When Shannon Gingras finds a wool sweater at a second-hand store, she sees an opportunity. The Richmond crafter makes embellished fingerless gloves from the sleeves of old 100 percent wool and cashmere sweaters that she finds at thrift stores and yard sales.

“They all kind of shrink a little bit differently,” she says of the sweaters, which she felts in the hot-water cycle of her washing machine. “I think that’s the excitement of it, that you Read full story

The name of recently opened women’s clothing boutique Ellie Nellie Consignments comes from co-owner Ellen Lankey Childress’ childhood nickname. “When we teased her, we called her Ellie Nellie,” says Childress’ business partner and mother, Diane King Lankey. The mother-daughter duo opened their 1,800-square-foot Midlothian consignment shop on July 1— one month after Lankey, 60, retired from teaching in Chesterfield County public schools.

Childress and Lankey say they spent most Saturdays consignment-shopping together in Carytown, but Read full story