Paloma-SF

06/12/2026

RIP . Well this one kind of hits hard. I got to meet him in Tokyo about two years ago, We were both staying at the same hotel during Inspiration Tokyo and I got to talk to him a bit. He seemed like a really nice guy.

06/11/2026

I had Tuesday off so I made myself a pair of pants, baked and almond torte and watched the movie Gaslit by my Husband on Lifetime Network. I’m turning into my mother. But like in a really manly heterosexual way.

06/09/2026

Toured the studio of and got to check out some awesome vintage sewing machines

06/09/2026

Drove up to Sausalito today to visit the studio of One dude in a small studio making pants one at a time using traditional machines. In this day and age of fast fashion, automation and cheap foreign labor bordering on indentured servitude, it’s nice that there are still outpost like these where you can get a quality item made to last a lifetime from the person that made it.

06/08/2026

1. Colombia (away) glad they made it into the cup or my wife was going to have a nervous breakdown.
2. Belgium (away) really digging this one.
3. Argentina (away) nice nod to “fileteo” roots.
4. USA (away), different but not as cool as their 1994 faux denim kit.
5. Nigeria (away) a team with consistent kits. Their 2018 (home) kit was one of the best.
6. Mexico (home), always killing it with their home kits.
7. France (home), they killed it last World Cup with their away kit. One of the best ever. Digging the collar on the 2026 though.
8. Sweden (away) 1994 goalie kit is still one of the best.
9. Germany (home) not as good as the 1990 West Germany kit but still not bad.
10. Japan (away) saw it in person and liked it but not great. Their 2018 sashiko inspire kit is one of my all time favorites.

05/30/2026

Apologies

05/21/2026

05/20/2026

A few weeks ago I posted asking if anyone had an old sewing machine that they would want to donate to the shop because I’m trying to learn how to work on my own machines and wanted a donor to tinker on. One person contacted me and dropped of a beautiful 1934 Singer Featherweight of all things. The machine was originally purchased by their Grandmother in Estonia in 1936 and this machine was the only thing she brought with her to the US when she fled the Russian occupation during WWII. The granddaughter wanted the machine to go somewhere where it would continue to be used so she brought it to me. There was no way in hell I was going to use this machine to “learn” how to take apart a sewing machine. Instead I took it over to in Antioch and David did a thorough service on it. The machine is now working like new and will now continue to be used and loved by me. It’s amazing that this 90 year old appliance is still going strong and in some cases performs better than modern equipment. How many modern day things can you think of that will still be relevant and useful 100 years from now? Hell even 10 years from now.

05/16/2026

Working on another baseball cap today using a 100 year old Sakabukuro. These are cloth sacks that were originally dyed with kakishibu (persimmon tannins) which would act as an anti microbial and keep rot away, the sacks were used by breweries to filter sake. The process has been automated by modern machinery and these textiles are becoming harder and harder to source.

05/14/2026

This is what happens when the shop is profitable, doesn’t happen too often, and it coincides with my severe ADHD flaring up. I’ve been wanting to have baseball caps made using all the vintage Japanese fabric I’ve hoarded over the last few years but have been having trouble finding someone to do it for me so I went out and bought two industrial sewing machines and taught myself how to do it. If you have ADHD or know someone who has, you know what this is like. I’ve spent two weeks, 24/7 hyper focusing and obsessing on this. I’ve stayed up till 4am every night watching every video on the subject of cap making and sewing machines used in the process at the expense of paying bills or organizing the shop. I’m gonna start naming all the dust bunnies at the shop soon. Best I can explain it, it’s like there is always a buzzing in my head (like a beehive) which makes it hard to concentrate on most things and the only time it quiets down is when I go down these obsessive rabbit holes or engage in super repetitive work like hand stitching leather. Speaking of which, it’s also how I taught myself how to work with leather. Quieting an incessant buzzing in my head is not a great story when people ask me how I learned to do what I do though. This might be TMI but I gots no new merchandise to post about and I gots to keep the shop constantly visible on social media. It helps with sales.. Before you ask, I’m taking meds for it and they help occasionally. Kind of sucks but doing this is probably better than alcohol. Now, I must go learn how to make my own clothes. No really, this is my next project. Meanwhile my website is screaming at me to update it and my unopened bills are comfortably resting on bed of dust bunnies.