn't know their size and didn't want to or couldn't try the clothes on, I'd measure them and measure the garment to show them it would fit well. Nine times out of ten I don't need to measure because I can tell someone's size just by looking at them and know immediately if a piece will fit them. It's a handy little trick I picked up over the years and while being a bridal seamstress. I've been measuring and fitting women for so long, I see in sizes. But most women like to be reassured with numbers. 

One woman I know used her excuse that my booth "didn't have anything that would fit her" for not looking at anything. I pulled out three pieces and said, "these are all your size!" and she said, "no, I'm bigger than that, trust me." and I wanted to snap back, "uhhh... I'm kind of a professional at this, and these will  fit." But she just didn't want to spend money on my stuff, which is fine. Just don't make excuses. I hate that. Just because I know you doesn't mean you're obligated to buy something from my shop. People drives me nuts sometimes. I know my work isn't for everyone. And that is fine. I don't expect to cater to everyones tastes. 

New clothes! I can't wait to post the remaining pieces in my Etsy shop. As soon as more daylight hits my house this morning, I'm photographing all that is left before cleaning for Rach's visit. Then I'm be in Etsy listing heaven for the next few hours (sarcasm: I hate listing things on Etsy!). But at least it's better than it was a few years ago. Etsy admins have done a fantastic job of making it more user friendly.

New lingerie! These were very popular and sold pretty well. I can't wait to list all of these either. Well, rephrase that, I can't wait for it to be online! It's all so feminine and fun. It was hilarious to me how old men would sneer at the wording "Lingerie AND dresses".. The fact that they could be both was so sinful and disgusting to them. Then I'd do the friendly, "Hello, this is my work and I can hear you" look and then smile at them. They'd be embarrassed for being an ass and walk away. People have no common decency anymore. Be respectful of other peoples art. Sure, what I do isn't rocket science, and a seamstress with a good eye could do the same, but the fact of the matter is, this is what I choose to do for a living, and I do it damn well. So shove off and shut up. I'm proud of my work and I think it's wonderful, haters! No one will get me down or change my opinion of how awesome I am! Maybe that's a little braggy but oh well.

The "about me" I hung on a dressform opposite of Ursula in the other corner. 

"Hello everyone. I am Sally of Sally Ann. Established in 2008, I set out to bring the world clothing and accessories made exclusively from vintage and recycled fabric, things that were discarded. I have always had a love for all things old, and respect for things handmade. My passion is transforming old abandoned fabric to something beautiful and fashion forward, giving it new life. 

Enjoy ♥ Sally

All negative Nancies aside, I had the best weekend. My feet were bruised and it hurt to walk, but it flew by too fast. I love seeing people in my clothes and buying them, and it's so amazing to meet people who read my blog, hello to those of you I met this weekend! I met one amazing girl, you know who you are missy, that totally made my weekend, month, year, with her kind words about inspiring her to sew and being happier with herself. She said the sweetest things and make me close to tears. Thank you to all of you that came out and enjoyed yourself. Can't wait for next weekend where I'll set up at Saturday Market on the River in downtown Augusta. See you there!

Thanks to my handsome man for the photos. He's the best, isn't he? I'm such a lucky gal to have such a good partner.

Hope you all have a great Friday! I'm about to clean up my house to prepare for my sister's visit, so she doesn't clean my house herself (she's done it before!). Also, this afternoon I'll be sending out a new video newsletter, so be sure to sign up for it!