Lately, In Pictures.

That is my roommate Nina. I call her NEIN. We like bugs, gross things, doing girly things, and anything pumpkin. Doesn't Ty look like such a sausage link? I think he's the cutest big muscle man on this planet. I'm here to show you a few random pictures because I feel like sharing - and they're filling up my Flickr account. 

Other than that, things have been doing really good here lately. I've had to pick up more shifts at the salon, so my creative time has been cut sort of drastically. On top of shorter free time, I've been spending a lot of time with James and we do a lot of out door things. We used to live with each other last year, but with him living further this year, we tend to do a lot of hang outs outside the apartment when we're with each other. Oh well, things will come back together soon. I'm working on a lot of dyed fabrics & custom orders, so you'll be seeing those popping up here and there.

That is all! I hope you enjoyed my little random post. I will kind of promise to be back later on this week, or maybe even in a few days! I need TO show you my new hair!

xo, Alexz

The Spanish Fringe Bag - A Custom Order

I've been doing a lot of creating over here lately. Heads up, I've been working the salon all day so naturally, I'm really lacking in the department of wording and creating sentences. This is going to be mainly a photo post to show you the favorite bag I've made up to date.

Here it is! The Spanish Fringe Convertible Bag that I showed you a few days ago when it was still unfinished. Well, it's finished now and I'm so happy about it. This particular bag is for a friend of mine with a killer style, so I'm pretty stoked that she's going to be supporting Bird Trouble. She had requested it to be vegan friendly, so I cut up a faux leather jacket to use the material, and she had wanted to have the fringe to be as long as it could be... so I made it as long as it could be with the jacket that I had. The spanish material is a blanket and the inside is a silky pink polkadot lining with pockets. The best part about this bag is that it can be worn in 4+ ways.

Hope you like it! Since this one is already sold, I'm only taking custom order requests for bags in this style. I technically have more spanish blanket for one more bag in this size, but another bag would look a little different. If you're interested in inquiring about pricing or anything in general, you can email me at Alexz {at!} BirdTrouble.com

Outfit Post & A Custom Bag.

Oh hi there. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I wanted to share a few photos from my latest adventure photo shoot. A few weeks ago, Ty and I walked over to Montrose Beach with a bag full of bags, a banana for me, a bone for him, my camera, and my tripod. I wanted to take a few photos of a custom bag I did for my friend Rosana and refresh some pictures on my Etsy listings. 

Here are some photos of Rosana's custom bag and a few outfit pictures. I made her bag out of a 1970's cotton - one of my favorite all-time finds because it's such a trippy print - and repurposed leather cut from a leather jacket. I wore James' Tumbleweeds sunglasses because he forgot them at my apartment (ha, sucker... never gettin' them back! Not. He took them back the following day. Doh.) and I put on some bright jeans to contrast my temporary cool sunglasses.  

Red & Black Basket Tote is NOT a Bird Trouble design. Unknown design.

Shoes : Thrifted

Bright Blue Jeans : F21 brand but thrifted.

Shirt : Gap t-shirt found in a pile of clothes from a neighbor who was moving. The pile was next to the dumpster.

Hat : From an antique store.

Sunglasses : Tumblweeds Handcraft.

I'll be sure to come by to share the rest of the slew with you guys soon. Can I mention how awkward it is taking photos of yourself, by yourself, and to watch a guy slowly creep past on his water jet ski? Dude. It's pretty funny though - and you get over the random folks staring...

Until more show and tell,

Alexz.

Fringe Backpack Tote Bag

My most recent custom order I've been anxiously making is for a friend of mine. She recently brought in some Bird Trouble bags to the Chicago store that she works at, Eskell (more on that later!), and inquired about a custom order back. She had sent me over a picture of her bag inspiration, choose the black and white Spanish blanket and requested it to have leather but to be vegan friendly. I hunted down a faux leather jacket that was a great quality - surprisingly it was easy to stumble across something in a good quality.

Not only do I want to say that I love working with this faux leather, but this is probably the most happy I've been about a bag in a while. Not that I'm NOT happy with what I make, but I know I criticize myself harshly, and this one has made me as happy as a I am with peaches and cream. It's going to be a transformable bag; a backpack, shoulder tote bag, and a cross-body bag.

Here are some pictures I've been able to take of the process. It's currently getting closer to it's completion and I cant to give it to it's new owner. I'll be sure to stop by again soon to show you when it's finished.

Textiles : Remind me to work with these.

Hello world! Today, I'm showing you a few textiles that I have in my studio. Some were found just recently, and some have been collecting dust [not literally. please, I keep my fabric fresh smelling!]. My favorite out of this bunch has to be the first one. It's a twin of the fabric that I found for the Free Bird bag collection. It was pretty shocking running into this at the thrift store because how can I find two similar, but different colors, fabrics at two different thrift stores? I think it might mean that I thrift too much- but at least it's part of my job. Ahh... the perks of owning your own business : Doin' what you wanna do.

I've been working on a lot of custom orders lately so, with that demand, I think it's a good idea to post what fabrics I have lying around here. I always grab the textiles that I think look really different, have a texture, or give me a vintage nostalgic feeling. If anyone is ever interested in speaking of an idea of your own custom bag, these textile posts are to help your imagination run. These would be your choice of already-owned textiles, but some custom orders may require a little bit of thrift hunting if I don't have it already.

DESCRIPTIONS

From top to bottom, here are a few descriptions of the textiles above. 1) Free Bird Rosa; found cotton weaved fabric that came with raw edges, so I'm not sure what it's original purpose was. This reminds me of trips to Mexico as a child.
2) Madness; found polyester knit. Vintage retro! It's mad, which is why I called it Madness.
3) Plaid Penny; a found polyester knit with a plaid print. I'm crazy about this other vintage find. Any mod ladies out there?
4) Goldie Knit; once a knit blanket, this textile would make great slouchy bag designs. Reminds me of the 70's! Which makes it cool in my book.
5) Blonde Floral Affair; a found great textile to pair with something tan/brown for the fall. It's more durable to the double and would be great for tote bags. Yep, I just might do that.

As always, I can be reached through email. I'll be back shortly to show you some recent photos from a little shoot I did by the lake. I also need to tell you what I've been up to! A lot of fun stuff, not so fun stuff, some really cool things, and new friends have been made... but I need to use the time I have out of the salon to create & sew. Less blogging for a while! Don't miss me too much.

xo.

Custom Work : A Bag for Naimah

Namiah, a super sweet lady, along being the designer and blogger behind D.Mae Clothing, emailed me after she saw my Spanish Satchel bag that was sold (to my coworker!) from the Bird Trouble shop and asked if I could make a custom bag personally for herself. She brought up an idea for a different design placement with the studs and even picked them out herself. Other than that, she really let me just go at it, as long as there was that bow, an adjustable cross-body strap, and a pocket for her Droid. 

She was super excited about it, and that excitement definitely bounced over to me. Since I'm /obviously/ more of a visual person, I drew out my design and emailed her the drawing. She was into it! After a bunch of sneak peaks through Instagram and then a day off from the salon for sewing time, this is where we ended up! Now that it's finished, we're working on making her a matching wallet in the next few weeks!

I know she'll rock it.

I really had a lot of fun on this custom order, and I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that I always take inquires. You can always email me, even if it's just a hello!, at birdtroublefashion /at/ yahoo dotcom.

xox,

Alexz

The Bohemian Collective & Bird Trouble

Hey everyone! A few weeks ago, Laura from Roots & Feathers asked me if I could create a custom bag for her if she sent me fabric. OF COURSE, I was jumped to the opportunity. I felt almost honored because I've found Laura to be inspiring ever since I´ve known about her. I've been a follower of her blog for a few years now and have watched her businesses grow, become Etsy featured seller, flourish and become what she is now... and man, she is rad. 

When she asked me, she also told me about the project she wanted to use the bag for. She pitched her idea of a lookbook that she could style and photograph for. Eventually this idea of a lookbook turned into a whole blog! This is where The Bohemian Collective comes in. The Bohemian Collective features a collaboration of artists and designers looking to give back, and hopefully make a difference in the world. It was just released yesterday and have been glowing rays of happiness all day. Here are the words from the Mission Statement that can be found here : 

"The artists and companies in The Bohemian Collective have joined efforts to create a place where we inspire creativity and giving through our art and vision. This rotating collaboration of artists will orchestrate inspiring, seasonal lookbooks featuring our handmade clothing, jewelry, and home accessories. Our desire is to share the love within our community as far as we can! This is where you can help. We invite anyone to participate by making a donation in any amount you choose which will be allocated to a specific charity each season. All proceeds this summer will benefit To Write Love On Her Arms, a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. To read more about their organization, please read here."

I came up with two designs. A large fringe satchel shoulder bag and fairly large a clutch. Here they are!

Laura sent me a window valance with this really great print tribal bohemian print. She loved the fringe in my Fringe Satchels so I went to the thrift store with the fabric to find the perfect leather jacket to cut up. It was only the first time I went when my eyes met this grape purple, horribly ugly shaped, leather jacket. There were drawstrings at the wrists, one of those a huge half rain flaps on the back, and it was a huge size. Haha, I just remember it being super unflattering, BUT I loved the color. I knew it'd be perfectly pair together with the fabric, while still thinking of Laura's style. There was more than enough window valance, so I made her a clutch too.

I am completely taken away and honored to be apart of something so special and with so many other talented ladies, such as these few ladies I already knew of and looked up to. Such as Moorea Seal,  Poor Pitiful Pearl,  The Art and Found, Flourish (to name a few). Head on over, listen to the music shuffle at the bottom  of the page, and be inspired by all of the wild talent of all the artisans involved.

Thank you Laura for asking me to be apart of this and thank you Kelly Ann // The Flowerchild Dwelling for your great work on the blog design!