Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Posey Panda - Mom's Newet Ebay Listing

Mom has been keeping busy as of late.
Posey Panda
16" Center-Seamed Bear

Posey Panda is an original design 16" center seam Teddy Bear made from soft Schulte mohair that has been hand dyed two different shades. Her arm, legs and ears are a pale blue with a creamy white body and face. She is fully jointed and secured by the use of lock nuts, bolts and discs. I have used a wobble joint technique to her head, arms and legs which gives her the feel and movement of an old bear. Paw and foot pads are from hand dyed merino wool. Posey Panda is filled with excelsior, fiberfill and pellets for a nice weight. She has been softly stuffed to give her a vintage look and feel, just ever so slightly slouchey. Her sew-in tag has my signature and date.

Please take a moment and stop by to see Posey Panda.

Thank you,

Jared

Thursday, March 12, 2009

New Items On Etsy

You all know that I have listed Waldon on Etsy. But what you may not know is that mom has opened an Etsy shoppe as well. She has listed several St. Patrick's Days ornaments and Vintage decorated Easter Eggs. She has also listed a special St. Patrick's Day bear, Patty. Please take a moment to check them out. Thank you.

Click on the pictures below to be taken to the listings on Etsy.




Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I Learned Something New Today!

I have always known tailors as men who make, repair, and alter men’s clothing. As a sewer I have never really considered myself a tailor, because I don’t make, repair, or alter men’s clothing. I did work at The Buckle for about 9 months doing minor and major alterations, but call myself a tailor? No. I considered myself a sewer, who just happened to be male.

I have been sewing since I was two. Mind you, I wasn’t making clothing or craft projects. According to my mother, I would sit with buttons, needle, thread, and a scrap of fabric and attach buttons to my heart’s delight. I don’t remember this as I was so very young, so I will take mom’s word for it. After all, she is a fairly reliable source…

I do remember that for a time in the early 80s I had a brown paper grocery bag filled with mom’s scraps and I was on a mission to make a crazy quilt. Did I know what I was doing? No. Mom would have scraps from seed sacks, broad cloth, velvet, seersucker, various cottons, and who-knows-what-else. I would gather together every piece I could find and with my needle and thread, red as I remember, sewing piece after piece together. I was going to make a crazy quilt. I used every stitch that I had ever seen and a few that I made up. It took me months to create a section that was roughly 12” wide and 14” tall and it was a huge triangle with tails hanging off all three corners. Of course I didn’t use a pattern, who needs patterns or directions? Not me. I had no idea what I had gotten into. Finally, one day I tired of the project declared it finished and promptly gave it to the dog to sleep on (I think).

Ok, that was a nice trip down memory lane but back to my main point. I was reading a friend’s blog yesterday and she referred to her dad as a seamster, which I felt it was my duty to point out was not a correct term, but rather it would more correct to refer to him as a tailor. Boy was I wrong! I got an e-mail about a follow up comment. Below is a copy of the comment from Chrissi:

"Well, um errr not to get too technical but you weren't really totally brain cramped Daph :D
A tailor, a seamster, and a sartor are correct terms. Funny thing is "tailor" is defined as "a person" and not specifically a gal or guy. It appears only seamstress is gender specific, so go figure! lol :)"

So now my curiosity got the better of me. I had to check this out. I logged on to google and to dictionary.com. I typed in the words tailor, seamster, and sartor. These are actual words and they are correct to use.



  • Tailor – a person whose occupation is the making, mending, or altering of clothes, esp. suits, coats, and other outer garments.

  • Seamster – a person whose occupation is sewing; tailor. (This one really blew my mind. I still haven't collected all the pieces yet. Oops! There's another piece.)

  • Sartor - a person whos occupation is making and altering garments. (I had never heard of this one.)


Definitions from dictionary.com accessed on 03/04/2009.


Notice each definition is gender neutral. The only one that I found that referred to a gender was seamstress. Other than that every other term could be used for either male or female.

Interesting...

Several years ago while cutting fabric for a high school girl, she referred to me as a seamster. I corrected her. A man should be called a tailor. I was thinking to myself, “Seamster!? That’s not even a word.” Wrong again, but hey those are the only two times in my life that I have ever been wrong. (LOL)

According to further information given in the definitions the term seamster is a Middle English word. Translation – the term seamster has been in use for a very long time.

So Daphne, I do apologize. You were correct to call your father a seamster. But I think that I would call your father a universal man given the list of things that he can do.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Waldon 20” Mohair Teddy Bear

This is what you all have been waiting for…


Waldon is an original design crafted from two tone mohair. He stands 20" tall and is fully jointed. He has been stuffed with a mix of excelsior, polyfil, and copper BBs. His black glass eyes are backed by felt patches.

Waldon has been highlighted with air brushed accents. His neck is adorned with a bow created from fabric and wired ribbon and a floral accent.

Waldon has been signed and dated.

He is looking for a home and would love to come live with you.

$435.00 USD plus shipping.

You can view him in my etsy shop by clicking here.

Thanks for stopping by and check back soon.

Jared

Monday, March 2, 2009

I Am Going To Try Something New…

Well at least for me it is something new.

I have noticed in the past year that more artists are using blogs to sell their work. I have seen that many are successful. I am planning on listing a few items on my blog in the next few weeks. Be sure to subscribe to my blog to get the updates.

Until the next post thank you for stopping by.