Sock Puppy

Last year I bought this great book about making stuffed animals from socks and gloves. And finally I got a and old pair of socks that were still in good enough condition to try and make one.

And so "Sock Puppy" was born.

He's a little sad looking and I still have make some little clothes for him but my son has welcomed him into his ever growing puppy collection and he has is come in as "2nd top dog". A pride of place that will last until the next one.

Crazy Hat Lady

I had this idea to do kids hats for awhile. I made one for my son and loved how unique it was and how I could spot him in a crowd of kids and not lose him in the park.

Then I discovered the joys of op shopping and found some really great old pillow cases and thought - they would make great kids hats.

Unfortunately with the move to Sydney I had begun to run out of time fast and as so my mother the amazing seamstress that she is stepped in and made my designs for me and some of her own. And they are really fantastic. They will be available in 3 sizes - small (1 - 2yrs), medium (2 - 4yrs) and large (5 - 6yrs)

They will be featured at the BiDm this Saturday at St. Augustine's Church - Racecourse Rd, Ascot.

Here's a sneak peak:

Any not sold will be up on Etsy next week.

See you Saturday.

A great new start

Woke up this morning to find a kind soul had included us their treasury listing on Etsy. A wonderful surprise to start the day. Funny that Morgan's photo is the item she chose.

You can see it here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c6facb928256d91324ce546/groooovy

Today we headed off to Kellyville to the new "Hide and Seek" market. It seems small at the moment but the vibe was great as were the cup cakes and some of the stalls had great ideas. Needless to say I picked up some great buys.

Envelopes and Cards from "beconservato"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pram blanket from "Indigo Elephant"

Jacibean designs

Definitely worth the drive to see.

Back online

Finally after the never ending unpacking of boxes I have had a chance to sit down and re-open our Etsy store - yeah.

Very excited to be back online. Will tackle our Made It shop tomorrow night!

The weather was beautiful today, the wind was cold but the sun was shining. I think I may have even gotten a little burnt. My son helped my with my new photographs today and he captured this great photo of Melissa's teddy.

 Not bad for a 3 year old!

We're very excited to be part of the upcoming BrisStyle Market on September 4th. We'll have lots of great new products to see.

I hope it won't be so long between posts.

June BIDM and beyond

It's been such a whirlwind this last month it's hard to believe the BrisStyle BIDM is tomorrow. We've got heaps of goodies once again and the weather looks like it's going to be a stunning BrisVegas day. Can't wait!

After this though we are going to have a slight change to Seamstress and the Daughters as I am heading south for the Big City life (temporarily). So Melissa and Marie are going to be putting the markets together and I'll working behind the scenes from afar.

So for the time being both our shops will be on an extended holiday.

See you at the markets tomorrow.

BIMC Raffle Goodies - Yipee

The BrisStyle Indie Mother and Child Market was on a few weeks ago. We didn't end up getting a stall but I went along with the family to check out the goodies. Of course I couldn't help buying stuff and my son was the lucky recipient of most of it. But while we were there I did buy some raffle tickets to support them all.

And lucky for me I won a great big bag of lots of lovely goodies. I got it in the mail the other day (as we have been away) and it was so very exciting to open it and just keep pulling out goodie after goodie. They are all so lovely. Now I have lots of awesome things and I will be sharing them with friends and family. My son particularly likes the spaceman brooch.

Here are some picks of all the good things.

A BIG BIG THANK YOU to all the great BrisStylers who donated there things for me to win. There are too many to mention in this one blog but if you go to the BrisStyle Website you can check out all the great ladies and gentlemen and their shops from there. And in the wise words of PlaySchool "I love it, I love it, I really really do"... I love my handmade goodies.

A bit of bad timing

Quite awhile ago we booked to get an interview on the BrisStyle Blog - very very exciting and then well it ended up as a bit of bad timing...

Melissa ended up doing a market at St. Joachims primary - which went really well so we put our shops on vacation until we knew what sold.

Then I got an opportunity to take one last beach holiday before the winter cold set in - the same week.

So unfortunately both our shops have been on vacation (hopefully back online tomorrow) and there will be more for people to look at.... albeit a little late.

But a huge thanks to the BrisStyle team for letting us on the blog. It all looked great.

Hopefully better timing next time.

Simplicity...not so simple

I had been hunting for a child's hat pattern for ages and finally found one - Simplicity 5540. I was very excited as I had visions of making my son lots of hats and possibly selling a few as well.

So I got some cute material for a hat and sat down, took a deap breath (I am not a calm sewer) and made sure I went slowly and followed the instructions to the letter. All was going well until I had to sew it together. Well the darn thing just did not fit together. But I would not let it get the better of me. So I fiddled and unpicked and resewed and about a day later got it together. Not perfect but I thought not bad for a first time and my son (bless him) loved it.

I spoke to my mother (the professional seamstress) and she whipped up another hat for my son in a hour, using a different pattern. So we decided to make a hat from my pattern together. Very quickly she worked out that the pattern was faulty - the nicks didn't match up. Well at least I knew I wasn't going crazy that the pattern was pretty much impossible with out the know how. She showed me how to fix it and I am slowly getting through the new hat but I'm not going to use this pattern again.

I had paid around $20 for this pattern and I was a little bit annoyed about how crap it was. So I emailed Simplicity and they emailed me straight back to say they were sorry about my disappointment and they are going to send me a voucher... Not sure where I can use it but I guess I will see. I think it's great on Simplicity's part to get back to me so quickly. Nice that customer service still exists.

BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market

Wow what a great night. So well organised and it went so smoothly. A really big thank you to all the "behind the scenes" BrisStylers who work so hard to bring it all together.

The crowds were amazing. We had to stand outside the the stall a lot of the time to let all the people. We got some great feedback from people and that was great. Thanks to everyone who purchased something. Yeah!

Unfortunately not our best market. We had lots of lookers but not as many buyers as usual. But a fantastic experience and Melissa and I managed to pick up some great buys as well. Thanks to Hungry Designs and Sybella (a present for a friend that will be sad to give away) and of course I will love my new necklace from Rock N Wrap as soon as it's my birthday (Thanks Mel!). 

It all looked so great and the night was not as cold as I expected and people people everywhere.

Here are some photos of our stall from last night (and yes Mel the mat on the ground looks great):

Twas the day before Market....

and things are all but quiet.

Melissa and Marie have both dropped off most of the stock for tomorrow nights BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market and I am busy photographing them for our inventory.

Melissa has made a great new bunch of hats and this one is my personal favourite - unfortunately it doesn't fit my head or it wouldn't have made it till tomorrow night. It's made from and old "Western Australia" tablecloth. It's just gorgeous.

Marie has delved into the world of black denim and made some fantastic skirts (who said black is just for boys).

We are super excited to be off to King George Square tomorrow night. The weather is going to be great but must remember a jumper as the cool nights are here to stay now (yipee).

We look forward to seeing everyone there - BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market - King George Square - 5 - 9pm.

A small thrill

I know we sell bits and pieces at the markets but I never get to see if when the new owner takes them home, whether they become must use pieces or whether they end up in the back of the cupboard. So I got a small thrill the other day when I was in the check out line at Spotlight to see the little girl in front of me was carrying a Seamstress and the Daughters bag that Marie made last June and was in our very first market stall. Nice to know it was still being loved and used (and still looked in very good condition).

Tis the Season...well almost!

The nights are getting cooler (thankfully) and that means it's almost my favourite time of year. Being a crochet nut I love Winter. I can bring out all the scarves and beanies that I love to wear (fashionable or not!!).

I bought this beautiful hand painted mohair/silk from the recent Craft Show here in Brisvegas and I have begun to make a simple scarf. As mohair is quite tricky to crochet (or knit) because it's so bloody hard to undo any mistakes it's not hard for me to get distracted and start on other things.

So here are two new scarves I've made whilst distracted:

I really like the idea of thin scarves that can be easily wrapped around the neck. I liked the idea of a relatively plain scarf with just a little something at the end. I made it green so it's like grass with some blooming flowers. I was initially going to make the flowers white but I thought it would end up too Christmassy! I think the navy worked well. 

While it is an acrylic, it's actually a really nice soft wool and light too, which will make these easy to wear. I'm really happy with the white scarf as the colours add a lovely punch. This looks great on.

I've also managed to sew a skirt and a hat for my son but that's for another post!

Good Coffee anyone

Even though I don't drink coffee both my husband and Melissa (other seamstressdaughter) do and so I thought I give a thumbs up to El from RockNWrap for her great coffee. They both thought is was yummy.

So not only does El make great jewelery but she roasts great coffee.

A Boy's Tail!

We were recently over at a neighbours house and the little girl had a "Dorothy the Dinosaur" tail. My son spied it and was instantly in love. But rather than head for the shops to buy one I decided I'd have a go at making a tail. I didn't want to make a tail for a particular animal but rather a tail that could be anything or anybody he wanted.

Even though it took me half the day as I am not a big sewer I had so much fun making it. It was nice to make something that I didn't have to think "will somebody like this enough to buy it". I only had to impress my son and the joy at seeing his face light up when he saw it and the fact that he loves to roam around with his tail on is enough for me.

So here it is:


It might be a touch bit long for him now but it should last for years!

Also here's a photo from our fabulous stall at the March BIDM. Yes I know it's a bit late but I finally got around to downloading it from my phone. I think it looked great now that we have expanded into a marquee.


I have listed some of our new stuff leftover from the market at both our Etsy shop and the Madeit Shop. Go and check them out.

A great day considering....

Well when we woke up this morning we were greeted by what now feels like never ending rain. But we still packed up and headed out to the BIDM and what a great day it turned out to be.

The rain dried up as we arrived and then stayed away for the most of the day and people came and looked and shopped. We are grateful to all our customers who came out in the weather. We hope you enjoy your purchases.

Thanks to our lovely neighbours today for the chats during the lulls.

Thanks to all the girls on the BrisStyle committee for bringing another great market to fruition.

It's time to relax and enjoy a drink and a nice bath.

Our shops will be back online in a few days.

1 week to go.....

Just under 1 week until the next "Brisbane Indie Designer Market (BIDM)" and I've been madly crocheting like a granny with too many cups of tea....

Speaking of grannies... I have had this idea for awhile to cover books with crochet. I'm a very textural person and before I buy any wool or material I need to feel how soft it is. So I thought how great it would be to have a book covered in lovely soft wool. Finally I managed to get it out of my head and into reality. I've made 5 and I'm really pleased with them all. My favourite one is the granny square one. Not simply because I am obsessed with them but the colour combination I put together is striking. I always find myself drawn to it. Although it is made of Acrylic wool and not a soft as a true wool it still feels fantastic in the hands. I hope it finds a good home!

So here it is.....


(I really must improve my photography).

BIDM
Saturday 6 March 2010
St Augustine Church Grounds
Racecourse Road
Ascot
9 am - 2pm

See you there.

I Love Denim

I do love denim. Marie bought this great soft dark denim to make some girls skirts with. I had this idea to make some granny squares and sew them onto a skirt for myself (with the oodles of time I have - not!). So Marie and I decided to collaborate on some skirts for the markets and came up the the following:

(Sorry the photo doesn't do it justice) but it's absolutely gorgeous. I am definitely going to make something for myselft with granny squares.

We've only made a few at the moment as they are very wintery but if they are a hit, then we'll definitely be making more.

New Op Shop Addict

I recently went on holiday's to Evans Head. It's a fantastic little town with a great beaches and a great river as well. Suffice to say it was hard to come home.

While I was there we headed off to Lismore to check out the Op Shops. Now I've only recently gotten into looking at Op Shops but after visiting Lismore I'm definitely an addict. Had a great time going through all the stuff and found soooo much to buy. I never left an op shop empty handed. I found a great bunch of old linen tea towels that Melissa will be doing something with. A great unfinished demin skirt that has the most beautiful red flowers that I'll be hoping to finish for myself. Lot's of great "Golden Hands" books from the early 70's with great patterns and ideas. I've never been a big 70's fan but this books are a great reminder of how craft was big part of what women did.

My favourite find would have to be an old pink anodised tea pot. I've been looking for and old teapot for ages to display my cosies on. This one is a good size for a good size cuppa. This is the teapot naked.


and this is the teapot dressed in a new cosy I've made.

I do love dark chocolate browns (probably something to do with my chocolate addiction) and I love a pretty light feminine pink. They just go together so perfectly. I think I'm going to have to make a scarf in this combo for winter.

There will be lots more goodies to preview before the big day - Saturday 6th March - 9am - 2pm. St Augustine's, Racecourse Road, Ascot.

KidstyleFile

Just noticed that Melissa's shorts made it onto a KidstyleFile Blog for Handmade Heaven for Boys.

Sure it's 2 days old but none the less someone thought our stuff was groovy enough to blog about.

Yeah!

The iGranny and Coffee.....

Of late I been experimenting with and old knitted rug I got which I have pulled apart and now reworking into other things. The colours are sometime garish and sometimes mismatched but I am loving it and finding it hard to use up in case I waste any of. In conjunction with my growing obsession with the good old Granny Square I have come up with the "iGranny".

It a comfy case for your iphone or ipod touch. The phone fits snuggly in and keeps it safe. I've also found after using mine the bright colours make it easy to find in the depths of my handbag.

At our last market someone I had made some tea cosies and someone asked about coffee cosies and how hard they are to find. Not being a coffee drinker myself I thought that it sounded like a great idea I would look at in the New Year. A couple of weeks ago I got a craft book catalogue and what do you know, there was a great looking book about Coffee Cozies. Yipee!! and ordered one post haste.

So today I have finished my first Coffee Cosy and well it's a first. Will hope to get better with practise. It wasn't too hard and already have ideas with some granny squares (yes I am obsessed) I made some time ago but never did anything with.

So here is the flower cosy:

Made it to Madeit!

Well we've started a little shop on Madeit as we realise we need to start getting ourselves out there a little bit more and 2010 is the year to do it.

http://www.madeit.com.au/seamstressdaughter

Currently the items are similar to our Etsy store but in simple Australian dollars.

Please check it out.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2010 started with a wimper as I didn't quite make it to midnight but we've reopened our Etsy Store with some new products and some old faves.

I've been working on some new ideas and here's a preview of my prototype that will eventually become the "iGranny". (thanks to my hubby for the name)


Melissa and Marie are both about to kickstart with some new ideas as we gear up for the next BrisStyle Indie Designers Market in March.

We are planning on getting the blog up and running and more regular this year so stay tuned for more regular news from us.