Monday 31 August 2015

Vintage op shop treasure!

I made a detour on the way home from work recently, and visited an op shop I haven't been to for about a year. And I found the most gorgeous vintage jacket-





The label stitched inside the front of the jacket tells its own story-



Made in the UK, the jacket was then purchased at the " Buckley & Nunn" store in Melbourne. I have been trying to find some history of the manufacturer/ designer "Richard Baker", and to date the jacket ( which is in near new condition! I had it dry cleaned, had to stop & think where to find a dry cleaners as I can not remember the last time I ever had any thing dry cleaned!).
Anyway, all I have been able to find so far is an advertisement in "The Age" from 1970 - and the diamond/ chevron pattern in the illustration looks fairly similar to my " new" jacket really...will have to keep searching & see if I can unearth any more info!



Thursday 27 August 2015

Sussex St Neighbourhood House Artisan Market stall

Here is a photo of my stall set up last Sunday.


Like my " trees" ? Prunings from our plum tree, standing in a jar of pebbles! I was supposed to be sharing a table with Kate, but when she got there we had been given a table each. Thankfully she gave me a quick call to let me know, so I dashed around the house and found a couple more old ammo boxes lift things up and fill up the table a bit more! A couple more markets are coming up on the calendar, will keep you posted!



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Thursday 20 August 2015

To market, to market... Getting ready for Sunday

The Sussex St Neighbourhood House Artisan Market is on THIS SUNDAY 11am - 3pm. I will be sharing a table with my friend Kate who has been busy making the most gorgeous looking, wonderfully scented candles. I have been busy sewing and crafting, but have not gotten around to taking photos of everything ( plus it has been too cold or wet to go outside to take photos!). Here is a quick round up of some of the things I have made so far...



Gameboy fridge magnets


Fabric brooches, labelled and ready to display on my "tree"...





Fabric buckets - different colours, mostly in sets of 2 - 1 large, 1 small, denim & 70's sheet fabric. Yet to be photographed!


Rope bowls - few different shapes & colours this time, tried some coloured dyes out as mentioned previously, but in the end only coloured 3 bowls.



And here are some of Kate's beautiful candles-














Hope to see you there on Sunday!

Friday 14 August 2015

Wonky hand sewing and other things...

Where has the time gone? Busy weekends mean more jobs to be done on Mondays (meal planning, baking, groceries etc. time eaten up running around doing all the small tasks which seem to accumulate over a week or two, and suddenly all have to be done at once) which results in little or no sewing time. Plus this week, having survived most of winter unscathed, the current headachey-cold-bug which is doing the rounds, took a detour and stopped over at our house. First my H, then me, now Tiger Boy is sniffing and sneezing, and the Jedi Teen left for school this morning grumbling " I have a headache and think I am getting your cold, thanks very much".

So... Not much craft/ sewing happening lately. Well, a little bit of wonky hand sewing/ sort-of - embroidery finished off last night. I knew I was feeling better when I felt like I just had to do some craft of some sort, and NOW and whilst watching TV. Have you noticed craft is like that? Sometimes I don't do anything for AGES - especially after a big mistake or mess up. I walk away disheartened, then lose my sewing mojo for weeks on end, everything seems to go wrong, I lose my touch.
It happened a couple of times last year. But this year seems better. Maybe it is because I have "retired" from school fundraising events after the exhausting and soul destroying school fete; now I am trying to concentrate on sewing for me. Maybe it is because I have mastered the overlocker ( of course having said that, I' m sure to get tangled up next time I get it out!); and sewing t shirt tops are such a quick, easy and satisfying thing to make. Maybe I am more determined, and less fussy. Having read somewhere in a sewing book about the "3 foot rule" helped with that! Maybe because I am trying new things, and mixing up machine sewing with knitting, making necklaces & trying other small craft projects ( yet to get the weaving loom out, but thinking about it!). Now I feel so much " better" when I find some sewing/ crafting time, even a small project is quite satisfying. And if I haven't done anything for a while ie. a few days, I just have to do something, make something, no matter how small!
Which is how I came to make these-


Not very big, not very straight... Just squares of felt, about 7cm square, enclosing 2 trailer washers, to use as fabric/ pattern weights. Small, portable, easy to store. I went to Bunnings and asked for the biggest washers in the store! The sales attendant asked if I needed them for plumbing or a car - I said " not for anything at all like that!", but thought I might just confuse him too much if I tried to explain what I was going to use them for!
Inspired by this book from the library, although I had borrowed and returned it ages ago, and had to borrow it again this week to get some new ideas.



And having learnt from TigerBoy how quick and easy it is to look up, find and reserve a book, I picked this up from the library at lunchtime...and finished it later in the afternoon! Brilliant, wonderful, perfect...I loved "The Graveyard Book" too, I think I need to log on to the library and reserve some more...



Monday 3 August 2015

Raglan sleeve success!

I can't believe I haven't posted any photos of these two tops yet. I was ridiculously excited when I made my first raglan tee recently. I had been wanting to try one, looking at my opshop pattern collection, and then remembered the book " Sew U Home Stretch". Raglan sleeve tee pattern included! I did my usual check for size against my favourite peppermint tee pattern, cut, sewed according to the instructions, and tah dah-


- there was just enough neon yellow left, plus a metre of matching back fabric purchased at the same time, to make this. ( Doesn't show up as bright as it actually is, but there wasn't much sunshine today when I took the photos.

Then I made another one, again with scraps - a less than half metre floral remnant donated by a friend, matched with some black jersey-


Think this had become my new favourite top. Must play around with patterns and cut out some more.
But I have mainly been busy sewing fabric buckets and rope bowls for the upcoming market, so probably won't get any clothes sewing done til after the market! A dozen rope bowls made now, about 10 fabric buckets with another half doz still to sew. Had quite a production line at craft group last Wednesday & got most of the buckets sewn up. Still to sew - pins on brooches, then make some more knitted necklaces. Maybe some more kids' hama bead brooches too. Busy busy!



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