Northside Makers Market 28th November 09

To borrow a phrase from Melbourne Epicure's Cathie, today I'm feeling knocked sideways with a market hangover (or maybe that's from all the cider I drank last night during Hubby T's SingStar party). Eight markets in 22 days is enough of a task, but running one of them as well was possibly over-committing myself!

I love all our stallholders for their dedication in the face of gusty winds. I am grateful to all the visitors who said pooh pooh to the grey skies. And to those who bought our market's handmade wares - you're gorgeous!

This is my favourite memory from the day - my darling niece Emma being a living display in what I've called the Mrs Finki's Konstant Beckinsale Kaos stall.


In case you're one of the few who didn't ask on the day, no she's not for sale!

Keep an eye on the Northside Makers Market Flickr pool as more photos are added in the coming days.

And beyond that, I've got another six markets to go...

Last Christmas

I'm all packed up and am just waiting for my chariot to arrive and take me to Northcote Town Hall. Tonight is the first of four Thursday evenings of handmade goodies and merriment.

I first heard of the Kris Kringle Night Markets a year ago. My in-laws were visiting from the UK and I invited my mother-in-law to come with me. After tea and settling Little Jack we jumped in the car and drove up the hill. We had to drive as at that point 15 week old Little Jack insisted on being breastfed every two hours (but only every 3.5 hours overnight, thankfully) and we'd need to hurry home to make his next feed.

So we went and it was wonderful. I looked around the hall and decided to chuck in dressmaking and do craft markets instead. I hoped that, despite not even knowing what I would sell, I would have a stall at Kris Kringle in 2009.

My mother-in-law and I reached home two minutes after Hubby T had started giving Little Jack a bottle of formula. Back to the reality of being a stay-at-home mum.

Twelve months on, so much has changed. I am so happy.

Watercolour cards

In my Christmas market specials schedule (which I'm shifting around a little) one of the items I mentioned was screenprinted watercolour greeting cards. They really need a snappier name - any suggestions?


First I painted the cards with stripes of watercolour paint, approximately lining up with the image to go on top.


When they were dry I screenprinted my W Class tram and Victorian terrace images over the paint.


And then when that was dry, I flipped them over and stamped the backs with my postmark stamp and added on my URL using my John Bull Printing Outfit (which I'm going to refer to as 'my John Bull').


The John Bull stamp thing only takes thirteen characters in a line, so I had to do the '.COM' separately. Some are a bit wonky! Adds to the charm.

Discounts for Cardholders!

With market season starting up on Thursday I'm thrilled to offer the following discounts to Northside Makers Collective cardholders.



Thursday 26th Nov - Kris Kringle Night Markets
Screenprinted diaries only $24



Saturday 28th Nov - Northside Makers Market
Screenprinted diaries only $24

Thursday 3rd Dec - Kris Kringle Night Markets
Letter To Santa fabric postcards - two for $13



Monday 7th Dec - Where Craft Meets 3053 @ Borders Carlton
Screenprinted watercolour greeting cards - two for $10



Thursday 10th Dec - Kris Kringle Night Markets
Fabric postcards (excluding screenprinted postcards) - only $7



Thursday 17th Dec - Kris Kringle Night Markets
To be announced

Saturday 19th Dec - Craft Hatch @ SLV
To be announced

Just show me your Northside Makers members card to take advantage of my holiday spirit. Can't wait to meet ya!

Stocktaking

Where did all these come from?! I musta been sewing in my sleep. Four are already sold (including one not in this picture) and I have another three custom orders to make up. I also want to make up another damask cushion and I've finally completed my geometric print set, so I'll get to experiment with those too.

I got sent the market layout for Kris Kringle today and have been electronically browsing my neighbours. Fontok's there so I'll be able to buy my Shmishmas cards. I've got my eye on Madz Has Runaway for my Christmas present, pretty!


I've signed up for my first group swap. Punky & Me is organising a 'Music To Craft By' CD swap. Sounds exciting - come play along!

Gracia and Louise have released a souvenier zine of their show 'A key to help make your own world visible' which is on at Craft Victoria until this Saturday. I haven't quite got around to ordering my copy of the zine yet so please don't take the last one while I'm not looking. However I did to go the exhibition last week and it was thoroughly lovely.


Three days til market madness...

Summer dressing, part 2

I've spent several more hours on the pattern company websites and have narrowed down my Christmas dress pattern request to these two:


Simplicity 2925 View B

Yesterday I thought the skirt on this dress wasn't full enough, but after looking at the technical drawing I've decided it would be fine. Almost all my summer dresses have shoulders and short sleeves for the sake of sun protection, but some days I want to show off my shoulder tattoo! I can picture myself making this up over and over, a different variation every summer. I'd possibly find a way to build in the sash/waistband or make a removable elasticised waistband to go over the top. And I love patterns with lots of garment options. I could picture using the tunic and trousers as a summer work outfit, when I eventually find myself in an office again.

Simplicity Project Runway Collection 2724
First dress without the ruffle, or second dress with a full skirt
I haven't had a good look at Simplicity's Project Runway patterns before because I started making my own patterns around the same time these came out. I've got to say I love the versatility they offer. There were a few good options but this set is the most summery. They're a lot more like my usual choice of shirtwaist dresses for summer. The pattern cover shows some of the dress styles made up with a white top and darker skirt, like a one-piece skirt suit. Very cute! It's another pattern I would make up ever year.

I've put in my request and now I have to sit back and wait for Santa. Unless I spy a two-for-one Simplicity sale before December 25th.

Summer Dressing

I spotted this summer dress on the Tessuti blog and am suffering from Dress Envy.


It was made from Vogue 8380, a pattern which I've never considered due to the quantity of bows.



If you read (and look at) the details of how Tessuti customer Michelle made up the dress, it's amazing what you can do by changing one little detail (ie omitting a giant bow) and making fantastic fabric choices.

So now I've decided I need a new summer dress. In previous summers I've been eager to design and draft my own dress patterns, but that part of my brain seems to be on hiatus these days. So I'm tossing up between Vogue 8380 above and these:


Vogue 8574 Hmm, looking at the details for V8574 it's designed for heavier evening fabrics - wouldn't have guessed that from the illustrations!


Simplicity 2925* The white dress, which looks a lot like Vogue 8380! The skirt isn't as full though, and a dress with a straight skirt is hard to fit to my pear shape.

Maybe I'll have to stick with Vogue 8380. I'll probably make the exact same fabric choices too.

Incidentally, my way of getting a new dress will be to add request for the pattern and fabric money to my Christmas list. When I was little I loved getting homemade clothes for Christmas, now I love making them myself - hopefully with someone else paying!

Need a cute toddler fix? Here's Jack best-ever walking attempt from earlier today: (Doesn't seem to be embedding, so click here - it's only 54 seconds.)

* If you're unable to load www.simplicity.com the full website seems to be available at www.simplicitynewlook.com. Don't ask me why.

The perfect antidote

If my Letters To Santa postcards aren't your thing, perhaps you'd prefer Fontok's take on Christmas greetings.



Myf's Shmishmas cards. I saw these on her blog yesterday and they're still cracking me up. At only $5 for a set of three who can resist? You can buy them from the Fontok stall at Rose St Artists Market on Sundays or from Myf's online shop.

Christmas postcards

Dear Santa,



This year I have been very good whenever it wasn't too much trouble.



For Christmas I want a big fat Etsy voucher, a massage and a crate of Kopparberg pear cider. I'll settle for the non-alcoholic version they sell at Ikea if you throw in a bottle of vodka.



Now.



Lots of love,

Mrs Beckinsale x o x

Screenprinted diaries, take 2

I've put together a new batch of screenprinted diaries in preparation for my Christmas markets.



I finished eight today, but all up I've got 26 diaries to cover... and hopefully sell!



I've got my W Class Tram design in tan and yellow, and a new Victorian Terrace design in sage and pinky-purple (name that colour, please!). The tan, yellow and sage are cotton upholstery fabrics but the pinky-purple I bought as a remnant and I'm not certain of the fibre content. I think it might have some kind of stain-proofing finish which meant the screenprinting paint didn't take as well.



The screenprinted images wrap around onto the inside leaf.

You might notice these look different to my first batch of diaries, which are now stocked (along with my felt brooches) by the National Trust at Como House and Rippon Lea. I wasn't able to find any more A6 diaries - and believe me, I checked every $2 shop in Collingwood, Northcote and Preston. The closest I could get to the original diary I used are a tall A6 (18cm high by 10cm wide) but still with a day-to-a-page view with all Australian public holidays etc.

I'll be adding these to my neglected MadeIt shop and also offering a special deal for blog readers and Northside Makers members. Stay tuned!

Spoonflower destinations and 2010 directions

Yesterday I made up my first two W Class Cushions using the destinations I had printed by Spoonflower.

Even in the early morning, November daylight can be too strong for accurate colour representation!

I think they look okay, even though a thorough inspection shows that the black really isn't well saturated.

The Prahran cushion is embroidered, Melbourne and St Kilda Beach are Spoonflowered.

Comparing the Spoonflower black to black drill shows up the difference in saturation.

I'm wondering if I should:
1) Price the Spoonflowered cushions at the same price I've been using for the embroidered ones, and save embroidery for custom orders with a small additional fee, or,
2) Make the Spoonflowered ones a little cheaper as printing costs less than embroidery. That means returning to price points such as $62 or $62.50, yuck.
I'll try to make my mind up before the first Kris Kringle market on Thursday 26th. I'm interested in your opinion if you've got one!

Speaking of markets, I've been accepted for the final market I was waiting to hear from - Craft Hatch at the State Library. That makes seven markets before Christmas, including having to run Northside Makers Market. I'm very glad Northside is right at the start of market season so I can cross it off my list and focus on sewing and selling during December.

To start off 2010 I've got Northside markets in February and late March/early April, and at the same time I'm making a wedding dress for my sister-in-law-to-be and a formal dress for my teenage cousin. After that, I think I might turn down the market dial for a few months and try some more experimental stuff, more fashiony than crafty. Painting and screenprinting fabric and sewing it into fabulous things from my own patterns. I'm very inspired right now by Made By Sarah's beautiful printed fabrics (hope that doesn't embarrass you Sarah!) and this Mary & Angelika bolero - how on earth are they making these for US$79? I think I'd have fun working on projects like these but wouldn't hope to turn them into a profitable exercise. Or maybe let myself hope a little!

Plus, Flickettysplits has put into my head the idea of making made-to-measure patterns for people to sew themselves. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a versatile pattern which could be used to make two or three styles of dresses and a couple skirts, all drafted to fit you and no-one else? I'd need a lot of practice first and would probably have to charge a small fortune to make it worthwhile, but if I threw in a how-to-use-my-patterns lesson and a lifetime of free after-sales support it could work out to be good value. Hmmmmmmmm.

In the meantime you can expect a lot less blogging from me. This proves I'm writing a craft blog rather than a business blog - a wealth of post while I'm on holidays and very few while I'm actually crafting!

A Key To Help Make Your Own World Visible, or, More Collage Love

Through Clog I have just found the most extraordinary work by artists Gracia + Lousie.

On such a day as this the view proved of great comfort.


I had always wished to do what was right though it never seemed as such.




All images borrowed from Clog

Reading Gracia + Lousie's blogs I am astounded to discover the depth of work that goes into these collages and artists' books. From their website:
We make artists' books collaboratively, as a team, if you like, and have been doing so since 1999... Artists' books with drawings, with elements of collage, hand coloured with pencil or stamped, even cut out and altered ever so slightly. Every step, every part of the process, every learning curve, holds us besotted.

I am seduced by the philosophy and academic nature of their artist statements, which you can read here. The nostalgic, bittersweet titles of the pieces remind me of my favourite book The Great Gatsby.

I think the images I've posted above are more specifically Gracia's work. The dedication that must go into sourcing these postcard books and images used for the collages is thoroughly inspiring. It seems a silly comparison, but these collages remind me of my favourite webcomic Wondermark, which is created from 19th century woodcuts and engravings but digitally composed rather than handcrafted. Both approach their source material with love and respect as well as irreverence.




These artists' books are part of Gracia + Louise's show A Key To Help Make Your Own World Visible at Craft Victoria now until November 28th.

(Sorry about the wacky text formatting in this post, I just can't fix it!)

Mistress of Business Administration

It's a bit after 1am and I'm doing such things as updating my market calendar in my sidebar (go on, visit my blog to see). I've currently got six markets booked in the space of four weeks (Northside Makers Market, four Kris Kringle markets and the fledgling where craft meets 3053 at Borders Carlton) with the first a little less than three weeks away. I'm waiting to hear back about a seventh. Mental. However only one (possibly two) are daytime Saturday markets, and the other five are weekday evenings. Perhaps they'll feel less exhausting than the get-up-early, wiped-out-all-evening Saturday events? If I worked outside the home I'm sure I'd feel differently.

Bugger, I just remembered I'm one-third responsible for running one of the markets. Ladies, this is why Northside Makers decided not to operate a market in December. Leading up to Christmas we've barely got time to wipe our childrens' noses as they run wild in the back yard (wearing SPF30+ of course).

One problem is my cushion supply is a little low at the moment and I want lots of cushions on my Christmas stalls. Whatever destination people desire, I want to have it on the stall ready to go. I've had a bunch of popular destinations printed up on Spoonflower for this purpose. The fabric was waiting for me when I got home and looks good. They warn that dark background colours won't be fully saturated (ie they'll look a little faded) but their black is pretty good. But I do have to find time to sew all these cushions as well as work on some other Christmas stock. Fortunately my mum and sister will be contributing stock to my Northside Makers and Kris Kringle stalls so I won't be having nightmares about sitting behind a stall with only three things on it.

And then there's the seven custom orders I need to fill before Christmas, some in time to be sent overseas. I'm very fortunate to have won Jack a weekly spot in the local community centre's occasional care program this term, a precious three hours one morning a week. Without that I'd have little hope of getting all this work done.

What do you think, have I taken on a little too much? Just as well it's not my job to host Christmas lunch. I hope my nearest and dearest will be happy with presents from craft markets because I don't see myself getting any other shopping done!

The Make Lounge

On Wednesday morning I was desperately searching the internet, trying to find the heart of London's indie craft scene (in the form of a retail shop in zone 1 or 2 open on Wednesdays). East London Craft Guerilla was my saviour, providing a link to The Make Lounge.




The Make Lounge is in my old borough of Islington. In fact I used to walk past the shopfront every day on my way to work - wish it had been open back in 2005! They teach all kinds of craft classes , even cupcake decorating, and has just opened their retail space - in fact, the shop had only opened the day before my visit. The Make Lounge sells gorgeous fabrics, embroidery threads and an amazing range of indie craft books. The first book I spotted on the table was Meet Me At Mike's. There's not a lot of stock so far due to the current Royal Mail postal strike but everything there is gold.

Owner Jennifer Pirtle and I chatted about the Melbourne craft scene, classes and markets. I picked up Sublime Stitching's Spaced Out set which I might use to customise Little Jack's ErgoBaby carrier (I saw someone in Melbourne the other week who'd embroidered hers, the idea had never occured to me!)


I also pounced on Amy Karol's Bend The Rules With Fabric. I read such wonderful things about Bend The Rules Sewing during Northside Makers' Meet The Crafters series and the Fabric version covers my current interests in fabric embellishment. Very excited about putting the techniques into practice!

And that's it for my British Holiday series of posts. Tonight we hop back onto the plane and fly back to Melbourne, where the real estate agent has organised for installation to be installed in our ceiling a couple hours after we get in the door. Nothing like being back home.

Old Spitalfields Market

Weeks before this holiday I started thinking about which markets I wanted to visit in London. Camden Stables never changes - a theory I couldn't be bothered testing three years after my last visit. Portobello Market is aimed at vintage fashionistas and I have to confess I don't have the patience to paw through dozens of stalls of overpriced old clothing. Then I remembered my visit around five years ago to Old Spitalfields Markets. It was in a warehouse and was edgy and interesting, a lot like Melbourne's This Is Not A Design Market. This is where I would find the object that represented my holiday. I earmarked the day of my visit as one of the highlights of my itinerary.

I headed off to the market with a fistful of pounds, ready for the arty, crafty and designy delights awaiting me. But when I got there I found the warehouse had been replaced with a purpose-built light-filled structure - not necessarily a bad thing - and the emerging and edgy had been replaced with the mass-produced and even touristy. I lost count of how many stalls I passed offering mix & match Banksy print sets.

Obviously I was disappointed, but a few gems did stand out. One was the stalls offering vintage wooden type (see the close-up up the top) where I picked up a few choice letters for £10.

Another was magnificent milliner and accessories designer Slightly Scarlet.

This feathered halter/wrap/whatever the correct term is blew me away. I only wish my life offered me occasion to wear it! If we weren't flying out on Thursday I would nearly be tempted to head back and buy one... very tempted. Designer and maker Lulu also makes amazing burlesque-inspired garments and bespoke fascinators - check out the images on her MySpace page (not 100% safe for work). We had a lovely chat and I've got my fingers crossed she might grace Melbourne with her presence in the future.

Another maker who stood out was Eat Your Feet, with quirky hand-drawn jewellery. Again, if I regularly wore necklaces (and anyone with a baby or toddler knows why I don't) I'd be all over these old-school tattoo graphics.

So, 200+ market stalls and I only found three things I liked. I think I'll stick to Melbourne's handmade market scene if it's all the same!

Hallowe'en Pumpkin

As Little Jack was invited to his cousins' Hallowe'en party and I hadn't even thought of making him a costume before we left Melbourne, I had a go at carving a pumpkin to make myself feel less guilty. I used this Better Homes & Gardens tutorial as inspiration.

I have to brag that even in a last-minute cheap store-bought costume my Little Jack-o-Lantern looks cute enough to eat.