Cute Neck Accessories

feminine @ shopeileen.com

Super sweet necklaces with crochet details.

zigzag scarf @ shopeileen.com

Similar to a Missoni, but only $15!

Layered Knitwear via VogueTV

All three of these looks layer knitwear under an outerwear piece such as a blazer or jacket. In reality you are hiding your knitted garment, but it does make people more inclined to want you to take off that jacket, and show them your cardigan.

Cool Cotton

Mademoiselle Tassel Scarf in Soft Cream

Get 10% off your order at blonde birde, with offer code BBL09. (offer code was found on the Busy Bee Lifestyle website)

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These fabrics are somewhat expensive, but it is worth it if you want something really unique to design with.

Multi Inked cotton print

FC3300 Beige Floral Lace

A Few New Things at Lion Brand and Berroco

Great tip from my Lion Brand e-newsletter today:

• Works for knitting or crochet: I like to use bobby pins (the straight kind) to mark my rows, my stitches, and also to put articles together. To keep track of a lot of stitches, I count out 10 stitches and place a pin and continue. Then I only have to count by 10s. - Anonymous

New free pattern @ Berroco - Mayer

• "A cozy fall jacket with an exaggerated collar, Mayer features the same waffle textured stitch used in Faber, from Norah Gaughan vol 5."

Need a Fall Wardrobe Update?

Shop now!

Crazy Hot Clothes has something for everyone, including designer labels, and vintage finds. The quality is meticulously inspected and offered for discerning tastes. Visit this online shop for one of a kind designer finds, and unbeatable prices!

Black Knit Boots and Wedges

Loeffler Randall - Wendy knit slouch booties at Intermix

Diba Hug sweater boots with cable knit detail at Zappos

Alice + Olivia sweater wedge boot at Payless

Kimchi Blue Sweater Cuff Wedge at Urban Outfitters

Save Time and Money when Shopping Online!

Access Fashion was featured on Become.com's shopping blog, Pocket Change!

Become is a really cool website, featuring the best deals on products you want to buy, right now. For example, if you click on a category, you will see various products, with comparisons of the same types of items, all laid out for you to see, easily. When you find something you want, you can click over directly to the merchant's website. This saves you time instead of opening and closing separate websites (we all know how frustrating that can be). You can even save your favorite items for future reference. Check it out when trying to decide on your next purchase!

"Become.com has been recognized as being the best comparison search engine, designed to help consumers doing product research on the web. Become.com crawls over 3.2 billion web pages specifically from guides, expert reviews, consumer reviews, articles, specifications, forums, merchants, and a variety of other useful information to help consumers make better buying decisions. Become.com also has a "Nearby Stores" feature that allows users to plug in a zip code and get store names, addresses, phone numbers, hours and Maps."

Supima Design Competition - Open Call for All Candidates

CALLING ALL FASHION DESIGNERS!

Emerging fashion designers are being summoned to enter the SUPIMA DESIGN COMPETITION. Supima is a luxury cotton company and for the past two years they have challenged emerging designers with a fashion competition.

Supima is holding an OPEN CALL event at Bloomingdale’s (NYC, 59th Street) on October 21st from 10AM to 6PM.

Six finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges to show their designs in the Supima fashion show in January!

For more information go to www.supima.com or send an email to: rsvp@supima.com

Ladies, Dress for the Position you Want

Although knee high boots, and open toe shoes are fashionable, and luxurious, your boss really doesn't want to see them, on you. They're pretty sexy and distracting, especially to your fellow male coworkers. If you want to be known as a sex symbol, that's is your business, but if you want to be taken seriously on all levels, cover up, even if it is just your feet. On a side note, heel height, in my opinion shouldn't matter (meaning between flat to about 5 inches should be the highest you go. If you go higher than that, then you are a brave soul, with a high tolerance for pain) and can make most women's feet and legs look better in those dress suits. Best wishes on your next job interview.

Hold it all in, beautifully, with the Sliminizer

Sliminizer shapewear assists in hiding your slight imperfections (what woman wouldn't want a little help in that department?) with strong durability the other brands just cannot offer. The fabric is tough, yet smooth, and comes in a great variety of colors to match or compliment many skin tones. These undergarments, made with Tactel, will last you for many years to come, and will be that one that you use again and again.

Here is a screen shot of the colors you can choose from, that are featured on the Sliminizer website. As you scroll over the colors, and click on them, an image appears, showing that color, on a model with almost the exact same skin tone!

"Muse Creative Group, an intimate apparel, shapewear and sleepwear manufacturer specializing in design, sourcing, production and merchandising, has launched a new shapewear brand, Sliminizer™, which is now available for purchase. The Color Match line by Sliminizer, which comes in 10 skin tone colors, runs at retail prices of $8-$28 and comes in sizes S-3XL. The purpose of Sliminizer is to provide beautiful, smoothing support."

"The Color Match system by Sliminizer is modeled after the color-based system used to create foundation make-up. Kate Liegey, owner of Muse Creative Group, came up with the idea after noticing that a lot of shapewear only comes in the colors of black, white and “nude,” which do not cater to the realistic skin tones of many women, particularly women of color."

“Fifty-five percent of the American consumer will be Hispanic by the year 2025. With the strong African American and Hispanic populations, shapewear doesn’t work in anymore in black, white and nude. Being in this industry for 25 years, I felt there was a strong need to address the varying ethnicities of women,” said Liegey."

"Liegey has created intimates for designers Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Nicole Miller and has also worked with celebrities like Nicky Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Tyra Banks. Now branching out with her own line, Liegey’s Sliminizer provides shapewear options for the real world."

"The Color Match system by Sliminizer includes several styles such as a strapless bra, boy shorts, cami and tank body shapers, high-waisted shape underwear, Capri pants and control briefs—all providing smoothing and shaping effects. Items from Sliminizer allow for innovation and design to re-emerge while finally delivering fashionable and affordable shapewear apparel."

NOS Boutique

NOS Shoe Boutique opened their doors to the public with a grand opening celebration on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009. The chic boutique stocks an assortment of women’s and men’s shoes and accessories ranging from $150- $500.

The NOS Shoe Boutique is located on 68 Jay Street between Front Street and Water Street. The boutique is open on Mondays-Saturdays from 12-7 PM and Sundays from 12-6 PM. The boutique will also be available for private shopping. For additional information, please visit the website or call 718-422-0095.

Warm Fleece

Are you making any holiday gifts this year? Have you ever used fleece? I like this material because its very warm, and you usually only need to wear that layer with maybe one shirt underneath.

Fleece is made up of napped synthetic fibers. Your regular fleece that you can buy at almost any store, is actually known as polar fleece.

Even though some fleece is very cheap feeling (think the snuggie..you know that thing with the armholes, that acts like a blanket?), you can find some very nice, non synthetic fleece at shops like BlueFly.com, and Nordstrom.

Marios Schwab Fall 2007 Collection - fleece sweater

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Hancock Fabrics is having a big fleece sale right now: http://www.hancockfabrics.com/Fleece_stcVVcatId537261VVviewcat.htm?extid=HAN_EML_20090921_CT_biggestfleeceevent

Also, Hancock Fabrics is celebrating their 52nd anniversary, so enter for your chance to win a $52 gift card from Hancock Fabrics, here:
http://signup.hancockfabrics.com/OpenHouse/B/


MORE LINKS:


Fleece Queen - solid colors are #3.75 a yard.

New Knitwear Shopping Information

"Pretty Stitches" via Free People

The following are found in Lucky Magazine, October 2009 issue:

Wool - blend knit tunic $209, Ella Moss, Select Saks Fifth Avenue - (800) 347-9177

Chunky knit alpaca blend scarf, Heritage by Banana Republic, (available early Nov.)

Wool blend sweater, Mimi & Coco, Lyn Evans, Wellesley, MA, (781) 235-0096

Wool blend vest, Rare Woman. Rouge, Los Gatos, CA, (408) 395-8995

Knit hat, DKNY, (800) 231-0884

Wool blend sweater, Nicolefarhi.com

Hooded wool knit jacket, Gudrun & Gudrun, Beyond 7, NYC, (646) 619-6857

Wool "Raita" scarf, Diane Von Furstenberg, (646) 486-4800

Cable knit wool tote, United Colors of Benetton, (800) 535-4491


Merino Wool "Poncho" dress, Jillian Lewis, Beyond 7, NYC. (646) 619-6857

Mohair blend sweater, Sisley, (800) 535-4491

Deborah Lindquist alpaca sweater dress, Order at http://www.deborahlindquist.com/, and enter "lucky8" at checkout to save 35% off.

Autumn Fashion collection at H&M

Angora tank, Jill Sturat Collection, (212) 343-2300

Viscose "Xinia" Knit wrap, http://www.elizabethgillett.com

Handcrafted Chairs by Melanie Porter

Have you ever wanted to work directly with a high fashion designer to create your very own one of a kind piece of furniture?

After 10 years working as a knitwear designer for a number of international fashion brands, including Burberry and Pure Collection, Melanie Porter has turned her expertise to furniture, creating one-off contemporary designs from chairs sourced from auctions and markets across the UK. Melanie undertakes the entire process herself and everything, from the restoration and upholstering to the felted woollen panels and individual, crocheted buttons, is done by hand. The result of this incredibly labour-intensive process is a stunning and unique, but hard wearing, work of art, destined to be a future family heirloom.

“Although I loved my job in fashion, I really missed the hands-on creativity of actually making something,” explains Melanie. “I also wanted to learn upholstery – it’s something that has intrigued me since I was a child and would watch my grandfather repairing chairs. I am actually still using the tools that I inherited from him.”

Each project starts with the chair itself – anything from an antique Victorian nursing chair, to a 1970s Egg chair – which is painstakingly stripped back to the frame, before being restored and reupholstered using traditional techniques. This blank canvas is then covered with a series of hand-knitted, felted panels, especially created for each chair.

“To a certain extent, I let the chair lead the design and knit structure,” says Melanie. “I’ll sketch a rough idea but it’s quite an organic process and so I allow myself the freedom to change things as I go along.”Melanie also takes on bespoke commissions and, in this instance, the process is a bit different. “Sometimes a customer has a chair they want me to reupholster, sometimes they’ll ask me to source a frame. Then I’ll talk to them about what they’re looking for in terms of colours and designs, and show them sketches and swatches before I start work.”

For more information visit the website, or call +44 7770 941 305.

Get Started on your own High Fashion Knitwear for Fall 2009

Tyra Top knit in Rittratto yarn, by Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.

The Modern Living Collection
"This collection of 17 distinctive styles features jackets, shrugs, coats and the ultimate in sweater dressing."

Samina Peplum Jacket

"Gedifra brings you 30 stylish projects direct from the runways of Europe. This collection is actually two collections in one. The first is called "Glam Factor" and features cozy structured pieces for fall. The second is titled "Abstract", and here you will find colorful and trendy pieces with tons of eye interest and the latest in shapes. There is certainly something here for everyone, from trendy to sophisticated; from unstructured to sleek and stylish; from bright and colorful to chic and refined."

When you think of new pieces to add to your wardrobe for Autumn, knitted garments are usually a must have, even if you can only buy one or two. This makes it even better because you can create your own, if you are into that sort of thing. The two I featured here are designed with beautiful new shaping and fiber blends to satisfy your fashion needs. Style yourself right, and learn a new technique with these sumptuous patterns.

Vintage Finds

Oscar de la Renta Knit - crocheted blouse

Marissa crochet shawl at Nasty Gal

Beautiful vintage designs at Beulahveda

Beulahveda has a beautiful selection of vintage sweaters to choose from. Some are hand made and some are designer labels.

In addition, there are some very nice jackets and trench coats available, at unbeatable prices.

Beulahveda is an online vintage clothing boutique offering vintage clothing, accessories and jewelry for women. Vintage collections include unique, hand-picked items from the 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

Knitted Neck Warmers, a.k.a. Snoods

Burberry Prorsum Milan Autumn/Winter 2009 collection

- that neck piece is actually fur, not knitting.

This is a very easy look to duplicate at a more inexpensive cost.

Check out a new trend featured on Elle UK. These are easy to make as well, with a circular knitting needle and your favorite chunky yarn.

Missoni Fall 2009 RTW

Read an article about snoods, here, by Emma Sells, Junior Shopping Editor.

Beautiful New Free Patterns at Berroco

"Drift" cardigan pattern, knit with Vintage yarn. Vintage yarn is an acrylic, wool, nylon blend. You can either view the pattern online, or download it as a .pdf file. I like the colors "Fennel" and "Sloe Berry".

"Tarte" tank knitted in Mica yarn, which is a cotton, silk, nylon, linen blend. This yarn is sturdy and has a nice sheen to it for added dimension. I like the colors Vivianite and Abalone, in this particular yarn.

Please note that these patterns are not intended for beginner knitters. They are both at the intermediate level.

Cute Sale Swimwear

Crocheted Bikini seperates at Old Navy for $9.99 each.

Beaded babydoll cover up (detail image) at TopShop for £12.00 (about $20).

Crochet trim halter cover up, for $11.99 at Chadwicks.

Note: If you sign up for Chadwicks emails, you automatically

get a 15% off coupon in your inbox. In addition,

check out the Chadwicks blog for some great fashion tips.