take my breath away miss taylor!

okay, by now some of you may know that i tend to be a little dramatic when it comes to things like colors and textures and buttons and cuts, etc. love me or leave me. :)

well, girls...today is NO different. holy macaroni. do you see this sweetness?

this pattern my dears, is the taylor by the mean princess. meagan is the brilliance behind TMP. she has quickly become one of my dearest sewing buds for many reasons. for one, i am not completely convinced that we weren't separated at birth. it is crazy how our brains think the same. it is like she has half (maybe she has the one that actually functions??) and i have half. weird, right? we too often are right along the same wavelength that it is scary. AND she just so happens to share my sailor seamstress tongue. she 'gets' me, and that is pretty darn rad.

besides all of that...this girl is crazy talented. she just recently started to publish some of her patterns and the taylor is in her etsy shop right now. when she first showed me the design i am sure that people a few countries away probably heard my jaw hit the floor. i am caaaaaaaarazy about a boat neck, and for those of you that may have tried to draft one before, they are not easy my dears. but meagan nailed it. add in those sweet little sleeves and i just die. love it.

today i had to take a little breather from dock of the bay before i turned into otis redding himself (hehe) and i've been busting at the seams (yep, pun intended) to make this taylor. so i turned to my fabric bookcase and found the scrap of coral linen that i saved just because. (you see, this is just another example of why it is a collection, and not hoarding) and then i dug around and found enough of the navy and white stripe knit (this knit is NOT a friend of mine. we do NOT place nice together...but damn if it doesn't make the dress) to make the top. and i got to work. and this is where i got...

i just love it. coral and navy with some turquoise buttons on the sleeves with an apple green button (you know these all came from my fabulous button lady michele at little red cottage, she feeds my addiction) for the back and i just fell out of my sewing chair. notice i did NOT admit to falling out of my rocker. maybe tomorrow. :)

this pattern is way easy. you girls have GOT this and you so need this in your stash. i didn't attach the top to the skirt (i made the top longer so it is like a shirt) only because my dear, sweet, precocious little fireball informed me she promised to wear it if it was a skirt. we shall see...

go grab you a taylor, and tell meagan her other brain said hello.

here ye, here ye...

okay, just a quick post for all the new faces of brownie-goose since my sweet, itty-bitty little 'business' has done sort of a boom over the last month. have i ever told you all how much you rock? for those that are new to BG, i tend to remind you often of how much you do.

because seriously, if it wasn't for all of you...there would be no BG. and you keep me rocking like no other, so rock on peeps.

anyhoo...this is the way that BG works. and bare with me as i need to update my "about me" and "how to order" and all that other jazz at the top of this page but i swanny i cannot find an extra few hours in the day lately.

• i am the sole lady behind BG. i sometime refer to myself as the girl behind BG. if you don't know me, here is some more info on me. i tend to be a pretty far-out girl most of the time, but i am also well-known for being off my rocker as well. there are methods to my madness, but i have yet to pin-point them.

• i am completely, shamelessly, utterly head over shoes (as Louisa calls it) in love with all things pertaining to children's clothing, design, fabric, BUTTONS, etc. it tends to consume me, but it also lets me let the crazy out.

• i do not take custom orders. since i have added chirren #2 to the mix at my house my time is no longer mine. i cannot guarantee time in my sewing room and not having custom orders hanging over my head makes life just a little easier for me. :)

• i sell the inventory of my collections in uploads. my latest collection is dock of the bay. it is wonderful and fabulous and i sometimes want to eat the colors and textures. if you follow me on facebook, i post any and every detail about uploads as well as on this blog. i usually will put up sizing info a few days before an upload so that you can choose wisely. all inventory uploads are done on the cartel.

• my inventory is not crazy-abundant. once again, it is little ole 4'11" me in my sewing room in my spare time. i wish i could sew for each and every person, but after 3.5 years i have still not come up with a solution to be able to swing all of that jive.

• i have recently started to sell the patterns that i design. this was a decision i rode the struggle bus on for a while, but once i chose to share my designs - i knew instantly it was the right one. there are some crazy-talented people out there and when i see pictures of what you awesome girls do with my patterns, i honestly smile from ear to ear and am allowed to run off the crazys for a few hours. my patterns are all in my etsy store.

now, clear as mud right? yeah.

so, basically right now what i am doing is working on the rest of the designs of dock of the bay and finishing up the grading and sizing of all patterns that i have designed for it. then, i will put my pedal to the metal as i work on inventory to get it from my lovely sewing room to your house. i have not set a date yet for the dock of the bay upload, mostly because there is SO much up in the air at my house right now. my house is on the market as i will be moving back to georgia this summer (wahoooo). at some point it will sell, and when it does...i have to pack. if it sells soon, i will have to pack all of the dock of the bay up as well and finish after packing. crazy, right? yeah, i have given up on trying to figure out what to do and am just going to let go and let happen. it is my new year's resolution after all.

after i sell all of my inventory, i will then get to work on publishing the patterns that i have designed so that you crazy-awesome-crafty girls out there can make some beauties too.

want to know more about dock of the bay? oh, why certainly.

it is awesome. it is lovely. it is muted but colorful at the same time. it is classic, it is BG and it is coming along quite nicely. for those that have been with BG for a while, you know i find inspiration for my designs in songs and music. this time was no different. most of the designs and combos came to me one night while listening to my otis redding pandora station as it was playing some of the most fabulous songs of my childhood. i was immediately no longer in my sewing room, but on Tybee with my best girlfriends soaking up the sun, drinking cold bevos and shagging on the pier (now before you think bad of me...i speak of shagging the DANCE, not the austin powers kind of shag) barefoot, sun-burnt and maybe just a little tipsy. now THAT my dears, was the most fun. the colors of the coast flooded into my mind while i let the breeze blow gauzy fabrics and textures like linens. and after a few hours of fabulous music, a pen and paper, a few dozen memories revisited and some fabric pulled out of my stash...dock of the bay was born. this little collection of goodies right here was what started it all.

does that picture make you grin as much as it does me?

how about some of these?

now, while i dive back into my sewing room with measurements in my head and designs on my mind and putting that pedal to the metal...i want you to prepare yourself mentally for DOTB. i only wish you had my sweet Savannah friends and shared the memories of leaving St. Vincent's on a half day friday, driving down the causeway while changing out of your plaid skirt and into your bathing suit to spend the next few hours with your toes in the sand and not a care in the world. man, i was a lucky, lucky girl. but since i cannot share all of those memories - i will indulge you in my most favorite movies of ALL time. it will certainly get you in the mood for dock of the bay. go find SHAG the movie, curl up on your couch and enjoy the laid back east coast beach life. i bet by the end of it...you just might be wanting to learn to shag (dance, dance, dance...shame on austin powers!) yourself. you should, it is the most fun. oh, and you may have a new crush on buzz ravenel. oooooohwie.

now, off to the sewing room i go!

when life hands you lemons...

you can make lemonade. OR, if you are like me...you can make the lemonade dress.

OR if neither tickle your fancy, go get you some retail therapy and buy you a lemonade dress. (well, not completely true...she isn't for sale just yet) isn't she fabulous?

oh i just love her. and i am so glad too since it took me an embarrassing amount of hours to perfect her. you may or may not have seen my post on facebook where poor sandra dee was looking like a voodoo doll. i knew i wanted something different (imagine that) that would define the dress as a BG Original. i think i did good, huh?

i find myself swooning over her angel sleeves, the sweet neckline with a button flap and military-style tab all the way down to the soft a-line shape of the skirt and the cute little opening slit in the back. my size, please!

the lemonade dress will debut on the dock of the bay line. however, not in these fabrics. i have to give a huge thank you to meagan of the mean princess for the awesome eye in picking out that amazing blue fabric. she did a fabulous dress out of it (if you haven't seen it, please go drool yourself over her taylor...it is amazing), and i knew i *needed* some too. on dock of the bay, lemonade dress will be just as fine...with a color combination that just might make you squeal for joy.

just a little teaser...before i shade out big time to finish the design-phase of dock of the bay. hope you likey. now to get to cleaning - showing in the house in a bit and i have learned that unfortunately a sewable sewing room does not equal a showable sewing room. fiddlesticks and gargamels.

oh what can it mean to a DAYDREAM BELIEVER

wow. the end of daydream. i am actually very sad to see it go. i said it from the beginning and i still mean it...by far my most fave line EVER. dock of the bay has some really, really big shoes to fill.

and i think you all loved it too, dare i say? i am having a hard time letting some of it go. and usually by the end of one of my seasons i am so far over the fabrics that i don't want to see them again...but not this time. i mean, i am ready for the challenge of new designs and finding fabrics - but i don't know if i can honestly say that if i ran across some of the fabric from daydream at a great price that i wouldn't jump again. yep, i am completely, certifiably nutso. love me or leave me.

anyways - what you really want to know is the info about the last upload. it is tomorrow. i know, i am getting to this blog late...but today, life happened in my house and even though i had a billion things to do BG-wise, i practiced what i am trying so hard to preach...i turned off the light in my sewing room and told it all to wait - i had life to attend to.

so, tomorrow, friday january 6 at 10 am CST the last of the daydream believer will be uploaded on the cartel. be there, or be square.

debuting this upload are the lola bells - both the limited edition and the 'regulars' (the lola is hardly ordinary) and the skyline tank. also up for grabs are some of the ever-popular sleepy jeans, plum hatties, rusty ninas and a few of the lucky star pants. and then it will be done. and for the first time in BG history, the girl behind BG is actually sad to see it go.

anyways - below is all the sizing info you will need for all of the new styles debuting. if you still need info on sizing for any of the other styles, you can click on the daydream believer tab up top and scroll down to see all the other information in posts past. all items will ship or be ready for pick-up on or before next wednesday, january 11th.

and for just a little teaser...i have more of the fabric that i did that sweet little katie top that is pictured in the lola bell photo. i have had many requests for that top...so i might just have to whip up a few of those to pair with your lolas. but i will let you know ahead of time, promise. i will also be working on getting the nelle pattern published and for sale in my etsy shop (yipppppppppeeeee). once all that is done...i will park myself under my shade tree for a while while i dive into the new designs and colorways that will become dock of the bay. this next line is inspired by a song, duh...of course, but also by things in my childhood. and just so you know, i had a pretty cool childhood - so get excited. :)

as always, keep on rocking the BG kiddos. you are awesome and i love everyone of you! i appreciate the snot out of my incredibly loyal customers that, in my opinion, have fantastic taste in children's clothing. okay...now i am just getting cheeky. but i mean it. thank you BG'ers!

xoxo - amy

the last of the sapphires

oh dear sapphire nelle...

you have by FAR been one of the biggest hits of the daydream believer line. and why not? your beautiful maize color paired with sapphire buttons and lace just make you irresistible. but as i sit to sew my very last sapphire nelle today (let's count them...19 yards of fabric for this beauty, phew) i hope that somewhere in there my sweet louisa has one since i just cannot stand how much i love this dress on her.

so, tonight is your last chance at a BG sapphire nelle. i will be uploading them to my big cartel store this evening around 8 pm CST.

need a refresher on the sizing info?

so, once again...the last of the sapphires going in the cartel tonight at 8 pm CST. be there.

oh, and for those of you out there that love to sew BG...you should be excited. i will be sewing my last sapphire with camera in-hand. what that means to you is that there WILL be a pattern to come soon. not in the next week though, as my head is currently spinning with all that needs to be sewn for daydream to get all the inventory out so i can play with my new fabrics. :)

and for those that may not grab a sapphire...no worries. the girl behind BG happens to love the nelle so much that she might end up a staple on the lines. :)

i have more daydream believer to come. stay tuned for more info. also, i wanted to give the option for those of you shopping tonight, if you want more of the daydream and don't mind waiting...you can shoot me an email to HOLD your order and ship it all at once so you don't have to pay shipping multiple times. or, if you are like me and tend to be an instant gratification kind of girl - it will be going out tomorrow. :)

my inner dorkiness

today i had to run to the fabric store as i had run out of thread for my current project in the wee hours last night. story of my life. and although that was ALL i needed, i still couldn't help myself from roaming around the rest of the store. i need more fabric kinda like i need a hole in my head, but you see - i have a slight problem when it comes to fabric. there isn't much self control to be had. (okay, we can be honest...what self control?) granted, i did leave with my thread purchase, plus some other fabric...BUT in my defense, it is all for either me or louisa - which we all know means it will probably sit on a surface in my sewing room while i work on all things brownie-goose and then get covered in the mess otherwise known as my creative-sewing-disasters and i will find it in about a year and wonder why i had bought it. sound familiar?

anyways, back to the point of my blog. while i was roaming i came across two girls that were looking at clearance fabric. i was probably looking scary as crizzidy since when i look at fabric i actually cross my eyes so that i can see it in a blur to know how i want to use it and how to match it. yep, sounds crazy as hell...but one of those methods to my madness. and somehow, even my crazy cross-eye-stare-trance didn't scare off the amateurs. one of the girls looked at me and asked if i minded answering a question. i told her of course not, but there were no guarantees that the answer would make sense (coming from the cross-eyed crazy lady). she laughed and then asked if i sewed. hehe, why yes. every now and then i like to dibble my hands in it. so, i tried to help.

and 30 minutes later, the two girls walked away to the check-out with all of their new purchases and grins from ear to ear. it turns out they both got sewing machines for christmas. one had a grandmother that sewed and the other just wanted to learn. i answered all of the questions they had (well, that i could...) about fabrics, threads, notions, buttons, patterns, etc. i am not sure how the girls didn't run away screaming since i was probably way more excited about the lesson than i should have been. but they didn't. instead, they listened, i could see the excitement in their eyes and i was beaming. not because i had helped them (for there is a mighty fine chance that i passed along some of my fondness of my way vs. the right way) but because...here we go:

sewing is cool again.

and somehow that single fact makes me happier than a clam. call me a dork, whatever...you can. but you are wrong. haha. but it is. and i think that is awesome. aside from these 2 girls, i know of 2 other people that got machines for christmas. sewing is the most fun. and the fact that people are catching on to this is awesome.

yes, kinda random i know. but exciting. now if only i can get those amateurs trained well and take them under my wing and open a workroom in my garage so i can get inventory out faster. haha. maybe i am getting ahead of myself here. :) or maybe i should have gotten their numbers.

anyways, speaking of inventory. i need to get back to my machines. you see, there are more sapphire nelles going up in the cartel at the end of this week (the LAST of them) and this is where they stand right now.

must get to work.

Betsy's Dress Upload

here ye, here ye.

haha, not really. but the nerd in me took over my blog for a sec. okay - the fabulous betsy's dress. so cute and so adorable that it even got it's very OWN page in the South Magazine. can you even believe it? do you wanty? well, here is the skinny on how to get.

i know i said that i would have one more upload in december with everything, and then i changed my mind. imagine that. i started to work on the betsys and realized that christmas is coming a LOT quicker than i am prepared for it to, and i need to go ahead and get inventory out and available to all of you as quick as i can.

so, these dresses will either SHIP ON FRIDAY or be ready for local pick-up on friday. ready to ship i think is the fancy word for that.

i also think that the upload may not be as crazy with christmas being so close. i may be wrong...but if there is any leftover inventory, i will be putting up in my etsy shop.

enough talk. here is the info. tomorrow, THURSDAY DECEMBER 8 @ 10 AM CST this dress will be available for purchase in my big cartel store. here is the direct link.

for the rest of the uploads, i will work as quick as i can to get things up in a timely manner. i have petals to the medal and am busting it whenever i can. i have had some people ask if there will be other opportunities for more daydream after all the uploads, and the answer is yes...well, kinda. the pieces that i have fabric left over will be made up into designs and placed for sale when i make them in my etsy store for those that aren't ready yet, need to wait for some christmas funds, or whatever the reason. hope this helps!

once again...if you must have a betsy's dress (and you really must, trust me) go to my big cartel store tomorrow at 10 am CST to snag one!

thanks again kiddos - keep on rocking the daydream believer!

welcome, welcome

hello to all the new faces from the south magazine!!! i am so glad you stopped by brownie-goose and hope you love it all as much as i do!

and for those that have the condition that i suffer from as well and may be thinking right now, "hmmmm...what did i miss?" no worries. it happens to the best of us, PLUS facebook is being super crazy now-a-days and hiding all sorts of posts from BG so you cannot see me. grrrrrrr. methinks facebook might be a BG hater.

anyways - i was EXTREMELY honored to be asked by a designer who is working as a stylist (who is also a project runway designer, i was slightly star-struck on the phone and was glad when he quickly realized how dorky but cool i can be and tried not to be too mortified when i asked certain questions, haaa - mitchell, ONE day i will laugh about it all) if he could pull some things brownie-goose for a photo shoot for the south magazine. ummmm, HELLS TO THE YEAH. i was super excited, but also very nervous. and so i got quiet and shady. and we all know by now that i am super obvious and when i get quiet - i am most likely up to something. :)

and so i sent lots of BG goodies to savannah and to my absolute shock and surprise, i saw yesterday when the issue hit the stands that MY DRESS MADE THE COVER. oh my word. when i saw it, i immediately thought i was gonna cry. and then i laughed, and kinda did a half cry in which i had a small snort with tears coming from my eyes. then my ears got all hot and i felt dizzy. and then i giggled again, and then the tears came. you see, this is HUGE for itty-bitty old me. i put so much into brownie-goose and pour every single bit of my heart into it, and to see a dress that i designed staring back at me on a cover - simply took my breath away. to me, at that moment...it had all paid off. this was me. this was my brownie-goose. this was my heart and soul of design. whether i decided the next day to quit it all (i am kidding here folks) or go big-time, i DID it. i am not one to pat myself on the back too often, but i did. yay me. and now i am chomping at the bit to see the rest of the magazine! and for those that are wondering...that dress on the front - well, that is a small sneak of what is to come on my next line, dock of the bay. just so you know, i LOVE teasers and sneak peeks.

so, now on to what i sat down to write about in the first place. you see, for all of you that are new to BG (what i lovingly nick-named brownie-goose) - i am a very wordy person. when i blog, you are lucky if you actually see a sentence that is pertaining to what i sat down with in mind the first time. my mind runs wild. you can read more about that here. but just to warn you. :)

if you want to purchase some of the frocks you saw in the magazine, this is how it goes. i am the only girl sewing and my demand outweighs my supply something crazy. and until i figure out how to fix that silly issue, this is how i roll. i sell my collection in uploads. i have already had 2 for my latest line daydream believer. i have one more that i want to do that will have bits and pieces of the entire collection in it. i ALWAYS post to my blog/website in advance of an upload sizing information, time, place, etc. for the past 2 uploads, i have used big cartel. i *may* and *may not* use it again, i may just use my etsy store for organizational purposes to make the control freak in me happy. so, in essence....stay tuned on here and also on facebook and you will be informed. promise!

so thanks again for loving brownie-goose, welcome and glad to see you! stay tuned and i will keep you posted!