Winter in the Bay Area is nice - yes, it gets dark early, there's a bit of a chill in the air, and if you're lucky you might catch a light flurry of snow at the top of Mt. Tam on just the right day in January - but really, our winters are rather easy. I am originally from NYC, so I know true winter - bundled up in so many layers you can barely move, that singular delight of carefully stepping off a curb onto what you think is a stable layer of ice, only to find that it is, in fact, an ankle deep puddle of slush. While wearing ankle boots. Yeah...East Coast winters are no joke.  Here in Northern CA, we can layer sweaters, rock shorts and legwarmers at will, and still be cute on an evening out in December rather than bundling up in Sorrels and ear warmers. 

Here are a few of my favorite cool and cozy apparel and accessories from the 6th Annual SF Etsy Holiday Emporium, at historic Pier 35, November 24th & 25th. Enjoy! 

Jocelyn Nguyen's Nous Savon cashmere robes are so soft and cozy, they're like a hug from a baby goat. In addition to her sumptuous line of cashmere robes, scarves and blankets, she makes a cool line of minimalist jewelry as well.

RENNIE Goods are handmade by Roberta Rennie, an FIDM-trained designer. She creates her 100% cotton, Japanese selvedge denim and vegetable tanned leather bags, aprons and accessories while listening to true crime podcasts in her Pacifica, CA studio. 

Considering that Oakland-based artist Latisha Baker creates her signature Ear Cookies while listening to chanting Buddhist monks, it makes sense that her work has a distinct, meditative quality to it.  She creates her pieces in sets of 12, using a unique pyroetching/woodburning technique to achieve her designs.

An innovative, origami-like design from mother-daughter team Mini Bansal and Jannat Saxena,  the Sumsaara Essence purse opens flat and closes into a clutch purse! They come with a soft, lush cork fabric interior, imported from Portugal. Each purse is hand crafted, locally sourced and made with several vegan, eco-friendly and sustainable materials, hand finished with coconut oil. And what's best of all - a portion of every sale is donation to Save The Elephants charity.

Bodhi Swag, the brainchild of sisters Laura Kavanaugh and Nydia Cisneros, brings quality, never quantity, with each of their contemporary, resort, and athleisure collections. In addition to these headwraps, Bodhi Swag makes amazing cocoons, all designed and tailored in CA. 

I can't be the only one who is PSYCHED there will be vintage at the Emporium this year! One of our vintage curators is Neutral Ground, the brainchild of Alysha Cassis-Shaw. Alysha began her career at the house of Halston, and in the spring of 2017, her passion for craftsmanship, detail, and a vision to see vintage and pre-loved items reinterpreted gave birth to Neutral Ground. 

Social justice is always in fashion, and Fresh To Def is on the front line. These laser cut cherry wood post earrings say it all! Fresh to Def Collective is a social enterprise that empowers women + fems of color to step into their entrepreneurial spirit through social justice accessories and business coaching, based in Oakland CA.

AdelynSF Collection is based in San Francisco, designed to accentuate the natural curves of the female body, suitable for wearing all-year round. Adelyn strives to select high quality fabrics with stretch for comfort and body movement. All the pieces in their collection are designed and made in San Francisco.

Feeling like making something cozy for yourself? This pattern book from Cashmere Treats by Jessica Rose is the perfect guide to create something amazing - each book includes detailed, easy to follow instructions to create a scarves, hats, arm warmers, headbands and beanies. Not feeling so crafty? You can buy finished pieces from their line here.

Katia Tsvetkova owner of Lights Out Go Bed makes sleep masks  with a variety of patterned fun fabrics. Her adventures in sewing began about 6 years ago when she learnt to sew to make clothes for herself. 

SFEtsy: Tell us about your creative process, where do you begin and how does it evolve?
Katia: I begin with the fabric. Picking it is both easy and hard. Easy because it's fun, but hard because I need to make sure they coordinate. Then it's making sure I have all the pieces (front, back, felt, inside muslin, elastic) and then cutting them all out, pinning together, sewing, clipping the seams, and then top stitching after turning right side out.

SFEtsy: ​What inspires your creations? 
Katia: ​I love sleep. LOVE IT! But it's hard to sleep when the light is. With my husband and I have different schedules, he goes to bed a lot later than me. So I need a sleep mask. I figured I can't be the only one. Especially in a city where people have roommates, go out party, work multiple shifts and jobs and need to get reliable sleep in between.

SFEtsy: What's your work schedule / routine like?
Katia: I have a full time job. I do work on my sleep masks during lunch sometimes, and then I'll go to Sips n' Sews (a sewing studio in San Francisco) and chill out there in the evenings a few times a week and on weekends to work on these.

SFEtsy: Tell us about your work space - where do you create?
Katia: ​I mainly now create at Sips n' Sews. They have the space that I need, the machines that I love, and a plethora of threads that I can use. It's a great space. And the people there are awesome. So, good work, good tea, and good company.

SFEtsy: What tools do you use that are absolutely essential and makes a huge difference in your day to day process? 
Katia: Canva and Paint.net are my #1 electronic tools for editing and publishing. Other than that, I need to have the materials I need to make it: sewing machine, thread, pins, good scissors, felt, and awesome fabric.
​
SFEtsy: ​How did you get involved with Etsy?
Katia: ​I got involved after I decided to make the masks for sale, instead of just for myself. Mainly because I had leftover fabric from a project, and needed to use it. I only have so many people to give these out to as gifts.

SFEtsy: What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop? 
Katia: Marketing myself was/is the hardest part. I set up the shop, and had nothing ready for it. But now my selection is growing, and I'm learning as I go.

SFEtsy: What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?
Katia: I love the gray cats. I have this sleep mask for myself, and made some for friends.  

SFEtsy: What has been your biggest success and/or proudest moment since opening your Etsy shop? 
Katia: Learning shipping...no, seriously. That's my proudest moment.

SFEtsy: What are your favorite tools or apps that help you with your business?
Katia: Canva, Paint.net, and Instagram.

SFEtsy: ​Share with us one lesson you have learned as an online seller.
Katia: ​Photography is brutal. I'm glad I have a good camera, and the space to take photos (and play around with them), because getting the perfect 5 shots is a PITA. But it's so crucial! Also, the photo viewer on your PC does not show the proper coloring of your photos (for me it's a lot yellower), and you need to use a different program to see the true colors.

​

SFEtsy: What does buying and selling local handmade mean to you? Or Why should people support small business and handmade? 
Katia: I appreciate the time people took to make something, especially something useful and fun. It's different, it's not mass produced, and in some cases, it's one of a kind.

SFEtsy: What skill or craft would you also like to become more proficient at and why? 
Katia: For sewing, it's the goal of the perfect pant fit. Professionally, writing the perfect copy.

SFEtsy: As makers we all suffer from creative blocks - what do you do to unblock to let your creativity flow?
Katia: The funny thing is, the sleep masks are my process to keep my creativity flowing. They're relatively quick to make, and keep me sewing. Then when I get into the mood of sewing some wardrobe items, I can quickly transition into that.

SFEtsy: Tell us about your first sale ever? 
Katia: It was completely organic. A complete stranger bought one of the masks, and I was soooo excited! But then came the realization of "well, what do I ship this in?"

SFEtsy: ​What does the future hold for your Etsy Shop and you personally as a maker or small business?:
Katia: I'm really not sure yet. I need to read up about how to properly go about opening this business so that I can do wholesale, and then aggressively market myself. Or I may not. It's still up in the air.
​

Katia personally donates to the Marine Mammal Center and  supports what they do.

Katia also accepts custom orders, but the delivery timeline of that will depend on how soon she can find the fabric for the theme that has been requested.

You  can find out more about Lights Out Go Bed  at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightsOutGoBed/

Friday Features are run by Raji of Red Kerria Designs. To see your own shop featured, please fill out the form here.

​Today's blog features the Style vendors participating in this popup.
To see a full list of all the style vendors, check out our Indie Emporium's ​
​Pinterest Board

We are featuring Made by  Melephant this month. Owner Melissa Fong offers a variety of handmade headbands, scarves and skirts in her shop. She has been sewing for over ten years and it all started when her friend had asked her to make  a few skirts to wear to San Diego Comic Con. They were an instant hit and she has steadily added more offerings to her collection since then.

SFEtsy:  What's your work schedule/routine like?
Melissa Fong: I am currently working two part-time jobs and taking classes in addition to running my shop, so my schedule changes up all the time and can be a little hectic. I usually work in the day, and I work on my shop at night, whether it's completing orders or creating new products. I don't have a set routine of the exact amount of hours I work on my shop every day, it's just trying to find small pockets of free time to sew when I can.

SFEtsy:  Tell us about your work space - where do you create?
Melissa Fong: My "studio" is basically a hobby room where I also have a TV and a computer in addition to my sewing machine and fabric stock. I would love to have a space where I could freely spread out and dedicate all to my shop, but space is limited so I try to make as much use of all the free spots in the room as possible. I only have one table in the room to use freely for sewing, gluing, etc. so whenever I need to sew or cut, I need to rotate my tools around depending what I need at that very moment. My fabric is stored in bins around the room labeled with each particular theme or fabric.

SFEtsy:  What tools do you use that are absolutely essential and makes a huge difference in your day to day process?
Melissa Fong:  I would not have a shop at all if it weren't for my Kenmore sewing machine. I bought it over ten years ago from Sears and it's still going strong! Other essential tools include my titanium fabric scissors by Fiskars, pin cushion and pins, measuring tape, an iron, and cutting boards. When I make headbands, I use a bodkin and a Turn-It-All set, which makes sewing headbands so much easier. I'm not a fan of the safety pin method to turn fabric tubes inside out, so thank goodness for the Turn-It-All!

SFEtsy:  How did you get involved with Etsy?
Melissa Fong:  I've known about Etsy for a long time, and I always had the desire to open up a shop, but for the longest time, I didn't know what I wanted to make. Then a few summers ago, my friend asked me to make her some skirts for San Diego Comic Con. She loved them and got lots of compliments on them, so I decided to try my hand at selling them on Etsy. From there, I expanded to headbands, scarves, and mouse ears.

SFEtsy:  What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop? (optional)
Melissa Fong: ​ My biggest challenge at the moment is time management and dedicating enough time to run my shop. There's so much I want to do to expand and grow my business, yet I feel like I never have enough hours in the day to keep up with the work I want to do for my Etsy shop. My business is primarily a hobby and I love it, but perhaps one day I might want to grow it into something bigger. I would love to start doing craft fairs and shows this year, but dedicating the time for that is something of a challenge. 

SFEtsy:  What has been your biggest success and/or proudest moment since opening your Etsy shop? (optional)
Melissa Fong:  One of my proudest moments has been hitting 100 sales and realizing how far I had come within that time span to be able to sell that many items. Imagining 100 customers coming up to my virtual website and actually having an interest in what I've created is just mind-blowing. The positive feedback I've received as well has been so wonderful and meaningful, and I'm so grateful and happy when my customers are excited and ecstatic about my products. My business has grown so much in the last year and a half, and I hope to expand and grow more over the next year.

SFEtsy:  What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?
Melissa Fong:  It's hard to pick one favorite, but probably my R2-D2 mouse ears is one of my favorite items I sell, just because he's my favorite character and it was one of the first mouse ears I had created. I also adore the fabric, and am still debating on what to make with it for myself (possibly to wear to the premiere of the new movie).

SFEtsy:  What are your favorite tools or apps that help you with your business?
Melissa Fong: ​ I use the Sell on Etsy app to run my business on the go. It's very easy to use and it's super convenient and handy. I also have an Instagram account for my shop that I use a lot to promote my business, and whenever I need to take product photos or pictures for my Instagram, I use Camera+ to edit my pictures. I also use Microsoft Excel for my bookkeeping, and I order my business cards from Vistaprint.

SFEtsy:  What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?
Melissa Fong:  I love sewing, but someday I wish to build upon my sewing skills and perfect my alterations skills. I have lots of dress patterns, specifically vintage, that aren't exactly my size, and I'm mostly self-taught so I wish to dedicate some time one day to learning the art of altering patterns.

SFEtsy:  What's next for you?
Melissa Fong: I'm always working on new designs for the shop. Someday I would love to sell in person at a show, but for now I'm sticking to online because it works better for me and my schedule.

Made by Melephant can be found on Instagram  @madebymelephant
​https://instagram.com/madebymelephant/

Friday Features are run by Raji of Red Kerria Designs. To see your own shop featured, please contact her.

Fill up your closet (or someone else's) with wares from these fabulous clothing makers! They'll see you, along with 200+ other vendors, at the SF Etsy Holiday Emporium. Stop by at Pier 35, 11am-5pm, Nov. 28-29!

There's always room in your closet for one more piece of clothing, right? (If there isn't, feel free to send some our way!) Meet the first of our clothing vendors, and stay tuned to the blog to see even more. Then, come to the Indie Holiday Emporium at Pier 35 on Nov. 28-29, 11am-5pm, and shop away.

Third and Oak: Baby and Kid's Tees