Hand-made Clothing


The Patchwork Phishbowl

http://members.aol.com/MoonDame/MoonPatch.html

Overview: An online catalog with lots of patchwork clothing: skirts, dresses, pants, shirts, bags, "cozy stuff" (pillows, scarves, blankets, and hats), hemp jewelry, and itty-bitty clothing for the young'uns. The homepage includes links to he sites for each category listed above, and their prices.

The creator of this website has some nice things advertised. She has a please sense of humor. The text on her pages is really quite entertaining, making the shopper feel like she speaking directly to them. In some places, she tells about where she came up with the ideas, and where she's sold the items previously. There are few graphics that didn't work. Most are pictures of clothing, which can prove to be troublesome, but the overall creativity of the site and its links is delightful. She used the letters and symbols on the keyboard to create little figures around some of her text, and the backgrounds are soft and easy on the eyes. All in all, the site is easy to move around in, gives all the necessary information on how to order the clothing, and is aesthetically pleasing.


Happylife Productions

http://www.happylifeproductions.com


Overview: A source for tie-dye products, mostly but not limited to t-shirts for the young and old. It focuses mostly on nature and earth-related graphics, everything from mushrooms and gargoyles to dolphins and rainforests. There is a link of accessories containing a dress, some socks, pants, and shorts, and one for several sticker designs. The homepage and each of its links have a list of accepted credit cards, ordering information, and a link to a place you can ask questions about the sites and/or its products.

The clothing presented on this site is very colorful. When one thinks of "tie-dye", they think of just random colors splashed onto a t-shirt. The founders of this site prove this to be wrong. Their products contain explicitly detailed graphics and tie-dyes that grab the eye of the beholder and don't let go. Credit card and ordering information makes obtaining these items very easy. The only things the site lacks are backgrounds as stunning as the items on them, and a description of the clothing. A brief statement about the material of each product might have been nice. Overall, a surfer-friendly site by some creative people.


St. Stephen's Tie Dyes

http://www.mindspring.com/~st.stephan/index1.html

Overview: The St. Stephens web page is very interesting. The is no formal introduction, but it stars with a quote. Access to music while reading the page is offered. A guestbook is offered fore comments about the site or just for saying hello. A short biography about the owner of the page is included, followed by ordering information and a brief description of how his product are made. A long list of products is offered including music, jewelry, and pictures. It ends with a few more links and access to e-mail.

The best part abut this page are the pictures. The products are shown very well. There is also a lot of interseting clip art. It is very eay to find what you are looking for in a quick and easy manner. I like that the owner gives some background about how his products are created. Over all I like this page. It looks like a lot of hard work and time went into it.


Sugarmag Designs

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Amphitheatre/3817/PatchworkClothing.html

Overview: The Sugarmag Design Web page is put together very well. It starts with an update link that shows all the new merchandise. A small introduction follows the update, which tells a little bit about the vendor. The viewer also has access to a guest book and e-mail. A survey is included so the owner can improve the weaker parts of the page. At the end there are a few links to other pages. Along the left side there are links to photos of the products being sold. There are also pictures of people modeling the merchandise, and comments about the quality of the merchandise. It closes with a small conclusion and a record of how many people have viewed the site.

I think this page is very informative and efficient. I notice that it is updated every week. The catalog itself is constructed very well, there are photos, descriptions, and prices. It appears that the owner of the page is interested in constantly improving the page. Looking to the public for advice on improvements is a great idea. Overall this is a terrific page and a lot of time has gone in to it.


Carl's Cotton and Corduroy Creations

http://www.macaccess.com/magic/tphish/patchies.html

Overview: This is one of the simplest pages I visited. It has a solid blue background and no special fonts or graphics. There are also very few pictures of the products being sold. A chart organizes the different items by way of item and type. The page offers the basic selection of skirts and shirts and also includes hemp goods, blankets, pillows, and overalls. There is a section for premade goods and for past customers.

Carl's page is very simple, almost too much so. The lack of pictures really hurts the site; as they are really a necessity for this type of page. Anyone who is attempting to sell clothing should try to have pictures of the goods they are vending, since the consumer will rarely buy a product without seeing it first. The plain background is boring and the font unoriginal. And the prices are in the high price range. The site is, however, well organized. It easy to scroll down and be able to read all your options at once. Plus, Carl does include some items that other sites do not, such as overalls, hemp goods, pillowcases and blankets. He also includes special offers, such as trading tapes in return for his goods.


Lauren's Patchwork

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/9041

Overview: Lauren's site has a great deal to offer. She has a checkered background that is eye catching and uses different styles of font to keep things organized. The page offers skirts, shirts, dresses, and other micellaneous goods. There is also a list of links, a page for her artwork, and a list of what has been recently updated. There are a great deal of pictures included so it is easy to see what her items look like. Prices are included next to every picture.

This page is very well done. Not only are all the basics covered, but there are many "extras" added too. Lauren offers a history of patchwork, a page displaying her artwork and a variety of links. She also has included quotes throughout her page. The photos she has are clear and in them, the clothes are well displayed; it is easy to see what they look like. Prices are reasonable, but not cheap. The only negative on this page is the ads, which pop up every time you move to a new section. This can get annoying.


Namaste

http://www.handmadeclothes.com


This site, Namaste, is an on line business that sells handmade skirts, shirts, dresses, bags/pouches, pillows and pants. It is very organized and well designed. There are descriptions and pictures of each product along with the price of the product. It has a very professional look and makes me believe I would be receiving a high quality product.

Namaste's best feature is the fact that it has a picture for each item it sells. Prices are near the picture along with a brief description of the product. You can also add things to your clothes for an extra fee, such as patches and lace. This site was very well organized with all of its different parts designed and working accurately. Links to this site had a lot to do with the band Phish. The women who runs this web site sells her products at concerts also and many of the links are about improving that type of scene for hers and other businesses. The different types of merchandise were separated and you were able to jump from one source to another without returning to the home page. It was obvious that a lot of time went into the creation of these web pages. That fact proves to me that this is a business that deserves people's time and attention.


Dancing Bear

http://www.geocities.com/soho/den/4849/

Dancing Bear handmade clothing is a very unique business. It is run by one women whom introduces herself to the web-site viewers. She is willing to create anything her customers want and she is willing to accept trades for her products. This site has a very friendly feel to it. The expressions and wording of the text is very personable.

This web-site definitely had a homemade feel to it. Except for the order form it wasn't professional in any way. Advertisements kept popping up to promote other businesses while I tried to view this site. There were very few pictures of the merchandise. If there were pictures they were not located with the descriptions. Dancing Bear sells dresses, pants, shirts, skirts, house-wares, bags/pouches and crochet goods. When I clicked on bags/pouches nothing related to bags/pouches came on the screen. There was also a listing for weekly specials. This seemed to be a waste of space to me because there was only one line of information that could have been incorporated in another part of the site. The thing I liked best about this site is that it was very well decorated. Each page was different which made it much more interesting.


Krista DeJoseph
Tim Seymour
Jackie Soda
Amy Boyes