Fabric purge

Like many sewers I have a stockpile of fabric. My sister once saw a fridge magnet that said, 'the person who dies with the most fabric wins', so it must be quite common. With this in mind I have to decided to stop buying fabric and make up as much as I can into garments and sell them. This may sound like what I have been doing all along, but not really. I want to get rid of this stuff, it is cluttering up my workroom and my life. OK, not my life that was a little dramatic, it would be great just to have some more room.
Then the plan is to make up a proper range for winter '09 (southern hemisphere). So everything is nice and cohesive, not the mishmash of different fabrics I have been doing.

<~A pair of overalls I made for my little man.

Spring and Markets

There has been a change in just what a market is all about these days, I reckon.
Markets are becoming no longer a place to get some cheap stuff, there are now upmarket markets for handmade goods. Which is just wonderful and makes sense. A hand made item, of course, should be priced accordingly. An item bought at a market that has been handmade and therefore probably very original (I say 'very original' because some things are more original than others, if that makes sense) is something to be treasured. There are some great markets around Melbourne and they are quite popular and the prices are right for the seller and buyer, I believe.
Rose Street market is for artists and is lovely.
Ones I want to check out are Sisters' Market and Magnolia Square.

Addicted to Project Runway

Currently I am addicted to project runway, I am watching via Youtube, so am watching both the US and Australian one. Anyway, enough of that, there are a lot of people talking about that, no doubt. I just wanted to mention that as a reason as to why I have not blogged for so long.

Do change of season ranges come out too early in the shops? I was shopping about 4 weeks ago, I think it was, when I had this thought. Still a month of winter left and I am confronted by summer clothing. I think I will be sick of it by the time summer gets here. I have not much more to say on the subject, as I must continue watching the current episode of aforementioned show, while I have time.

Please visit flickr, etsy or madeit to see what I am currently working on.

Donnie Dog and Soft Toys

There seems to be a proliferation of soft toys on the market at the moment. Lots on etsy and madeit which are wonderful and original. Some in shops in Melbourne which are kinda, well, less good. I am talking about those 'handmade in China', see previous post, and those that are just screen printed and stuffed, en masse. Though of the later many of them are quite cute and could be used as little cushions. The problem I have with the former is that they are sold in the National Gallery shop in Melbourne. Come on local artists get down there and make them stock your fabulous items!
So, I am looking for a special present for my nephew and could not make up my mind and thought I could probably make him something myself. A nice stuffed dog like animal with a funny face. Here he is, I have not finished him as the first comment I got was, 'Ha, that wasn't as easy as what you thought it would be'. Suffice to say I did not feel inspired to go on and think maybe I will stick to the clothing.
Maybe he is a little scary for a little one.
Pictured here with our lovely Kelpie cross who died last year.

Tropical Conundrum

Have just spent a few weeks in the tropical city of Darwin. I know shopping centres around the world are becoming all the same but this is just nearly ridiculous. I went into Target and they have exactly the same stock in the Nothern Territory as they do in Victoria, knitted cardigans and all. It did not get below 20 degrees while we were there and during the day it was about 35, every day. I can understand there being a few items in the back of the shop for people travelling south, but the whole shop was decked out in cold weather clothing. Not surprising I supose. Apparently banana farmers up there have their bananas trucked to Brisbane (about a trillion kilometres away) to be trucked back in boxes and sold at the supermarket.
I have only two words to say about that 'global bloody warming'.

Seasonal Dilemma

I am having a bit of a dilemma over the seasons. Well, dilemma is probably too strong a word. I just think they have become a little obsolete (with regards to what garments I put in the online stores) for 2 reasons. The first being that when selling online I am selling worldwide which means that some of us are in autumn (fall for all you Americans!) and some of us are in Spring. The other is that some of us (not me) live in warmer climes where you don’t really have a winter at all (hello Townsville and Darwin). I’ll try to stop using parentheses (is that what they’re called...oops, at least I am not using dot dot dot...doh!).
Anyway, this post is getting a little annoying; I will get back on track. The dilemma is, do I stock summer and winter clothing concurrently to suit everyone? If so, how is that going to look? I really think I will have to do this, as I don’t want to be just appealing to some and not everyone. I can always just state this in my shop announcement on Etsy and Madeit and the profile on 5trillion. I believe it needs an explanation otherwise it will look a little odd.
So, there it is, asked and answered. I will need to get to and update this now.
This is the latest thing I am working on. Dog jumpers for little boys, I have cut these out and then machine embroidered them. I have decided to put them onto a patch first and then onto the jumper. If any don’t work out I can do another without ruining a whole piece of fabric! I will do these with different dogs on each, it will add to the handmade element and it is not anymore work.
I will have to stop calling them dog tops, people think I have branched out into dog wear! Please no.

QC & the cat/bird bag

I made a tote bag this week. It was an order from my sister, I will add it to the shop and make another if ordered. I am also going to make her a camera case, ditto with this. She wanted a plain black bag to use for everyday. As she knows, I don't do plain black, so I have added a machine embroidered bird on one side and cat on the other. The lining is an old pillowcase, I bought it from the op-shop because I just liked the pattern. I have a real penchant for paisley (also for Prince, they go hand in hand I reckon). Here is a picture of some test runs I did first. I did no test run for the cat, just sewed it on.






I made the yellow lines on blue into a top for my little boy. I also ironed on a shop name and logo design using that paper you can print on the computer. After a few washes there were a few problems I could see with the top. The first was with the logo and one that I kinda knew about already, but ironed it on anyway as I wanted to see what it looked like and it was not for sale. These iron ons really only last a few washes before they start coming off. The next issue was the ribbing I used for the neck. It was pilling after only 1 wash, so I have had to throw it out. Lastly and something that is not a real problem, just a small design fault, is with the hem, or lack thereof. I will turn this up and zigzag, it will look better as it rolls up and bit now. Though I think the cuffs are OK without this.
It pays to make a sample up.

Words for the Swing Tag

I have been trying to decide what to put on the swing tags for ShipShap, my new children's wear label. I think it is important as I want people to know about what they are buying. Here is what I have so far.
"ShipShap is the name I have given to my clothing for children. The clothing is all handmade, which means that I design, cutout and sew up all of the items myself. It can be a somewhat organic process, as some of the pieces may evolve into something a little different to what I had originally planned. Some of my work is not really planned at all; for instance, I always guess how much dye to mix up in the pot and my machine embroidery often just comes out how it does once I start sewing. A picture in my mind is all I may use to go on.

I love making these clothes and I hope you will love them too!

Enjoy,

Christina"

And on the back
"Buying handmade means that you are getting a one-off original and you are directly supporting the (artist or) craftsperson. These are 2 among many other good reasons. Go online to find out more. I made the pledge at www.buyhandmade.org "

I figure that if people are interested in that, or think 'handmade, what do they mean by that' (which is what I would think- see previous blog), they can go and find out, via buyhandmade.org and etsy.com.

Anyway, I am not sure if the clothing will be handmade for ever, but if I was to get it made by someone else I think I would still put on there where it was made and keep the blog with details re that. I think it is important, as I said before.

The above is a picture of the beautiful Abi in one of my tops, after looking at these I decided that the shape is not all that good and I should finish the hem and edges after all. It would be good to have a house model full time!

Handmade in China

I was at the National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square a few weeks back and so had a look at the shop there. They were selling soft toys 'handmade in China', this annoys me for a few reasons. The stock in the shop is not made by local artists, which contributes to the homogeneity of shops around the world. BORING. And they are not supporting local art and what is their definition of 'handmade'. Because in the truest sense of the word, my stuff is not handmade. I do use a machine. But most people know what handmade means when it comes to clothing and crafts, I think. See Etsy for an explanation.

So here is what I have been up to. I did a special order for my yellow lines t shirt and while I had to screen made up I thought I may as well print some more. I dyed some of my white cotton interlock blue and screened them on there. I will make them up into kids tops, check them out on Etsy soon.

Back to the Blog

Happy New Year!
What a year for 2007 with the birth of my darling little boy.
Here he is, being held by his Dad, just born. I like this funny little picture of him, looking a bit bewildered at the world he has just entered.
He looks a little different now as he is 4 months old.

Now to the business of making.
I have been making. I went to another market, this time in Foster (near Wilson's Promontory in Victoria), with my sister's help as it is now quite a production to do something like that with a little one to consider. I made some little tube tops with rosettes and shoulder ties for girls, of which I sold a few to my sister's friends before even getting there. So I will make some more and put them in the Etsy shop as they were popular. Here is a pic taken at the market, that's me in the green, with my family helping out.