The Better Bag Club, and other stories (..and classes)

We had our first Better Bag Club workshop a couple of weeks ago, at GJ's in Fairfield.

This is once-a-month workshop that you can drop in and out of, working on whatever YOU SEW GIRL pattern, or project from The Better Bag Maker or You SEW Girl that you like. I'm there to troubleshoot and show tips and tricks and techniques. My maximum class size is 8 participants, so that's a lot of one-on-one attention.  Everyone works on their own project, but the group also allows for soaking in the learning experiences of a wide range of projects, if that's what you'd like to do.

The room is big and light and airy, and lunch is provided, and we had a lovely time last month. A couple of the gals are off to far-flung and exotic places this month, so there are places open for 26th August, if you'd like to come along.

And GJ's have new stock of The Better Bag Maker, in case you're looking for it.

For the last 10 weeks, I've (unexpectedly) been teaching almost every weekday in the city. It cuts into my pattern-development and general life-organisation time, but at least I get to watch the changing landscape of the guerrilla crafting on these (anti-car-on-footpath) cement blocks outside Southern Cross Station.

I've started teaching a new subject in my college job. For me, this is always an exciting thing to do - if a tad time-consuming - as I madly gather new ideas and develop resources for students. It's a fundamental design subject about ideas generation and exploring a wide range of materials, so my brain has been POPPING with ideas about thinking outside the square, how to look sideways and all those other cliched phrases about originality in design.

Quiet moments in the staffroom have been spent crocheting bread bags. At home, I've been exploring all manner of paper folds and tessellations. I've been folding, weaving and melting plastic milk bottles and spiralising water bottles to make string. My Pinterest boards have filled with architecture, interior design, industrial design and origami-inspired ideas. It's stimulating and exciting to use other parts of my brain, and to look further afield for inspiration.

As we near the end of this term, and I prepare for the next deluge of marking, my mind is turning back to the garment patterns that are in development. I'll be ploughing back into those over the next couple of months and calling out for pattern testers (and there will be free versions of patterns to try in my classes at Cutting Cloth, for anyone who wants to test them there). Watch Facebook, Twitter and Insta for more immediate updates on those patterns.

So yes... Busy times....Life is a constant juggling act.... Inspiration is everywhere.... And please excuse my lack of online activity lately. I'm still here, and all is well.

Gathering Steam

It's been four years since I put out a new YOU SEW GIRL pattern or wrote more than the odd blog post, and I feel like I've woken from a forty year sleep. It's a whole new landscape, but I'm venturing back out into it.

Lately, I've been sewing and making patterns again, and thinking about how best to write instructions. 

I've been wearing lots of wearable toiles (muslins) and trying to remember how to ponce in front of the camera to record and share what I'm working on. Camera-shyness seems to have crept in during the last few years and I'm trying to desensitise by taking and sharing photos of myself. (Although by the looks of it, I still feel most comfortable looking away from the camera or chopping off my head.) 

For the last few weeks I've been posting to my new You Sew Girl Instagram account. It's in its baby stage, but if you're interested in following the sewing journey, please follow me here.

I've been working away at lots of other things (and teaching a lot) over these last few years, but the drive, inspiration and ... well... time... to put into new You Sew Girl patterns has simply not been there. When I wrote this blog post, I had no idea how long it would take to gather strength and find enough balance in life to get back to the business I worked so hard - for so long - to build. 

It's nice to feel that energy returning and gathering strength.

I've been experimenting with a few new garment basics (and some fun sculptural clothing shapes just for the fun of it).

I've also scheduled new classes (including some at the new Queen of Fabric in Brighton). There's a Purse Frame Class there next weekend, if you fancy a fun day, with other workshops to follow over the rest of the year.

There's still dressmaking workshops at Cutting Cloth on the 3rd Sunday of every month. And The Better Bag Club at GJ's  is a work-at-your-own-pace monthly You Sew Girl sew-fest, with me there to answer all your questions and show you lots of tricks.

And in November, there will be this. 

So I guess you can say that steam is indeed gathering. 

I'm older, wiser (..ahem.. and greyer..) and I'm looking up now.

Seasonal Change

Well, now that I've knitted myself a new scarf - from hand-spun, hand-dyed silk-alpaca, bought-at-a-local-craft-market yarn - I'm ready for winter. (I improvised a bias-knit in alternating rows of garter and stockinette stitch, and it's super-snuggly.)

There has been so much colour from my garden, I feel ready for grey skies and warm clothes and time spent indoors. To everything, there is a season, and all that.

And I'm just back from the awe-inspiring colour-fest that is Grampians Texture, where I was lucky enough to be a tutor for a week.

Bryant Holsenbeck's workshops produced the most delightful critters made of recycled textiles.

Jan Clark's group made all manner of colourful marks on textiles...

Nicola Henley had them all printing up a riot of colour and texture. 

...and I had my group making patterns and toiles (muslins) in very boring colours, indeed... but they learned a lot about garment construction and alterations to patterns... 

If they wanted colour, they only needed to step into the Market Hall.

Or step outside the classroom. 

These fellas knew what time lunch was served. 

This was the foggy morning scene that greeted me before class one morning. It felt autumnal. (And full of kangaroos.)

And so, the seasons roll on, and I seem to have been busier than ever lately.... although there is little to show for it. But I feel that a cog has shifted, and it's time to move forward again....assess where I've been and where I'm going.

I've been working on uploading my paper pattern range as pdf downloads on my website lately. There's a way to go with the back catalogue, but I've started with the garment patterns. It's a long and tedious process, but I think it's worth doing.

I've been working on edits for the new book, which is due out at the end of this year. It was written throughout a difficult, grief-filled 2016, and I hope that finishing it will feel like the closing of some sort of door, and maybe even feel like some sort of triumph. It's also a shift in direction for me, and I hope that it will hit the mark with the sewing community. This is the anxious too-late-to-turn-back-now stage of book-writing, that always fills me with self-doubt. But yeah... the book is on the way.

I've developed new teaching resources that are all about garments and have been thinking about new workshops.


I've opened a new Instagram account, which is more about sewing and textiles (and less about my home and garden, as my personal account is), which will be a new focus.

And I've started planning some new patterns... For the first time in too many years. I think it's time.

May the turn of the seasons bring wonderful things your way.

Projects and classes and other goings-on

How is it nearly the end of February? The weeks are whizzing by and news that I have a project in Australian Homespun Magazine's February edition is starting to sound a bit late....  But here you have it.  It's a Toddler Trilby - made to fit a headsize of 50-53cm.

 

 

I made this one in pinwale corduroy, but it would work equally well in denim or any décor weight cotton and would also work in wool flannel. 

 

It's a bit like my Fedora pattern (remarkably like it, if I'm completely honest), but with a shallower crown, wider top and an obvious headsize difference.

 

The holidays passed and we all went back to work and school. 

 

On the way to my first day back at work (with my bike panniers and basket completely loaded with books, fabric and resources) this is what happened.... 

 

 

I tried not to think of bad omens (and then I started looking for a tram).

 

No bad omen.  All that preparation I'd done for teaching the new (to me) theory subjects didn't go to waste.  So far, all is going well.  I've realised how much of this stuff I haven't forgotten and how much of it has become habit and intuition over the years. 



Being a complete textiles nerd helps, too. (For starters, all these books just happen to be from my own personal bookshelf.  There is no end of resources to share with my students).

 

I have also begun teaching classes on weekends in various places.  A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of teaching in Kimono House's new space.  And when I say "space", I mean it - it really is spacious and light and wonderful.

 

I always love working with Kimono House.  Not only am I surrounded by drool-worthy fabrics and Japanese design, but I get to work in the Nicholas Building.  I love coming in to work through this entrance! 

 

If you haven't visited Kimono House or the Nicholas Building, I think you should put it on your "Things to do in Melbourne" list. Another of my favourite shops in the city is on the same floor - the completely lush L'Uccello.

 

Another reason that I love teaching in Kimono House is that I get to meet up with lovely people I have taught before, and see what they've been up to.  I was absolutely thrilled to see that one of the "beginners" I taught in the 3-day Masterclass last year had been working her way through my book.  She is now making quite advanced bags (like this well-worn-and-loved Seoul Handbag) and confidently modifying them with all the interchangeable techniques that she's learned. 

 

If you're interested in getting started with bag-making, or simply want a fun day where you can sew in an uninterrupted fashion, there's a "Bag in a Day" class scheduled for 13th June at Kimono House.  Watch this space for its listing, or simply contact the gals at Kimono House to book in.

 

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There have been many reasons to be cheerful lately, and lots of much-needed validation of all the work I've put in over the years. Chickens are coming home to roost, and they have been of the friendly and exciting variety.

 

Even on the day that began with that bicycle puncture, there was a little reminder that what I put out in the world, continues.

 

Having had a hectic first day at work, a public-transport-trip too many, a rushed and stress-filled car pick-up and school pick-up, and then the contemplation of driving back through peak-hour traffic to pick up the injured bike (that was tethered in a street where parking is a problem), we stopped in to the local pub to have an early dinner. 

 

Time out to regroup and recharge.   Ahhh..... 

 

And at the bar, a woman stood with a HAUL bag that was made from a pattern that I made back in 2003-4.  Things like that mean a lot some days.

Hopefully I'll be able to talk a bit more about those exciting developments soon.  But right now, I have to get back to work!

 

Seasonally Adjusted

 

 

To everything (turn, turn, turn...) there is a season.... keeps going through my head.  Yes, the times, they are a-changin'...for many of the people that I know, and also for me. 

 

(And I was obviously exposed to too much music from the 1960's at some point in my life).

 

My friend Bella is moving out of her beautiful bush retreat.

 

 

I spent a final farewell weekend with her there, packing boxes and listening to birdsong and the breeze....

 

We remembered many good times spent here with very dear friends, and soaked up all we could of the place.  We will carry it with us.

 

We sipped champagne and looked out at the trees.... and then we packed more boxes. The season has passed and it's time to move on, so we do what we have to do and look forward to what is next.

  

 

 

 In the last few months, a few doors have closed here.  There will be more to come.

 Still, there are new doors sitting ajar.... new paths to explore...

 

 

For now, I am working at living in the present.... taking it all as it comes... letting life surprise me and accepting the direction that things take. 

 

 

I am soaking up my girl and making good memories. I am teaching workshops, teaching my fashion students and keeping You Sew Girl products going out to lovely stockists.  I am swimming and have started going to yoga classes again.

 

 Life is finding its own sort of balance around that framework.

 

There has been a slow return of the sewjo that disappeared earlier this year...

 

A "birthday present" shirt for a bestest buddy, that was promised over a year ago, was finally sewn. (There had been another birthday between ...and no shirt... it was getting embarrassing.) 

  

 

The pattern for this shirt is the Negroni by Collette patterns, and it's a winner.   This fabric is a charcoal coloured chambray, and the shirt has darkest green buttons (just for fun). The bestie approves.

  

I have been a bit in love with my new overlocker (serger), which hadn't seen much action since I bought it in June.  It has been humming away lately.  It's easier to thread and is generally a lot less trouble than my industrial overlocker, and it does a ROLLED HEM with the flick of a switch.... I get a bit excited about that.

 

A book idea is swimming around and I am thinking of pattern-writing again too.  Ideas are beginning to come back. I am not pushing it... just waiting for the mojo to be back in full swing, as it will be.

 

...And a time to every purpose... (Oh, there's that song again...)

Hot tips for sewing like a professional ...and another giveaway (and a little bit about life and work, too).

I'm over at Sew Mama Sew at the moment, giving a few tips on the things that help create a professional finish in your sewing projects.  I'm also giving away a copy of my new book over there. And best of all, in the comments section, people are sharing their favourite sewing tips, too.  What a bonanza of a blog post it is... get over there NOW!

...and here we have another detail of one of the bags made while writing the book.  This is a version of the Melbourne Weekender, in denim and a hand-printed Pippiejoe fabric.

 

Meanwhile, behind the scenes of You Sew Girl....

 

Lately, the weeks seem to be flying past in a blur of workshop preparation and teaching, wound around parenting and house-keeping and general business-running.  I haven't had much time to look up or out. 

 

 

The biggest news in these parts is that I've been offered a new job... a real job (my Dad will be happy), and I've decided to take it on.  I'll be teaching in a Fashion College part-time. I can't help feeling like it was some sort of godsend. 

 

As the dust has been settling after the big move last year, I've been feeling absolutely ready to make more changes in the way that I do things, but not knowing exactly what form those changes might take.  I've been struggling with the fact that I love teaching and want to continue it, but that my product-development mojo appears to have gone walkies... so how do I keep YOU SEW GIRL going into the future?  

 

The new job offers a new direction that inspires and excites me, and I'll be able to continue my own classes and wholesaling the products that I already have. I might regain pattern-writing mojo or maybe I'll just write the occasional book... who knows?  But for now, I have something challenging and inspiring to sink my teeth into (and it will keep paying the bills!). It feels like the beginning of the next phase.  Exciting times, indeed!

 

While preparing lesson-plans and resources, I was surprised to see just how many geeky sewing and fashion technology books I own (this collection was just tidied up on the table one day... there's a 2-metre high bookshelf in the corner, with the rest of the collection bulging out). 

 

 

I've also been busy prepping for my own workshops and for the gigs booked around the traps with other businesses, guilds and sewing groups. There will one day be more photos of pattern-free clothing to show... I've been making, but not poncing about with the camera. 

 

On the home-front, we're fighting colds and can't seem to shake them, so have just been working around them.

 

The girleen has been using her time away from school to brush up her drawings of My Little Pony characters. (As impressed as I am with the likenesses, I'm lamenting the absence of her fantastic imagination in the artwork.... ).

 

In between bouts of cold, we managed a day out to ACMI, with the wee girl and her friend. 

 

We went to the DreamWorks exhibition, which was fantastic ... until the last bit (when they were hungry and tired).  The kids were made to wait about 10 minutes for their turn to use the much-anticipated animation software, and were then only given about 5 minutes (with a stress-inducing countdown of time-nearly-up) to get to understand the software and develop an animation.  They left feeling grumpy and frustrated and teary, because they barely had the background drawn when time was up.  It was beginning to look like a disastrous day (with nearly-nine-year-olds and their fragile emotions...).

 

As a cheer-up measure, we went out for sushi, regrouped and then hit the permanent exhibition at ACMI.  The kid's section there is full of excellent interactive activities, and they had a ball.

And then we hit the playground on a gorgeous Autumn day.... so all ended well.  Phew. 

And in between all of this, I've been knitting (and going to the dentist... which is where this photo was taken).

 

 

 

 

And so, life whizzes by... 

 

So before it passes... get over to that book giveaway and share your sewing tips! :)