March 2013
4 posts
The Area in Question
My kids don’t understand that women of a certain age talk to each other much more readily and familiarly than ever before in our lives. When they see me doing it they are sure it’s just another sign of my impending dotage. I tell them about it in glowing terms but it makes no difference. So I become more and more a cartoon character to them every day.
Having said that: I LOVE...
About to Burst. Hard to wait.
We have always known that our demographic is us, making it easy to know who we are designing for, but hideously painstaking to pull it off. There is every type of woman and body with every idea of what makes her look good. It’s infinite. SO! What we are shooting for are designs that make us all look DAMN good…everyday…. and are so comfortable that they are our favorite go tos.
...
November 2012
2 posts
The Pleasure of Their Company
We three spent a morning last week with Prairie Stuart-Wolff and Hanako at their home/studio in Union. The mission was to choose pottery for our shop but the visit is always much more than that. Who they are, how they live and do their work is so quietly integrated; it’s a meditation on life.
Back in our shop the pottery looks distilled and elegant. It could only have come from generations...
September 2012
2 posts
Wondering what it all means
BIggest surprise of the summer? How gratifying it is to see women love how they look in our designs. Women of all ages, but let’s be honest, lots of boomers, who had long given up ever loving the way they look in clothes again. Pure joy rekindled; making us come back to the design table with an even bigger commitment to keep making it work for all of us.
Fingers crossed.
August 2012
2 posts
WOW! And looking for linen country
Summer, specifically on Vinalhaven, continues to be unbelievably good to South Street Linen. Everything is selling like crazy. Did we find a little island of Linen Country?
We know we appeal to artful women, women who look for original design and quality construction. We make sense to boomers; they are us! And recently younger women are beginning to get what our clothes are about. A young mom...
May 2012
3 posts
French work tunic, sleeveless night dress...and...
I just took a look at my summer wardrobe (?) So pathetic that I keep thinking there surely must be a bag-o-clothes somewhere that I put away last fall. No, nada, nothing..and I’m beginning to remember that by late last summer I was desperate to shift gears and throw it all away..and I did. It’s all coming back to me now. Not good.
I own our sleeveless night dress and it’s...
Mom, pinnies, scarves and deals plus a great...
”Your momma says she loves you, but ya know, she could be jivin’ too.” Keb Mo
We are ready for Mother’s Day. We’ve got it covered and you’re going to look all the better for it. Having said that, why wait for the children?
NEW: Pinnies are selling strongly and to great reviews. We added a black pinnie to our line up. If an apron dress can be elegant...
March 2012
1 post
I've been wanting to write for months...
Mary Ruth, on left, curating Roberta’s new pinnie.
I have been wanting to write for months, but it’s like not exercising. I know I’d feel better if I’d just do it but can’t quite justify the time taken from other important, REALLY?, things. I hate the idea of balance. It sounds so boring but when being so far gone finally strikes a visceral cord I have to respond...
September 2011
3 posts
Islesboro
The three of us just got back from a three day retreat on Islesboro with 11 other visual artists. Mary Ruth, Lynn and I worked in a semi-renovated over-the-wood-shed studio that had been the perch of an early turn of the century artist. We had never worked in one place together so this was a great opportunity. We talk a lot about whether being under one roof would be a good thing and it was good...
where are we going?
This was a big week. Remodelista picked us up on their very cool blog which generated sales and inquiries from retail venues in US and Mexico. We even got an ask for 500 napkins! At first all I could envision was Lucy and Ethel working the candy conveyor belt but then we all talked and checked in with our fabric sources, sewers and printers and we decided to make a bid. It was a great exercise in...
August 2011
1 post
where have we been??
We’ve been in our own heads, designing like crazy and working out the kinks of so many things that we never knew about.
What we’ve come up with is a new line of table linens that make us all moan..they are on the website..www.southstreetlinen.com…and a new line of scarves where we tweaked some oldies, designed some new ones and added bunch of-a-kinds, all of which are...
March 2011
2 posts
Finally
Our new website is up: www.southstreetlinen.com
and we have an ad in this week’s style edition of the New Yorker. Take a look and talk to us.
February 2011
17 posts
Looking for the jump
Three of us have started printing together..which translates: Lynn hand cuts all the prints, she and Mary Ruth mix paint (we tend toward edgy colors), roll said paint onto the block print, place the print, paint side down, onto a new scarf and the three of us take turns rolling over the block with a huge rolling pin and …Voila!! we have a new design! We then jump up and down..that is...
allison hildreth's une exhibit (until April)
I got a call from Mary Ruth right after the opening of Allison Hildreth’s THE FEATHERED HAND at UNE in Portland. She said “see it.” I began to look into what it was and was about and found that it had been influenced in part by a piece of writing by Camus: “A person’s work is nothing but this long slow trek to rediscover, through the detour of art those two or...
Is it ok to talk about how much I LOVE my IPhone4 camera?? Man, this is the best camera I’ve ever owned and it’s not even a camera! It’s as If I tell it to take the best picture EVER of what I’m focusing on.. and I swear what comes out is so much better than anything I could take credit for. It’s like a good pet…don’t ask me why I thought of that.
jr
nice fashion moment
I was browsing around yesterday in Barbara Corey’s ( Corey & CO) shop on Pleasant Street. She has a fabulous new collection of her own intuitively sewn dresses and tunics as well as carefully edited clothing and accessories from all over that you never see anywhere else. Anyway. There was a beautiful woman shopping, looking for some additions to her wardrobe that would help her feel...
After five hours of shooting and editing photos for our website, Jane and I are bleary eyed but happy with the way things are looking. One image in particular was especially compelling and begged to be in black and white. The inspiration for this scarf was a spin on those sweet trims like scalloping and rick rack made modern with a larger scale. I printed a natural linen with white and tea-dyed...
This yellow striped scarf is one I’m working on today. We are getting closer and closer to a production rhythm and should have several pieces to show on our new website in a few days. In the meantime let us show you a scarf a day here to whet your whistle.
For the record can I say how amazed I am at what we have to and did (kinda) learn to turn this idea into a business…and am...
My husband cut this amaryllis back last winter, stored it in the basement for the year and recently brought it back to it’s perch in the kitchen…and voila!..it blossomed again..three of them!
I love how ideas develop ….so unidentified and unformed at first… you don’t even know anything is happening…you might feel a little restless or out of sorts…and...
South Street Linen home page →
January 2011
1 post
