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.