new ditties are online! 

thank you to everyone who bought or ordered a custom ditty bag for their moms for mother’s day!

I got an email a couple weeks ago from Kathryn who runs Festive Fare Rentals here in Charlottesville. Festive is the home of thousands of linens, chairs, tables, etc. Anything you need to rent for an event you’d find in their showroom or warehouse!

Kathryn had a couple of table cloths that had been ruined by stains or burns and had saved some linen samples she liked — and asked if I could turn them into ditty bags for her.  When I arrived at Festive she had tablecloths all over the place — and had already taken care of designing what fabrics she wanted on the top, bottom and inside. So they are made by just a little ditty, but designed by Kathryn!

I saw her at the OpenSpace launch party Wednesday night that I planned and was happy to see her rocking one of her new ditty bags! 

{first photo is by jen fariello}

lulu’s ditties

If you look through my ditty bags, old and new, you’ll find a theme that runs through the names. Lulu. That’s my grandmother. My dad’s mom. And she’s the sweetest little white-haired lady, ever.

Growing up my Lulu was ever present. She loved her husband, she loved her kids, she loved her friends…and most of all {I like to think, anyways} she loved her grandchildren.

Every Sunday, after sunday school, we’d all head over to Lulu and Grandy’s for lunch. It was like a Thanksgiving gathering of family — but every week. My dad’s 3 siblings and their spouses and kids were there… and my family too. It’s one of my favorite traditions of my childhood.

This ditty bag is made from one of Lulu’s  handmade place-mats. It’s vintage alright! An ode to Lulu!

My friend Marcy can be credited with helping me pick out the neon pink taffeta you’ve seen some of my ditty bags made from. While visiting California, Marcy took me down to the garment district in LA and we scoured what felt like a hundred fabric shops. It was a total experience…and a blast at that. Marcy worked in fashion — so knew the shops to explore. It was sensory overload — and you could find any, and I mean, ANY, color and type of fabric you wanted!

Afterwards Marcy cleaned her closet and designed this bag…from a favorite dress and paif of suede pants she no longer wore. Now she’ll rock them as a ditty bag instead!

hot to trot! these ditties can be found in the ditty etsy shop tomorrow!

When I first started making these ditty bags I cut up fabric that I already had at my house. Anything in the goodwill give-away pile was sliced and diced, and turned into a ditty bag (or two!). Old jeans, worn shirts, handkerchiefs, curtains, an ink stained skirt…if it was fabric and it could be cut, it was. Now I’ve added vintage fabrics to the repertoire and even some new material that I can’t pass up. My mom (who taught me to sew!) found these seed sacks at an antique store and scooped them up. So here you have it — two more grain sack ditty bags, hot off the press (ok…ok… sewing machine).

They are for sale in the just a little ditty etsy shop  as of a few minutes ago… (click “Buy a ditty bag!” tab to the right). They might just be my two {new} favorites….

Sarah Cramer, photographer extrodinaire, is doing a people project! She’s documenting the people of Charlottesville…and she’s just getting started. So stay tuned to Cramer Photo to meet the local folk’s of this sweet city!

When Sarah asked me to come sit for some pictures…she told me to bring 1 thing that I wanted to be photographed with. I couldn’t chose just one… so I brought three!

NEON PINK & TAN CANVAS ditty bags are in the making!!

because pantone named honeysuckle their 2011 color of the year. because it’s almost springtime. because hot pink reminds me of the 80s. because i love the look of khaki & tan canvas paired with this ridiculously neon pink taffeta…. I’m making some ditty bags that look a little like this… 

click here to be taken to shop ditty bags