all creatures great and small: some more poultry and a metaphorical bear




 First things first, what to wear under your wellies when you're raking out the barnyard. They're mainly wool, some nylon, so they will keep your feet warm. Oh, very warm. However, the hen store has a 25% promo on socks now, not clear if these were included (meaning I got the catalog-model-like stare when I inquired). Worth pursuing if they're your thing. Oh, and the hen and her accessories are all embroidered. I communed briefly with the Hen Shirt, decided the silk fabric of the Heartthrob Shirt had more body, left the shirt in its henhouse.

Next, I spotted a cute but fictional cotton tee.
 Not as fictional as the one touting
ELVIS PRESLEY LIVE AND IN PERSON IN PHUKET (my fave)
for a concert some 20 years after his alleged death, but still...


Then I looked at a blue-and-white Liberty shirt. 
It was priced at $150. It looked strangely familiar.
Anyway, I had some returning to do, well, a lot of returning,
 so I did it, and then I went home, 
feeling much richer than I'd felt when I set out.
We're heading out west for a family visit tomorrow, 
so my next activity was to poke around in the closet and 
find a few things to wear that don't read "New York" but aren't fleece.

Oh, that's why the shirt looked familiar!

It was $19.99 at Target.
Doesn't anyone at J.Crew do their homework?

I guess the fabric of the JC shirt wasn't "hand-sourced." 
Too bad, I wanted a reason to ask someone to define that term for me.
"Hand-sourced" as opposed to "picked up with her teeth?"
Well, I'll say this about my Target shirt - it is the same fabric, I was shaking with giggles when I snapped the JC shirt --
 some days the bear gets you AND SOME DAYS YOU GET THE BEAR!
probably not a Liberty fabric


32 comments:

  1. $19.99 you say, huh? Can't wait until they open one here.

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    1. Rose there were Target lines around the block here already, for the Jason Woo collab pop-up :-) I know this because I live down the street. I've had a chance to be in US for some of collections and is hit & miss, but you can find some good pieces, for home and kids esp.

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  2. Ah, Target. Worth a trip, especially around holidays, when all their "collaborations" bear fruit. This was from a collaboration they did with Liberty a while ago - lines around the block!

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  3. I think I would rather pay the extra $130 than risk my life at Target when a big collaboration comes out. There is no dignity, plus it's scary. Plus if you go there like a regular person, it's all gone anyway (Missoni anyone?). I could use some socks for inside the wellies, I might have to consult with the hens. What does that t-shirt say, anyway?

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    1. Hi, cate, there's a Target not far from our beach place which gets a decent selection of the collabs. I thought that Missoni thing was a disaster, and the merch was absolute junk from what I saw of it. But I think I did well on the Liberty pieces, and I find uses for the Derian stuff at the beach.

      I think the tee promotes a "Royal Adventurers Society, ever faithful and strong." Harmless enough, and it's 100 % cotton.

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  4. LOL! I have that Target shirt! That's awesome. At my Target, they languished for weeks. Probably because they were in the mens section!

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    1. J.CrewJD, I actually bought 2 of the shirts, which, as you say, lingered... The other one is a multi-colored tiny fruit & flowers on a cream background. Awesome indeed.

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  5. I like this - really does J crew not do their homework? However, I think Liberty stole the pattern of a dress i wore in 1965 a couple of years ago. But that was probably an homage...

    Have fun our west - are you going to see a good witch or a bad west?

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  6. Replies
    1. Hi, WMM, I'm still shaking my head over "hand-sourced."

      We'll be visiting adorable little elves. Pure delight.

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  7. It is a beautiful shirt at any price!

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    1. Hi, KnitYarns, every time I'm in London I visit Liberty & Co. fabric department and stand still and stare. And stare. And stare.

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    2. I have been known to waste substantial amounts of time gazing at Tana Lawn online.

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  8. How funny! You made my day, since I've been priced out of the last few seasons of JC's Liberty shirts. I bought two of the men's Liberty print cotton button down shirts including the one that you purchased at Target during the collaboration and love them. They were much nicer than the women's mostly polyester offerings.

    If anyone is feeling handy, Liberty of London just came out with their new lower priced line of quilting fabrics (they are also available in the U.S):
    http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/fabrics_craft-fabrics
    I am looking forward to purchasing a few yards for home decorating/quilting but may just try my hand at making clothing with it too. The new line is not the tana lawn but I imagine that it will still be very nice.

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    1. Hi, Awakening, what was your second Target/Liberty shirt? mine was teeny fruits & flowers on cream background. V. Liberty,

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    2. Yes that's the one, teeny red, gold and green flowers. The fabric is a bit heavier and not as soft as the blue and white floral. I enjoy them both and they are surprisingly well made. I have a small collection of J Crew and Brora Liberty shirts and dresses and have no less love for my Target acquisitions.

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    3. I congratulate you on your perfect taste!

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  9. WFF, JC already did a boy shirt with a round collar in almost the identical print, only the blue & white were reversed. It's still a regular in my closet. They also did a clutch in that Liberty print for a ye olde JC of yore price of about $68. Think was same year as library print. As for the boot liners, I'm thinking Garanimals tags. Have a good visit.

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    1. Hi, GF, I must have been asleep at the wheel that year. Or maybe I just thought it would go on forever.

      Absolutely right, the hen is now A Garanimal. Waiting for the corduroy pants.

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  10. You should have heard my own dear Father when he was shopping with me in Atlanta at the J Crew, viewing the $150 price tags on the Liberty shirts, oh the cursing. I think the moment actually dried up my crewlade, so all good.
    Are you going away for long? Worried. We'll miss you. Though an elf visit is always delightful.

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    1. Ha, Dani, love the idea of protective father wanting to spare delicate daughter from being conned into purchasing overpriced garbage, that's how my dad would have reacted.

      We're only going out for a weekend, will be returning Monday. This morning I was up at 4 to call some Paris restaurants. Himself is unstoppable.

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    2. thank you! (of course everything can be cancelled, but I'm feeling really good about this - economy must be awful, though, got all my restos on my first choice of date & time).

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    3. Spring-I hope. Should you find yourself in the 2d needing a healthful, quick fix please remember my friend Manu's new Thai quickee-Kapunka-59 Rue de Richelieu and tell him Gail sent you.
      AA

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    4. Spring, of course! And someone we've known since she was a kid has just opened a little place around the corner, we'll pop in and say hi there and see what's up.

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  11. I wish I would have found that one at my Target...especially since that is my favorite Liberty print out of all of them at J.Crew right now! I can't believe you got it for $19.99! That is such a fabulous deal. You must be extra thrilled after seeing the one at J.Crew. :)

    I hope you and Himself have a wonderful time with the little elves this weekend!

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  12. Thanks, FFM, I love magically zooming into town with goofy presents for everybody, and I love all the hugs!

    The shirts - of all the patterns to pick! I bet there was a very expensive "sourcing" trip to London with some real hits on the expense accounts to find the fabric Target had just used. Which, as we know from reading the comments here, was made into a shirt that Target (gasp!) marked down.

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  13. Shocking Liberty fabric scandal!

    I want the grey socks with the little red hen!!! The B&M is not close so I hope I don't miss them. Yes I would wear with Muck Boots, better for cleaning out the barn.

    Have a wonderful trip!

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  14. thanks, Lane, those socks would be perfect for your lovely barn.

    I was just packing up Critter neckaces for the teenies, a spotted giraffe, a pink elephant... and I thought I need a Hen necklace. I need one in each color.

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  15. After years and years of reading about lace, jacquards and cashmere sourced from remote villages in the foothills of somewhere where they've been doing so for X hundreds of years, I'm starting to not believe in so many fairy tales.

    A couple months ago, I sourced myself a JC liberty print shirt that was highly sought after a few seasons ago (sold out before I could even notice it) ... got it from that online auction place for $12.50.

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  16. Good one, tr!

    If I were to "compare and contrast" the JC catalog blurbs with the J.Peterman "literature," I would say that the most striking difference in the "sourcing" myths is that Peterman himself goes somewhere or hears a story or has a glass of something, gets inspired, goes back to the office and draws a skirt or a belt... where as the JC legend is typically that a whole team of expense-account babes go somewhere and "hand-source" a yarn, a bolt of goods, a trimming and place an order on the spot - and however nice the goods may have been at the mill or the little shop or the bazaar, it's then sent off to a sweatshop in the Far East to shrink each time the order is processed. Either way, it's all legend. The difference is that when you hold up your merch to the legend you either do or do not feel that your intelligence was insulted when you focus on the width of the seam allowance.

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