Tag Archives: workwear women

Can’t afford that gorgeous wooden table you saw at Pottery Barn? Build it yourself!

Really need some more storage space, but can’t find the right piece? Build it yourself!

While that idea may seem far-fetched at first, there are some amazing resources out there that can help you easily accomplish that task.

One website we love is http://ana-white.com/  First of all Ana really captures the Rosie’s can-do spirit. She lives in Alaska, where she has been tinkering with building projects out of wood since she was a child. Recently, she built her own home with her husband. “It’s not a big house, and the counter tops are granite tiles, not a slab. But it is our house, and we did build it, all by ourselves, board by board, and we couldn’t be more proud. When we built our home, it wasn’t like what time are the contractors coming. Instead, it was like honey, I’ll hold the board, and you nail.” We love that enthusiasm!

However, as much as we are charmed by Ana, the website is really just a great forum for people to post their own DIY furniture projects. All the projects are broken down into exact dimensions and step by step advice with pictures! There are furniture project ideas based on skill level from beginner to advanced.

Here is a pottery barn bed for $3,200  

Here are directions for how to make the bed (posted by Ana) for just the cost of materials!  http://ana-white.com/2010/01/plans-canopy-for-the-farmhouse-bed-pottery-barn.html

Don’t have the tools to be able to make your own wooden furniture?Several warehouse retailers such as Home Depot & Lowes will cut wood for you for free. Just give them the dimensions and let their tools do the work! Some stores will even allow you to rent tools, such as this high power precision saw from Home Depot: http://www.homedepotrents.com/proTools/miter_saw.asp?cm_sp=tool_rental-_-overlayF-_-miter_saw

One of my favorite parts about making furniture, besides the cost difference, is that you can easily match all the wood colors in the room, with stain.

Recently, in my house, we updated our living room with more storage: a large modern shelf, end tables, and stools for extra seating. We looked up design ideas on websites like Ebay, Overstock, and Anawhite, and then just had fun experimenting! It was the first furniture we ever made. A month later, everything is still standing, the stools can support our weight, and we saved ourselves hundreds of dollars! Best of all, unlike sometimes when you bring a store bought piece of furniture into your home, it did not make all our old furniture look shabby! We were able to customize the color and design to accentuate everything we already had. Another financial relief!

Here is one of the shelves that we made:

So, what piece of furniture would you like to add to a room in your home? I double-dog-dare-you to whip out those Rosies, and that Rosie’s attitude, and try to build it yourself!

by Elizabeth Layton, Rosies Intern

I have had the privilege of working at Rosies Workwear for the past two months.  Not only have I loved working for a business that promotes “women can do it,” I have been inspired by the hard-working women who purchase Rosies.

As a graduating senior at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, I decided to take one easy class…the beginners rodeo class.  This class allows students to practice all the various events in a rodeo.  We were also required to volunteer at the Cal Poly Rodeo that takes place during our Open House for incoming freshman.  Included in all this was a steer riding competition for our class (similar to bull riding, but not quite as scary since steers are smaller).  Out of the 80 students only 10 were randomly chosen to ride the steers in the rodeo…in front of everyone.

So of course, my name was chosen.  The first words out of my mouth were, “Are you kidding me?”   No, I did not want to put myself on a steer whose only goal is to buck me off, but yes, of course I’ll do it.  How could I possibly work for a business whose motto is that women can do anything that men can do, and then not take this opportunity?

The day of the rodeo I was pretty nervous.  I wasn’t so much scared anymore (I had gotten to practice once, earlier that week) but I didn’t particularly feel like embarrassing myself in front of hundreds of people.  As Rosie luck would have it, I didn’t embarrass myself at all.  In fact, I won!  I stayed on the longest and received the highest score out of the ten students.  I won a belt buckle and got the satisfaction of proving that girls can ride steers, too.  I think I’m becoming a Rosie.

With the Fall and Winter months upon us, it’s time to make sure you have all of the essentials for keeping warm. According to doedeereblogazine.com, here is a list of the “must-haves”:

• Long underwear

The difference it makes is pretty unbelievable. Silk or thin cashmere are excellent at keeping your body warm, with minimal thickness added to your outfit. I recommend getting a set that more or less matches your skin tone.

• Hat & gloves

Did you know that we lose the most heat from the top of our head? Keeping your brain warm is so critical that your body will sacrifice any other body part before it will let the brain get cold! Feet and hands come in second. Covering those 3 areas will keep you extra-warm. I like to wear knit hats with an extra layer of soft fleece inside, plus, it’s so easy to find a matching hat & gloves set!

Tip: if you are prone to losing your gloves, sew on a piece of elastic to each glove and thread them through the sleeves. You’ll never lose your gloves again!

** See Rosies workwear gloves for women to keep your hands warm and dry when working outdoors.

• Warm coat

Finding a warm coat you like is super-important. I have two winter coats, a long, simple one (when I need to look presentable) and a faux fur coat with a hood for when it’s really cold. I got the fur coat at a thriftstore; it only cost me $50 and it’s the warmest coat I’ve ever had! And it happens to be cute too, so I always look forward to wearing it!

• Tall boots

Winter boots are different because they are made out of thicker material and have fatter soles. A little bit of platform never hurt anyone, but I don’t recommend super-high heels, you might slip on ice. A comfortable 3 heel is a good choice. Also, buy your winter boots a size larger, so you can wear them with thicker socks!

** If working outdoors, check out Bogs Boots on rosiesworkwear.com

• Long sleeves

Long sleeves on anything are your best friend during the winter months! Long-sleeve dresses are awesome, because they are feminine and can be worn with the silk underwear. Cute sweaters & cardigans will give you that relaxed, cozy feel. Lovely!

• Knit tights

Last but not least, knit tights are a-must if you want to wear skirts in the winter. And since they’re opaque, you can wear them with your long underwear (see how everything comes back to it??). Paired with tall boots, they’ll keep you warm.

And of course, Rosies coveralls to keep you warm and dry. Rosies wants to know… what colors do you prefer for winter apparel? Bright colors so they are visible during the dark winter months, or more neutral colors? Let us know your favorite colors!

Did you know that Rosie the Riveters real name is Mary Doyle Keefe? The original Rosies the Riveter was made famous after a painting of her by Norman Rockwell first appeared in 1943 on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post and, later, on war bond posters. Keefe, who was paid $10 to pose, came to embody the can-do attitude of American women whose work helped win the war. It is arguably among the most recognizable images of World War II and transformed Keefe from a small-town switchboard operator into an American icon.

In a USA Today article, Keefe tells the story of how she was living with her family in Arlington, Vt., at the time, not far from where Rockwell lived with his family and had a studio.”The telephone office was in my mom’s house, and he would come in to pay his bill,” Keefe recalled, in the article. “He knew who I was and asked if I would sit for a picture. Gene Pelham, his photographer who moved from New York, would take a picture and Norman Rockwell would cut out what he wanted. You didn’t sit there while he was painting the whole thing, which was good.”

Keefe described how she had received endless ribbing about the now famous image of a brawny working woman breaking for lunch with a ham sandwich in hand, pneumatic riveter on her lap and copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf underfoot. Her body looked nothing like that in real life, said Keefe, especially the muscular arms.

Rockwell sent her a written apology.”The kidding you took was all my fault, because I really thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” Rockwell wrote in the 1967 letter.

Now 87 and living in an apartment at the McLean Home, Keefe tells her full story in this article from USA Today.

Hi Rosies Crew,

My little action video of me capturing a honeybee swarm last week, features me wearing my Rosies coveralls‚ make no mistake that I’m trusting my Rosies. Whether it’s a mere 10,000 honeybees or when I’m in the apiary working with about 480,000 of them! The video is too large to attach to an email, but it’s posted on my website here http://www.vtbeekeeper.com/photosyear3.html, at the bottom of the page, You need Flash to view it. I have plans to modify the wrist opening. I’m going to take out a few stitches in the side of the cuff, so that I can put some elastic through it, and then sew it back up. I need to make sure that the little darling honeybees can’t crawl up my sleeves!

Best wishes,
Valarie Wilson