Sew Happy at last!

My mother was an excellent, creative seamstress, and I grew up familiar with sewing machines, specifically the heavy-duty Singer that Dad gave her as a wedding present in 1956.

This machine still works beautifully, and at the age of 80 she still uses it to do small repair jobs and to alter clothing to fit. Very recently she had it lovingly serviced by Henderson's at Chermside in Brisbane, and she feels it's working better than ever. 

Mum used to make her own clothes before she was married, whipping up dresses for dances with a wing and a prayer, literally, as she had no time for patterns or conventions. And yet she understood all about cutting on the bias and how to drape fabrics. A genuine creative.

I learned to sew on this machine, but believe me when I say that I was an absolute disaster at it - to the extent that my mother's heart was always in her mouth when I went to work, wondering if her precious machine would survive. Not one of life's naturals, by any stretch of the imagination! Which just goes to show that where there's life there's hope, and it IS possible to teach a more mature dog new tricks, so to speak. Unlike my mum, I used patterns, which I didn't always understand, nor have the patience to follow when I did, and my frustration with the results lead to vigorous arguments with Sally Singer. Finally, leaving a trail of threads and scraps all over Dad's study where the sewing machine lived in those days, I was banned...a relief to me, Mum, and the sewing machine no doubt!

Which didn't stop me feeling a need to sew. When my boys were born I made tentative steps back into the sewing world with a little basic Janome, a pile of Top Kids magazines, and the strangely sparse retail fabric world of Queensland in the 1980's. 

My sons got to wear some interesting dressing gowns and jackets as toddlers: the best attempt I could make at the cool world of German children's fashion meets Saved by the Bell.

The need was definitely there; I just hadn't found the skills (or, it has to be said, the resources) at that stage to meet my aspirations.

Fast forward to 2007, when my sister gave me a new sewing machine for my [mumble]-th birthday.

In fact, a sewing machine is the last thing that she would have thought to give me, but as she lives in London she gave me cash and I chose to buy a new sewing machine...traded in the rackety old Janome which I couldn't even remember how to thread, and replaced it with a shiny new Janome complete with instruction book, tool kit, and a determination on my part to finally master my demons!

This is actually the second machine of the modern era, a step-up after I began to feel confident that my skill set was up to the mark and my present-day sewing interest was a lasting phenomena. There is a crafters' bumper sticker that reads "my other car is a sewing machine", which is very apt, as my new car fund went towards the more recent purchase (although that wasn't generally known en famille until some time later).

After many decades of struggling I came out of the shade and into the light with my sister's gift 5 years ago and began to master the art of sewing. Number one reason for that I think is that I am a much more patient person that I was at 15 or 25...I will pull out a seam and re-do when I mess it up these days; I will make something and then do it all again, better, in the interests of mastering a skill; I will devote a day and a half, or as long as it takes, to finishing something properly.

Number two reason though is that this century we actually have the most wonderful array of fabrics and notions available to us, here in Australia, and on-line as well, so that creativity is never stunted by a void of resources. And that makes it worth getting the nitty-gritty sorted, big time!

These days I love fabric, I love clever patterns, I love opportunities to improvise and be creative, and I love my sewing machine...never thought that I'd ever say that!

I have just delivered some goodies to Rosemont Collectables in Lismore, NSW, where I have rented Candace's shop window for the month of September. These little dresses are hopefully testament to my present day ability with Dear Machine, and the cushions illustrate an even more recently acquired (if not yet mastered) skill in crochet.

Until next time, have great weeks...

Steph xx

To market, to market...

This Friday night I am setting up shop at the BrisStyle indie Twilight Market. This will be my first 'real' market all year and here it is almost the end of August.

Markets are rather special, especially when it's BrisStyle, which is hand-made only and the primary retail out-let for this not-for-profit collective of craftspeople. These twilight markets can be hugely successful, especially running up to Christmas, but it's also an opportunity to catch up with members of long standing and meet some of the newer recruits.

I've got some new work in the pipeline for Friday night, the nature of which has been in part dictated by physical limitations after surgery in July - my beloved sewing machine hates my back at the moment. So lots of crochet and some paper and glue and embroidery have been my most comfortable options.

I have crochet bags:

...fabric and crochet cushions....    

clothing for chickadees...

and some pixie houses that are actually pin cushions in disguise...

Plus plenty more.

If you are local, drop by King George Square from 5 p.m., browse the stalls, bop to the band, and grab a bite to eat at The Groove Train...look forward to seeing you and being back in the thick of a market once more!

Almost as good as sacs...!

My nanna taught me to knit with fat pink needles and bright red wool, but no-one ever taught me how to crochet.

There's crochet and there's crochet - whole articles are written on what NOT to crochet.

But knitting is not the craft of choice for anyone who's not looking for a way to fill in an awful lot of time. I used to knit when I operated a switchboard in a little nook, shut away from the rest of the world. I used to knit when I was waiting for my babies to arrive. I still knit in doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms. But overall knitting is way too slow. Too slow, too unforgiving.

So for a number of years I have been determined to learn to crochet. I want to make granny squares too! I want to do clever things with the yokes of cotton dresses! I want to make lovely wool flower embellishments and amigurumi like all the other clever crafters! I want to be retro and play with colour and get all free-form.

Finally I mastered the hook - a combination of Brown Owls, Pip Lincoln on-line tutorials, and how-to books got me over the line. I made my very first squares, my first cushion cover, my second cushion cover, and now ...*drum rolls* ... The Boho Bag!

My inspiration for the bag, 'un sac, du crochet, du Liberty, de la dentelle et quelques fleurs' was made by Cecile Balladino and came from here: eclectic gypsy land

It looks like this:




...so beautiful!!

Cecile took her inspiration from Lucy Laine's 'Les Sacs Me Font Perdre La Boule!!' which is shown  here:

Also beautiful!

And now there's my own version:

If I take the rectangular cushion out it's much the same shape as Lucy's. And like her I've used some special vintage lace in homage if for no other reason.

Inside is some lovely Japanese print from the girls at Voodoo Rabbit.

So pleased with this, partly because I had to make it up as I went along, and pull it apart and try again here and there, so another tick against new skills learned, and a big tick also for perseverance. 

Thanks so much to Cecile and Lucy for their inspiration - go the on-line collaborative effort!!

Have great weeks!