ALMOST Ready

I'm so excited to tell you that we have two of our newest creations listed in our Artfire and Etsy shops!  First up, this beautiful funnel neck sweater.  Hand dyed in a twilight blue and saffron yellow, this organic wool jersey is so soft!   We have two sizes listed: a women's Medium (size 10/12) and a children's 2T. 

This is tax week and so we're both finishing up with that and are almost ready to have inventory of our new line of beautiful organic hand dyed sweaters.  We have our prototypes perfected, and multiple colors to work with.   We will have at least three necklines to choose from: Scoop, Cowl, and Hoodie.  Most likely we will also offer a regular T-neck as well. 

 I had a photoshoot with a dear friend (and one of the women who works me out) last week.  We went down to the Tumwater Falls, which is close to my home because it is such a stunning natural backdrop. Here you can see the scoop and cowl necklines and three of the colors (Moss Green, Twilight Blue, and Saffron Yellow).

Dyeing to be Perfect

Suzanne and I are both enamoured with the idea of using hand-dyed organic fibers, and I'm completely excited about doing our own dyeing.  My first two batches came out uneven and speckly, but I soon figured out the chemistry and perfected my technique.  It turns out that it's critical to wash the fabric first with a high quality professional textile detergent, and timing the fixing process with the right temperature is also key. 

Anyhow, this last batch I dyed included the colors, "Sand Dune" and "Cayenne Red."  The first color is a gorgeous pale mushroom grey, while the red is definitely chili pepper!  And I'm so happy that the color came out uniform and perfectly saturated. This fiber is organic Oeko-Tex 100 certified merino wool jersy knit.  It is super soft to the touch, and warm to wear.

Onward!  I can't wait to see these turned into garments!

Little Lap Jacket

 

Another one of our designs is this little lapped jacket, which is reminiscent of a Nepalese style of jacket.  This one was made from a sweater that we felted and re-cut into our pattern.  We serged it together and trimmed it with a cotton knit in a fun stripe.  I just love the way it turned out, and the weight of the wool is perfect for those chilly fall days.  We plan to make this style for adults as well, but as yet we have not found a good source for thicker wool to acheive this weight.  We may have to cut up multiple sweaters and have more of a colorblocked look.  We'll see....

The jacket pictured is available now in our Artfire shop; it's one of a kind, so when it's gone it's gone for good.  Of course we will make more of these with the same pattern, but because we're up-cycling wool, no two are alike.

A Little Funnel Neck

I'm so excited to reveal to you one of Mercy Me's newest designs: a funnel neck sweatshirt!  This one is sized for a child, but we plan to offer the same style for adults as well.   This design is very kid friendly because it's easy to get on and off, but at the same time I think it offers a touch of sophistication that appeals to adults, too.  The neck can be worn down or buttoned up, depending on the weather and your mood.

The sweatshirt pictured  is made from cotton knit, but we plan to make this out of organic wool and other yummy fabrics.  Stay tuned!

It feels great to have our designs coming along, although I'm impatient for lots of inventory!  To help with this feeling, we recently purchased an industrial Singer Serger from the '4o's, and it's beautiful!!  And talk about fast; the thing is finished sewing before our fingers can move the fabric.  Suzanne has pretty much mastered the thing, while I remain terrified of it.  For now, I'll stick with the home serger...




Industrial Singer Serger from the 1940's