Saline Senior Opens Online Shop
By Hayley Byrnes
Some students wait tables. Some serve ice cream. Some deliver pizza. Senior Sarah Marshall spends many afternoons pawing through every last corner of Value World for her job. But Marshall is not any ordinary thrift shopper—she is a businesswoman.
Earlier this year, she opened a shop on Etsy, the handcrafted and vintage-focused equivalent of eBay. The Sunflower Seamstress, named for Marshall’s favorite flower, sells dresses, skirts, sweaters, shorts, and hair accessories.
To create her finished products, Marshall scours local thrift stores, like Value World and the weekly Ann Arbor Kiwanis Thrift Sale, for vintage finds. She only buys clothes that are high-quality and vintage (no Forever 21 or H&M). Size, she adds, doesn’t matter.
“I alter them to fit today’s fashion and people our age,” she says.
After finding potential pieces, Marshall heads home and uses herself to alter them. Fellow friend and senior Elizabeth Knight serves as Marshall’s model for her finished pieces.
“I love peter pan collars and sewing dresses,” Marshall says when asked about her favorite pieces. Other sources of inspiration include the stores ModCloth, Urban Outfitters, and Free People, and It Brit Alexa Chung.
But Marshall is quick to add that such sources are inspiration, not her actual wardrobe. “I’m broke,” she laughs. Marshall instead uses vintage pieces to express her style on a high school student’s budget.
In fact, Marshall first opened The Sunflower Seamstress to make money and save for college. The day after it opened, she says, she sold her first item. Since then, she has struggled to get the word out among so many other Etsy sellers.
Until then, Marshall will continue to frequent her favorite thrift stores and work her magic.
Earlier this year, she opened a shop on Etsy, the handcrafted and vintage-focused equivalent of eBay. The Sunflower Seamstress, named for Marshall’s favorite flower, sells dresses, skirts, sweaters, shorts, and hair accessories.
To create her finished products, Marshall scours local thrift stores, like Value World and the weekly Ann Arbor Kiwanis Thrift Sale, for vintage finds. She only buys clothes that are high-quality and vintage (no Forever 21 or H&M). Size, she adds, doesn’t matter.
“I alter them to fit today’s fashion and people our age,” she says.
After finding potential pieces, Marshall heads home and uses herself to alter them. Fellow friend and senior Elizabeth Knight serves as Marshall’s model for her finished pieces.
“I love peter pan collars and sewing dresses,” Marshall says when asked about her favorite pieces. Other sources of inspiration include the stores ModCloth, Urban Outfitters, and Free People, and It Brit Alexa Chung.
But Marshall is quick to add that such sources are inspiration, not her actual wardrobe. “I’m broke,” she laughs. Marshall instead uses vintage pieces to express her style on a high school student’s budget.
In fact, Marshall first opened The Sunflower Seamstress to make money and save for college. The day after it opened, she says, she sold her first item. Since then, she has struggled to get the word out among so many other Etsy sellers.
Until then, Marshall will continue to frequent her favorite thrift stores and work her magic.
Clothes & Styling: Sarah Marshall
Model: Elizabeth Knight
Photography: Allison Farrand
Posted by hsnews
on 10:03 AM.
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