on glue and old shoes

I felt like sticking some flowers on my boring flats. I am banned from buying anything new so I will need to update and make it work! Like Tim Gunn from Project Runway would say (I am a really good Heidi impersinator by the way - "Hallo!")

I made these when I was sick on the couch, using some fabric remnants and a bit of old doily and two buttons I had in my stash. I sewed the flowers on using a thick leather needle and then applied craft glue - liberally. Every since I did a workshop with Kirsty I have learned to appreciate a good dollop of PVC.
Good times we had spraying the stuff onto our projects and trying not to faint while blowdrying! Needless to say I now have 4 cans of spray glue in the flat!

I used clear nail varnish to finish the edges of the fabric to stop them from fraying. This is a really simple and cheaty method but I like it! You can use any kind of clear nail varnish and apply to the edges only as it stiffens the fabric. 

We were in a jewellery shop yesterday looking for gifts for my wedding helpers and the shop owner asked me "who made this" pointing at my neck and I immediately said "I did! I did!" thinking she meant my top but alas she meant my Love necklace. Ho hum. Five minutes of fame fail!

and now for something completely unrelated

yesterday i was so jetlagged and only had an hour sleep. i spent some time on the internet and decided i needed this dress. i deluded myself thinking my life may depend on buying it even though we are broke as all heck.

it only dawned on me later after staring at it for about an hour that it is for little girls. not grown up females.

go figure. 

I still want it though. It would go really well with my grandma shoes. 

also loving: knitstorm tea cup cozies discovered via Etsy Storque today!

listening to: The Tallest Man on Earth

craving: apple strudel

bought: cheap ugly walking shoes off Ebay in America - 50 dollars! They cost 170 dollars in Australia. Not that I believe they will work - but fad trends and me, like a moth to the flame...

drinking: anti-cough medicine and lemon-ginger tea

Pictures from South Tyrolia

I thought you may enjoy these pictures from our little stint on the other side of the planet. We went to South Tyrolia for a few days, the area in Northern Italy that borders on Austria and Germany and is mainly know for its mountains and food. The typical food is bread, speck and cheese. My idea of heaven, really! When you go hiking, you have a rest in one of the Alms or alpine farms on your way, and get a huge chunk of cheese, speck and a drink. Delicious! The only downside was that the hotel had "foal steak" on the menue. I cry when I see dead birds on the road so imagine the drama that went down when I read that. Not that baby cow is any better... but foal? It just made me so so sad. We also went to Bolzano where I bought bread and we went to look at the Oetzi, the oldest mummy in the world. Fascinating!
I also managed to capture "Alpengluehen", which means alpine glowing, when the tips of the mountains are literally red like fire during sunset. A beautiful sight. Now we are bankrupt and will never be able to travel again. But it was fun while it lasted - what a way to begin the marriage and say goodbye to the general badness that was 2010. We declared that this is 2010.2 so - welcome everyone to the new year!

the wedding that rocked

handmade buntings looking cute

we made these very simple flower decorations and Ikea menues 

gocco'ed CD sleeves as placeholders and Ikea frame menues

me sporting my DIY makeup - thank god my best friend was there to
remind me where everything has to go.

our first dance - to Rainbow Connection sung by Kermit himself.

hello flip flops! spot the 9,5 toes!

We had the most amazing night - most amazing night I've ever had. There was no stress and no fuss, no limousines and no tiered cakes, instead there were happy tears and friends and dancing in flip flops till 6 in the morning. The decorations I made were really worth the effort, the little restaurant we partied in looked so lovely and just like we imagined it. My mum gave an amazing speech honouring my dad, and so did my husband, who made everyone cry and had all the unmarried men place bids on his speech notes! Our friends surprised us with a photo show and I had to tap dance. It felt like there were bucket loads of love floating about the room. I couldn't have been happier. Everyone helped us - with the music, the setting up, and even taking these amazing photographs since we couldn't afford a photographer. It was such a special night. I'm so pleased we got to have this amazing celebration with our friends.

And now I need to apologize for writing this gooey stuff and alert you to the fact that I have really missed my overlocker in my two week absence. Also that my niece successfully modelled some of my designs and that I will need to reconsider some of them - and others a lot. I have missed all of your blogs. And I'm gutted I missed Finders Keepers! Are you well??? When is the spring coming??? I'm cold! xx 

PS: What is wrong with blogger today? ARGH

24 hours to go

Friends

I had such a wonderful surprise this morning - Ann from Books Illustrated dropped round to bring me a special gift. Our friends Lucy and Will have given us this original Shaun Tan drawing from his book The Red Tree for our wedding. I was just a sobbing mess when I opened it! I feel so very lucky to have these amazing people in my life!  I love Shaun Tan and The Red Tree is my favourite book, ever. It's just such a beautiful story.

Thank you Luce and Will.  I will have this print framed and it will have a very special place in our home!

Top

This is the first top I made using the pattern Hayley helped me to draft the other day. It turned out so well, exactly the way I wanted it, which is amazing given that I spent more time talking than being a good student. Hayley is a great teacher and chatting to her was awesome. I completely love this top, and I am wondering if I should start making these and include them in my line of products I'll sell? Ho and hum. I think I will. On Sunday I went to Camberwell market with my friend and we decided to have a test stall there in January and see how we will go doing a market. I am super excited! Also nervous and very aware of how much work there is left to do, even though I've quite literally worked my heini off last week (uncomfortable sewing chair).

We are heading off to get married overseas this week - but will catch up with all of you once we're there! 

Spring Spring Spring

We were nearly brave enough for ice cream!

Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts

Hayley posted an interview today and mentioned a BBC documentary called Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
I was very excited to hear about this! The BBC sent a couple of cheap fashion addicts to India to experience first hand the conditions in which these clothes are made. I watched some of it and I was very happy that the BBC was brave enough to do this, and obviously also very disturbed. Just a reminder of why I believe in what I believe in. I would really like more information on the manufacturing of fabric overseas - the dyeing and the weaving processes - as I'm sure they are similarly disturbing and it's just as bad sewing your own clothes when using fabrics made in inhumane conditions. If you know of any good resourced, can you email them to me? I can't stop thinking of how cheap it would be for the Targets and Walmarts in this world to provide adequate sewing and production rooms and better salaries for these workers. But I don't like to be preachy, so if you like to take a look at the documentary here!
There are good resources on BBC's  Thread, too!

What I've been making

Hello! I am sitting here with one eye bulging out of its socket (or it may just feel that way because i have bad sinusitis) and my back is spasming out of control because I sewed for eight hours straight yesterday. But you know what: I made some awesome things. My designs are improving. I made some changes. I made some samples. I will take them to Europe next week - not for a professional Sartorialist photoshoot (sadly). They will be tried on by my niece and she will crawl around in them and roll in her sandpit and test them. Since her vocab is currently made up of "banana", "mama" and "deeta", her feedback will no doubt be excellent. Then they will be taken back to Melbourne, remade and improved, then sent out to Australian testers (thanks everyone who is willing to test on their offspring - and if you have offspring between 0 and 2 years old and would like to test, please email me!). Then improved again, and then I will launch the shoppe! I am so excited. I love doing this. It feels very excellent. And I am happy to overlook the increasing anxiety build-up due to lack of funds, lack of job, etc. If my niece can live on bananas so can I! Here wind, have some caution!


If your name is Lucy and you live in a small village in rural England please look away now!

On the weekend I made this table runner for my friend Lucy. A very lovely much-missed friend!  I got the inspiration from my Zakka book. I think it will look nice on a rural England country cottage table!

A few words on bridal makeup

I don't wear makeup - I usually just attempt to hide the giant black circles under my eyes and that's about it. I also don't like anyone touching my face (my middle name is Neurotica) and we are broke, so it seemed like the best idea to attempt to do my "bridal" makeup myself.

I needed to know how though, so I booked in with a large cosmetics brand at DJ's for a consultation. They called it a "lesson" when they saw me. Whatever. I may have been covered in overlocker lint and I didn't brush my hair. But who cares. I told the lady I don't like wearing foundation on my face and pretty much nothing else on my face either, and that I just wanted a few products to look fresh and nice on the day. She nodded and said she would make me look very "bridal". I think the warning lights started to flash then. She proceeded to cover my face with what is called primer, tinted moisturizer, then foundation, then concealer, then concealer powder, then over eye primer, bronzer, powder, and shimmer stick (in this order). Then she applied 500 different shades of horrible on my eyes, and finished it off with a touch off "blue raspberry" on my lips. I looked like a totally different person. I looked like the cake for a drag queen themed birthday party. And also my eyes were watering.

I fled the counter, stumbled blindly into Myer and held on to another counter's products for support, where a lovely young lady asked me if I was alright and I said "No! Look at my face!". The lovely lady then took 10 kilos of cotton wool and patiently rescued my face from the masses of mud that had been applied to it. And then she did exactly what I asked for: she put almost nothing on my face, just a bit of product here and there, so I looked like myself, just a bit nicer. Voila. And it turned out she is a makeup artist who works at the Laura Mercier counter during the week. Her name is Merryn. I don't know anything about makeup but she was brilliant so I thought I'd recommend her to any other upset OompaLoompa brides.