Bicycle Cruising

Can you remember when you learnt to ride a bike? I remember being gently shoved down a hill near my house and just having to learn to steer out of sheer terror as I didn't want to run into the post at the bottom of it. I have since owned a couple of bikes, the current one is a little flat bar road bike - good for commuting to work everyday, I get to cycle by the river and over a couple of bridges and through a park - puts me in a great mood. While I was in Philadelphia I noticed a trend towards those very cute beach cruisers - they have back peddle brakes, lovely baskets at the front and are perfect for cycling while wearing a skirt...like this one, which sits out the front of a house down the street from me. I want one, but riding up hills would be a nightmare!

I'm also a little obessesed by bike prints so it would seem remiss of me not to have bought this gorgeous 'not quite fat quarter' hand printed by GreenOlive Design in Melbourne. I think I may make a purse with it...we'll see.

Experiment completed - Gilbert

After almost completing Gilbert the giraffe, I started stuffing him (using Poly-fil - 100% premium polyester), it was evident that something had gone slightly wrong in the - ahem - let's say leg area (ok it was the crotch, it was the crotch)...by that I mean he really did look like he'd had some sort of tragic accident out on the Savannah plains (?) which left him slightly puckered.

It was time to get professional help, so I emailed Louise Papas (creator of pattern) for a bit of guidance. She got back to me within the day and cleared up a couple of things but there is still something incorrect in my construction with the legs so I'll have another go. You can see from the pattern photo that the seam goes straight across rather than to a point like mine does. 

I will update this post with some construction photos when I do the second giraffe - but for now, here is the finished product - just be polite and don't look where you know you shouldn't!

The Craft Laboratory

I have been thinking for quite a while that the Brisbane craft scene is missing something. While I was in Philadelphia (USA) I was lucky enough to happen across a wonderful material shop called Spool (see Craft Crush 1). Spool sells vibrant, contemporary quilting fabrics and has a small workshop space at the back that had 8 basic sewing machines and a large cutting table. I attended a few sewing classes and also spent time in the 'open sewing' sessions where you can use the machines, tables, rotary cutters etc for a cost per hour. I have never felt happier. Spool was welcoming, warm and changed my life. I realised this is what I wanted for my lovely Brisvegas, a place for like-minded people to come and create, be inspired, be inspiring and basically somewhere we can all hang out and talk about our crafting passions.

My aim is to gather information for this dream and I want to document it here so people can contribute their thoughts, ideas or even go into partnership! I'm personally not interested in making a fortune, I just want to feel happy and fulfilled in life and change the crafting landscape of where I call home. In Melbourne there are several places that fit this description, although all operate quite differently with different focuses. Hopefully they'll be interested in participating in a mini interview series so that we can get a brief insight into the inspiration behind how these wonderful places started.

Anyhoo - for now I have a picture of a shop space for lease that I wanted to share with you. I pass by this everyday and it always makes me smile and daydream about my Craft Laboratory one day being a living, breathing entity.

Results - Granny Square

I'm feeling smug, smug as a bug in a...oh, that's snug...well anyway - my teapot *is* snug in it's new Granny Square Tea Cosy I made this week. Thanks to a crochet lesson at Brisbane Brown Owls, I was able to rustle this up in no time at all!

I think I'll call this the Greta Cosy, after my late grandmother who loved to knit and crochet. She was the last surviving grandparent in my family and was a mother to 5 rather mischievous kids (my Dad was a handful), a champion lawn bowler, collected teacups, and will always be remembered for seeing the best in people and accepting them for who they were, plus she made the best pasties I've ever had. Cup of tea Nana?

Save Gocco

What is Gocco printing? It's a colour screenprinting system developed in Japan in the 70's. Crazily, 1 in 3 Japanese households had one....what were they all printing with them - that's what I want to know! The whole kit looks like a toy and is supposed to be easy to use and creates little mess. I hadn't heard of this printing process before but it is all the rage it seems in the indie craft movement, which is a shame as it's stopped being made!

Sadly the parent company, Riso Corp, decided to stop manufacturing and it sent out it's last shipment of supplies and then wiped it's hands. Except...there is a grassroots movement called 'savegocco.com', started by Jill Bliss in 2005 and resurrected by Katie Stephenson today (who I met through the Blogging My Way course), which hope to keep Gocco printing alive. Katie also has a heap of suppliers, tutorials, fixes etc on her blog - Check it out! Now, where's my 'Save Gocco' T-shirt?

Ornithology: Brown Owls: May 17th

Of course I woke up late and had to get my skates on to get to my first Brown Owls morning. Luckily it was a beautiful autumnal Sunday morning in Brisbane - so the trip in was a joy! I arrived to find a room filled with cool crafty types, sipping fairtrade coffee and discussing the merits of the various granny square instructions that were floating about. We had very cute name badges to wear and there were an assortment of scrumptious home baked goodies on offer - I didn't have time for breakfast so I had the most delightfully iced cupcake...simply yum!

I have to say that my first attempt at a granny square was not too clever, but frankly I was just enjoying the chatter about craft, market stalls, Etsy and blogging to really care that much about completing anything. After several attempts I worked out what I was supposed to be doing and then toddled off home to sit quietly with a cup of tea and work through the instructions (I had to pull it out 4 times before ending up with this square!). The yarn used is a mixture of something cheap (the white flecked one) and two balls of Jo Sharp Classic DK wool skeins. I love Jo Sharp as she's an Aussie designer from Western Australia and creates great contemporary knitting pattern books and her wool colours are gorgeous!

Experiments in progress - Gilbert and Gertrude: part 2

I actually have made very few things using a sewing machine...even at school I remember Mum took over and made my year 9 apron for me...can I point out the part where I wrote 'took over'...anyway, I digress. I now feel fairly confident with most machines and even can change feet. The giraffe softie pattern I'm using had me scratching my head a little and after a few cups of tea and a biscuit I think I figured out how to put the ears and horns on!

Craft Crush 2: Dandy Long Legs - London

Dandy Long-Legs: Tall-legged tales of a long-legged lass...warning - VERY cute blog! The muse in the drawings on this blog reminds me of that great cartoon character Daria (oh how I loved thee). I had the pangs of an instant craft crush after seeing DLL's work in my favourite magazine Frankie. What caught my eye was the gorgeous hand drawn and coloured cards that the buttons are attached to, plus recommendations for them...buttons for winter cardi's or party dresses - love them!

Experiments in progress - Gilbert and Gertrude: part 1

An update on my first attempt at making Gilbert the giraffe from an Audrey and Maude pattern  (and you thought I was being slack!). On Sunday I managed to buy some lightweight fusible wadding (I asked for something called Pellon)...note to self - it's cheaper on ebay.

I then traced the pattern onto some brown paper. I used that as it's cheap and you can lay it on top of your pattern and easily trace it - plus, I don't care if it gets torn.

Last night I ironed the fusible wadding onto the opshop fabric for the body, and ears of my giraffe. My Mum jumped for joy when she noticed I had finally bought myself an iron - I had to firmly tell her it was for crafting only - not domestic duty. She still looked smug.

Next was tracing the patterns onto the fabrics and then cutting them out. I found a fabric pen that fades after 48 hrs - good idea - hmm, may be up late sewing tonight.

Market Inspiration

My Saturday mornings in Brisbane usually means one thing - off to the local farmer's market for a strong coffee (double shot flat white please), catch up with friends and to be inspired while food shopping. Here is this morning's sights for inspiration - red seems to be the theme. The gorgeous cupcakes are from The Cupcake Parlour. I didn't catch where the tomatoes were from but they are grown locally and use heirloom varieties so the flavours are more intense! 

Gertrude and Gilbert

I was looking around the living room of my very small flat thinking...I have a massive stash of craft stuff and a book of written ideas and concepts - time to get busy! To make myself finish projects I'm listing them as 'Aims' and hopefully they'll end up under the 'Results' section on my sidebar.

It seems people are getting pregnant left, right and centre so it's time aunt Danielle thought about making some very cute toys! I bought an adorable giraffe pattern by Audrey and Maude while at last week's craft show, so my first 'Aim' is to get better acquainted with Contessa (my Mum's circa 1970's sewing machine) and make some of these softies.

These sweet giraffes remind me of the Eiffel Tower with the way their legs are positioned. The spotty cotton fabric (it looks similar to Disco Dot by Michael Miller) was sourced from my wonderful OpShop - someone sewed a size 18 top and I'm pretty certain it has never been worn....it cost $1 and there is heaps of usable fabric. Yes Mum, I've washed it - twice! The gorgeous 100% wool felt was also purchased at the craft show and is from Winterwood Toys in Victoria. According to the pattern (which looks freehand drawn - love it!), I need some light fusable wadding to iron onto the fabric to give it a smoother look and for ease of sewing. I also think I will hand stitch eyes rather than use buttons (that's just asking for trouble). My plan is to have something to show you by next week...wish me luck!

Craft Conference: Day 4

After STILL battling a headache from the Handmade Nation's handheld camera work...please bring it to DVD s I can watch all of it (see here) - I was sad to realise that this would be my final day in craftland. No workshops today - the one thing I was really looking forward to was 45 minutes of talking from Bianca Van Meeuwen who started her own fabric label - Hollabee - and joined forces with Lara Cameron and Tegan Rose to form Ink&Spindle...I reckon an indie film will be made about their story one day!

Homebased Craft Business notes...

Bianca gave a rundown of her experiences of starting up a craft business from home and what you should think about if you're wanting to do the same. Here are the top 4 important points:

1. Blogging - blogging was talked about a fair bit (and rightly so) and is considered one of the most important things for a home craft business as it's a free and worldwide way to put you and your product out there - plus you're part of a community that supports you...very important!

2. Marketing - Etsy.com and Madeit.com.au were mentioned as ways to get your handmade products into the marketplace and are great places to test how new things are received by the marketplace. You need to add new products regularly though to keep interest up. Approach retailers that you think fit well with your product. Retailers have a budget set in advance and my have used it up already so don't get discouraged if they don't take your stock this time...ask them when they are next buying and be ready.

3. Photos - In regards to points 1 and 2 - photos are hugely important! Avoid flash photography (try and use natural light to show off your wares). As your customers can't touch and feel your things, photos need to convey how great they are - using props are good too. For clothing, a live model or a dressmaker's model show the garments off best (rather than lying flat). Good free photo editing sites are: Picnik, Picasa, and The Big Huge Labs.

4. Pricing - this is an example of how you should price so it's fair for the seller (that's you) and the buyer. Handmade is more valued than something mass manufactured so don't sell yourself short!

Product cost (cost of supplies to make product) + labour cost (what you pay yourself/hour)

= Cost Price

Cost Price + 100%

= Wholesale price

(this is what you would sell to retailers at)

Wholesale price + 100%

= Retail price

(this is the price you would use on Etsy/Madeit)

**Important - Use a formula like the one above and pay yourself a fair price ($20/hr is a good estimate).

**Important - If you are selling to retailers - don't underprice them (for example on your website). Most retailers will add 100% markup on the wholesale price they paid for something - so it's a good equation to use for your own sales - otherwise if you outsell your retailers, they might not buy from you again...makes sense...of course, if they're going to add 200% markup on the wholesale price then it's their own fault for being greedy!

Blogcards given out: 2

Ornithology - Brown Owls

I just found out today that there is a little space left in the Brisbane Brown Owls! Brown Owls was started by Pip of Meet me at Mikes blog (and store) and is basically like crafting for big girls. I'm very excited as:

a) I love owls...alot!

b) I love fellow crafters...alot!

So here's to exciting times ahead and hopefully some nice new pals to talk craft with!

Hoot!

Craft Conference: Day 3

Funner than school...and work! Yes, school was out and there were heaps of 'young folk' milling about today. What I loved about that was their enthusiasm to try everything and anything, from classes to having a go at the Craft Bars...or just doing what teenagers do and sit around with their mates having a laugh ...wait...that's what I've been doing.

Only one workshop today - a very nice sling bag - materials and instruction by Julie McLachlan of Thread Den in Melbourne. Apparently Julie failed sewing in high school only to get back into it later on and now be teaching - I love that! It was an easy bag to sew (all material was precut for us), with some darts on the bottom for shape and the cute tie handles make it quite stylish. I even managed to do a little topstitching! The sewing machine I used was l-o-v-e-l-y (you need to spell it so Contessa, my trusty 1970s model, doesn't hear).

After the class I thought I'd check out the Craft Bars that were scattered around the venue. These are small areas set up like a bar with a menu of 4-5 projects using one type of craft skill (knitting, hand sewing, embroidery or paper box making) so people could learn how to do something new for free. There were usually 3 'bartenders' behind the bar ready to get you started and to help out when you got stuck or to give you advice. I think I liked the stitch bar best as they had embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching which were great fun, for example - a drum kit, cassette tape, headphones, naughty librarian, kinky cowgirl etc. You chose from the menu, the bartenders iron transfer the print to some muslin and then it gets placed in a hoop and away you go. There were take away instruction sheets and you got to take it all with you (not the hoop) to finish at home. These bars were a total hit!

Scattered around the venue was some pretty awesome crafty displays, from crazy crocheted Psycho Toys by Luisa De Santi to tea cosies by Tara Badcock that really are works of art (not figure hugging crocheted/knitted ones - I cannot lie, I was slightly disappointed). My favourite exhibit though was by Jodie Carleton (AKA Selvedge Queen). Jodie has used selvedges sent to her from around the world to cover a chair, make an umbrella and also she designed and made this amazing dress! It's a gorgeous thing to stand in front of!

It was that time of the afternoon to go and see Handmade Nation - this is a documentary by Faythe Levine about the indie craft scene across America. If you're interested in seeing it, have a look on the link for screenings. As far as I know, in Australia you can only see it at the Stitches and Craft Show (at the moment). What did I think? Well, I have been following some of the indie crafters interviewed for years - so it was nice to see them immortalised on film and to hear how they got started and see where they created...to me it was preaching to the converted, but it did make me feel good about the work I love and support. Hopefully it gets a wider screening so other parts of society get to view it. What I really, really, really hated was the handheld camera work - warning if you suffer from motion sickness. I actually left after seeing about 3/4 of it and the headache lasted for hours - the same thing happened during Blair Witch and Bjork's film Dancer in the Dark...oh well...final Craft Conference day is tomorrow!

Blogcards given out: 2