THANKS!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I would like to give one of you $50 to use towards goodies in my shop. My little way of saying 'thanks' to you all. 

If you would like a chance to win $50 credit to my shop, just leave me a comment here. I will choose a winner tonight (Nov. 24) at midnight CST.

Thank you x 10!

Pink = girl? Snake = Boy? I think not.

One thing that has always bothered me is the social construction of gender and the way the world is divided into things that are okay for men to do and things that are okay for women to do. This dividing of the world by gender includes everything from food (salad vs. steak), pets (cats vs. dogs), and even colors (pink vs. blue). Generally, people are punished for not following these rules, though men are often punished more harshly for crossing into “feminine” or “girly” territory. But I say HOGWASH to it all! I like to think that I redefine the gender rules a little bit when it comes to pairing pink or purple shirts with snakes or throwing some bugs on a dress. And I happen to love steak (with my salad), I prefer dogs to cats, I know how to change a car tire, I play the drums, and I use power tools. All this and I still freak out over a killer shoe sale. Gender rules, schmender rules...I stick my tongue out at you.

Marquel lookin' snazzy in the pink! (If I do say so myself)

 

fresh.

My son loves purple, and couldn't be more "boy".

Moth dress.

Her brother is crazy about the snake print, so inevitably, she is too.

A true doll dress...and then some.

I wanted to share another peek into the process of making these doll dresses. This time I dyed the fabric in my fabulous old wringer washer named Florence. Isn't she a beauty?

Then I screen printed this antique doll ad on several different colored t-shirts.

I found coordinating knit fabrics and cut them all up again. And the end result is this adorable "doll" doll dress. Introducing the "Flossie Flirt" dress...

 

I have been busy screening other designs as well, and trying to find the time in between to sew more of these up. I hope to have enough of them done soon to start listing them in my shop. Here are some sneak peeks of the fabrics I have been working on...

And the dress that started it all...

Oh, and I decided to enter the Lil Blue Boo/ Dharma Trading Design Challenge with this little number too!

Doll clothes! A peek inside my new favorite project...

For my daughters 2nd birthday, I was lucky enough to score our very first Bamboletta doll. For those of you that are not familiar with these dolls, they are highly sought after (darn near impossible to get) and once you get your hands on one you will understand why. The dolls are....well....AWESOME! Nuff said. They are the perfect little companion for your little ones. Each doll possesses such personality for hours of imaginative play. It was pretty much love at first sight when Birdie was introduced to our family.

So naturally, I HAD to start making clothes for this little cutie. I have been having so much fun making these miniature sized goodies and I wanted to share a little about the process.

First, I dye the fabric. For this particular dress, I used a new dyeing method...SNOW dyeing. I am not always a fan of the cold season, but I've got to say, after I started snow dyeing, I have a new appreciation for the white fluffy stuff. I am actually a little sad that there will be no more snow for awhile. Who would have thunk it? 

The first thing you want to do is find yourself a handsome feller to scoop you up a large bucket o'snow.

Soak fabric in a bucket of warm water and soda ash for 10 minutes. 1 cup soda ash/2 gallons of water.

In a large tub, I elevated a screen on 4 tin cans from the recycle bins to allow for drainage. You can use any sort of board as long as it's on a tilt for the dye to drain down.

Prepare dye concentrates. Dissolve 2 tsp dye in 1/2 cup warm water. Directions suggest adding urea to the mix, but I didn't have any. Used plastic
water or soda bottles make good containers for dye concentrate. Always wear a mask when mixing dye powder + water.

Remove the fabric from the soda ash container, and wring it out. Scrunch up the prepared fabric (soaked in soda ash water) evenly on the surface, making little peaks and valleys. Leave room on your surface to pack the snow around the edges of the fabric. For variation, fabrics can be roughly pleated or twisted or arranged in other patterns. Note that tightly compressed fabric will resist the dyes, leaving white areas when rinsed.

Get some really cute helpers to help you pack 3 inches of snow on top of your fabric.

 

Now for the fun part. Drizzle your dye, one color at a time, trying to cover entire surface.

  

Voila! Now it's time to wait for it to melt. This can take many hours. Hang in there guys!

 You can see the magic starting to happen!

  

Snack break for hungry workers.

After a couple of hours.

After 6ish hours or so...

 See the melted dye on bottom...

Almost there. I put the lid on at this point and left it over night.

Next morning. Then I rinsed it out until water ran clear. Threw it in the washing machine on hot.

Ta-da! SO PRETTY!

I am totally in love with this new method of dyeing. The colors are so unpredictable and free flowing. See, the thing is, chilling the dye concentrates by mixing them with snow causes some dyes to separate into their component colors, and makes the dyes strike the fabric at different rates. The results are surprising and always beautiful. 


Now that the fabric has been dyed, it's time to move on to the screen printing. YAY! I chose my hummingbird design because a.) I love it. AND b.) it's the smallest image that I have right now for the wee-sized dress. (New tiny designs coming soon!) 

Then I rummaged through my collection of knits to find coordinating fabrics to use for the other components of the dress. I love that part. Well, technically, I love all the parts of the process, who am I kidding :) Here is what I came up with...

Then I cut them up...

and sewed them all together! LOVE it.

I am now officially addicted to 2 things. 1. Trying my luck EVERY Friday to win another sweet, sweet Bamboletta doll. 2. Making tiny little clothes to fit said sweet dolls.

Oh, and I decided to enter the Lil Blue Boo/ Dharma Trading Design Challenge with this little number too!

1000 Facebook Fans Giveaway 3!

Okay. This one is for all the little girls out there. I am thrilled to offer a custom dress to my very dear customers and fans. The winner of this giveaway gets to design their very own dress!!! First pick your style of dress, then the color, the image you want printed, and the color of ink to use. It's SO much fun. 

Some of the colors that I have dyed so far...

 

If you would like a chance to win a custom dress for your little one, please read the entry rules below.

*This contest will be open until Wednesday, 3/23 and the winner will be announced the following day.
**********************************************************************************
*There are just 2 required entries in order to be entered into the contest. You must...
1. Be a Facebook Fan of The Green Goat (just use FB button on the right)

2. Be a Green Goat Blog Follower (Click on the FOLLOW button)
**********************************************************************************

But if you'd like, you can also have additional chances to win by...

3. Sharing this on your Facebook Wall
4. Become a Twitter follower (use Twitter button on the right)
5. Tweet this giveaway
6. Blog about this giveaway
7. Refer a friend (suggest The Green Goat to your friends and have them leave a comment on our Facebook wall saying that "YOUR NAME" sent me. Then be sure to leave a comment here telling us who you referred.)

**********************************************************************************

****PLEASE READ - In order for your entries to be valid, you must comment about each entry in a SEPARATE COMMENT on this blog post. For example, if you completed all seven entry options, I should see seven different comments from you. Your comments would look like this...

1. I'm a FB FAN
2. I'm a blog follower
3. I shared this giveaway on my FB Wall
4. I'm a Twitter follower
5. I tweeted this gveaway
6. I blogged about this giveaway - here's the link http://...........
7. I referred "FRIEND'S NAME" and they now like you on facebook.

I know this can take time, but it is the only way to make it fair for everyone. Each comment posted will be assigned a number and I will then use random.org to get the winner. The person who's comment has that number is the winner. So, the more comments you have the better your chance at winning:) Oh, and please leave me an email address if it's not on your profile page so I am able to contact you if you win! GOOD LUCK!

1000 Facebook Fans Giveaway! Part #2

Here a little something for the boys. (or girls) I am thrilled to offer a choice of organic T-shirt to my very dear customers and fans.

There is this size 8 organic eggplant T-shirt with a coral fox pendant... 

  
OR there is this size 10 organic oxblood red T-shirt with a plum key...

If you would like to win your choice of one of these t-shirts, please read the entry rules below. GOOD LUCK!

*This contest will be open until Saturday, 3/12 and the winner will be announced the following day.
**********************************************************************************
*There are just 2 required entries in order to be entered into the contest. You must...
1. Be a Facebook Fan of The Green Goat (just use FB button on the right)

2. Be a Green Goat Blog Follower (Click on the FOLLOW button)
**********************************************************************************

But if you'd like, you can also have additional chances to win by...

3. Share this on your Facebook Wall
4. Become a Twitter follower (use Twitter button on the right)
5. Tweet this giveaway
6. Blog about this giveaway
**********************************************************************************

****PLEASE READ - In order for your entries to be valid, you must comment about each entry in a SEPARATE COMMENT on this blog post. For example, if you completed all six entry options, I should see six different comments from you. Your comments would look like this...

1. I'm a FB FAN
2. I'm a blog follower
3. I shared this giveaway on my FB Wall
4. I'm a Twitter follower
5. I tweeted this gveaway
6. I blogged about this giveaway - here's the link http://...........

I know this can take time, but it is the only way to make it fair for everyone. Each comment posted will be assigned a number and I will then use random.org to get the winner. The person who's comment has that number is the winner. So, the more comments you have the better your chance at winning:) Oh, and please leave me an email address if it's not on your profile page so I am able to contact you if you win!
GOOD LUCK!

1000 Facebook Fans Giveaway! Part #1

I am thrilled to offer this little doll dress to my very dear customers and fans.

It was made to fit a 15" doll. Making these doll clothes is a brand new thing for me and I am having so much fun with it. If you would like to win this dress, please read the entry rules below. GOOD LUCK!

*This contest will be open until Friday, 3/04 and the winner will be announced the following day.
**********************************************************************************
*There are just 2 required entries in order to be entered into the contest. You must...
1. Be a Facebook Fan of The Green Goat (just use FB button on the right)

2. Be a Green Goat Blog Follower (Click on the FOLLOW button)
**********************************************************************************

But if you'd like, you can also have additional chances to win by...

3. Share this on your Facebook Wall
4. Become a Twitter follower (use Twitter button on the right)
5. Tweet this giveaway
6. Blog about this giveaway
**********************************************************************************

****PLEASE READ - In order for your entries to be valid, you must comment about each entry in a SEPARATE COMMENT on this blog post. For example, if you completed all six entry options, I should see six different comments from you. Your comments would look like this...

1. I'm a FB FAN
2. I'm a blog follower
3. I shared this giveaway on my FB Wall
4. I'm a Twitter follower
5. I tweeted this gveaway
6. I blogged about this giveaway - here's the link http://...........

I know this can take time, but it is the only way to make it fair for everyone. Each comment posted will be assigned a number and I will then use random.org to get the winner. The person who's comment has that number is the winner. So, the more comments you have the better your chance at winning:)
GOOD LUCK!