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small finds- hand knits

Misha and Puff are a brand new company producing handmade baby woolens. The whole collection is so  cute and made start to finish in New England.

Anna, a former stylist,  started knitting for her newborn and loved the way the items looked on her little one. Once she decided to put together a collection she knew I couldn't knit everything herself so looked around locally for knitters  in massachusetts and maine. Anna told us "It is really important to me that all pieces are knit locally and start to finish by the same knitter.   Employing people in my community is a big part of this and in  keeping things close it allows me to remain connected to the process of making.   I love that all my knitters LOVE to knit.  If not knitting for me, they would be knitting anyway." 

 Most of the pieces are knit in all one piece with as little seaming as possible so they drape and wear beautifully and are especially good for babies who wiggle and twist and grow so fast. 

Keep your eyes on her blog for a list of stores that will be stocking Misha and Puff

Blog

Website

small play- jess brown

We love Jess Brown and interviewed her about her collaboration with Katherine Edmonds (of Wovenplay) way bfor the fall issue in 2009. You can read the article here. You can find a large range of her unique handmade dolls at Sweet William

...and speaking avout wovenplay...have you checked out their new season (also available at Sweet William)? There also some of the dolls made by Jess and dressed by Katherine in the wovenplay shop.

small draw- Jacqueline Schmidt

 
Jacquline Schmidt of Screech Owl Designs is exhibiting at the Powerhouse Arena at 37 Main Street Brooklyn, NY 11201. (You can also buy the prints at her website)

Last year we interviewed Jaquline about her role as art director at Moomah. (check out Moomah if you are in New York and if you are not, visit their website for tons of inspiration and ideas for making with kids) Read the interview here

small hands- damselfly

We have a new sponsor who would want to tell you about even if they were not a sponsor. Faith of Damselfly is truly passionate about her new business. Every piece is hand made in England using the 'whole garment' system and the gorgoeus items are evidence of the involvement of 'petit mains' rather than factory piece-work.  Faith concieves and constructs really special clothing, utilising the talents of local seamstresses. Only the best quality fabric is used and each piece has a specialty hand finish, like the silk ruffles or the embroidery you can see on the coat above. They are really heirloom pieces (but also amazingly affordable for a special piece). 

The clothes are beautiful, the photography and the website is beautiful and the passion for the work is really beautiful.

 

 

Shop

Website

Blog

 

small hands - jess brown and rae dunn

While sifting through many, many images snapped at Playtime (report coming this week!) I totally forgot about this great tea set I meant to share with you guys last week! Jess Brown and artist Rae Dunn collaborated on this sweet ceramic tea set with drawings Jess' daughter did years ago when Jess started making her now famous, rag dolls. I am loving how the clean lines compliment the drawings. It even has little sewing stitch drawn details on the back of the cups and pitcher. You get 2 cups, 2 plates and 1 pitcher.

Jess Brown

small hands - flower bunny and dolly

 

 
Lovely little hand made toys.

Flower Bunny

small hands - Art Dolls by Paola Zakimi

We are swooning over these dreamy dolls (and the beautiful photo session!) by Paola Zakimi!

Small play- severina kids

Severina Kids is a beautifully detailed line of toys and objects hand made in limited batches in Madrid. They ship all over the world. Each series is photographed in its own enchanting hand drawn environment.

Check out their other items and the lovely layouts at Severina Kids

Small hands- Mathilde de Turckheim

Mathilde de Turkheim is a talented French designer living in Brooklyn. She offered to help us out on Small photo shoots and her lovely daughter has even modeled for Small. We met her because we saw her amazing handmade necklaces at Bubble a few years ago and fell in love with the imaginative shapes and decorative details. 

She has recently expanded her range into headbands and brooches.

Small hands- Astulabee workshops

We have always loved the work of Nicole Licht of  Astulabee. Her work is always enchanting and we have just learned she is going to teach some of her skills in a five day workshop coming up in New York.  Contemporary Soft Sculpture is a hands-on studio workshop exploring materials and techniques for creating 3-dimensional soft sculptural forms, functional and non-functional alike. There is a discount if you register before the end of April.

If you don't have the time for the long workshop she is also conducting a 2 hour workshop on May 8 1-3 pm,  leading participants in making embroidery and fabric collages with a 'Lost at Sea' theme.  There are limited spaces so email [email protected] to reserve your spot (cost 45$). The group exhibition of the same name is on at Gallery Hanahou at 611 Broadway Suite 730 NYC. Opening reception Thursday May 6 from 7-9. 

Small hands- Jess Brown and Atsuyo et Akiko

You may remember we wrote about Jess Brown's last collaboration with Wovenplay in Small issue - Summer 2009- so we were very exited to see the new collaboration. Atsuyo et Akiko and Jess Brown have collaborated to produce a limited edition of dolls- available soon through their websites.

Small Draw - Flip Flop Design

Caroline Faup is the artist behind Flip Flop Design. You can find her beautiful illustrations on everything from wallpaper, posters, pillows and toys for children.

Flip Flop Design

small hands - crochet

Stools by Wood & Wool Stool  

Sweater by The Anecdotes

Brooch and Hairpin by Marltyn Tov

Scarf by Edmond

Small Illustrator - Laura Mckellar

Left: The new one is the most handsome of all

Right: How could he ever dare dream of wanting their marvelous beauty for himself

By Laura McKellar. Based on the story of the Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Anderson.

Laura McKellar Website & Blog

Small Finds - Moozlehome.com

Moozlehome is a lifestyle boutique with a mix of vintage, textiles, art, home and children's products with a strong graphic influence.
We love the teepee's adorned with flowers and leaves with vintage floral fabric and the crochet baby blankets and booties.

Moozlehome.com

Small Threads - liaMolly

liaMolly is a sweater collection designed by Seema Sudan, that is deeply rooted in the culture of knitting and inspired by traveling the globe, discovering magical places, studying fashions past and cultures around the world.
Seema's children's collection is designed exclusively for Anthropologie and are the most original knit designs we have ever seen.  We fell in love with the bold colors spun into flowers, stripes, spots, and plaids. Our faves are the Cozy Posy Sweatercoat, Lil' Pup Cap and the Chickadee Scarf.

liaMolly also has an amazing Woman's collection. For Seema's Fall Collection she payed homage to to the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, the city that inspires her and where she lives with her family.

liaMolly Kids for Anthropologie

Small Hands - Noshii

Nosheen Iqbal is the artist behind these colorful embroidered wood veneers and panels.  She is a London born; Dallas based designer, illustrator and visual artist.  Nosheen’s pieces are wood blocked or accented with acrylic paint. Each one is hand stitched making each artwork one-of-a kind. We can picture these in any child’s room.

Noshii Shop, Blog & Website

Small diy costumes- little red riding hood and the big bad wolf

We always think half the fun of Halloween is making the costumes. If you are looking for a costume you can put together your self Halloween (or just for the dress up box) we have two more fabulous DIY costume from Valarie Mangum and photographed last Fall for Small issue 8 by Nick Prendergast

Valerie: I completely adore the pig/wolf softie designed by Lizette Greco. I used her pattern from the softies book (edited by Therese Laskey of Softies Central) to make the snout on the hat. He has felt eyes and pointy ears. The hands are two pieces of fabric rounded at one end, sewn together with white felt triangles on the round end for claws that aren't too mean. The feet are made of one piece of fabric rounded at the end and elastic that goes underneath. they are meant to go over shoes. I thought the red suspenders made him look more sophisticated and innocent.

Valerie: This is a basic cape with scalloped edges. I sewed a line of vintage mismatched buttons down the front. Her wrap around skirt is white w/ red polka dots and 2 layers of red tulle. I cut some small flowers out of Amy Butler's cherry wallflower fabric and appliqued them to the front. Her fairy tale look is complete with a pointy hat that isn't attached to the cape.

Small Hands - Art Dolls

She Holds the Key by Mary's Granddaughter

Cherieko no.7 by Double Parlour

Nancy by Paola Zakimi

Cloth Folk Art Doll by Mother Sparrow

Little Darling by Cozbi

Small DIY costumes: kokeshi doll

Last Fall one of our favorite art directors Valerie Mangum made a series of amazing DIY costumes for a shoot for Small photographed by Nick Prendergast . We thought it would be great to show them to you again in the run up to Halloween along with the instructions from Valerie that we couldn't fit along side the shoot when we published it in issue 8 of Small.

Valerie: 'The kimono is vintage but you could easily make a simple one by cutting down an old dressing gown. I made the obi out of Amy Butler fabric and put wire in the hem of the obi to help it keep its shape. The model is wearing white tights with traditional Japanese shoes, but flip flops would work just fine. The best part about this costume is her wig, which is made out of strips of white polar fleece. I criss-crossed the strips over each other like lines making an astrix symbol until it looked almost like a circle. it wasn't cut into a bob until we put it on the model to make sure it was the right length.'

Small diy - jack-o-lantern candy bag

This weekend I spent some time with my two kids at SpaceCraft in Brooklyn. Spacecraft is a unique craft space and supply boutique with daily walk-in crafting projects for adults and kids of every level. We had a great day making some fun Halloween crafts with Esther and Ella two sisters there for a day of fun.

To make the bag we picked a bright orange shirt with a front pocket so the bag could have a little outside pocket. Be as imaginative as you want...a white shirt could become a ghost or skeleton, a green shirt can be a ghoul or monster, and red shirt can be a strawberry....If stenciling seems too complicated you could easily paint on a design with fabric paint.

What you will need:
-T-shirt
-scissors
-spray bottle 
-fabric ink-could be plain black or not
-cardboard or old towel
-construction paper or old brown paper bag
-fabric pencil or pen

What to do:
1: First lay the shirt flat and cut the bottom hem off.
2: Cut two extra  1" inch strips off as well
3: Take the strips and stretch them until they become long bands
4: Take a piece of paper -construction or old brown paper bag cut up- and draw out a jack o'lantern face or any spooky pattern you like.
5: Cut out to make a stencil
6: Place a piece of cardboard or old towel between the front and back of the shirt and place paper stencil on top of the shirt. Be careful to place it higher on the shirt as more of the bottom will be cut and threaded at the end.
7: With a spray bottle and fabric ink spray cover the holes in the stencils right to the edges. You can use a hair blow dryer to dry the ink faster.
8: Once the ink is dry take off paper stencil from the top and the cardboard from the middle of the shirt.
9: Cut off the arms at the shoulders, the neckband, and round off the bottom by cutting at the left and right bottom corners. Take both the stretched loop strips and cut them so they become long strings.
10: Cut a half inch hole at base of arm hole and thread string through, tie a knot to hold.

11: Keep cutting half inch holes and thread string in an over-under-over-under pattern until you get to the middle of the bottom.
12: Repeat on the other side and when the 2 strings meet up tie them off in the middle with a bow or fancy knot with wooden beads hanging.

Voila! You have a re-usable trick or treat bag!

Spacecraft
355 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Reported by Small associate-editor Jasmine Astronomo-Berger

Small Shops - Pipsqueak Chapeau

Sveta Drescher really liked the English word Pipsqueak when she heard it for the first time and 'Chapeau' is the name of a well known store owned by an eccentric woman who always wore crazy hats in Sveta's homeland, Russia. It sounded fun to her to put the two together- Pipsqueak Chapeau!

After having her son Kai (now 6.5) she knitted her first hat. Then came the idea for a line of kids hats and scarves and clothes, followed by a line of adult clothes. She now has a second son, Finn, who is 9 months. When she is not creating a clothing line she spends the time with her kids and works on her photography. She takes all of the evocative photos of her line for her website and blog (see below). Opening her new store felt like a natural progression- her clients kept asking for it and then recently a space came up near her home and studio in Brooklyn, so she jumped at the chance.

The entire Pipsqueak- Chapeau line is made by hand in Brooklyn. Natural materials are very important and all her designs are produced in linen, silk, cotton, felted wool, mohair, hemp and her knits are alpaca. The designs are usually in solid colors and natural shades. Sveta approaches her designs with a concern about how women and children feel living in their clothing, not so much how they look. Her line goes from baby knits to kids dresses to adult clothing and now she also does home linens.

For the Fall, Sveta favorite picks are:
-the alpaca mitts are the quintessential NYC mittens. You can open any doorknob better or handle a metro card with ease.
-the tie skirt (shown above with Sveta tying it) is wool, cashmere with a silk finish.
-the long sleeve linen dress which comes in white and black.

Pipsqueak-Chapeau

99 Franklin St. Brooklyn NY 11211

Reported by our associate editor in New York-  Jasmine Astronomo-Berger.

Small Hands - The Little Experience

Now all we have to do is hang and display all of our beautiful inventory and open the doors. Another order I placed for the shop is from The Little Experience. I am thinking a lot about really good birthday gifts under $20 and these are perfect. Each DIY kit contains all the supplies needed to make a space explorer, rocket, rag doll, or floral headband. There are tons to choose from and the best part - each box the kit comes in can be recycled and made into a sun lounger for the rag doll, a swing for the knit-it monkey or a coloring page. Brilliant!

 

The Little Experience

Small hands- Astulabee

We have loved Astulabee's soft sculptures since the first time we saw them. She now has a beautiful new website with gallery of her all her softies and images. We are looking forward to seeing her new work at the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend. 

Small Hands - Mathilde de Turckheim

Mathilde de Turckheim is a Parisian jewelry designer who hand sews lovely, one-of-a-kind necklaces. We first spotted Mathilde at Bubble NY and instantly fell in love with everything in her collection.
We love all the details and thought that goes into each creation; the bunny holding a purse, dolls holding a jar of lollipops and frogs, and of course the duck with the flower beaded hat. We also love the mixed materials of vintage fabrics, beads, little birds, vintage coral, pearls and semi-precious stones.
Any girl would be very lucky to have such a necklace!

Mathilde de Turckheim

Small Hands - Ashley G

   

We featured Ashley G in out very first issue of Small Magazine. She is now offering custom illustrated portraits. 

Ashley G's Esty Shop, Blog and Website.