Day 2: Free Bamboo

Bamboo is amazing stuff, it's strong, grows quickly, completely renewable and I'm always getting it free. My friends, Paul and Kari have a bamboo forest and they give me free bamboo rods for my garden. On Wednesday they welcomed a new little Forrest into the world, I got to visit him yesterday, he's perfect. Pictures to come as soon as I get mommy's approval.
I also found a bunch of awesome bamboo sticks in a green waste pile on the side of the street, some are in my garden, some are decorating my house.
This leads me to today's dress, I found it in a bag on the side of the street and it's a bamboo print! Don't worry, I washed it. Here's the dress:

The dress is Alfred Shaheen,  who was a really prolific Hawaiian garment manufacture designer from the post-WWII era. Apparently, Shaheen printed all his own fabrics and his pieces are some of the most prized items in vintage Hawaiian collections. Shaheen's company closed when he retired in 1988. After looking around on ebay I think my dress is from the 1970s.

close up of the print

close up on the label

It's a little worn around the edges and kind of staticy. Luckily the bag it came in also had a slip in it, which is a little too big for me so I need to find a safety pin. Special thanks to the girl who lives down the street and decided to clean out her closet. Thank goodness we're about the same size.

Also, I had a request for a close up on yesterday's necklace:

And one last picture, this is what I did in my fashion illustration class yesterday. The assignment was textures, so it doesn't make as much sense as I was hoping, but that's not the point.

Her top is tweed with sheer sleeves, and a linen print skirt.