My memories of the weekend are a bit fuzzy....

After a home-based felting session on Saturday, the wee one and I went on tour today... all the way to the other side of our suburb.

Lara's girls and mine had a lovely time designing felt creations... and making balls.
...and leaving the hard work (all that rolling-in-sushi-mats business) to Lara and me. My girl had managed quite a bit of the rolling bit on Saturday, but I think she smelled a rat when I praised and encouraged her perhaps a little TOO enthusiastically.... Sometimes it's a pain having a smart kid.

Lara and I discussed felting as a children's activity probably best for kids of at least three or four years of age ....although 2-year-old Stella enthusiastically soaped, rolled and created that little colourful squiggly ball thing. She beamed with pride. (The sqiggly ball thing started off as string - an easy thing to start kids on).

Thanks Lara for a lovely afternoon - and for letting my child eat all your camembert. (Smart ...with expensive taste, that kid. Sorry!).

The redhead in the blue oufit is me... in case you hadn't seen the resemblance.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing what felt like 65 loads of laundry (the one good thing about a weekend in the sweltering high-30's - washing dries before you finish pegging out the load!!) and other banal domestic chores. More things didn't get done than did. I think it was too hot to think.

OH! Somewhere in the middle of the too-hot-to-sleep Saturday night I put the TULIP DRESS pattern on the website!!! The patterns will be packed and sent out on Tuesday - which means that we'll be finishing our pre-order deal on Tuesday and drawing the giveaway TOMORROW. Last call.

Shoot!

There's a saying about working with animals and children, isn't there...?

It was exhausting, but in just under an hour and a half a very patient photographer and I co-ordinated photographing 5 children through several costume changes.

There were fruit-strap bribes .... errrrr....I mean rewards for children between photos. These lovely gals provided helium balloons. We had jigsaws and toys. (Spot the stylist who is also a mother...)

The kids were great, the parents were super helpful and we managed to get some usable shots.... which is always a bonus.

There was even a headless kid getting in on the action....

...who somehow wangled it so she could keep the Sandi Henderson "Meadowseet" dress (and wore it for the next two days).

At last I can see a light at the end of the tunnel... my quick little dress pattern is nearly ready to hit the shelves.

It'll be called the Tulip Dress Pattern and will be $21.95. CODE:C0901. If you'd like to pre-order one we'll take $2 off the postage cost. Just email or phone us with your order.

And if you haven't gone in to the giveaway draw for a free pattern (and a metre/yard of one of these fabrics if you link to the giveaway from your own blog), do it NOW..... it won't be long before this pattern is in the shop and these offers will be closed.

..

ps. Yes - that's my Kid's Hat Pattern - sold separately HERE!

Warm and fuzzy

...and slightly out of focus... ...as indeed I was when I planned to do some felting over the summer holidays. I completely forgot to get my supplies in before every felting supplier in Melbourne ALSO went on holidays!

The lovely Wendy at Lara Downs was also on holidays, but opened up her shop "by appointment" for me (and I was happy to see that it quickly filled with other customers who saw the OPEN sign!).

(The Lara Downs shop"Precious Purl" is above Calico House in Brunswick St Fitzroy, for you local gals). The wee girl and I oohed and ahhed over colours and textures, and wondered at the possibilities of all we could make. Wendy was extremely helpful, knowledgable and passionate about felting. It was an absolute pleasure to shop with her assistance.

We settled on a bag of mixed bright coloured wool tops (wee girl's choice), a bag of lovely earthy coloured wool tops (my choice) and a mixture of coloured pre-felts.... some olive oil soap and a felting needle.... we felt very kitted-up and ready for action!

Armed with my book, that night I worked my way through a few basic processes - wet felting, dry felting, making balls and making string.... and the next day I introduced the wee girl to it all.

She LOVES felting!!

...or - more precisely - she loves making felt BALLS and STRING.

The dear girl has plans for me to make the rest of the bear for her "to sew up on the sewing machine" (she can dream).

I had planned to eventually make wonderfully arty textile fashion accessories for myself - envisaging a bit of scarf action... a touch of nuno-felting... perhaps a purse? But at this rate anything I'll make will consist mostly of pre-made (by a pre-schooler) felt string and balls...

I'll wear it proudly.

Great Excitement!!

All button-covering addicts will be happy to hear that the BULK quantities of our self-cover buttons have now come in!!

12mm bulk packs are available HERE

19mm packs are HERE

and 23mm packs are HERE.

The tools are sold separately. Remember to add one to your order if you don't already have one from a previous kit.

And do you remember those fabulous zipper pulls that we used to love and sell....?

They really add that certain-something to a bag or garment, and they make zips a lot easier to grip, open and close.

I'm VERY excited, because we now have the full range BACK IN STOCK! Still $1.45 each. Check them out HERE!

We still have the tutorial here in case you need to see how (easy it is) to attach them.


And of course, there is still great excitement about the TULIP DRESS being nearly finished, and about my GIVEAWAY.

Impromptu button hole gauge... and a giveaway!

Visiting my parents on the weekend was looking a bit tricky because I had a lot of Tulip Dress sewing to do. Solution: do both. I can talk and sew, and drink tea and sew. No problem.

While two of my older sisters sat neatly with their embroidery, I spread out with sewing machine, a pile of dresses and bags of buttons and threads. (In other words, assumed the position of my 16-year-old self on the kitchen table). The one thing I forgot was a tape-measure.

..but placing buttonholes is not a problem when there are paper napkins around!

Who needs a button hole gauge...? (...well, actually, that's the next gadget on my list!).

The Tulip Dress is in its final stages. See my Flickr page for a few more pics. You might also start to see some pattern testing pics popping up on a few blogs. Here it is at Matching Pegs and two versions at Thornberry. It's also here at My Black Cardigan.

If you'd like to go into a draw to win a pattern for yourself, leave a comment here. I'll draw the prize when the pattern is ready to go up on the website. For a second chance at the pattern and a chance to win a yard/metre of fabric from my stash AS WELL, you can blog about it and leave another comment to tell me you've linked....

If you have any stories about improvised sewing gadgets, I'd love to hear them, too (not a rule of the giveaway.... just for fun!).

Which brings me to the monthly spend-over $50 prize. This month's prize will be ALSO be a copy of the Tulip Dress pattern - hot off the press! All invoices over $50 for the month of January will be going into the draw. So... a few chances to WIN WIN WIN!

EDITED TO ADD - Thank you - the draw is now closed!!

All for a good cause.....

Ummm... do I really need any more books?  Particularly GREAT BIG HEAVY ONES....?

Ever since reading Tania's post about this book, I've felt deeply that I must indeed add this weighty tome to my (ahem) work reference library. The Art of Looking Sideways is all about opening the designer's mind and sharpening the eye to see what isn't always seen... come in sideways and you'll see the truth of the matter... the sort of inspirational thing I MUST have in my life... in my work reference library.

 

And then I discovered Better World Books.  Wow - my kind of bookshop!  Not only does it give the best prices and the cheapest shipping I've found, but it's a not-for-profit organisation that funds literacy projects around the world and saves surplus books from becoming landfill.  Read all about it here.  Buy a book.   

Because it's SUCH a good cause... I also have about 4 more (other book) orders winging their way to me as we speak. Since I bought a new bookshelf for the kiddie books, I have space in my re-built and re-enforced (formerly exploded) shelves for a few more, so it's ok.  Really.

By the way - has anyone else noticed a font size change in Blogger?  My text is MUCH SMALLER on the usual setting, so I've had to make it MUCH BIGGER now (so I can read it!).  The in-betweeny size that I like no longer appears to be an option...?

The road ahead...

It's been a hectic start to the year!  I'm trying to tie up loose ends and prepare for the year ahead, before I plough headlong into a very big, exciting new project.  Given the timeframe, I won't have time for much else once it's underway.

Hot on the heels of completing the aforementioned project, I have Stitches and Craft Shows to attend (with stock and a display - perhaps the odd workshop or seminar? - to prepare). 

Then there's a trip to Sewjourn (YIPPPPPPEEEEEE!) and the Sew it Together bloggers convention in Melbourne.  I'll be hosting a Friday Night champagne-swilling-shindig thing. (We could call it a cocktail-hour soiree... but that sounds a bit fancy.  I'm thinking of a more cosy, doesn't-matter-what-you-wear kind of get-together where we can talk about buttons, ironing board covers and fabric shops).  More details later.

I'm also harbouring secret wishes to visit a show further afield later in the year. Fingers crossed.

In between I'll be doing family things.  Trying to get out to spend time with my parents when I can.  Spending quality time with my wee girl.   (Gosh, I may even have time to have a conversation with the man of the house....!?).  Dealing with grief - and the frazzled emotions of myself and my siblings - as we face the toughest of journeys.

My little assistant is off to kindergarten (with aftercare) this year so I have quite-possibly-unrealistic expectations about how much can be achieved without her "help" in the studio.  When I think about how much was done while working around her these last four years, I feel like I can achieve anything. 

There are still a few other wild-card events that may spring up and change circumstances again.  Perhaps the odd spanner in the works... that's to be expected, too.

So far, I can't see the space to schedule classes or workshops until the latter half of the year.  Stay tuned to the blog and join the mailing list (making sure you add info@nicolemdesign.com.au to your "allowed" list in your spam filter or address book!!).  I'll let you know as soon as I know anything. 

The photo above is of me - aged 4 - and my brother aged 3.  That's my Dad underneath the family VW Combi. (He spent a lot of time there). We're somewhere on the road to (or in?) the Queensland outback.  On that particular journey, the Combi had to be push-started EVERY TIME it stopped - from the Victoria-NSW border to the Gulf of Carpentaria .... and back.  We persisted.  We got there.  And we got home.  Mum, Dad and seven kids.  I survived a broken leg and we all survivied a treacherous mountain drive on a dark and stormy night with a broken windscreen (and a child in the back with a broken leg).

I don't expect this year to be smooth sailing, but I feel that it'll be one of transformation in many ways.  I'm taking a big breath..... and getting ready to push.

Where did I go wrong...?

Was it when I bought a cheap, conveniently flat-packed IKEA bookshelf instead of a sturdy (if a little difficult to carry in a small car or up four flights of stairs) solid wooden one...?

...Or was it when I kept shoving more and more big, heavy craft books into the flimsy shelves?

Or was it when I tried to move the bookshelf with only the top and bottom shelves emptied?  (READ: with the middle two shelves overstuffed with heavy craft books).

How was I to know that bookshelves could just EXPLODE like that...?

A slight obsession with A-line skirts

It's a tad addictive..... and I'm still tweaking the pattern to make the perfect panel skirt. 

Edited to add: It's a pattern that I drafted and am tweaking to fit perfectly (and be made quickly). I sorely lacked a good basic skirt pattern for those "oops I wore the wrong thing to work" moments last year, so I want to be prepared this year.

Thanks to Lara for taking the pics (in a disused classroom at the BBI.... fantastic light, terrible floor...).

Harvest time

We have a couple of plum trees in our backyard, and right now I'm doing my best to use all the plums they are giving to us.  It's the way I was brought up - to be thankful for a rich harvest, to preserve the best of it and enjoy it for years to come.

As I show my wee girl how to make plum jam, I hear my mother's voice and feel her hand guiding me.

I miss her voice, I miss her dimply, twinkling smile.... but as we (as a family) brace ourselves for the worst, I'm trying to focus on the rich harvest of her life.  She nourished with love, thoughtfulness and humility, and she lives on in her children, grandchildren and community in countless ways. 


When my daughter grows up, she may not have any memory of her grandmother - but there's something comforting in the knowledge that she'll know how to make plum jam. She may even have a daughter of her own one day, and will teach her to make it.

Garment dyeing - Lesson 1...

Always use pure cotton thread when you're making a cotton garment that is to be dyed.  This will ensure that the dye takes evenly thoughout the garment.

Lesson 2 - Double-check that the bobbin you wound with cotton thread is indeed the one that you put in the machine....

...because polyester thread will only have to be unpicked and re-sewn with colour-matched thread (likely to mis-match as the garment fades!!).

This the Funked Out Peasant Blouse pattern I won in Little Munchkins' giveaway a while ago.  I tried it in a white-based printed cotton lawn from IKEA - keeping costs down if it all went horribly wrong.  White is not my colour so it was doomed to the dye-bath from the start.

The result...

I chose the cap sleeve version and skipped the hip band (a bad look for those of us lacking leg length).  I used an invisible zip in the side (instead of the dress zip that was recommended).


In the end, it's not too bad, although not the most flattering of shapes for we short-waisted/short-legged/short-everythinged gals.  It'll look better with slim black pants underneath to create a bit more body-reference in the silhouette.  Next time I'll add more flare at the hip to fix that bunching-up business at the waist, and try it in a more fluid fabric (fine viscose?... viscose jersey?).


Do you like how - instead of wasting time cleaning the studio when I could be sewing - I've just used a blurry Photoshop filter?  I'm desperately trying to work out a way that this trick can be applied to the real-life studio.

I watched TV again....

Kanzashi flowers, self-cover buttons (including some extra large ones gifted from Ann Marie) and a pile of elastics happened to be on the coffee table in front of me.

Anyone would think that we need more hair ties.....

I went out!

Those who know me might be a bit surprised about that.




Had a lovely time seeing this talented chicky with my super sewing buddy.