It’s been years now that every Monday ODFL has posted a fashionable quote. Perhaps it’s time for a change.
Not that Fashionable Quote of the Week is going away. It’s not. But to mix things up a bit there will be something new called Fashionable Favorite Things. Every other week or so I will discuss what I’m currently liking and using. Such as: what pen am I reaching for; what handbag is my go-to; what beauty product has me hooked and so on. Whatever I’m excited about and want to share with ODFL readers.
(This is not going to be a paid promotion. The Favorite Things I feature will be items that I have found on my own.)
I met Debbie Ferman last July at the Shadelands Vintage Market, where I was among the vendors selling vintage jewelry and other goodies. Debbie came up to my booth and made a beeline for the basket of buttons I had sitting on the table. We got talking and she mentioned that she makes hats for newborn babies, and she uses buttons as decoration. I was taken with her enthusiasm for what she does and asked if she’d be willing to do a Q&A with ODFL. “That sounds like fun,” she said.
Debbie retired as an RN just before the pandemic. She was a nurse for 43 years, the last 30 of those years at John Muir Medical Center. When she joined the Alamo Women’s Club in 2021, she started making hats and never looked back. She now averages about 40 hats a month.
And here we go with the Q&A:
Did you knit/sew before you started making hats for the Alamo Women’s Club?
I have been knitting for more than 15 years mostly doing simple sweaters and scarfs. Now that I’m retired, I’m happy to knit/loom and donate the items.
What inspired you to get involved with making the hats?
I wanted to do something to give back to the community and was so pleased to find I could do so with making hats!
Tell us about the hats themselves, what are they like?
The hats I make are done on a round loom which comes in multiple sizes, and I think it’s easier than knitting. I also do know how to crochet and my curls and flowers on the hats are done with crochet.
When we met and you mentioned your volunteer work, I could see how excited you are about it – what is it about the work that brings you such joy?
It’s very relaxing to loom and gives me a chance to be creative which I love to do. I’ve always collected antique items including buttons, which I use to decorate the hats.
What are the rewards of volunteer work?
Recently I made over 30 hats that were sent to Ukraine. In this case I made mostly adults and a few child size hats. I used warm wool yarns as they are so cold there and in such need of these items. I also collected warm clothing for the Ukraine people. The person that sends the hats to Ukraine attaches a note to each shipment which says “Sending love from your friends in California.” How wonderful I felt knowing I could do something to help these people.
The Alamo Women’s Club has lots of interesting events and I hear there’s a jewelry show coming up. Can you tell us more about that?
We have a huge jewelry sale multiple times each year. There are thousands of items so you can always find something. All of it is donated and proceeds go to needy Bay Area College students and support the other Alamo Women’s club philanthropies. We have vintage, collectible, new, fine and costume items. Many antique dealers frequent the sales. Our next sale is February 1st, 10-5 and February 2nd, 10-4, at our clubhouse 1401 Danville Blvd., Alamo.
I can’t wait for that sale!
Thank you, Debbie for taking time with ODFL and for all the knitting and volunteering you do. What an inspiration you are!
Fabulous jewelry transformation. Image courtesy of Baribault Jewelers.
I wrote a short story last year in which one of my characters took her engagement ring and had it repurposed into what she called her “disengagement ring.” I was inspired by my mother who did that very same thing years ago after her divorce. Turns out my mother was ahead of her time.
Repurposing jewelry is a trend and we’re not talking just engagement rings – Grandma’s diamond brooch? Mon’s sapphire dinner ring? Dad’s cufflinks? All of these family heirlooms could come out of the dark and live a new life and Baribault Jewelers can make it happen!
Based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Baribault Jewelers is a family owned business and since 1948 they have been offering their customers quality fine jewelry as well as repair. In 2015 they added Repurposing to their options. “It’s time for people to take those family heirlooms out of the vault and transform them into jewelry they’ll want to wear every day,” said Christina Baribault-Ortiz, co-owner of Baribault Jewelers. “Whether its rings, bracelets, pins, medals, necklaces or earrings, our team is up for the challenge of taking your most meaningful piece and reimaging it to be meaningfully you.”
It doesn’t matter if you’re on the East Coast, West Coast or in-between, the staff at Baribault can work with you. Got something sitting in a safe-deposit box? Give it a new life and yourself a piece of jewelry you will wear every day. Set up a time online for Baribault to give you a call and make that transformation!
Jewelry is not fashion. It has to last, not be discarded as soon as something else comes along.
Elsa Peretti, Italian born jewelry designer (1940-2021).
Ms. Peretti designed for Tiffany & Co. and created the iconic Bone Cuff, Open Heart pendant, and Mesh Necklace.
I can’t agree more with this week’s quote. Jewelry should always be timeless, or at least we should approach it as if it were and mix it up. Certainly all of what Ms. Peretti designed is timeless. Her pieces from nearly fifty years ago are still selling at Tiffany and have become classics.
I have a coupleof necklaces from my grandmother who passed away, and wearing them reminds me of her. One of her necklaces stands for power and freedom. And I think especially being a woman in the ’70s in Morocco, it was not easy. Wearing them reminds me to push through and kind of continue with what I’m doing to stay strong.
Imaan Hammam, fashion model.
This quote is from Harper’s Bazaar, May 2022.
Born and raised in Amsterdam, Ms. Hammam is Moroccan and Egyptian. She says she appreciates her multicultural background, which has allowed her to understand the world better.
I also have many pieces of jewelry from my mother and my grandmother. Whenever I slip on one of their pieces – a ring or a bracelet, a brooch or a strand of beads – I revisit a different memory of them. In that way, they are still with me.
The Joy collection by Foundrae jewelry. Image from Vogue magazine.
I will wearanything: high-low brands, menswear, vintage. I tend to always have something on that is a bit off.
Beth Bugdaycay – American jewelry designer.
This quote is from Vogue magazine, March 2022.
Ms. Bugdaycay is the co-founder Foundrae jewelry. Since 2015 she has been creating unique jewelry pieces that are inspired by the world around us from nature to every day objects. Each line has a theme and a set of symbolic motifs. Her latest collection is titled Joy and includes a butterfly for freedom, a spade for abundance, and the Roman numeral 10 for manifestation. Foundrae jewelry is of heirloom quality, made of recycled 18k gold.
Most of my jewelry is symbolic of something personal to me. A silver brooch that I bought at a London antique market (travel). My college class ring (achievement). My grandmother’s gold locket (family).
I like adding something “a bit off” to my ensembles too and jewelry works well for that purpose. Like a big brooch on a hat or on the cuff of a jacket or chunky chain necklace worn as a belt. It’s all about getting creative and having fun with it.
Well, here I am back at it on ODFL. While on a little hiatus I realized that in the ten plus years of writing this blog I have never taken a break. I see that after two silent months not only have I kept my regular readers, but I even managed to add a few new subscribers. To the newbies I say welcome! And to my regulars, thank you for staying with me.
Pearls go with everything and can go anywhere. They’re not too much and not too little but everything you’d ask for in a piece of jewelry.
Cindy Marshall, retired antique jewelry dealer and my mother.
Mom comes out with these little gems every so often. We were chatting on the phone and I mentioned that I’d been wearing her pearl bracelet that she had passed on to me years ago. I hadn’t worn it much, saving it for special occasions until my recent pull toward pearls inspired me to wear this bracelet every day, just because I like it.
It seems I’m not the only person drawn to pearls lately. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs told Harper’s Bazaar that after years of wanting, he finally bought himself a strand of pearls for Christmas last year. He says that the pearls are like a good luck charm and bring him joy during the pandemic. I recently interviewed a jeweler about trends and pearls are on the list. She told me that young women, influenced by the young British royals, are buying pearls.
I suspect that women are also inspired by another fan of pearls – Vice President Kamala Harris, who has made pearls her signature. Single strands, double strands, layered, mixed with gold and even diamonds, Vice President Harris loves her pearls. (I love that fact that she sports her pearls with her other favorite accessory – Converse sneakers.)
I agree with my mother that pearls are now an every day choice that go with everything. I like pearls with t-shirts. Or layers of pearls peeking out from underneath a blouse. Or a long strand on a lightweight sweater. Pearls are fun to play with and they don’t have to be real; faux pearls can be as lovely and lustrous as the real thing. And by the way, pearl is the birthstone for June.
I’m a big fan of skirts. Worn with a t-shirt or light cotton blouse, a skirt is easy and comfortable yet still a nice look.
Skirts are a go-to option for my At Home Attire ensembles. I made the one in this photo from a novelty print (ferns) cotton fabric. I’ve paired it with a cotton t-shirt in gray and added a cropped cardigan in light green, which picks up the lighter green shade in the skirt. The shoes are patent leather ballet flats, which are as comfortable as slippers!
Notice I’m wearing jewelry. Just because I’m hanging at home, doesn’t mean I’m not putting on some bling. Rings are my favorite and I enjoy looking at them while pausing at my writing desk, searching for just the right word or taking a break to stretch.
Tune in again for another installment of At Home Attire.
Catherine's new bracelet from Camilla. Photo: Getty Images
Last week while on an official visit to Canada, Catherine was spotted wearing a single charm on a bold link bracelet. Turns out that was a wedding gift from her step-mother-in-law, Camilla. It’s reported that the disk charm has a C on one side for Catherine and a C on the other for Camilla.
It seems Camilla has a thing for giving Cs as presents. As I recall, she gave Prince Charles interlocking C cufflinks before his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer, who was none too pleased with the letter C.
Like Catherine and Camilla, I too like my own initial. For my 17th birthday, my mother got me started on initial jewelry with a simple gold M pendant from Shreve & Co. I still have and wear that M and it’s still my favorite.
Mom also introduced me to monograms. She had her monogram embroidered on her Oxford shirts and printed on her stationary. But Mom didn’t stop with her own monogram. When she began collecting antique jewelry, she would wear brooches with monograms other than hers. As long as it was an interesting piece of jewelry, she thought nothing of sporting any combination of letters.
When I was younger, I prefered to stick to my own monogram or that of something I was connected to, like my college class ring. But now I think it’s creative to mix it up.
Lately, I’ve been wearing my great-aunt’s high school class ring. It has three letters in raised gold – GHS – which stands for Greensburg High School. At the bottom is 1920, the year she graduated. I’ve never even been to Greensburg, but I love this sweet ring for the family connection and the Art Deco style.
What do you think? Are monograms your thing? Would you wear one other than your own? Leave a comment and do tell.
OverDressed for Life 