Men in Craft

The Little Market at Avid Reader

I have been meaning to get to this craft market for ages and ages (years actually) but always seem to miss it. I live in West End and love The Avid Reader bookstore - it's an independant venture started by a couple of locals a long time ago - in that time it has moved location once and has opened a cafe in the back - it's always had the same, great inviting atmosphere that a lovely bookshop should...it's also open late (I love a bookshop browse at night).

Anyhoo - The Lovely Thing Makers are a local loose collective who hold a little craft market in the back courtyard of Avid Reader on the last Friday of each month (5.30 - 8pm) - so THIS FRIDAY (note to self) - I'm meeting my blog friend Ellie (from Red Seed Studio) there. I can't wait!

Screen printing with Thea

I met Thea (of Thea & Sami) at the Stitches and Craft Show earlier this year. I got to see a demo on screen printing and once I knew she was doing workshops at her studio I was keen to sign up! I was determined to have designs sorted and be 100% prepared...oh well...I did manage to remember to bring my ideas book at least so I had a few ideas to work from. 

The train and birdcage had been jotted down during the week but the 'science' girl is an idea from a tattoo I saw on the web somewhere...I love how they all turned out!

Thea was awesome, apart from instructing us all in the art of screen printing, she gave us information on what inks to avoid buying, what to look for in second hand screens, and contacts of good places for supplies (which is very generous of her). She also was wonderful in her encouragement and in problem solving any design issues we came up against. She's taking a break from workshops for a little while - but look out for when she has them again!

Melbourne Design Market

While I was in Melbourne I was lucky enough to stumble across the Melbourne Design Market which was held in the underground carpark at Federation Square. I was like a kid in a candy store - so much cool stuff, so little money, but I did my best and managed to talk to lots of creative types and click some photos...and buy a few keepsakes. So what did I spy?

Fabrics:

Melbourne screenprinting outfit - Spacecraft - was selling wall hangings, floor cushions and other homewares made with their hand printed fabrics. I also visited their store space in Gertrude Street. In their studio they have one print table with a backing cloth on it, this gets saturated with ink from the print ideas and colours that they use and gets replaced every few months - it's these backing cloth paintings are wonderful to view. They had a wonderful print on their window of a stack of books - but alas - they haven't printed this onto material...I suggested they may like to...hint hint!

Ceramics:

The State of Design Festival store had a variety of great products including very cute ceramic hot water bottle vases, 'house' plates as well as recycled plates cut into the shape of butterflies - gorgeous. They also had a range of mirrors in the shape of animals, balloons and children jumping and playing.

Gregory Bonasera designed an Elk vase I bought almost 10 years ago, it was great to accidently meet the man behind my treasured piece (and the story behind it) and see what work he has been doing since - I particularly liked his ceramic pieces of bones - kinda creepy but you can't help but pick them up (or maybe that's just me).

Sandra Bowkett creates delicate and beautiful little bowls and cups with polka dots, paperthin spoons which look ready to dip into a caddy of earl grey tea and ceramic brooches - I liked the insect decal drawings too (it's the scientist in me) and couldn't resist buying one of the tea cups to add to my collection.

Clever Stuff:

Lego Zip Drives: I saw these originally about a year ago in a design magazine and bought one so I was glad to see they are still available and getting out there. They come in different sizes (1, 2, 4, and 8 Gb) and colours (red, blue, pink, yellow, green, clear and black). This company (Zip Zip) also sells very cute ipod lego speakers. They're geeky hot and never fail to get a reaction from boys like - 'that's the coolest thing I've ever seen'...yeah - good for the crafty chicka's ego!

The Keep Cup: These Australian designed and manufactured reusable hot beverage cups sold like hotcakes - two sizes were available and you could choose the colour of cup, lid, preference band and the top sealing plug. Everything pops on and off, is microwavable and dishwasher safe. Estimated lifespan is four years and they are totally recyclable. I'm off to the States soon and will be taking mine to spread the word. I think we'll be seeing these everywhere.

Kearnsie: Funny, clever pieces by Lisa Kearns. The 'Hello' badges - inspired by working in customer service, the eyepiece scarf toggles and the cute knitting needle rings and bangles all were too cool for school!

Results - Jacket for Djinni

A little while ago my sister-in-law enlisted my crafty help in a little craft project. Their Schnauzer (Djinni) needed a new dogcoat and after extensive searching, Bec declared that all the dogcoats she had seen were basically...horrible (think ruffles, think paw fabric)...and would I be up for sewing one? It's cliche, but when I think Schnauzer I think tartan - so off to Lincraft on a fabric hunt. I managed to find a remnant of tartan polarfleece (non-pilling according to the label) and a pack of extra wide velcro. Bec did all the hard work and made a great pattern from the old dogcoat and sent it down to me.

In the end I decided that I wouldn't put any padding in and just have a double layer of polar fleece (should be warm enough and not too bulky). I reinforced the velcro and even topstitched all the way around so it retained it's shape better. All in all it only took a few hours to make. Apparently when it arrived Djinni took hold of it and Bec had trouble getting it out of her mouth long enough to put it on her - a good sign...I think. Bec had to bribe Djinni with doggie treats in order to get some photos - so thanks Bec and Djinni!

Melbourne-bound

I have a few days up my puff sleeve (and some frequent flyer points) so I'm heading off to Melbourne for a few days to catch up with friends, family and hopefully have a peek at a couple of craft stores, markets etc that are down there...not sure how many I'll get to as my friends may feel a little used (I'll promise to make it up to them in the form of craft goodies) - but I'll do my best to at least visit Meet Me at Mikes, in.cube8or Gallery and Lamington Drive plus maybe a couple of markets...any last minute suggestions are welcome!

When Craft Goes Wrong

This weekend I spent far too much time at the local thrift store - not thrifting so much - but sitting on the floor laughing - laughing my ass off at the photos and words in the vintage knitting patterns. I spent a weekend camping on my own in Byron Bay years ago and did the same thing - found a thrift shop and went straight to the knitting patterns - the hours just fly by. Oh the joy of a bad pose showing off patterns and colours of an era long gone (hopefully). So this month's 'When Craft Goes Wrong' is brought to us by Patons, thanks Patons!

Men in Misti - Could this be the ultimate test of true love?...that's what it asks in the pattern's blurb! 

Test of true love or not the man with the supposed engineering degree has failed - how can you love a man who doesn't know what to do with his hardhat (it's not a raincatcher sweetie)?

I do like the props in each shot though - binoculars, clipboard, walkie talkie...polaroid camera. Enjoy friends, enjoy!

Results - Puff Purse

A few months ago I happened across a website that was full of inspiration and guidance. Nicole Mallalieu Design sells supplies, patterns and gives great tips on how to make bags, purses and hats. If you live in Melbourne there are also classes and workshops for basic sewing and bag making.

The very cute 'Puff' purse looked like one I bought on a trip to Japan - so I thought I'd have a go at making this one and then maybe tweek the pattern a bit. The kit comes with reasonably clear instructions (black and white pictures of the main construction steps help alot), the purse pattern, the purse clasp, and some iron-on interfacing which is needed to give the outer fabric a bit more body. You need to supply the final fabrics - but all up it is a great project for random remnants or a fat quarter.

I chose some wholesome looking japanese fabric I bought from Peppermint Stitches (a new quilting fabric shop here in Brisbane) for the outer fabric and the inside lining was a remnant of red polka dot cotton fabric from Lincraft. 

The hardest bit (apart from choosing fabrics) was fiddling around with putting the top into the purse clasp - there was a near disaster with the hobby glue and I decided to change the way the clasp was stitched on as I think it gives a neater appearance (and I didn't use the little beads as suggested in the pattern - just some contrasting red embroidery thread).

I'm glad it worked out as it's actually a birthday present for a friend - yes, finally my friends and family will get to appreciate the toils of my incoherent mutterings and ramblings about craft and sewing.