Frayed edges

Over the Christmas holidays I played around with a bit of fabric origami. On Sunday I finally got around to trying out an idea I've had in my head since then.

Instead of the usual neat edges and precision folding, I opted for a more rustic approach - deliberately fraying linen and using the raw edges as a feature. The folding and stitching was anything BUT precise and the effect is... rustic! (But the beautiful Japanese print lifts it out of the realm of the hayseed... I think).

...so it doesn't look out of place on a black linen Evening Bag (my pattern). This bag was made using 12mm polyester boning in the strap and it has interfacing and wadding to give structure to the bag body.

I have a few other ideas to play with along the lines of origami.... can you hear my brain ticking?

On a completely different note - the wee girl and I had a lovely evening out yesterday, celebrating the launch of this book with lots of wonderful crafty types....

Well done, Pip and Co. It's a great achievement! (And sorry the wee girl talked all through the interview so nobody up the back heard a thing....).

Sewing under the influence....

I had great plans to work on pattern instructions today, but my brain was all a-fog with a cold and the various remedies for said cold.

Regardless, I had to go to work to get some printing done. Too busy feeling sorry for myself to focus on anything too important, I faffed about in the studio... Among other minor faffings (??!), I made this top.


Heavily influenced by my sewing buddy's recent experiments with remarkably similar tops..... (Did I hear someone whisper "ripped-off"?) This is another wrap-it-around-and-sew job. Below is the garment in profile - centre-front is to the top of the picture, centre back to the bottom.


It's a tube of cotton-lycra jersey with a french seam joining the CB seam. The hem is a fake band - I simply folded up the hem and overlocked through to the right side of fabric. CF is slightly longer than CB on the cowl neck (this was a "hacked off" afterthought). The armholes are bound with the same fabric (gotta love a bias tape maker!) and the cowl neck is left raw and allowed to roll as jersey naturally does.

The only necessary pattern piece....

...was a rough armhole "heavily borrowed from" my sewing buddy's version of a very similar design. (I'm not so clever - I just hang out with the right people!!).

Oh - I also fixed the waistline of the skirt I made the other day. I cut off the waistband and hacked out a curve (any old curve) on the waist. Then I sewed another waistband on. Whaddya think? It worked a treat - NO WRINKLES NOW!

Apologies for this short break in transmission

If you try to look at my website this weekend, all you'll see is a BIG FAT ZERO!

The Scream
Originally uploaded by Amy's Babies

We've blown our (substantial) bandwidth allowance again and the web hosties automatic robot thingame has cut us off the air... again.

WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN ON A FRIDAY NIGHT???

We're in the process of a major website overhaul - including greatly reducing the load on bandwidth. Since there is SO MUCH DATA to wade through it's a little way off.... and we're actually contributing to the bandwidth usage while we work on it. Oops.

I'll have to have a little word to the lovely hosties and see what they can do. In the meantime if you'd like to do some shopping you might have to use your memory, this blog and (if you happen to have) the printed pricelist from us....?

You can still phone (+61 3 9940 1533), fax (+61 3 9381 0700) or email through your enquiries.....

For tutorials - a lot of them are right here on the blog - click here.

Apologies for this short break. We'll be back on air as soon as possible.

Wrap it around and SEW skirt.

I've always loved reading Hoppo Bumpo's STAND-BACK-AND-THROW recipes. I like the approach. Today I applied it to sewing.... I made this skirt.
I don't normally take time out during a busy work week to whip up new outfits, but this was a matter of necessity - nay, URGENCY. The trousers I wore in to work were feeling a bit looser (and a tad draughty) by the time I arrived. (Hmm... perhaps I should cut down on the Milo and Cherry Ripes..?).

Lara dropped in for a cuppa, so she was able to play fashion photographer, and I can now share the "pattern" with you. Basically (and it is VERY basic!) you take a big oblong of cotton jersey, wrap it around and do this to it....

The trained patternmaker in me looks at those wrinkles in the front and thinks I should have scooped out a little bit at the waistline there. But the girl at work in split tousers in me was quite happy with a quick replacement.

Nobody stared and pointed in the street, so I guess there weren't too many trained patternmakers out in Brunswick today. I think I got away with it.

My Creative Space

I share my space with another creative soul, so the space is VERY creative indeed!

Beautiful turtles are drawn on the whiteboard (why else would I have a whiteboard..?).

Pattern gradings are recycled as "Super Caterpillar".

"Kits" are packaged carefully....

And baby dolls wear Mrs Potato Head's glasses.....

(Oh - and we made that hippo pillow together).

Too much creativity going on here to show (read: you'd be bored senseless with endless doting parent photos of cute kiddy craft...).

For other creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's...

A nice sensible hat...

...doesn't stay that way for long in these here parts. I can't be trusted with them at all.

Apart from this bit of fun today, it's all been a bit quiet on the sewing front. I'm drowning in to-do lists and dreaming CAD patternmaking lines (the list story might be suffering a bit of hyperbolic embellishment, but sadly I'm not exaggerating about the dreams!!). I also seem to have some sort of weird sleeping sickness - not sure if it's a virus or absolute exhaustion.... or maybe it's just hyperbolic embellishment syndrome?

Anyway - Welcome to my nightmare.....


I must get back to measuring lines to within two decimal places of a millimetre. Talk soon.
xn

PS. Thanks to all the button-linkers!! When I get a mo to do some tweaking I'll make a linky list!

Mine, mine... ALL MINE!

The trademark finally came through!

An off-the-cuff encouragement (to a customer under serious pressure to make purses) spawned a slogan and a blog name. Now that it's trademarked I can use it as I please.... I can even add my website address to it!

And best of all - in an act of blatant self-promotion - I'm going to let YOU use it, too!!! If you'd like to add the button to your sidebar you can use this code...

<a href=" http://nicolemdesign.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3378336507_3956110136.jpg?v=0"/></a>

Perhaps if you've gained something from my tutorials and want to share the love...? I'll certainly love you for it!!

EDITED TO ADD: The giveaway is finished... but I still appreciate you adding my button to your blog!

By way of appreciation - and at the risk of sounding like a mega-pushy marketing type - I'm thinking giveaways here.... Leave a comment if you add the button to your blog and I'll draw a name out of the proverbial hat in a month's time. The winner will recieve one of these purses (made with my very own hands!).

PS. Sorry for the lack of new and interesting crafty projects lately. I've been a bit under the weather and spent more time in bed than at the sewing machine (or anywhere else) over the weekend. I'll be back on track soon.

Picking up the threads...

..of half-started projects from long ago. It's been a strange week - feeling like I should be rushing about madly and then realising that the pressure of deadlines is off for now. It's time to relax, recouperate, and regain inspiration for new patterns and new ideas. In a strange way I feel like I'm learning to walk again.....


I made this hat today. It's in gorgeous heavy linen sent from Méri in Portugal. This fabric is interfaced with medium-heavy woven cotton interfacing. It holds its shape beautifully (there's nothing quite like a natural fibre gently persuaded by a shot or two of high-pressure steam!).


Speaking of this beautiful linen.... and Méri... She recently sent a parcel to HandMade Help via my studio. I couldn't resist a chance to get up close and personal with her exquisite embroidery and lace work. What an amazing talent and a wonderfully generous soul... Méri is one of the shining stars of the blogosphere.

Isn't it stunning? I'm sure that the love that has been poured into every expert stitch will warm the heart of the recipient - who will have lost all their handmade treasures and heirlooms in the recent bushfires.

If you like to help out Handmade Help, please do. Visit the website and see how you can contribute.

I'm going....

To this open studio and sale...

Last year I bought this (among other gorgeous bits), and I love it....

I feel fab in it (even though I'm not as fresh-faced as the gorgeous model in the picture above!), and it tarts up any old outfit! A few pieces like this can make an ordinary wardrobe feel like magic.

See the Fibre Red website here.... Kim is one talented chicky!

...

Edited to add - I almost forgot THIS ONE. Same weekend and not too far from Fitzroy. Bursting with local talent....

Loose Ends

Wow - I'd almost forgotten what these table tops looked like...
I finally found them again today. Spent the day tidying, paying bills and tying up loose ends before embarking on the next few projects. Closing the doors on Stitches and Craft until Sydney in August and catching up on some sleep.
(Note to Brisbane readers.... I'm so sorry, but I'm not going to make it to this year's show after all. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty upset about it too. Life stuff got in the way).

We drew the winner of the prize from the entry forms filled out at the show... Congratulations, Julie! We'll pop your voucher in the post tomorrow.

Just a quick note on that draw prize... If you ticked the box to be added to our mailing list, CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL FILTERS for confirmation of your subscription. If you find it in the junk mail folder, please UNJUNK it so that subsequent mail-outs will go through to you.


Still tying up loose ends.... here are the last few pics from last week's show, which missed the last post, somehow. Jodie gave a heap of these gorgeous chenille cupcakes to my wee girl. This is the "Mummy's work" batch. There are also "home cupcakes". Aren't they the sweetest things? The wee one adores them.

... and I love these. I want to dive into all that fuzzy cuddliness....

Here are my lovely neighbours (also screw-driver and staple suppliers) at the Stitches and Craft Show.

And gorgeous, gorgeous felt...


Ok, that's it for SHOW-TALK! Back to our usual programming soon....

The Show....

Yes - your assumptions about how busy I've been over the last few weeks are absolutely right. When I don't have time to blog you know something is up....

Things were hectic (and not going according to plan) right up to the last minute... but eventually (!!) I managed to get my stand set up for the Stitches and Craft Show. By the time I had a chance to take a photo it looked a tad dishevelled...

It was all a bit on the FRANTICALLY BUSY side of things. I'm still recovering from the physical strain of it all, but at last (after a relaxing evening and early night) my brain has come back to life and it's possible share the experience.

The show was full of light and space, so the crowd was able to move freely and see everything. It was a more relaxed atmosphere than in the previous venue... if a little warm.

The Indie Incubator area was like a real-life Bloglines....

The gorgeous Justine was there with MixTape.

Louise and Cathy were there with their adorable Audrey and Maude patterns and kits.

Fi and Jodie were there with lots of glorious colour and clever, clever ideas....

I loved seeing Kristen's prints again... I had to buy the Winter tree and bird panel (been thinking about it since the Sydney show last year).

These beautiful Twiglet lions made me smile.

Red Seed Studio prints were simply stunning, and Ellie and Sam were super-lovely.

Tinniegirl's vintage tinnies of loveliness were super-inviting.

And the lovely Liz and I did a little swap, so I now am the proud owner of an adorable Betty-Jo brooch.

What was best of all was meeting and catching up with so many bloggers, friends, people I have taught or met through my work, and meeting a whole new crew who had previously not known about me OR my work. It was heartening to meet people who made me feel that it is worthwhile and appreciated.

Sooz (the super-duper organiser) organised a gorgeous Lebanese feast for 30-odd bloggers (or is that 30 ODD bloggers?). I was looking forward to it so much, but was so completely exhausted, brain-fried and RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY (didn't have time for a break or food on Friday) that I could barely speak to anyone. I think I rambled inanely or grunted mono-syllabically at a few people... not sure. (Sooz has a great round-up of the show here).

Special thanks goes to the wonderfully thoughtful Jan, who kept me alive with home-made cookies and rocky-road. Without that burst of sugar I doubt I'd have made it through. Super-duper special thanks goes to Leonie, AnnMarie, Bree and Sarah for all their help on the stand, and to Leah for keeping the home-fires burning at the office. Thanks team!

Now there are ACRES (it seems) of this sort of mess in the studio.... there's a bit of sorting-out to do.

Preparations...

In the sewing cave.... Getting my props and tools and "here's one I prepared earlier" models ready for Craft Labs and Studio Workshops at the Stitches and Craft Show this week. (Have you booked your tickets? )

I'll be teaching how to add different types of bases to bags - including how to tart up any old box-cornered bag with a professional-looking structured base and purse feet. (This bag is my Sling pattern, but you can do this base on all sorts of bags).

...and how to make fancy-schmantzy bag straps...

(This class is actually more about construction techniques than the number of rings you can fit in one strap).

I've also been playing dress-ups with lots of samples of purses, hats and bags, and working on display ideas.

There have been various dramas with printer ink, paper supplies, transport, childcare, time running out like there's a fire in the room....

Thanks to Miss CurlyPops (and her car that is larger than mine!!) this Cinderella will be able to go to the ball. Thanks to a lovely friend (who fixed up the dress I botched) I'll have something new to wear. Thanks to wonderful people who have helped fold and pack things I'll have things to take with me. Thanks to Leah I'll have a business running smoothly while I'm gone. The childcare solution (??!!) is still a work-in-progress.

...

"Oops there goes another rubber tree plant!"....