New craft kit....

'Twas lovely to have a very dear (and little-seen-of-late) friend drop by last night. The wee girl was very excited to have a new person to bombard with gifts.
She handed him a pile of pom-poms, some plastic bead-threading string and a few sequins - a make your own mouse kit.

She then sat down to write instructions (with diagrams). This photographed particularly badly.... red paper in dim after-dinner light with an old camera.

To interpret......(In no particular order) the 2-page instructions cover the step-by-step process of making the body and head, then "sdik zu tal [tail] on" "sdik zu legs on" "sdik ze is [eyes] on". (It made perfect sense... phonetically ....watching the words form on the page).

It appears that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.

Although.... she's certainly more observant and skilled in her drawing than I was at her age. I love these self-portraits.

The detail in the plaited ponytail is great.... and I love the eyelids!

And so... my dreams of a corporate lawyer daughter (who could keep her aged and infirm mother in the manner to which she wished she were accustomed) are fading, as I anticipate another arty-farty-designer-type in the family....

Hard at Work

At the play-centre.... conveniently located a short walk from the new office. (Conveniently locating a bouncy 5-year-old OUT of the new office).

The wee girl ran and climbed and slid and whizzed... and I worked on scheduling more workshops for 2011.

All was well until I tried to involve a weak mobile broadband signal....

Page-load crochet came into the picture BIG TIME! (Have you ever tried to work with Flickr on a speed of 7Mbps?)

Rest assured, I will eventually be able to load all the new workshops and courses to the website (...and will probably have this little flower yoke top finished by the end of it). Do check in from time to time over the next week!!

So far, I have Hats and Better Bags classes listed, but there are loads more to come.

Hyperventilating with geeky excitement!!!

My sewing buddy, a few of her fashion industry buddies and I are booked in and waiting anxiously for a weekend in late February, when we get to learn from the master of Subtraction-cutting, Julian Roberts. He's teaching a master-class at Beautiful Silks in Fitzroy.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. What this bloke doesn't know about manipulating fabric around a body in all manner of sculptural forms isn't worth knowing.



And I'm going to learn from him.

Eeep!

2011 Class Schedule!!!

Well... the start of it is up on the website and there'll be more to follow.

The upload to the website takes an age (by the time I include images and links) so it's slow-going.... I'm letting you know about it so you can get in early. Be warned - The Bag in a Day class is booking up SUPER FAST!!!)Just for something a bit different, I'm teaching daytime beginners' classes in the new year.

It'll still be school holidays, so a perfect time for young folk to take up the hobby of a lifetime, or a good time for anyone (who isn't at work) to act upon that New Year's Resolution "This year I'm going to learn to sew".....

The classes can be booked individually, but there are discounts for multiple classes. The whole programme works as an intensive "learn to sew in three days" course that will have you sewing like a pro... or at least well on the way to a serious sewing addiction.

I've also scheduled a purse frame class and will be looking at dates for patternmaking for bags...
This year, I'll also be teaching a few garment classes, including the pattern-free variety you may have seen on this blog.

Stay tuned, folks!

Le Grande-ish Tour

We're IN the new place! The new address is 3/99 Helen St Northcote Vic 3070.

The new phone number is +61 (0)3 9078 5896.

When I work out how to set up the fax without it picking up on every voice call, we'll also have a fax on that number. Failing that, I'll let you know the fax number at a later date.

The bookshelf was the first thing set up, to make the place look like home....
The classroom is still a little stark, but I'm LOVING the flooding natural light and the split-system air conditioning!!!! I need one more table and some pictures on the walls. When the room is filled with people doing creative things, it will be full of colour!!

The sewing room.... well... it has a little way to go. We overlaid the Persian rug to protect the new carpet from the sewing machines and all the mess I'm likely to make with them, but we're yet to rearrange the machines and straighten out the rug.... sort out the cutting table and a stack of boxes.. set up the patternmaking computer.....

The office is functional, even if not completely unpacked or tidy. That's Vireya (below) there, working hard, sending out internet orders (while I swan about taking photos).

The showroom is all set up,with all the patterns and bits you usually only see on the website.

You're welcome to drop in to shop anytime between 10am and 5pm, Tuesday to Friday. (Mondays are always a tad too busy with the weekend's internet orders...please don't drop in then). Just ring the doorbell and we'll let you in!

On the weekend, we tested out the multi-purpose nature of the building, hosting a birthday party for the wee girl. It was a "Thomas the Tank Engine party with craft activities".... as requested by guess-who.

...and I'm yet to finish cleaning up the craft table debris in the garage....

If you're looking for a venue to host an art/craft group event (with or without the Thomas the Tank Engine theme), I'm happy to hire out the space. Email me with any enquiries.

***

Next on the list is scheduling my classes for next year. We have to move HOUSE in the next couple of weeks (!!), so I'm afraid the pre-xmas workshops I was hoping to do are now looking awfully like a complete impossibility. Stay tuned for the 2011 schedule.

My Creative Space

Is under construction.....

Not quite as I'd planned....

This is the office. I'd carefully measured the Ikea desks and - working from the official floorplans of the room - planned the layout carefully. What I didn't count on was the skirting boards and minor inaccuracies in the floorplan making the room 2cm too small to fit the desks, no matter which way I arranged them.

There was much deconstruction and reconstruction (wound around a very long but ultimately fruitless call to the Optus helpline, trying to get the internet to talk to my computer...), a ditching of one major desktop and finally something that resembles a work space.

I'll be moving the office equipment and all the stock in as soon as I can. Hopefully we'll be ready to rock on Monday.

For more creative creative spaces, see the linky list over at Kirsty's.....

Boxes and sewing machines and turtles.... it's off to Northcote we go!

The studio in Brunswick is nearly all packed up. The new place is still empty. Tomorrow is the big Three-Men-and-Truck day.
Having spent eight and a half hours (!!!) waiting for the electricity guy to read the meter yesterday, with no electricity or furniture (but WITH the company of a 5-year-old!!), I've had a good look around the new digs. (Although slightly traumatised from the entrapment episode) I like it.....

I especially like the air conditioning and the dishwasher, but I'm also pretty happy with the amount of space and light and storage space. And I love that it's my very own place with my own front door.

It's a great improvement on the Brunswick studio.... but there are still lots of stairs. At least they're prettier.

This is my 3rd floor workroom, where I'll do my sewing and product development, and have the occasional sit-and-stitch on the balcony.

The office and showroom will have their very own (first) floor... (no balconies, but at least there are less stairs). You'll be able to come and shop during office hours there when we're settled in.

Until the new office is set up and functional, we'll still be operating the shop from the Brunswick office. The girls are doing a mighty job, working around the chaos.

While packing, I found an old friend. A blast from 1977 (I made her when I was 8 years old).

She's lost her goggly eyes but she's still kind-of cute.

Every patch brings back a memory of a garment made by my eldest sister who taught me to sew (and gave me all her scraps).

Her neck represents a turning point in my understanding of patternmaking.

I remember stitching the neck into the seam of the body and then realising that it was too floppy. I handstitched around the base of the neck to hold it into place and looked at the shapes of the individual pattern shapes. Something clicked in my brain....

So.... those lovely empty rooms up there will be full of boxes, dismantled furniture and sewing machines tomorrow. I haven't worked out where to put the turtle, but she'll be coming with me.

Soul food weekend

I nearly cried when I saw the sign for the little town of Lancefield on Friday. It reminded me of coming home to Melbourne after an absence of many years (or like when I got lost as a child, and only cried when I finally found my mother....).
I was home. Home... where it's normal to sew in pajamas before breakfast and to sew into the wee hours of the morning. Home, where it's normal to know the names of fabric ranges and designers and to talk endlessly about patterns, books and overlockers...where ideas and sewing tools are shared.

I was inspired, entertained and nourished - bodily, emotionally, creatively and mentally.

I loved seeing Annie's quilty genius in action (at lightning speed). I loved seeing Lara embracing the OFM attitiude, and my sewing buddy's drapey tops becoming EVERYONE'S summer wardrobe. I loved watching Megan prepare for her upcoming crochet classes. I loved the exquisite work that went into Rachels and Karen's little-girl-dresses...and I loved that I whipped through a pile of simple dresses for my girl, and made a few things for me.

Most of all, I loved that I got to share a weekend with a group of wonderful, talented and generous women who were the best company I could have wished for.

And it was lovely that Blogless-Kerry was able to drop in for a cuppa... and take photos for us. (Really Kerry - it was great to see YOU. And thanks for bringing that bun!).

And then I came home to unpack into a new home.

That'd be 3/99 Helen St Northcote 3070. Nicole Mallalieu Design just grew up and got her own apartment.

Just like the school holidays when Mum wouldn't let my sister and I out to play until we'd tidied up our room...

I keep finding things to play with.... I found one of my books from Grade 1 at primary school.....

Nice to know that I'm still friends with three of the people in the picture.... and I've since learned to spell Julie, Glenys and Fiona.

There were lots of amusing drawings and writings.

I particularly loved this picture of The Sermon on the Mount. (I went to a Catholic primary school).

I don't remember my teacher correcting my spelling. She must have just had a quiet smile to herself.

The girleen has been packing, too. I made a deal with her. If she chooses the patterns and the fabrics she likes and wears what I make for her at Sewjourn, I'll keep making things for her. If she rejects them, then no more making things for her.

She narrowed it down to a 60 litre tub of folded fabrics. I explained that I may not get it all sewn up in a couple of days. She suggested that I could stay a week if I needed to. (IF ONLY...!!!)

So... I'm off to Sewjourn for about 48 hours..... (which, incidentally is about 24 hours short of the time it took my sister and I to clean up our room that time. We had a ball!).

Finished!

I like that word. Especially when it's related to something I've worked hard on, against the odds...

And so it is... finished! The Fan bag is in the shop - just in time for you to whip up a few for Christmas presents!! (Or perhaps this and/or the Shopping Bag patterns would make a good gift for someone you know who'd like to learn to sew...?).

I have to thank Adele (who often sits in the office, but is also a super-whizzy sewing gal) for the lovely bag pictured here. Her fabric choice was more photogenic than the one I chose for my boxed-corner version of this bag.

And amid all the other against the odds stuff.... Good Lordy!! I also finished the Olearia!!!
... and just in time for the hot weather Thanks to my support team who helped with yarn and advice. This week, the wee girl likes it.

***
BTW - The mural was done by the step-daughter of the previous tenant who occupied the room this photo was taken in. No credit taken for it here.

What's new...?

Well... for a start, the new SEWING CLASS 1 - Shopping Bag is in the shop!!
You may have seen it HERE... or HERE...or HERE... and you may be waiting to hear who won the giveaway....? Mr Random-Number-Generator picked out Shell. Drop me a line Shell, and we'll pop a pattern in the post to you!!

I'm hoping to schedule a few real life Absolute Beginners classes as soon as we move to the new building - watch this space!!!
I've also been working on another QUICK project - the Fan Bag. This one is suitable for beginners (although it isn't a sewing class one, it'd be a good follow-on from the Shopping Bag).

I'm in the final-tweaking stages of the instructions, so it's a matter of days before this one is ready to go. I'll try to get it up on the website for pre-ordering as soon as possible so that if you want both of these patterns, you can save a bit on postage by getting them sent out together.
It can be flat (like a fan) or have boxed corners (which makes it sit up like a cute little parcel). It's also fully reversible.
Like the Shopping Bag, I think it'd be a cute way to wrap small presents for Christmas.
It's also the perfect Christmas party purse. Simple, and hands-free... (and you can rummage in the bag without having to fully open it).

Or open it up and have a good ol' look around in there (while ignoring the fact that I haven't slipstitched the base seam closed.... oops).

Yes - that's a plastic grommet, which the strap pulls through to close the bag. That will come with the kit. You can then buy extras to make more bags.

If you can make a bound buttonhole, I think a large one would make a really interesting alternative to the grommet (bound buttonholes are not a beginners technique, so the instructions are not in the kit).

The Fan Bag tarts up quite well with a bit of razzle-dazzle fabric and a bias-cut rose*, too...

*There's a book coming out mid-2011 that will show you how to make things like fabric roses, among various other fabulous tips, tutorials and projects....

Anyhoo - it's so quick to whip this one up, you'll be able to make one to match every mood or outfit.

In other news, I'm still waiting for the lease contract to be drawn up for the new digs, I'm still getting last-minute rewrites to do for Le Book and it looks like we'll be moving to a house where we might be able to get a new....

....

...PUSSYCAT! (woohoo!)