LBB Clothing | Lil Blue Boo

New to Lil Blue Boo

June 3, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 14 Comments

New to Lil Blue Boo! Silk screened shorts! These were made out of necessity….Boo wears dresses 99% of the time but she also wears shorts underneath for the hot slide at school! No one wants a burnt bum! I couldn’t find a yoga style short I liked so I decided I needed to design my own:

I made her wear a tank top so I could get a photo of them (Graffiti shoes look familiar?)

I love mixing and matching them all!

I’ve also been working on perfecting a new sleeve style…..an extra large fluttery sleeve. Sienna thinks they look like elephant ears (maybe because we just a got an elephant shaped baby pool for her to play in)…..so that’s what we named them!

I turned 33 this week! Here I am at 3 years old….same age as Boo now….sporting vintage flutter sleeves.

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, LBB Clothing, Things I've Made

Lil Blue Boo Horses! Upload tonight!

May 25, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 2 Comments

New limited edition horse printed dresses size 6M to size 10 to be uploaded tonight to my Lil Blue Boo Big Cartel shop! Upload is scheduled for 8pm EST.

Each dress comes with a matching doll dress that fits a 15″ Waldorf, AppleTreeHouse, Bamboletta or even a Pottery Barn doll as shown in the photo:

I’m trying something new ….making a dress or two in each size. It is crazy HARD work but I love that there are more to go around! Don’t be late!

Lisa from Ellebows will be uploading some gorgeous matching headbands to match! Here are the ones she recently made for my blue horse dresses:

Filed Under: LBB Clothing, Printing/Stenciling

A Little Bit of Everything…..(and a new member of the family!)

May 19, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 27 Comments

I feel like I’ve been all over the place these last two weeks!

I silk screened a limited edition set of silk screened dresses for my Big Cartel shop with matching doll dresses. I made them in every size which is my new plan going forward for limited edition screens….it was a ton of work but so happy with the dresses. I always try to make one for Boo and get some photos of her. My friend Lisa had just taken her daughter to this cool graffiti wall on El Paseo so after pancakes at Keedy’s this weekend we went by and snapped a few photos:

Photobucket
Of course she didn’t want her photo taken….so I just had to snap as she sulked

Photobucket
I’ve been organizing my studio as I move in….it’s coming along. I’ll try to get some photos put up once everything is put away. I finally got around to organizing all my patterns that I use almost every day….I’ll have a separate post on this soon.

Photobucket

Sienna’s been contributing by drawing spaceships on any pattern piece I happen to drop on the floor:

Photobucket
I’ve moved over most of my knits onto the shelves that Mr. LBB built me for Mother’s Day:

Photobucket
I made Sienna’s Butterfly dress…..she’s loving the purple. I had to bribe her with a bowl of Reese’s peanut butter chips to get a photo of her standing still. The quality of Dharma Trading’s spaghetti strap dresses are great. They are a heavier cotton rib so they aren’t see through at all. They run about $10.50 each.

Photobucket
The highlight of the week was when Sienna’s new baby Li’l Sally arrived! For weeks Sienna has been stalking the mailbox: “Is Sally here yet Mommy?” Debra from AppleTreeHouse made the 10″ Waldorf doll for us and we are in LOVE with her.

Debra did an amazing job of matching the unruly curly hair to Sienna’s! I can’t even tell them apart!

Photobucket
Li’l Sally needed some clothes so Sienna helped pick out some knits and we made her a cute little LBB dress:

Photobucket

I sew so many things in a week that I run through a crazy amount of serger blades. I decided to attempt sharpening them myself…..big fail. The low of the week: now my machine has been down…..and my dresses are piling up! Hopefully the new blades come today…..

Photobucket
….because boredom is setting in! We’ve been eyeing Diesel for some time wondering if he could fit into a doll LBB dress. Funny….he is the same size as a 10″ Waldorf doll! Please don’t tell any of your dogs….I don’t want him getting bullied.

Photobucket
This doll dress was a sample and you can win it if you leave a comment on the post announcing the giveaway on the LBB Facebook page! Ends tonight at midnight! It will fit a 15″ doll or stuffed animal and features some of my Lil Blue Boo Citrus silk screen.

Off to check the P.O. box!

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, doll clothes, Dyeing and Tie Dyeing, Giveaway, LBB Clothing, Recycled, Sewing, Things I've Made, Work Spaces

Weekend LBB Gallery Share – Peace & Progress

May 15, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 4 Comments

Monika sent these amazing photos she took of her daughter Grace in a Lil Blue Boo silk screened peace dress. Beautiful girl, confident attitude, perfect setting, breathtaking sunset. And Grace, I LOVE your arm warmers!

Thank you so much Monika and Grace!

About the dress: To get a peace sign this big you need a REALLY big silk screen! It is over 12″ wide! I hand dyed the trim using Procion dye.

Another cool share I found today on YouTube….a compilation of a few of my sister Perry’s TV appearances when she did a 12-episode Road Trip with Josh Kelley, Charlie Rymer, and Mark Bryan. It is pretty cool because she does some singing with Josh and Mark:

I’ve been a little absent this week trying to move all my fabric, machines, notions, patterns into my new sewing studio. Almost there! I’ll have some photos soon once I get some additional shelving put up and the rest put away! And then I can finally get back to blogging!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Filed Under: LBB Clothing, Photography, Recycled, Saturday LBB Gallery, Things I've Made, Upcycled

Mini Mini-Me

May 4, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 35 Comments

A few months ago a customer asked me to send some dress scraps to Debra at Apple Tree House so that her daughter’s doll could arrive with a matching outfit. Since then it’s been in the back of my mind to make some matching doll clothes to a few dresses. I’m wondering how much more work can I possibly create for myself: Boo has to match me, I have to match Boo, now we both have to match the doll?!

I remember begging my mother to buy me nightgowns at Richway when I was little that came with an identical doll-sized versions for my Cabbage Patch Kid doll…..it was a big deal. I LOVE the little perfect miniature creations that Melanie makes for her Melamoose Co Etsy store (they sell out immediately) and we’ve been talking about a collaboration. I decided to test it out with a twirl skirt and top. This is Abby….she’s a 15″ Pottery Barn doll:

It is a mini version of this larger twirl skirt:

Here is a photo of the new owner of the twirl skirt: Haven. She is a 15″ Bamboletta doll. SO cute! Thanks for the photo Carli!

I made a cute matching set featuring my ladybug silk screen…..and Boo confiscated it immediately. She could care less about dolls and doll clothes UNLESS they are perfect little clones….then she’ll spend all day with them! Here she is begging me not to sell it…..she rarely asks for anything, so of course I caved. She’s worn it everyday this week!

Abby is a great model. I just hold her by the hair and dangle her in front of the camera. Much easier than a human model.

We are waiting on our 10″ doll from Apple Tree House to size clothing for smaller dolls!

I couldn’t resist a Matryoshka silk screen with matching mini-me version:

Changing the subject….I finally started incorporating my new LBB Signature Print into some dresses. I’ve narrowed it down to three favorites for the name (to win the summer scarf)…..which do you like the best?

1. Easy as Pi
2. Q-T-Pi
3. Batik Geek

Flashback: Last summer I launched my Halter Dress Pattern. I was looking through my photos and just loved these. Had to share. Boo looks so young and her hair is so short! If you are looking for an easy beginner pattern for some summer dresses, this one is perfect.

One LAST announcement:

Do you have a Lil Blue Boo long sleeved dress from my shop that you want your little one to wear into the summer!? You still have a few days left to send them in to have the sleeves shortened for summer free of charge! (Must be postmarked by May 15th and include a postage paid return envelope) Contact me if you need my P.O. address.

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, doll clothes, LBB Clothing, Things I've Made

Sunday LBB Gallery Share – Itty Bitties!

May 3, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 10 Comments

My favorite thing in the whole world is receiving photos of children wearing my Lil Blue Boo dresses! Check out these two fabulous photographers and their itty bitty models:

Olivia of Olivia Hooper Photography photographed her daughter who just turned one in an upcycled LBB birthday dress (you’ve seen here before on the blog, she photographed the debut of my racerback and ladybug silk screen)

Below is the custom dress on the hanger. I silk screened Olivia’s daughter’s nickname “CHUBS” on the back of it. I make the “I’m ONE” dresses as birthday dresses but they are sized larger so they can be worn the entire year.

Christa Spera of A Hope and a Wish Photography sent me this beautiful photo of her daughter:

I hand dyed the main part of this dress in a spiral pattern using some upcycled pique fabric and silk screened the citrus images for this dress.

Gorgeous photos. Thank you so much Olivia and Christa!

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, LBB Clothing, Photography, Recycled, Saturday LBB Gallery, Sewing, Things I've Made, Upcycled

10 Minute Knit Summer Cowl Scarf (A Tutorial)

April 26, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 15 Comments

My desert wardrobe gets a little boring: tank top, jeans and flip flops….year round.

I made this easy cowl scarf out of some taupe tie dyed knit to spruce it up a bit.

First, I cut 2 long strips of knit, each measuring about 36″ x 8″:

How to make a 10 minute Cowl Scarf Step 1 via lilblueboo.com
I used my serger to sew the long sides together with contrasting bright thread:

How to make a 10 minute Cowl Scarf Step 2 via lilblueboo.com
Next, I twisted the scarf in the center, matched up the ends and sewed them together:

How to make a 10 minute Cowl Scarf Step 3 via lilblueboo.com

Lastly, I used my serger to finish all the way around the edge of the scarf:

Easy! Mix it up by using contrasting fabrics for each strip!

Filed Under: Clothes For Me, LBB Clothing, Recycled, Sewing, Things I've Made, Toys and Accessories, Tutorial, Upcycled Tagged With: clothing, DIY, knit, serger, tutorial

LBB Signature Fabric

April 23, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 21 Comments

I’ve been wanting to do an exclusive signature fabric for my Lil Blue Boo dresses for a while now. I finally got around to it!

The design is all hand drawn using a sharpie and then burned onto a silk screen frame (see my screenprinting 101 tutorial here). I wanted to work in some things I love so it includes the number Pi (as many decimal places I could fit), roman numerals, Chinese number characters and a few other surprises throughout. I was a math major and studied the Chinese language in China so I’ve got some random “loves”.

Note: I wanted to add in some trigonometry, prime numbers etc…..but then I thought the dresses might be banned as “cheat sheets” from school.

Speaking of Pi: I love this link which is a catchy recitation of it. I think I could memorize at least the first 100 decimal places of Pi if I listened to it enough I am a little obsessed with all things geeky. Geek is the new chic right?

I love busy, intricate prints and have a hard time finding the perfect prints for the dresses I make…..so why not make my own? Stay tuned as I begin to incorporate the new prints into Lil Blue Boo clothing!

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, LBB Clothing, Printing/Stenciling, Sewing, Things I've Made

10,000 years ago…..

April 23, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 23 Comments

…there was probably a lake or ocean here. Thank you ancient lake for leaving all this sand behind in the desert and giving me a sandy back drop for a “beachy” photo shoot. I found this sea shell (slightly cheesy) printed knit to make some dresses out of…..so I lugged my camera along to the park for some photos this morning.

Photobucket

Let me make one thing clear: I am not a photographer. I pretty much take 400 photos, on every possible setting, and hope for one or two to turn out.

Photobucket

Our photo shoots are kind of hysterical….it is mostly myself trying to get Boo to copy something I do. She refuses to look at the camera. Today I resorted to throwing rocks into bushes to get her to look another direction.

Photobucket

Here I was preparing to take the perfect photo…..and she fell backwards out of the picture:

Photobucket

We play for a while and then I realize I’ve overstayed my welcome……and we’ve missed the beginning of nap-time:

Photobucket

Filed Under: Children's Clothes, LBB Clothing, Life, Recycled, Things I've Made

Working Weekends

April 17, 2010 By Ashley Hackshaw 12 Comments

In case I haven’t mentioned it before…..I like to make stuff. A typical Saturday or Sunday in our house: Sometimes, Boo and I will get up early on Saturday, go have a “girl’s only” breakfast so Mr. LBB can sleep in, and then we usually hit the fabric store when it opens. Mr. Lil Blue Boo works around the house and watches golf, I always have a new project going on, Boo pitters and patters between the two of us lending a helping hand. We always make some favorite meal for dinner like fajitas or fish tacos and then usually settle down with Netflix for the night. This morning we went out for a family breakfast and a productive Costco run. I LOVE weekends.

On Saturday Boo helped me with some seahorse silk screens on some red striped nautical fabric we found:

Then I let her pick the next print: mazes…..of course we didn’t think about reversing the image when we drew it out….so unless you follow the magenta maze it is a tricky dead end!

I spent the weekend sewing some fun dresses. I worked on a custom birthday dress order…..and decided to make three more for my Big Cartel shop while I was at it:

Some other custom orders I finished up:

A mother/daughter set based on the one I made for myself and Sienna:

And a nerdy girl racer back dress:

My daughter starts her first day of preschool tomorrow at church down the street! So excited but nervous too. I’ve never had to make a lunch before. She’s not nervous at all. When we went for registration I couldn’t get her to leave….that is a good sign. I’ve been so backed up with custom orders, tutorials, and my patterns that I decided it was time to put her into “big girl” school for a few days a week! Plus…..she needs something fun to do this summer when it is 115 degrees outside everyday! Maybe I’ll have more time to read all my favorite blogs now!