Girl's Day Out

A gang on a rampage.... Two rag trade buddies, my small assistant and me.

First stop -Tessuti.  Lovely linens and a bit of georgette.  Plans for the perfect panel skirt and linen trousers, little georgette tops.... swapping design ideas.

Lunch and Dancing Queen in Richmond followed.

What a treasure trove it is - and treasures were indeed found.  Matching felted wool and wool gauze in exactly the shade of charcoal I'd envisioned for another project.  Spangly stuff to mix (and dull down) with the georgette I'd bought earlier.  Lovely cotton-lycra. 

Artextil, GJ's and Rathdowne Remnants were all closed when we came knocking (weird xmas-closing time of year that it is).  There were also dreams of Darn Cheap Fabrics that were never realised before time, money and people were exhausted.  I somehow made it to Clegs in Lygon St before they closed (although I'd lost my posse by then) and bought some really nice indigo denim. 

We are truly blessed with fabulous fabric shops in this city - we were only shopping in our local area.  There are so many other great stores dotted around Melbourne!  

I'm also blessed with lovely friends (and a remarkably well-behaved daughter) who made it a grand day altogether.

I finished the day with a swim.  50 metres of clear blue water under a cloudless sky in the last gentle hours of a perfectly sunny day.  It felt like home.

I hope that you're enjoying your holidays....

Seasonal Abundance

When we set off for our big-fat-xmas lunch yesterday I carefully nursed a chocolate ripple cake (with layers of fresh raspberries) in the car.

I had no idea about a recent promotion on tv which had inspired the rest of the family to do much the same thing.

Handmade-ish Christmas

In the run-up to Christmas this year, I was somewhat snowed-under with work on a certain little dress pattern. The HANDMADE XMAS I'd planned didn't quite come together as originally planned.

The (last-minute) gifts I chose to make, I chose to make in leather... which always takes a lot longer than I think it will ...and then it breaks my heart with flaws on centre-front, bulk that doesn't want to go into frames, stitches that can't be unpicked... and then in the end it looks alright. Talk about emotional rollercoasters...!

The zipped purse morphed organically from one idea to the next and finally settled into a long, boxed corner affair with holes punched out in a random fashion - red interlining showing through. It's large enough to hold a phone or sunglasses ...or camera, notebook, handbag essentials (sewing kit?)... or even one of those cute little Flip cameras that I deperately want.....

I also made a Spec Case in Leather. Oh... and I added a swivel hook to it.... seems to happen a lot lately when I make purses.

(And to answer all those questions I get about my interfacing range and leather - yes, it fuses nicely! I even pressed the leather from the outside, using a Rajah Cloth).

The rest of the xmas presents are a result of last-minute scrambling through a crowded shopping centre and... ummm... a visit to my studio.

There'll be quite a few little girls in my extended family wearing dresses like these this summer.

..several variations of..... in a range of lovely cotton prints.

Made (...ahem..) especially for each of them... of course.

A very safe and happy Christmas to you - one and all!

xxn

A quick little pattern....

...has taken considerably longer to produce than I thought it would.

I had an idea that - in lieu of a much-needed holiday - I'd use a different part of my skills base and make a garment pattern for a change. A "quick little dress pattern" sounded like fun - and it has been... to a point.


But then I started writing instructions.... and (you know me...) I couldn't leave the detail out. I had to fill them with tips and notes and ways to do things quickly.


I had to include few variations (and stop myself from adding too many more).

I even wrote tips on pressing.

And of course, every step has needed a diagram and/or a photo to help explain things as clearly as possible. It's taken me MONTHS!!! So much for "quick"....

Anyhoo - I now have a lesson-in-a-packet for people who are just branching out into garment making. I have my usual pattern-testers lined up already, but I need ONE MORE PERSON to fill a gap in the testing process....

If you fill the following criterior:

• Beginner-ish sewing/dressmaking skils.
• Have a small girl (size 2-8) to try the finished dress on.
• In Australia - so the whole thing doesn't get slowed up by the postal service (heaven knows, it's having enough problems at the moment)
• HAVE NOT USED ONE OF MY PATTERNS BEFORE (this is important)
• Will READ instructions and have a good eye for detail (for typos and unclear explanations).
  
• Have time to sew a little dress (which is actually QUICK when you're not writing instructions for it!!) before mid-January.
• Can give detailed feedback
  
• Can show me the finished dress (or photos of the finished dress - blog/flickr is fine)
  

Please email me TODAY at nmallalieu@optusnet.com.au.

It's a bit tight.... but I'd like to get the kits out this afternoon. Tomorrow at the latest.

EDITED TO ADD: Wow! Overwhelmed by the response!! Many thanks to the volunteers - I took the first two offers that came in and we now have our testers.

Go ask Alice (when she's three feet tall)...

Ask her why her Mummy always leaves costume-making until the last minute before a fancy dress party at kinder.

Ask her why her Mummy spent a VERY late night (after teaching a 3-hour class) and most of a supposed-to-be-busy work day making the dress, petticoat and apron.


And then ask her why most of the other kinder-Mum's didn't dress up their kids for the "FANCY DRESS" Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Go on - ask her.

She might have an answer.....I don't.


(But I know that - despite standing out like the proverbial injured thumb - she LOVED her costume).



PS. The wee one's name is usually NOT Alice. It was just for today.

The girl can't help it...

You can tell when I'm busy at work.

The blog is a bit quiet.

I don't comment much on other blogs.

The wee girl is let loose with any sort of craft material she asks for.

And then I offer "Would you like GLITTER with that...?"


Last week it was all about a litre of PVA glue, a large plastic tablecloth, roughly drawn stars and Christmas trees (underneath the plastic and able to be moved around), fabric and yarn scraps, the always-handy MOO card box and a chopstick.


And glitter with EVERYTHING!


And then more PVA and pom-poms and foam stars.

More home-made decorations for the home-made xmas tree (made from a cardboard box like like last year's).

She's a non-stop crafting machine lately, an I'm all for it (...with glitter.... if that keeps her happy and engaged for five minutes longer) but I'll try not to blog too much more four-year-old art and craft. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

When I get a moment to think, I'll get back to normal 40-something sewing blog posts. Right now I have a sneezy summer cold and a frightening number of loose ends to tie before we finish work on the 23rd ... oh, and an enormous xmas-list to tackle. Yikes.

If you don't hear from me for a while, please know that I'm still here...and I'll be back.... possibly covered in glitter.

Are YOU going...?

I am. It'a always such a fantastic little market with a great, festive atmosphere.... and a craft table for the kids. Ms Curly Pops has some links to many of the crafty folk who will be there.


Perhaps I'll see you there?

Kinder Surprise

Well... it won't be much of a surprise if any of the kindergarten staff read my blog...

Using my coin purse patterns, some inkjet printer fabric, scraps of fabric and some swivel hooks...

I used copies of my wee girl's art (HERE's how..) and made individual purses for each of the lovely women who looked after her so well this year.


The images will hopefully bring smiles long after the girl herself has gone on to 4-year-old kinder and forgotten all about them.

Rulers are here!

We had a supply problem with our patternmaking rulers... just in time for the two "Patternmaking for Bags" courses... so once again I teased workshop participants with my snazzy equipment and couldn't offer any for sale.

WE NOW HAVE RULERS!!!

....SO... what's so snazzy about these rulers? If you're making patterns, these have lots of helpful bits on them. For starters, they're 60cm x 36cm - really useful when you have to draft long straight lines.


If you line up the first red line on the ruler with the stitch line on your pattern, you can rule a neat 6mm/quarter inch seam allowance (a quarter inch is 6.35mm.... so it's close enough in most cases).

The next line down gives you a 12mm seam allowance (my preferred seam allowance for most things).


And the line beneath that gives you a 15mm seam allowance.


The curve on the other side is perfect for drafting hip curves, waistlines, inner leg and .... various bag shapes.

And it also has the seam allowance depths on it.


NOTE: To add seam allowances on convex curves:
Match the chosen seam depth line with a point on the curve of your pattern and rule a short line. Move the ruler to follow the pattern curve with the seam depth marking, and keep ruling lots of short lines until they form a curved seam allowance. (Do you need a tutorial in this ...or am I making sense here?).

If you're looking to invest in some proper patternmaking equipment, you can buy your ruler here .

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS.....
It seems that to a lot of junk mail filters (including my own!) our emails are looking an awful lot like SPAM!! Please check your junk mail folders and UNJUNK anything from us. Add us to your "safe" list if you can.... We really are NOT SPAM.

Life, death and family

A long car trip to the country yesterday to farewell my much-loved aunt has left me contemplating the big stuff. Thinking a lot about family, childhood, life and love. My heart goes out to the cousins (who were more like brothers and sisters when we were kids) who have lost their Mum.

The world will miss this super-crafty lady who loved life and family so much. It's a better place because she was here.

She was a great inspiration and support to me when I was a craft-obsessed kid... and even came - frail with age and illness - to my last launch and visited me at the Stitches and Craft show this year. Always interested. Always engaged. Always supportive.


This photo is one of my favourites of my parents (facing at centre) and Dad's sisters - when they were all young and beautiful and life was not cruel. Today it's a reminder for me to seize the day....

Slightly besotted and gushy....

Who'd have thought that a roll of interfacing could inspire such a long and image-heavy blog post....? (Stand back while I reveal to you the true and full extent of my sewing geekery....!).

This little lovely arrived all the way (by ship) from Germany this week. Today I had a chance to play with it.

I'm now wishing I'd specially-ordered-months-and-months-ago a few MORE rolls of it.... I think I'm in love.

Vilene S320 is a fusible non-woven... but not as we know fusible non-wovens - at least not in these here parts. (I'm not sure why, but until I nagged my favourite interfacing rep about it, this product wasn't available in Australia. As far as I know, I'm the only one who has it now).

The embossed texture gives it a suppleness that isn't found in standard non-wovens.

The fused result is stiff, lightweight.... not cardboardy.... The fabric moves a bit like oilcloth when you scrunch it and it springs back into shape.

It will sit flat and support its weight on one finger if you .... ummmm.. lift it up with one finger. (I'm sure that's useful...?).

I'm missing the fedora that I sent to Kleins in London (the one I made using the sampling piece of Vilene S320 that prompted the specially-brought-in-from-Germany order), so have started on a replica. I block-fused medium-heavy interfacing first, and then Vilene S320 over the back of that. Then I cut the hat pieces.

The fused fabric bends smoothly, can be steamed into shape (and holds the shape) and performs all the self-supporting-on-one-finger tricks that one would expect.

The fusing glue is unbelievably strong!!! It's made to survive laundering and drycleaning.... as well as withstanding steaming the bejaysus out of it and trying to tear/scratch it off.....

Note to self: Do not test interfacing on brand new fabric that you hope to use (without tested interfacing thoroughly attached...).

So... interfacing thoroughly attached, I whipped up a quick kids hat.

I THINK THIS IS THE BEST INTERFACING I HAVE EVER USED ON A BRIM!!!!

The crown is quite stiff for a small child's hat - great for an adult or older kid. I'd probably go the medium-heavy interfacing on the crown next time (on quilting fabric) but the brim...... ohhh.... I'm LOVING it! It's simply one layer of S320 on each brim piece and it creates the perfect structure with very little weight.

I can't wait to try it out on BAGS....


I told you I was gushing, didn't I?


PS. You can buy it here.... and I only have 25 metres of it so get in fast!

EDITED TO ADD: We've now sold out, but will definitely be getting some more in (it should arrive in January).

Various Announcements

Recently I've discovered that there's a down-side to being all environmentally-aware and waste-not-want-notty....
A few years ago there was "The Great Make-Up Purse Disaster" here at Nicole Mallalieu Design - when a mutant pattern found its way into the Make-up Purse kits.

The pattern was not symmetrical and was a bit shorter than it ought to be... not that there's anything wrong with that (I'm a bit like that, myself)... but you know what I mean. The instructions were still fine - EXCELLENT, in fact ;) - it was just that the pattern wasn't what it promised to be.

Way back then, I carefully went through every invoice to find the people who had purchased a make-up purse kit and sent them a copy of the right pattern - just in case. I then went through all the unpacked patterns and separated all the wrong-uns from the right-uns.

THEN.... I thought, "Gosh, that's a lot of paper.... I could USE that for something!!" so put it in a box and forgot all about it.

Fast forward about 3 years..... and a box of make-up purse patterns is discovered and packed. Sent out to people....

OH DEAR!

If you have recently bought a Make-up Purse Kit that has the style number BO366 instead of BO385, please let us know and we'll send you the right pattern. If you don't have proof of purchase (invoice number, PayPal or bank deposit date) you can post us the actual wrong-un pattern and we'll make up the cost of your postage with a spare zip or something.

In happier (and slightly less stressful) news - the winner of the November Spend Over $50 draw prize is Sally Lamb from Queensland. Sally wins a $25 voucher to spend in our shop. To be in the next draw, all you have to do is spend over $50 in the month of December. You could win the hat pattern of your choice.

There will also be news soon of an exciting new hat interfacing.... Vilene S320 has arrived in Australia, and only at Nicole Mallalieu Design!!! Stay tuned for that one.


And lastly, the MOST IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT....

We are closing for our annual Christmas break from Wednesday 23rd December to Tuesday 12th January. If you're planning to get up to crafty business in that time (as I am) you'd do well to stock up beforehand....

Just another Manic Tuesday

...which involved a spot of shopping (cleverly disguised as a pattern delivery...).

Well, it was a bit obvious what I was up to, really....

The sushi print is destined to become a bib for a sophisticated inner-city baby.... (yet to be born... but I'm sure he/she will be a sophisticated inner-city type). At sale price it was $8 per metre.

As were all of these prints from Timeless Treasures and Patty Young. (The Patty Young is discounted because it has a small fault a few cm's in from the selvage - easy to cut around at that price! The other fabrics are all PERFECT beautiful quality quilting fabrics). Little girl's dresses and hats are most likely here...

Re: first two photos - the chicken print is a Robert Kauffman and the pink floral is from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's market range - both 25% off the usual price. I didn't buy enough of either of them last time so it was great to be able to replenish supplies. GJ's really do have a fantastic range.

And Superfrog was seen about a lot today - at kinder, GJ's, my studio and Safeway - in a spanking new outfit!! I was lucky to catch a snap or two in the supermarket....

...but her identity remains a mystery because she was also wearing sunglasses.

Thanks to CurlyPops for the star birthday gift. We'll be struggling to top this one for a while...!