Bra Drive at Union Rose - can you help some women in Portland?

In Oregon, the Portland Rescue Mission serve an average of 1,200 homeless men and women each month, with women being the fastest growing segment. This year, they anticipate needing approximately 300 - 400 bras per month, in all sizes.

Bosom Buddies Bra Recycling is working together with the Portland Rescue Mission, gathering gently worn or new bras and new panties.

Clair Vintage Inspired and Union Rose invite you to participate in this drive.

Now through January 13th, Union Rose is a bra and panty drop-off. As extra incentive, when you donate you will receive 10% off a garment by Clair.

If you like, right click this link for a poster to download, print or distribute.

We are excited to have the opportunity to help women in need, in the Portland area.For more info on Bosom Buddies Bra Recycling, visit: BraRecycling.com

Thank you to lovely Union Rose shop gal Melanie for coming up with this great way to help out the community. Her birthday present will be donating all of our contributions on her birthday January 13th.

Our goal is 100 bras. Can you help?

Thanks for all the support!

Over the weekend I discovered I desperately needed to order more sew in Clair labels.

(the backside says "Handmade with <3 in PDX")

This may not be something all that exciting to everyone, but to me it marks around the 2,000th Clair garment mark. Daaaaaaang! That is a lot of clothing!

That being said, that is a lot of clothing that was made right here in Portland, Oregon. It makes me happy and proud to know that in the last 3 years I have contributed that many garments. (though my back and shoulder might still be pissed off about it).

So if you own some of my clothing, thank you. Thank you for shopping local, thank you for supporting independent businesses (shops), thank you for buying USA made goods, thank you for keeping a small business in business during a recession (me!), and thank you for looking cute in my clothes.

If you have any photos of you in Clair, send them my way: alyson@alysonclair.com , I'd love to put them up on the Clair Facebook fan page.

Again, thanks for all the support! It keeps me working hard.

xoxo

p.s. I just ordered 5,000 more labels, bring it on 2011!

www.shop-summerland.com

I'm happy and excited to report that Summerland is now open!

http://www.shop-summerland.com/

The lovely M. Bardeaux is behind the shop, and one of my favorite blogs Cat Party.

I'm even more excited to say you can purchase my line there! I suggest the Pony top, since it was a limited run and is pretty much sold out of all the brick and mortar shops:

Happy shopping!xo

They're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.......

The Unicorn Dress.

I have never had a dress sell out so quickly. So I made some more!




I named it the Unicorn Dress, since it looks good on damn near everyone.

Available NOW at:

Union Rose

Moxie

Adorn

Velouria - Ballard and Capital Hill (in transit today)

Available in Black and Red.

Alyson Clair's 1st weekend of October Guide

It's the first weekend of October this weekend, THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR!!!!!



Friday night:

Plus stop next door to the Bipartisan Cafe and get some of this:



nom nom nom!

Saturday Night:

99W Drive-In Theater Presents:



Epic.

Sunday:

Begin work on your Halloween Costume. Too bad I'm going to be a bride this year. Here are my ideas/suggestions of what to be:

Fall Fashion Shows

This past weekend was Sweet F.A., as always it was was awesome. I'm glad they have made this a bi-annual event.
.

I have lost count of how many times I have done the show, but it's one that I always know I can hand off my garments and watch with a cocktail from the audience.

I had the pleasure of meeting Eden Dawn after the show, who is a fashion writer in Portland. You can read her review of the show and see some photos and videos here:
Sweet F.A. - Portland Mercury


Tomorrow I am also showing my Fall/Winter 2010 collection at the EcoTourism show. The lovely Jillian Rabe is behind this one. Anything she is behind the scenes at always turns out fabulous. I'm glad to be a part of this show, since I take such painstaking pride in making everything right here in Portland, Oregon.
Sustainable Fashion Show

Other than that, I won't have any fashion shows again until the Spring. I've got a trunk show coming up on October 1st, but more on that as it gets closer.

If you haven't check out Elizabeth Mollo's Blog InVested. She's one of the producers of Sweet F.A. and I love all the stuff she posts. My MOST favorite being this:
The Black Lodge

The owls are not what they seem.

Fall/Winter 2010 - The Cameo Collection

Finally! It's here, The Cameo Collection - Fall & Winter 2010.

The best job I ever had was working at the 99W Drive-In Movie Theater as a snack bar gal, while I was growing up in Newberg, Oregon. The Francis family owns both the 99W Drive-In as well as the historic Cameo Theater. Built in 1937, the Cameo remains much the same as the day it was built. Brian Francis was kind enough to allow us to come and shoot the collection, it felt only fitting the name it after the beautiful theater.
Photos: Linger Studios
MUA+Hair : Boni Dutch
Jewelry: Jené DeSpain
Models: Boni Dutch, Katie Greiner

my jobs have eaten my life

I have been so crazy busy it's not even funny. Lots of good things are happening which is awesome. I've been neglectful of this blog as of late. I have a camera full of pictures just waiting to be posted. Soon enough.

I took this one the other night when I actually headed home before dark. (rare these days).

It took me a little while to figure out who was spilling grain all over the roads to the studio. The first few weeks last summer I thought someone had a death wish for the pigeons that hang around. Instead it's the grain trucks waiting in line to load vessels.

Back to sewing.

Help a kitteh out

Multnomah County animal shelter is bursting at the seams with kittehs! I heard on the radio this morning that they were in taking 25-30 cats/day. That is a LOT of cats.

They are offering waiving adoption fees as part of their “Certified Pre-Owned Cats” program, to place as many cats in homes as possible. These are cats 1 year of age or older.
As a long time pet owner, I do love baby kittens, but I will never adopt anything other than an adult cat. They already have their personality, and won't climb your drapes (hopefully).

I am offering an item of clothing if you adopt one of these lovely felines. Let's review:

Adopt kitteh + free kitteh = happy you, happy kitteh, FREE CLOTHING!

Here is a link to their website about the program:
http://web.multco.us/pressrelease/2010/07/08/how-much-kitty-window-free

Here is where you can go to find your new BFF:
Kittehs! Kittehs! Kittehs!

(at the time of posting this there were 39 adoptable cats, I think we all know what goes on at the shelter, please save someones life)

Blog for Better Sewing

So as if I don't already have waaaaaay to much to do, I have been guest blogging on this fantastic blog:
Gertie's New Blog For Better Sewing

It's super cute and she's always working on fun projects.
I have been writing about knits. You can see my posts here:

Meet Alyson Clair
Knits in a Nutshell
Sewing Knits Without A Serger

Other than that I have been attempting to swim, my 2nd favorite thing besides making pretty dresses. The weather and my schedule have not been co-operating. If I could just swim all day and my clothes would sew themselves together on their own I'd be in good shape.

Jené DeSpain ! In Portland 7/9

I am so excited to see the lovely Jené DeSpain next week! There is a rather nice write up about her on the Mercury Online.
http://mod.portlandmercury.com/mod/archives/2010/07/02/jen-despain

See her next Friday July 9th at Pin Me Apparel from 4-7pm. Her jewelry is most lovely. I had the pleasure of using it in my Fall/Winter shoot. Here is another sneak peak. Entire collection to hit the interwebs soon.

Vintage Portland

I don't have too much new to share other than my studio has been a sewing storm. Fall photos will be coming soon, as well as lot of garments I am really excited about. (Now if Spring OR Summer would arrive in Oregon that would be nice too.)

I thought I'd share one of my favorite blogs. It is the first thing I read in the morning. I love Portland dearly. Seeing the history is fantastic, along with recognizing the places somtimes almost a century old.

Inner workings of my brain

This is pretty much what goes on in my head most of the time.

Spotted! No Muffin Top Skirt

I spotted this lovely lady in one of my skirts last week. She said owns several, and it was a huge nerd moment for me.


Get them while they are hot. Vintage limited edition spring colors available at Pin Me Apparel now.

H&M in Portland?

As of today it has been confirmed:
http://pdxneatsheet.com/neat-shop/hm-opens-portland-oregon/

My brain is fighting with itself right now. Crazy shopper that racked up a mountain of credit card debt in the 1st half of my 20's (almost gone phew!!), is screaming YEAH YEAH YEAH!! H&M!! The more mature half that has spent most of the 2nd half of my 20's paying off my debt, and working my ass off sewing clothes says BOO!

This year one of my resolutions was to be more mindful of practicing what I preach. It's kind of pointless for me to bust my ass making things locally and then turn around buy cheap shit at Forever21, Target, ect.

So I'm going with the "no can has" on this. I deemed 2010 the year of No Can Has personally for many reasons. So I'm not setting foot inside the H&M. Instead I will be a conscientious consumer. I will spend my money locally and on the 5% of apparel that is actually made in the United States.

That being said, shop local. Look inside your labels. Know where your things are coming from, how they were made and who is making them.

xo

Clair 20% off sale at Union Rose

You need a new dress! Go get one this weekend at Union Rose. All Clair items are 20% off. Plus don't miss the mega sale rack where there are some past season goodies at 60-80% off!

xo

P.S. Can someone call Mother Nature and let her know is almost summer?!?!?

Dress for Success: After

The Dress For Success fashion was a huge hit! With over 500 in attendance, for the fashion show, dinner and silent auction.




Nicolle from Nicolle Shops Portland was one of my lovely models.

You can see her backstage coverage here:
Nicolle Shops Portland

If you would like to see all the photos from the evening, check them out here courtesy of my good friends at Enko.

Shop windows

I never get over the excitement of seeing something I have made in a shop window.

Jené DeSpain - new website

If are not already familiar with Jené DeSpain's lovely jewelry, please take a moment to orient yourself:

http://www.jenedespain.com/

I had the lovely opportunity to share a trunk show with her a few seasons ago. I now own, and proudly wear several pieces of her work. Jené personally crafts all of her jewelry and all of her materials are made in the United States. (yeah!)

Stay tuned for my fall + winter '10 goodies, The Cameo Theater Collection. Her Roaring 10's lovelies are featured in it.

Some favorites from The Satorialist

I love subscribing to blogs. They magically show up in my little reader thing when there are new ones. Here are some of my favorites from The Satorialist this spring.

oh la la! Union Rose has a fancy new website

Check it out here!
http://unionrosepdx.com/

You can see a few items of my spring line in the shots. Another reason I love Portland so much, the lovely model is my old next door neighbor.

If you haven't been in to the shop, you really should. Everything is locally made.

Cool Plus Size Blog - Madison Plus

I came across this cool blog today.

Madison Plus

It has lots of full figured fashion on it, plus they won me over with the unicorn lipstick.

Dress For Success Fashion Show

My parents dog Fast Eddie sure is getting popular:
http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2010/04/dress_for_success_fashion_show.html

Tonight is a fundraiser for Dress for Success Oregon. The lovely Jillian Rabe asked me to be a part of the show and I am always happy to work with her, and help out any chairty. My date for the evening will be my Nashionland partner in crime Carolyn Hart. Friday night out is a change from us usually being covered in thread at the studio.

Portland Picks Love

If you don't already have this coming to your inbox every Friday, check it out:

http://www.portlandpicks.com/newsletter/0325.php

This week I am the local designer of the week. Thanks Portland Picks!

nerd out! laptop party.

This is what we nerds do when we are not sewing. It also usually involves pie.

Wait, it always involves pie.


Good thing most of my friends are "nerds". When I say that I mean they are all super awesome, and we all have so much stuff going on that we meet up to work together. It's actually pretty cool. I am always amazed at how many amazing different things my friends are working on.