online promotion

I am in the midst of updating all things online. A new facebook page, updating Etsy and Madeit and Dwanda, oh to have someone help me (or actually just do it for me so I can spend more time sewing!!!). The problem is it is so time consuming for me as I am not all that tech savvy - never mind I will continue.....

Anyway as my facebook group is new so I wanted to have a promotion to celebrate. I was thinking, win a voucher and everyone who 'likes' can get free shipping. How's that?

I dress I made for my little girl. It is really a size 2 and she is only 1 - but good for next season.

The fabric is liberty of london and designed by Lauren Childs, the creator of Charlie and Lola.

I have decided not to add to online stores as I would have to go and buy more fabric to fill any orders.

Patch Pictures

My Mum gave me a book called 'Patch Pictures' last time I was at hers. So I have tried some. I am not overly happy with the shape of this t-shirt though, I think I will just do them the classic style with set in sleeves. Boys tops and jeans for this autumn/winter...stay tuned!

selling - a necessary evil

Why can't people just magically know about what to buy and therefore we wouldn't need advertising? But without that there would be no Mad Men I guess, and I love that show - even if it is just to see what Joan and Betsy are wearing.
Anyway, here is my latest dress, I just love this print and it goes well with the red denim I think.

Back again

I am back.
Spring is here and bring it on!

Happy New Year 2010

Oh my lord! Just read the last post - well I had the baby... 3 days later and I was not expecting that. So the little mite is nearly 6 months old and it's about time I blogged again.

I am already sewing for her and having her model for me, of course!

I wander around the house, or drive my car, or whatever, thinking of what I can write in this blog, then I sit down to write and... nothing, I am sure I am not alone (by the way, has anyone noticed how often people are saying "I am not Robinson Crusoe" instead of the aforementioned phrase?) and you can imagine how annoying it is when you cannot make a short note about what you want to say.

My plan this year is to go to a market a month, so in February and April I will be going to the wonderful Sisters' Market in the Brunswick Town Hall and in March and May I will be going to the Daylesford Makers Market which I have not been to before but as Daylesford is nearby and is a beautiful old town I am looking forward to going to this one in the town hall.

Ad for Mag and new Logo

So I have made a new ad for this magazine, see previous post. I have done this up myself and also made a logo. Having relatively little skill in this area, I hope it is all OK. Still getting organised for baby - so winding things down a bit. Not a great time to advertise I guess, but oh well.
Last week and a half at Incube8r also.
oops, sent the ad without the logo!

Modern Handmade Child

The new magazine for EtsyKids will be coming out in August.
Very excited as I won the competition to name the mag and therefore will have an ad inside!
Baby due mid August so may be very busy... hope I have a little time to sew and keep my sanity!

Here is a new item. What do you think? I have called it a collage dress, for want of a better word, as you can see I have used different fabrics, items, techniques. This was was made for my niece Abi.

Incube8r

I have a spot at Incube8r. I have 2 racks of children's wear and 1 of women's wear, just because I already had some tops made and I think I may sell more women's wear than children's wear in this location. But that will remain to be seen. I have more items to add and I may change my display to a long rack, instead of 3 waterfall racks.... decisions, decisions!

New things of from old things

Working on some new dresses, pants etc. for shipshap at the mo.
I have had this dress in the cupboard for many years, I had only worn it a couple of times and still love the material. But not in a dress for me, so I have cut it up and am using it as trim on my little girl dresses. Yet to take photos of these new items, but will soon.

Am I Arty Enough?

I found this new artists market in today's 'The Age', it's at a place called 'the substation' and is on the 1st Saturday of each month in Newport, Melbourne. Am keen to go and check it out, might have time this arvo but it is already 12.41pm and it closes at 4pm. I might be even more keen to have a stall. But, am I arty enough? I think I could be, as the items above include screen printing, patchwork and patching (not sure what you call that, but I am talking about the little dress above with a patch on the front with lace bordering each side). Anyway, keen to do a few markets soon, I did not get a spot at incube8r (see prev. post) and they are quite fun.

Featured & Incube8r

I was featured by madeit on the website Kid Style File which was very nice, here is the link.
I am also thinking of renting some space at Incube8r which is a fantastic shop in Smith Street, Collingwood which stocks handmade items, quite excited by this and will keep you posted.

Baking boats

Fresh from the oven, though I can't say they smelled very appetising.
New tops with blue boats, one of them could hardly be seen as the paint was the same colour as the top, so I re printed as a shadow - looks good I reckon.
Still waiting to be sewn up.

What to write on a blog.

Hi again. I have not forgotten about the blog, in fact quite the contrary. I think about it often and what I should write here. The problem is that every time I think about something I am doing something else. This is not a problem I do not share, I am sure. Needless to say I have no idea what to write right now.
So I will just give a little overview as to what is going on is my sewing life.
I have decided to put aside 5trillion and my desire to make women's wear for the moment. I would like to concentrate on ShipShap children's wear and also that I am expecting another baby in August and those 2 things are enough to work on at the moment (and, of course, looking after the first little one).
I have made a facebook group for ShipShap.
I have ordered some fabric and am working on a new winter range - it will also have summery pieces; as discussed in an earlier blog, as I sell to people all over and it is not cold all over, I like to have something for everyone.

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.