Sunday Suitcase Rummage

Winter in Brisbane has begun - and so have the markets! They seem to be multiplying like rabbits as there must be at least two every weekend for the next few months. Today I took myself off to the Suitcase Rummage in King George Square. As I'm making a city relocation this year I've decided to purge my life, so today I was offloading books and some much loved (but no longer worn) clothes.

I really wanted to tackle this woman for her great hat!

This market is a perfect blend of vintage, general second hand, quirky finds and grass roots indie designers, with everything being sold from a suitcase. There was even Edith Piaf being piped to give people the ambiance of fossicking through a french flea market.

My best find today wasn't a 'thing' but a person! Kimberley Jane Robinson is a visual design graduate who started her own small business (Kijaro) specialising in invitations. What captured my crafter's eye though was Kim's fantastic collection of carded vintage buttons, neatly packaged patterns and bundles of fabric. She professes to liking old stuff, collects purses and clearly has a good design eye. Catch her vintage haberdashery and stylish invitations and cards at the next Suitcase Rummage (July 4th)!

Where do you get your fix? - Reverse Garbage

I know, I know, I've already harped on about this place - but seriously - they're on a craft vibe! I blew in there today - another hot Saturday in Brisbane - and they had set up a display of rolls of laces, buttons, fabrics...ok, so most of it isn't to my tastes - but, someone in craftland might be desperate for a heap of brown buttons for instance! There seems to be lots of fabrics - so get in and have a rummage if you're in West End Brisbanites!

Anyway - my really big find was a fantastic table which has a little handle at the front which you turn to raise or lower the height - brilliant! Plus, it's a really great size for cutting fabric on, laying out patterns etc - so I snapped it up (it was cheap)! Apparently an old warehouse was being cleaned out and they had four of these tables that they had no use for so just dropped them off. I think I might try gluing a 1 meter steel ruler on the edge (for fabric measuring)...or I wonder if I can find a cutting mat big enough to stick down on it?

Where do you get your fix? - Alternatives

So, to date, we've been walking through the crafting/fabric options in the inner city of Brisbane and in previous postings have had a look at multinational companies and independent stores, now we're onto alternative finds.

Op Shops/Thrift Stores/Garage Sales:

These places are a golden opportunity to find something unique to reuse, recycle, repurpose...for the good of the planet and your soul...also your wallet - second hand things are cheap! I usually look for nice cotton print dresses that might not be to my styling or a few sizes too big and use the fabric for handmade goodness.  It's a pity Brisbane doesn't have much of a winter as we don't really ever see second hand cashmere jumpers (sweaters) in these parts - which is a shame. Most of the remnants in Op Shops are old curtains or horrible, horrible home furnishings - but I did happen upon a great hand printed piece of linen once which I thought was a score! These places are also great for finding an assortment of buttons and knitting needles, which for some reason are always lurking in a glass jar on top of a shelf - mostly tiny, tiny gauge needles though - must have been alot of baby knitting going on at some point!

Secret sell offs:

Thomas Dixon Ballet Centre - this is the Queensland Ballet school which is situated in West End (on Montague Rd) and used to be a shoe factory which was built in 1827! Anyhoo - apparently every now and again they sell off costumes, embellishments, left over fabrics etc from their productions. Has anyone ever been to one of these?

Reverse Garbage (Montague Rd, West End):

OK, now this one is not a secret but is a great find and I may have to swear you to secrecy after reading this. Reverse Garbage was set up to take unwanted surplus, waste or remnant supplies etc from businesses and sell them to the public for very, very cheap prices. This place is awesome for artists and weekend DIYers as it has anything and everything and it's random, changes daily and is lots of fun! I saw a basket of plaster cast feet once (from a podiatists) and picked one up to have a better look - it had my family name written on the bottom - SPOOKY! I bought it and put it in the garden as some weird outdoor art sculpture. Of relevance to us, they also get fabric remnants/scraps from local designers and manufacturers (Sacha Drake to name one) - sometimes you get heaps of black lycra...but sometimes you get some amazing linen, or lovely pieces of knitted cotton...as I said, it's random. There are also Reverse Garbage places in other Australian states - does this happen in the USA, Canada or Europe?

Where do you get your fix? - Independants

Peppermint Stitches:

This little shop opened about a year ago and I only found out about it at the Stitches and Craft show earlier in the year. It is situated on Sylvan Road in Toowong and is run by a mother and daughter (I believe). Now this store has wall to wall fabrics - literally - they are everywhere you turn, and not horrible rolls of it either, but the neatly packed rectangles that quilting fabrics come in. Most of the fabrics look to be fairly contemporary quilting patterns with Amy Butler, Heather Bailey etc getting a good showing. They are priced between $22-26 (AUD) per metre and you can purchase as little as 20cm widths (great for crafters). Also they have a billion fat quarters. To be honest my main criticism is that there is so much that it's overwhelming and the fabrics looked to be grouped by designer, not colourway. This is great if you know what you're after - but having things in colour groups can be visually easier to navigate  - but that's just my preference (I'm old and get confused easily). Peppermint Stitches main focus looks to be quilting and cross stitching/embroidery. There are a few patterns for bags, some craft books, and some classes on quilting and cross stitching. All in all - the service was very friendly and I'll definitely be crossing the river often to wade through the huge range of fabulous fabrics.

Gardams:

I remember when Ewan Gardams was on the Queen Street Mall (I told you I've been around a while). It was on several levels and was an Aladdin's cave of fabrics, apparently it's been in operation for over 70 years (no, I'm not that old)! They then moved to Adelaide Street, and for the most part was OK - over the years I have picked up some great fabrics, but things started to slow down, the 50% off sign annoyed the hell out of me and only ever applied to a small section of fabrics - which I think actually never sold so were in fact the same fabrics on sale for the past 5 years. Anyway, I digress, Gardams stocks mainly higher end fine fabrics and recently moved to Indooroopilly (down the road from Spotlight). Staff are always friendly and helpful and will cut small slithers of fabric off rolls, staple them to a card and write the details down for you! Splendid!

Sckafs Fabrics:

Inside Indooroopilly shopping town - bottom floor - Myers end. This place has been around forever it seems. It sells dress making fabrics on rolls, buttons etc, etc, etc. Fondest memory was being taken by a friend (you know who you are) to a special sponsored night that promised secret techniques and unusual stylings, but basically involved showing a lovely group of seated ladies how to embellish a plain T-shirt - by bedazzling the bejesus out of it with rhinestones, lace, sequence etc. We then got to eat cubed cheese and drink weak cordial - awesome. I did manage to buy some lovely cotton fabrics though.

Others that I know of but have not visited:

Patches (Indooroopilly)

Tangled Yarns (Newstead) - wool/knitting

Funky Fabrix (Mitchelton)

plus  heaps of quilting stores that seem to be tucked away in the outer suburbs.

Where do you get your fix? - Multinationals

So my question is this, do you have a favourite crafting/fabric shop near you and if so, why do you love it?

After about a month of non craft related activities (ie - travelling and work responsibilities), I was in the mood to peruse fabrics and notions, yep, I was itching to do some stitching (hey - great name for a shop!). I live close to the centre of Brisbane (Australia), and don't really have an all-time favourite place to go - the internet offers so much but I thought I'd give a personal view on the craft/fabric options close to me, because sometimes you just want to have a good old fashioned browse rather than clicking away with a computer.

Lincraft:

The closest place to me to pick up bits and bobs is good old Lincraft in the Myer Centre. Now, I've been around for a while, and Lincraft used to be great, no really it did - it used to have heaps of great fabrics and the staff were a bit like the ladies in the David Jones underwear department - a little stern, but by george they knew their stuff. It also used to bustle. These days Lincraft seems to have lost the joy for me. I don't really look at their fabrics or knitting wools and it always appears very empty and a little sad - perhaps it's the lighting? Having said that, I'm glad it's still there in the city as where else am I going to get last minute tartan polar-fleece fabric for a dog coat project? Also, the staff I have come across are really pleasant and helpful. Good for craft emergencies and basics (sewing thread, buttons, elastic etc).

Spotlight, Spotty, Spotlight (said in a hushed whisper):

Hmmm - well - maybe I need to say nothing at all...but I will! This place reminded me of...dunno, something chaotic though. There were piles of fabrics everywhere - and that was just beside the cutting tables. Maybe there had been a saturday morning rush of mother's making outfits for daughters? After wandering around in some sort of lint daze I found what I wanted - wedged in tightly underneath a whole lot of flannel, sparkly nylon and brightly coloured polyester. The sight of me and one other customer trying to yank this prized roll of fabric was akin to Arthur extracting the sword from the stone! I was triumphant - sweaty - and amused the sales staff - that place is cheap...need I say any more? G0od for stocking up on basic notions, wadding, calico etc. I did find some cute summery cotton for a steal too!

Department Stores (Target, Kmart, Woolworths, Big W):

My first ever job was working in the Manchester department of Kmart - I loved it (well, better than being on checkouts). We stocked dress fabrics and curtaining by the metre, knitting wool and all sorts of notions. We had to know how many lengths of disgusting net curtaining was needed for a window, what sort of hooks were needed and how to cut festoon fabric (don't ask). When did all this disappear? Doesn't anyone want cafe curtains in their kitchen anymore? These days there's a very small section of notions shoved between the sheet sets and boomerang pillows...disappointing, but understandable I guess. I suspect they'll do away with it all so keep an eye out for the clearance sale.