Sunday, 31 May 2009

Six days 'til...

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If you've come to find my giveaway, it's here!

Saturday, 30 May 2009

An unartistic eye

Welcome, new followers! The best thing about the Sew Mama Sew giveaway has been meeting new people. I've started following tonnes more blogs.

I'm going to ask my expanded posse two things. First, how do you insert an image so that the text wraps around on side or the other? Second, how do you insert a small version of an image that links to a larger one? Are you people typing out manual HTML code and uploading multiple images, is it a Blogspot function I'm unaware of, or are you using a more sophisticated image host than Photobucket?

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Yesterday I achieved something which I didn't think was possible so early in my career. I constructed the ugliest W Class Cushion possible.

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My god, what was I thinking? I found the black print at Rathdowne Remnants* for $10 a metre (and saw it today for $22) and thought I'd take a stab at making a 'nighttime' tram. I've done another one where I cut the print at a different spot and it looks alright, with more gold than black. But this is just awful. Take a closer look at the fabrics I chose with both my eyes open:

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The green damask print was my starting point. I picked it up at Spotlight for $15 a metre. The print is frustratingly crooked but I worked around it. I couldn't find a yellow damask print to suit so chose the gold-flecked Robert Kaufmann print, which I also like. But the cream and tan roof with the black and gold windows is simply awful. Bad Jennie!

Of course I've searched my local fabric shops from top to bottom looking for suitable prints, so knew it wasn't worth going back. This morning I hit the Yellow Pages and found Patchwork House in Hawthorn. It's a lovely country-style shop packed to the rafters with fabrics. I would guess the range has been selected to appeal for the more mature quilter, and they've got a lot of 1930s reproduction prints. Happily I found exactly what I need to fix my ugly tram.

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This cream and white damask print is just what I had in mind, and is similar to the cream and white I used in my paisley trams. I think this is the safest colourway to rely on. The roof I'm undecided if I'm going to change - the tan and cream isn't so bad with the light windows, but I'll definitely have to use the darker, simpler print for the tram with the non-ugly dark windows.

* I laughed aloud when I watched Project Runway Australia and they referred to the shop as 'Rathdowne Fabrics'. But I do love them.

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After my three unsuccessful phonecalls to NAB regarding my wrongly charged overdrawn fee I followed Choice's advice and sent a copy of their free unfair bank penalty fees letter. I posted it on Monday and it would have reached them on Tuesday. I checked my bank balance before going shopping today and the fee had been reversed. I expect that as soon as they read the first paragraph of a Choice form letter they simply chuck it in the pile marked 'Refund' and think no more about it.

I heartily encourage you to follow Choice's advice and use their form letter. They even have a list of the person at each financial institution to address your letter to, so there's no chance of your bank claiming they didn't receive it. Now I'm headed back to the Choice website to tell them of my success.

Friday, 29 May 2009

Sudanese Sewing Group

Yesterday was my last day at the Sudanese Sewing Group. I'm finishing up for a good reason - Hubby has a new job, but he has to use the car every day to get there. No more weekly drives to Footscray for me and Jack.

It's been a challenging task. Three obstacles to helping this group learn to sew well have been the lack of shared sewing vocabulary, the fact the Toyota Jeans sewing machines purchased cheaply by the organisation don't have seam guides on the throat plates, and my reluctance to bossily tell people to try again when they've just come along for a social activity.

However, the quilts they women have been working on since March are reaching the point of completion, and are more or less square. I took along some of my leftover cotton fabrics and my mum and one of her friends sent along contributions of their own. It's been a kick to see the scraps turned into something useful. One woman chose to use all the Australian flag fabric that was left over from Jack's cloth book, and it always made me smile to see it plonked wholesale in the middle of a quilt.

One person who managed to overcome all the obstacles with pure talent was Nima. My last day was her third week at the sewing group. Most women, at their first class, practice sewing on striped fabric, then at the end get to choose a couple squares of fabric for the centre of their quilt. But Nima, despite never sitting at a sewing machine before, got the hang of sewing straight lines within half an hour and by the end of the session had constructed the first few pieces of her quilt. And. She breastfed her toddler while operating a sewing machine - and sewing in a straight line, too! I couldn't do that and I've been sewing for half my lifetime. I admit she does have more breastfeeding experience than me.

Here's some photos from my last day.

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Ajok (in red) with her finished quilt

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Treze (in the foreground) does amazing freehand embroidery

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Jack with his babysitter Adap

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One of Jack's biggest fans

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I'll miss you!

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

May Giveaway Day

I sure hope I signed up in time, because I've got a giveaway for Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day!



I only found out about this wonderful event on Monday and as I'm preparing for my next market (and looking after Jack, volunteering, washing nappies, visiting relatives, trying to remember to say hello to Hubby...) I don't have time to make something to ive away. How sad!

But then I read that you can offer something that can be used to make handmade crafts. And that's something I've got a lot of. But still, what would stand out amongst all the wonderful giveaways?

Then I thought of something left over from an experimental project many years back and knew it was the right thing to offer. I only hope someone can dream up a use for it.

Avert your eyes, vegans, because it's...

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LEATHER!


Make bookmarks, bind corners of something, practice stamping or tooling or whatever people do with leather!

I bought a huge bag of scrap leather several years back when I was trying to make a pair of gauntlets. They were for a geeky friend, swear. I stored the leftovers in airtight bags and they haven't been touched since. This is how much I'm giving away:

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There's also four unused sewing machine needles specifically for leather - they've got a triangular shaft or something like that.

The pieces are of varying sizes. Some are largish, some medium, some small and scrappy.

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The actual amount of leather I send may vary slightly if it makes a big difference to the postage cost. But only slightly.

The Fine Print:
• To be in with a chance to win this giveaway, comment on this post before the end of Sunday 31st May* and tell me the most outlandish baby names you can think of - one for a boy, one for a girl.
• Winner will be chosen via Jack on Monday 1st June*.
• I will ship internationally (I'm in Australia) but may have to go for seamail rather than airmail depending on costs.

That's it! I hope this pile of leather will make someone very happy.

*This event is being organised by people in the US so that'll be US Eastern Daylight Savings Time. I have no idea what time that is in Melbourne, probably around lunchtime Monday.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Risque Business

This is one of my favourite W Class Cushions shots.

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I love the headlights on my cushions. When I went looking for fabric for the headlights I couldn't have dreamed of anything more perfect than this fabric from Julia Cairns' Radiance collection.

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The small red circles make brake lights, the small yellow circles make indicators. The big yellow circles make headlights.

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But I'm stuck with the big red circles. Look at them.

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Do you see the problem? Or can I only see it because I was a breastfeeding mother when I bought the fabric?

Let me give you a hint.

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I have a plastic tub of iron-on nipples.

What can I possibly do with them? Make anatomically correct softies? Donate them to the Trashbag Rehab crowd?

Actually, I do have an idea. But if you can suggest something before I make my prototype let me know, and I'll send you a few to fulfill your brief. Or bra.

Monday, 25 May 2009

Marche Saint Pierre

I was reminded yesterday of my favourite fabric shop in the whole world, Marche Saint Pierre in Montmarte, Paris.

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March 2005


MSP is five floors of fabric ecstasy. The part I dream of is the tulle counter on the ground floor, where bolts of tulle and netting in every colour of the spectrum are piled up on long wooden shelves. Ahh so pretty.

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The ladies in black jackets are my groovy friends


For those who can't just pop over to Paris for a spot of shopping, the MSP English language website is a delight in itself. Here's some gems.

On the first floor, "The pillowcases that we propose, you will like them undoubtedly."

Up the wide staircase to the second floor you will find velboa. "The Velboa is 'faux fur' for used clothing. Ideal for Dressed in faux fur without having to kill animals, Velboa is Increasingly requested by the customer who wants to be well dressed without having to Participate in the massacre of animals." Doesn't that paint a vivid picture!

Elsewhere on the second floor and "Highly appreciated by all customers (both amateur and professional) the shop has a display silk wild. A fashion for a few years, silk wild in more than a delight."

Don't miss the fourth floor. "The fourth floor, is one of the most beautiful floor of the store. Its decoration, the variety of its articles, make of him a splendid floor." If anyone can tell me what 'The Square of the Editors' is I'll send them a postcard next time I'm in France (which is in October, nyah nyah).

Is it any wonder that "Thanks to its prices defying all competition, it is known in the world whole, and provided designers and decorators of great fames."

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Tessuti is having an opening party for their new Melbourne store this Saturday. Details here!

Sunday, 24 May 2009

Having a lazy Sunday?

Get to Sonny & Coco Sunday Market in Preston! It's on til 4pm.

It was packed, it was obviously promoted effectively. One of the three aisles was a little too narrow to navigate comfortably but the other two were fine. There were lots of vintage clothing stalls, plenty of crafts, arty things, lamps and cupcakes. I took along my little camera but there were really too many people around to pull it out and try to take decent photos. I chatted to lots of lovely ladies including Holly, Margaret and Flickettysplits whose real name I've completely forgotten*. Jack and I were also spotted by Jasperboy, who recognised Jack by his footwear.

I had a lovely convo with Peta Pledger whilst going through her vintage patterns. Peta sews small runs of fabulous fifties-inspired frocks and shirts - the kind of stuff I wish I had the eye to design myself. She also has the most awesome business card/postcard ever. It's also her blog header if you want to see for yourself.


Shannon of The Rabbit & The Duck had a great-looking stand which obviously had a lot of thought gone into it. I wanted to steal her London map fabric for myself! I love the button closures on her envelope clutch purses.


There were tonnes of lovely little girl clothes, as always, but I spotted Twiglet's fantastic hooded shirts for boys. I'm a bit poor at the moment but I'll probably come to regret not buying one on the spot.


* Felicity. Of course it's Felicity. I don't know why I thought it wasn't. I had a confabulation in my head that even though Felicity is the obvious source for the name 'Flicketty', it was something along the lines of Andrea.

Saturday, 23 May 2009

Tutorial: Reverse applique using Easyfix/Vliesofix

One day I was moaning to my quilter mum about the difficulty of appliqueing elements of my W Class Cushions. "You need Vliesofix," she told me sagely. Apparently quilters know these things.

With haste I hied myself to GJ's Fabrics - my preferred quilting fabric store - and asked for "this appliqueing stuff called Visoflix or something like that." A knowledgable staff member told me they stocked Easyfix (off the roll in 30cm or 70cm widths), which in her experience was a superior product. Just iron it to the fabric you want to applique, cut out the shape, peel off the backing paper and iron it onto its destination. A quick bit of topstitching and you're done. Magic!

I got my metre of Easyfix home and started playing. It was genius for normal applique - if only I'd had it when I made Jack's cloth book!

However, it wasn't right for my W Class Cushions. I wanted the windows to lay behind the body of the tram, not in front. I agonised over the problem for a few days.

One night while giving Jack his bedtime bottle I was pondering my problems as usual. Suddenly the scales fell from my eyes and I realised how Easyfix could be used for reverse applique.

This technique can be used when the relative depth of your applique is important (as with my cushions), or perhaps if you wanted to add an applique shape to a textured fabric such as corduroy. I've only tried it on cotton broadcloth, so if you have success (or failures) with other fabrics please tell me all about it!

Sorry for swapping between centimetres and inches, that's the way my mind's working at the moment.

Step 1: Choose where you want to put your applique feature. I'm putting mine inside the rectangle.
Tutorial RA 1

Step 2: Cut a piece of Easyfix larger than the shape you're going to applique. You want at least 1cm extra on all sides. You may want to increase this even more for heavy fabrics such as corduroy.
Tutorial RA 2

Step 3: Put your foreground fabric on the ironing board wrong side up. Cover your applique area with the piece of Easyfix, paper side up. The meshed side is in contact with the wrong side of your fabric. Give it a good pressing - don't drag the iron around as it may crease the fabric or Easyfix. I use a very hot, very steamy iron.
Tutorial RA 3
Turn your fabric over - the Easyfix will have adhered and won't fall off. Press the right side of your fabric.

Incidentally, I use a non-stick iron shoe which my patternmaking teacher recommended. I saw similar ones for sale at the Stitches & Craft Fair. I highly recommend picking one up - you can have your iron set at top temperature no matter what you're ironing and it won't scorch. To take these photos I left my iron sitting on the fabric for over ten seconds without leaving a mark. I've also got a complementing ironing board cover which I think involves teflon. It's a great combo for pressing seams because boy, do they stay pressed! Everything gets very hot though so you have to watch your fingers.

Step 4: If you're appliqueing more than one shape, repeat the above steps for the other bits of applique. If your applique shape is very large you might want to cut strips of Easyfix approximately one inch wide and iron them on so you've got half an inch on either side of your cutting line. I do this because I'm extremely stingy. I'm sure the time I spend measuring and cutting strips of Easyfix completely negates the few cents I'm saving.
Tutorial RA 5

Step 5: One your fabric has cooled down, draw your cutting line on the right side of the fabric. I trace a template using a mechanical pencil because it gives a fine line. I trust my washing machine to take care of any leftover marks. Use a water soluble marker or dressmakers pencil if you prefer.
Tutorial RA 6

Step 6: Cut out your applique area, following the cutting line. You can use a rotary cutter for straight lines but be very careful not to get too close to the corners. It's a good idea to have some Fray Stoppa on hand! If you've got a lovely new sharp blade in your cutter you probably don't want to use it for this job. Trim corners and curves with embroidery scissors. The trimmed piece can be useful - use it as a stiffener for another project, or cut out smaller shapes to applique onto other projects.
Tutorial RA 7

Step 7: Peel off the paper. The Easyfix mesh will be bonded to the reverse side of your fabric.
Tutorial RA 8

Step 8: Lay your background fabric right side up on the ironing board and give it a good pressing. Lay your foreground fabric right side up over it, making sure the Easyfix isn't poking out around the edges of your background fabric - it won't come off your ironing board. The Easyfix mesh is in contact with the right side of your background fabric. Give it a good hard pressing.
Tutorial RA 9
Flip it over and give the reverse side the same treatment. If there is a bit of Easyfix that hasn't been covered by the background fabric you'll want to cover it up with a scrap the right size, to protect your iron. You could peel the scrap off later if you wanted to, but the next time you iron the item the Easyfix will stick to whatever it comes into contact with.

Step 9: Top stitch the foreground fabric around your applique shape. This will keep the pieces from accidentally separating, and to emphasise the depth of the applique. Use a matching colour thread if you want the top stitching to not be noticable or if you're doing lots of curves, or a contrasting colour to add a bit of pop. I try to remember to pull the top thread through to the reverse side when I'm on the home stretch, to avoid unpicking a mess later. Don't do any backstitching as it'll look yucky.
Tutorial RA 11

Step 10: Pull the thread ends through to the reverse side, tie them off and trim off the ends. Lovely!
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Friday, 22 May 2009

Product warning - NAB Business Cheque Account

When I started my dressmaking business I chose a NAB Business Cheque account to manage my funds. For the last two years I have paid $10 a month for this service.

Last month I was buying some fabrics at one of my favourite shops and paid using my business account via my EFTPOS card. The transaction was approved. When I checked my account a few days later, I found that despite the approval there had been insufficient funds in the account and NAB had fined me $50 for the transaction they allowed to go through.

I have read up on the account's Terms & Conditions, and point 1.1 is that you can only access funds that are in your account. In general I am also familiar with the scenario of EFTPOS transactions on savings and cheque account being rejected by a financial institution in there are insufficient funds - I was a checkout chick for six years.

I made a call the NAB as soon as I discovered the problem and the call centre man very quickly agreed to reverse the charge as a 'once-off goodwill gesture'. I didn't bother arguing that it was my entitlement, not them doing me a favour. He said I would have the money back in five to ten working days.

This Wednesday was around twelve working days later, with no refund in sight. I called them again and after being put on hold various times I was told my business banking manager would call me back shortly. The call never happened.

I've rang again this morning and have been told that the initial request to reverse the charge was made my an unauthorised call centre person and wasn't actioned, and there was no record of my request being passed on the the business banking person on Wednesday. Way to run a call centre, NAB! The dispute resolution person I was put through to stayed just within limits of rudeness as I explained my rights to expect them to only allow me access to my own funds (their words, not mine), eventually agreed to pass the matter on the the person who was meant to call me back on Wednesday, but said I wasn't going to get the money back.

It seems at least two thirds of the people I've spoken to haven't had sufficient training to assist business clients properly, and the one who might know what he's talking about doesn't care to be polite or helpful.

My business deals in such small amounts of money that, once this is resolved, I'm going to close my account, keep all my business money in a shoebox and save the $10 a month. If they don't refund the $50 I'm closing our household's two other NAB accounts as well.

Fifty dollars is a very hard-earned amount for my business, and a pittance for NAB. They have treated my business shockingly. I heartily dissuade you from trusting them with your business transactions.

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Just dropped back in to add: Here's Choice's template letter for reclaiming unfair bank penalty fees. There's also a checklist of things to say during a phone conversation - I've covered them all pretty well, with no result. So the next step, if I don't get any joy from the person who's allegedly calling me back, is to fill in the beautiful form letter provided by Choice and send it to NAB. You can use it to reclaim three to six years of unfair fees.

Good luck!

Thursday, 21 May 2009

There's so much ahead of us!

I may be new to craft blogging, but I've got a secret I'm going to share.

I started my first blog in 1997.

The word 'blog' didn't even exist, and there certainly weren't easy-to-use blogging platforms just waiting to be filled with detritus from the average Joanna's brain. I found a web host which I think was based in Sri Lanka which had a simple site where you could sign up for a webpage, select a background colour, and log in whenever you wanted to add more plain-text content. I used it as a way for my friends, scattered to different universities and TAFEs in the Eastern half of Victoria, to keep up on news of what everyone else was doing. There was little concept of internet privacy in those days, and I was quite put out when a couple friends told me they didn't want their names used in my social diary. Harrumph!

After that fizzled out I didn't start another blog until 2002, I think, and then it was another cheap dodgy platform called Upsaid. The word 'weblog' was starting to be bandied around. I kept my first online travel journal later that year on a Geocities page (remember them?!). I switched to the much more reliable Livejournal in 2003 and have probably made at least one entry a week since then (I'm still using it).

According to my Blogger archives I registered this blog in 2007. I don't remember why I decided on Blogger for my business blog when I was an LJ girl. I must have seen someone else's Blogger blog and been impressed by how clean it looked. I still prefer LJ for personal blogging because of the range of user icons and good ole lj-cut function, but I admire how you can have a great looking Blogger blog from the first day you sign up. I'm not surprised so many people are using it for crafty blogging.

Between my LJ and this Blogger I'm currently writing around ten blog posts a week. I genuinely have a text document of topics I want to blog about here, and I've got a lot to share but don't want to annoy people by doing more than a post a day. Not without an lj-cut function, at least!

I'm thinking about picking a different topic for each weekday but it might become unsustainable. So for now, here's a tantalising taste of the posts you've got to look forward to in coming weeks:

• Finding the confidence to charge what you're worth: why it's hard for women
• How a first-day sewer* at my volunteer sewing group managed a feat I never could
• Reverse applique using Easyfix tutorial
• How one small business woman is using a fair trade workshop in Sri Lanka to supply her products
• Eight tips on making your fashion more ethical - yes, even people who've taken the Handmade Pledge can gain something!
• A profile on Dragana Edwards, ana amazing businesswoman who taught me how to draft patterns

But for today I'll leave you with the above self-aggrandising flubber and a link to A Little Bit Of Kaos's coin purse giveaway. You've gotta be in it to win it!

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Call off the search!

After Sunday's post about Jack's hat, I know you've all been diligently searching for an apropos piece of millinery for my darling boy, waiting to find exactly the right piece before making your recommendation.

Stop! The position has been filled.

My mum also read about his cold noggin and whipped up a beanie to complement the jumper she started making him over a year ago (ie before he was born). Both arrived in the mail yesterday, to Jack's and my great surprise and delight.

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Jack loves this hat just as much as the last one!

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Some detail from the jumper.

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The jumper almost matches a set of mittens and booties made for Jack by Mum's friend Julie. So I even got my wish of matching hat and mittens! This is Jack's first experience of wearing mittens.

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After a hard day on the slopes, Knitting Pattern Baby kicks back in the lodge in his apres ski wear with some manly reading material.
(You can't see his legs because they're under the couch. That's his ski lodge.)


Mum also sent some bags she's just sewn for sale at the Yarraville Market next month (see sidebar for more info):
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Aren't they amazing? Come visit the Cravings Frocks stall early in the day to snatch up these! The purple one is broadcloth with a patchworked panel. The calico one features a doily 'sourced' from the local op shop.

'Sourced' is just a fancy word for 'I didn't make it myself, I bought it for fifty cents'. Long live op shopping!

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When I finished writing the above I wondered what had kept Jack so quiet for the last few minutes. I found him in the dining room munching on an old (seriously, months old) chocolate biscuit. Hey, I was looking for that! Such is the standard of my housekeeping.

Luckily I hadn't yet changed him into his new jumper.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Tessuti

In case you hadn't heard, Tessuti has opened a store in the Melbourne CBD. I've been reading Tessuti's Sydney store's blog for a few months and was delighted to find out I can now go see their wonderful range of dress fabrics in natural fibres for myself.

I'm already dreaming of a fifties-style button-front dress out of Cream Cherry Snip:
Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension


As the Space Butler says in Excel Saga, so cuuute!

Monday, 18 May 2009

Eurovision

Watching Eurovision it's hard to separate spectacle from good song writing. Perhaps if certain people weren't so darn cute they wouldn't have got so many votes. T and I discovered that perhaps we're getting very old, because we both thought Iceland had the best song.

My favourite combination of costume and song was Armenia:
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Gothic medieval bellydancers! I adore these costumes.

But my favourite costume of all was spotted during Germany's poorly scoring performance. Check out the backing dancers - the ones who aren't Dita Von Teese:
Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension

This is the largest photo I could find that realy shows off the outfit. Here's some other views:
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The dancers are wearing gorgeous bell-sleeved* blouses with black pussy bows and high-waisted buttoned hotpants. There's lovely black sashes hanging down the back - who can say no to a butt bow? HOTT! And oh so cute at the same time.

What was your favourite?

* Looking closer they're not even sleeves - more like giant puffy epaulets.

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Baby Bonnet

This is Jack's hat.
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See how much Jack loves his hat.

This photo was taken in February (on an unseasonably cold day). The hat is now getting too small and needs to be replaced. It was a present, bought on sale at David Jones. People tend to ask if I made it myself and I'm always a bit embarrassed to admit where it came from. On the spectrum from 'handmade' to 'sellout', buying something at David Jones is definitely up the wrong end.

This time I want to take advantage of all the wonderful baby-hat making talent that's available. And I want you to help!

Do you know someone who knits baby hats? Do you have a favourite Etsy/Made It seller to recommend? Do you feel like a bit of vicarious buying, and finding something adorable for Jack?

I suppose the hat doesn't have to be knitted - it could be sewn or crocheted or whatever. It should have earflaps. Matching mittens would be a bonus. It needs to fit an eight month old baby, head circumference 46cm (and growing). It shouldn't be too feminine.

Post your recommendations here! I'll do a post showcasing my favourite finds and any you've suggested.

[Update]
An example of a hat I think is great and T pulled a face at.

Saturday, 16 May 2009

I Can Has Winner?

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

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Congratulations Holly of Two Cheese Please! Holly makes lovely hand-stamped goodies (better than foot-stamped), stamp carving sets, felt food kits and more. Check out her Etsy shop - she's not just "the felt food lady"!

Holly wins her own personalised W Class cushion in classic Met colours - what a treat for someone who works with public transport! (That wasn't meant to be sarcastic...) Better start thinking about the destination or name you'd like on your tram, Ms Cheese.

I've had a wonderful week making new friends and discovering new blogs, which I hope isn't going to end just because the week is over.

P.S. Yes I do have seven eligible followers, but one requested not to be included due to existing purchasing plans. Just in case you thought I was being dodgy.

P.P.S. Have I mentioned our house is tiled? We even have these in the loungeroom.

Friday, 15 May 2009

Three strikes and you're out

Today I visited my third Spotlight in eight days (Brunswick, Braybrook, Box Hill - all the Bs) and still couldn't get cotton drill in black or Tram Yellow for love or money. I did find an acceptable yellow broadcloth and managed to take advantage of the 'empty the bolt' offer - 30% off 1.2m. Woo.

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To wrap up the week here's a photo of Jack's first time wearing his amazing old-school- tattoo style Mom shirt, by amazing Etsy artist Lauravida.

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Styled with his 'new' cords from Savers and tartan baby shoes by Konstant Kaos.

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Check out Lauravida's breastfeeding pinup tees - she writes that she couldn't get any stores to stock them! I wore one proudly while breastfeeding Jack. I feel a bit silly wearing it in public now that he's weaned (he's only eight months but we had a very tough time breastfeeding) but I still love the design.

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Only a few hours left in my W Class Cushion giveaway!

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One last note - for those who've tried to contact me through my @cravingsfrocks.com.au I've just found out my domain name expired a couple weeks ago. I'm currently working on renewing it and should have everything active again by tomorrow.