Alice Pleasance's Gift Certificates And More From The Holiday Collections

Alice Pleasance's Gift Certificates are here!


They're the perfect option when you need a gift for your special ones but you're not sure what they'd like. They are valid for everything in my store and they never expire!

I have listed certificates for $10, $25 and $50, but if you would like to request a specific amount just send me a convo and I'll make a custom listing for you.

Take a look at my store, I have listed more earrings from my Holiday Collection too :-)

Alice Pleasance Holiday Collection

In time for Cyber Monday, here's a new collection of statement earrings featuring 16K gold plated nickel free connectors and earwires and beautiful candy colored gemstone beads and briolettes.




Perfect for holiday season parties and Christmas presents!




They're available now in my store :-)

Sacaton June

These days I'm liking crafty girls even more than new/established designers, so when yesterday and today I spotted the first two pieces from of Jessica's Fall Winter 09 Handmade Collection, I fell in love.





Aren't these gorgeous? I adore the blouse collar and the little bows on the dress! All handmade, you can find them in Jessica's store. And maybe while there, you'll enjoy a bit of vintage shopping too :-)

On a side note, only 2 days left for the anniversary giveaway: enter here!

The New Alice Pleasance

You may have noticed my Etsy store has been on vacation mode since the beginning of August.

I thought for a while and felt I need to make some changes and most of all I wanted to add something new to my collection.

My long time readers may know I have a real passion for hats and hair accessories, expecially vintage (of course!) or with a retro feeling, so I worked in that direction and after sketching, designing and trying for a while I'm glad to introduce you the new Alice Pleasance's Fascinator Hats.




Made of natural straw, they measure 14 cm around and are available in a variety of colors. The decorations feature velvet leaves, ribbons, feathers and all sorts of fabric and paper flowers and fruits.
I didn't use any plastic flowers at all, cause I want to recreate the look of real vintage hair accessories from our lovely bygone eras.



The only plastic part is the comb sewn on the back of the fascinator. I chose plastic instead of metal, so you can be sure it's actually nickel free!


Apart from the new hats, the miniature cake rings are still available and there is also a new line of earrings and hairpins featuring lucite and plastic flower cabs.






As my brand is called Alice Pleasance I decided to transform my store in a sort of personal Wonderland, naming each section after a chapter of Lewis Carroll's books...

Hope you will join me soon for a crazy Unbirthday party :-)

La Petite Robe Fleuri

If you're looking for the perfect 50s flower dress you must take a look at Sohomade . This Etsy store located in New York City is run by Louise Hedley, creator of marvellous garments.


The Tea Dress is my favorite and it's actually the most popular style at the moment!
These dresses come in a great variety of printed fabrics and are often one of a kind, but for a limited time only you can order a custom made piece.







The price is 85 US$ and the chinch belt is included :-)

The Dollhouse In The Prairie

Building your own house, customizing everything is fun, but I think building your own life sized dollhouse is even more fun.

I first read about Heather Benning's project on Lula and I immediately wanted to know more about this canadian artist who, while serving as artist-in-residence for Redvers (Saskatchewan), found and abandoned house and decided to transform it in a "dollhouse".


She worked on it for two summers, doing 90% of the work on her own and replacing the facing wall with plexiglass to showcase the interiors.


As it was not about restoring the house but creating a fantasy, each detail - from the (pastel!) colors of the walls to the vintage furniture - has a story of its own. Even the books placed in the library were selected for their titles, according to an imagined story of the house.


What I like the most about Heather's "sculptoral installation" is probably the fact that the dollhouse will not stand there forever: considering the place will need a new foundation soon it will last only few years as is now.
This temporary condition, this urge and this feeling about unraveling time, bring to a sort of sinister aspect. The artist herself told to Lula about it, noticing there's a "sort of disillusionment and sadness" connected to this project, something that lies beneath the pretty surface. Like the dark side of a fairytale.


The interview to Heather on Lula magazine is by Erin Featherston who, in a certain way, has some experience with dollhouses...



Talking about dark fairytales...

Sew, Make, Embellish, Create!

I've never been a great seamstress and I sadly admit I'll probably never be even a decent one, but lately I started to find my own adapted sewing techniques and I made a couple of wearable skirts at least...

So I constantly look at Burda Style for ideas and inspirations. I still didn't understand how patterns work (!) but I look at the pictures dreaming one day I'll be able to sew something similar!!!

These are some of my favorite skirts projects, they're problably not meant for dummies, but if your sewing skills are better than mine I suppose you can easily make one of these beauties




From top: the Judy skirt , the Sidonie variation #2 and the the Sidonie variation #1.

The How To section is another of my favorites on the website ; it is packed with interesting projects, like the one for the Ruffled Party Necklace


and this other one , that shows the really intriguing free hand embroidery with fibers...imagine what you can do on a plain little dress using this amazing technique!

Handbags Anarchy

Supposing I can afford one (!) I'm pretty sure I wouldn't buy an original designer bag. I feel guilty everytime I buy a thing for a fraction of the price of a designer item, I can't imagine what would happen with a real fill-with-the-name-of-your-favorite-designer piece.

On the other hand, I've never bought a fake designer bag as well. Beyond all the legas implications of buying a fake, I really think there are so many good quality, well made unbranded or vintage products at affordable prices that I really don't need to buy a cheapy copy of something a poor child had sewn somewhere just to please a broke I-would-but-I-can't fashionista.

I mean, I can covet a certain design, but in the end...it's only a bag, I can live without it!

Starting from questions like "could I hand crochet a designer bag?" and "would people - in a weird way - believe it is real because it had the logo on it?", in 2006 San Francisco based artist Stephanie Syjuco created the Counterfeit Crochet Project website.


Stephanie had already worked on issues of piracy and bootlegging as they apply to today's globalized economy; the Counterfeit Crochet Project started both as a critique of a political economy and a mere crochet project, with the purpose of solicite crocheters to hand counterfeiting designer handbags.
She declares:

It seems to me that ingenuity and inventiveness lays at the heart of those who decide to make things for themselves. Crafting is overlooked, even denigrated as a viable "vernacular" form of expression. I view the impetus to handmake something in an era of mass production a personal and perhaps even political act, a way to give yourself agency to create and produce in an age of standardization and retail.

and again

most of us "ordinary people" can't afford such things, and some even knowingly buy knock-off products to sublimate our desires. If you take the logic one step further, and actually make the item yourself, you are in a sense taking the situation into your own hands without giving a single penny to the company brand. They have excluded you anyway, by keeping their prices astronomically high.

She calls all this "handbag anarchy": the final results are both homages and lumpy mutations made by different people with a different sense of creativity. Definitely something totally different from a classic knock-off product!

DIY Wool Bangles

Time for another DIY project!
I love bangles, I think they're perfect during the summer but you can easily make a winter version too.
This is what you'll need:


If you're a good knitter you can surely make wonderful bangles, otherwise fear not! Even if you can't knit (like me...) you can make a nice wool bangle! If you can crochet (hence the hook in the photo above) you'll have no problems at all, but if you're neither a knitter nor a crocheter, you can use a piece of pre-made knitted fabric (old sweaters too!)...the possibilities are pretty endless!

Take an old/cheap plastic bangle and measure it all around. Remember: the larger the better. You'll cover it with wool all around and the finished bangle will be smaller.
Make a paper pattern of the bangle, doubling the height. This point is not a must, but it will be useful when you'll have to knit/crochet/cut your piece


Knitted fabrics can be pretty stretchy, so make your piece a bit smaller than the paper pattern. Check it on the bangle: it has to be tight but not too much!


Using the needle and the same wool (or a similar yarn) of the knitting piece, start sewing it on the inside, all around


Then sew the edges together...

...and you're done :-)