FROM THE COOP TO THE CLOSET: THE STORY BEHIND BIRDS OF A FEATHER

It started with a stack of eggs.

Not a mood board. Not a trend report. Eggs — still warm, gathered the way I gather them most mornings, from the coop out back before the rest of Granville is even awake. I was standing there in my barn boots, egg basket in hand, thinking about how much I love this little routine, and it hit me: this is the collection. Not something borrowed from a runway. Something borrowed from my own backyard.

That's how Birds of a Feather was born.

Mornings at the coop — where this whole collection started.

A Morning Like Any Other

I wish I could tell you there was some big lightning-bolt moment, but honestly, it was just a Tuesday. Feed the chickens, gather the eggs, let the ducks out to make their usual amount of noise about it. It's the same fifteen minutes I've had almost every morning since we moved out here — and somewhere in the middle of that fifteen minutes, this collection just sort of arrived, fully formed, the way good ideas sometimes do when you're not trying to have them.

I went inside, made coffee, and started sketching out what a "farm morning" would look like as a clothing line. Not costume-y. Not overly polished. Just true to what it actually feels like to live this life.

A Collection Shot Where It Was Imagined

We didn't book a studio for this one. We shot it on the farm — real coop, real hay, and our chickens and Mallard ducks making regular cameo appearances whether we planned them or not. There was a solid twenty minutes at one point where we were all just trying to convince one particular duck to stay in frame. He did not want to cooperate. He is, somehow, still one of my favorite parts of the whole shoot.

Every photo in this collection was taken exactly where the idea started, because it felt dishonest to do it any other way. If the inspiration was the farm, the collection needed to look and feel like the farm too — dust on the boots, hay in the frame, real light instead of studio light.

That's the thread running through every piece: a little bit of grit, a little bit of grace, and a whole lot of "this actually happened."

What's In the Coop

A few of my favorites from this edit — and a little about why each one made the cut:

The duck-print set. Easy, breathable, and exactly the kind of piece I reach for on a morning egg run or a Saturday farmers market trip. I wanted something you could genuinely work in and still feel cute wearing, which is a harder balance to strike than it sounds.

The Mallard duck graphic sweatshirt. Soft, a little oversized, the kind of layer you steal off the hook by the back door without thinking twice. This one's already become my go-to for chilly mornings before the sun's fully up.

The fringe jacket with duck tee. Proof that farmhouse style and a little bit of edge can absolutely coexist. This one's for the days you want to feel put-together and unbothered at the same time — parade-ready one minute, porch-ready the next.

Every piece was chosen the way I choose everything for Cedar & Thread: does it tell a story, does it hold up to real life, and would I actually wear it out to the coop and then straight into town without changing?

Why "Birds of a Feather" Felt Right

There's a reason the saying exists — the people (and the pieces, apparently) that belong together tend to find each other. This collection is a little bit about the ducks and chickens on our farm, and a little bit about the community around Cedar & Thread.

The folks who shop with us aren't chasing trends for the sake of it. They're drawn to pieces with a little history, a little heart, and a story worth telling at the next porch gathering. Every customer who's ever told me "this reminds me of my grandma's farm" or "this is exactly my aesthetic" — you're the reason this collection exists. Birds of a feather, indeed.

Styling It Your Way

You don't need your own coop to make this collection work for you. A few ways our team has been styling these pieces:

Pair the duck-print set with a denim jacket and sandals for a market-day look that transitions straight into an evening out.
Layer the Mallard duck sweatshirt over a simple dress for that "borrowed from someone else's closet" feel we all secretly love.
Let the fringe jacket do the talking — keep everything underneath simple so the texture and movement get to shine.

However you wear it, the goal is the same as always: pieces that feel like you, not like you're playing dress-up.

Coming Home to Roost

Birds of a Feather lands in the shop and online on July 7th — and honestly, this might be one of the most personal collections we've ever put together, simply because so much of it came directly from my own backyard.