Writing procedures... for the under-tens

I've finally stopped shirking and written up the instructions for my cupcake applique kits. I'm imagining they'll be for kids aged 8-10, or 7-11, or whatever age individual kids are competent with a needle and thread.

I've worked in educational publishing and was fascinated by guidelines for writing for different literacy levels. The length of words, how many different words are used and how common or difficult each word is are all factors that need to be considered when writing for a particular reading level.

I'm trying to use an appropriate reading level while still using correct technical terms and making a brand new skill comprehensible. I've also kept in mind how frustrating and difficult some craft kits could be when I was a kid, and pointed out the bits where the kid might want to go get an adult to help them.

I started the instructions this way:

The word appliqué is pronounced APP-LEE-KAY. Appliqué is a French word meaning something that has been applied or added. When we appliqué something, we are adding pieces of other fabric to make a decoration.

If you ever get confused or cross when working on a craft project the best thing to do is ask an adult to help you. They might not be very good at craft, but they might be able to explain words or manage a bit that’s too tricky for your fingers. Adults are great at threading needles and tying knots.

If you get really cross, put your craft project away for half an hour and go run around outside until you feel better. This is what I do when sewing makes me cross, and I’ve been sewing for 25 years!

And in this spirit the instructions continue... for nine pages in a 12pt font. And that's without pictures, y'all! It's going to look like a lost chapter of Harry Potter by the time I've done layout.

I think I might put it down for a bit and go for a run around outside.

Cupcake Bags

I realised on Thursday afternoon that if Jack's English cousins are going to get their birthday presents on time I'd have to post them pronto! And that means actually figuring out what to make them. Whoops, guess I've had other things on my mind...

I decided to turn the cupcake appliques I'd made for them into bags. A lovely make-it-up-as-you-go project.








I used some offcuts from another project for the tops of the bags, easy peasy as they were already cut into neat strips. I sewed eight strips, 17cm long by 6-10cm wide, together and then chopped it up to make the smaller pieces I needed.

I couldn't think what to use for the backs of the bags until I searched my stash and discovered some of Spotlight's greatest hits - that gorgeous cupcake fabric! Does anyone not have some of that? I used the yellow print for the chocolate-iced cupcake in the yellow wrapper and the white print for the strawberry-iced cupcake in the blue wrapper.

The girls are turning five. I have no contact with five year old girls. Will these bags be too babyish for them? Their names are Daisy and Skye so inevitably, while I didn't plan it this way, the cupcake with the yellow wrapper will go to Daisy and the one with blue will go to Skye. Thus it has been for the last five years and thus it shall always be.

Now I just have to fill them up with Caramello Koalas (in a zip lock bag, of course!) and pop them in the post.

Megan Nielsen Pefect Nursing & Maternity Top

Last weekend I finally found a few hours to make a much-needed item for myself. Somehow during my last pregnancy I managed to survive with only one long-sleeved maternity top. It must have been a combination of working in an office three days a week, putting on a lot more weight and so feeling warmer in general, and the fact the winter of 2008 was much milder than the one we're currently shivering through in Melbourne. This winter, at home with Jack, I'm spending more time outdoors and wearing a cardigan over a teeshirt just isn't cutting it. I needed more sleeves in my wardrobe.

I bought Megan Nielsen's Perfect Nursing & Maternity Top pattern online months ago. This is the first adult-sized PDF pattern I've used and my printer wasn't happy about it. We're having communication issues at the moment and it took my printer about 90 minutes to print the required 21 pages. Grr! I think it's a problem with the latest driver update, I'll have to try uninstalling it and starting again from scratch.

Once I finally managed to collect all the pages, tape them together and cut them out everything else was a breeze. As suggested I constructed the top on my overlocker - another thing I haven't done before. I always sew stretch seams on my sewing machine first and then just use the overlocker to finish the seam edges. It was tricky to figure out how to get the right seam allowance when my overlocker has a very narrow throat plate (narrower than the seam allowance) and no measurement markings, but once I figured out the edge of the fabric should be a smidge past the throat plate I managed to construct the top with no problems.

I did set the sleeves on the sewing machine before overlocking as the armhole required stretching to make it fit the sleeve cap, and I was scared to take the step of overlocking before being sure I'd matched the pieces up properly. It went together fine, no unpicking here!

One technique I really loved was a smooth way to finish a stretch neckline edge without a coverstitch machine. It involves fusible hemming web and gives the fabric the stability necessary for an unpuckered twin needle finish. It's the best finish I've ever done on a stretch neckline.

So, what does my version of the top look like? And why did I choose what's obviously a short-sleeved summer top pattern to make the winter top I needed?


(Excuse bra straps.)

I added extra sleeves! It would have been simple enough to extend the short sleeve piece down to wrist length but the huge bold print of the fabric isn't something I want to slather myself in from east to west. So after finishing the top following the pattern method, I sewed two long, slightly tapered tubes from the black fabric I'd used as a contrast and sewed them to the inside of the finished short sleeve edge. This makes it look like I've layered a black top under the leafy one (especially because of the rounded neckline of the nursing modesty panel) and it'll be really easy to unpick the tubes once the weather warms up and have a short-sleeved top instead. Two for one!


Here's a gratuitous belly shot. Nothing helps a seven month pregnant woman slip into a room unnoticed like swathing herself in a huge lycra print. I was hoping to find a cotton or polycotton jersey for this top, but once I saw this print I had to have it. I'm not certain what the lycra content is but it's quite high by the feel of things. Hope I don't sweat to death in it in summer!

I'm also wearing my refashioned maternity cords, based on a free Megan Nielsen tutorial. I'm dressed top to toe in Megan!

This Is Hand Made

Penny Nickels is a renegade embroiderer with a new online project. She's collecting videos of craftspeople working to show the world that professional crafting is not "fun" or "a hobby". If you can make a five minute vid of yourself working - not a tutorial, not talking about your work, just doing the damn thing - she'd love to include it on her site.

From Penny's blog:

Do you make stuff? Are you an artist? A crafter? Have you ever spent 40 hours on a project, only to be offered 20 dollars for all of your hard work? I think it's because most buyers don't understand how long it takes to make stuff. I think it's because buyers think what we do is "fun", so somehow, we haven't earned a fair hourly wage.

The truth is, this stuff takes forever. Hours and hours and hours. In my experience, only about 10% of it is actually fun. The rest is tedious and demanding...

So I've started a new blog called This Is Hand Made. All it is is 5 minute videos of people working on projects. No tutorials, no guides, no talking to the camera, no explaining, just 5 really really boring minutes of what it looks like to actually make something. I only have three up so far, but I want more!

If you make stuff, I want to see it. Especially the boring parts that you have to thole through to complete the project. I don't care if you're a knitter, a cobbler, a mosaic maker, whatever. Did it take you 2 minutes to thread that needle/bobbin? Perfect. Did it take you 2 hours to scour that fleece? Yes. Did it take you an hour to warp that loom? THIS SPEAKS TO MY INTERESTS.

Find out more here.

Oh!

I just found a stash of fabrics I bought over the years in case I had a baby girl some day. I'd completely forgotten about those.

Now I won't have to convince Hubby T that dressing Jack in cowboy shirts covered in cupcakes and cherries is butch.

I might have to treat myself and New Baby to something from Badskirt's big pattern sale. I do love the way she's made up the Jump Rope dress. (Ooh, only one of those left. Don't go look.)

Seven Things About Me

The comments on my previous post on eclectic home styling made me giggle, but none more so than that by Gina Clutterpunk. Her comment was the first email I read this morning:

I was subscribed to Real Living for about a year, but after 3 issues it was evident that 'real' was not really part of the agenda. Sadly, that was after I'd bought the blackboard paint. It's been a total waste of space. Luckily I have my 'words' of inspiration (DIE DIE DIE, and YOU BORE ME) to keep me enthused in my quest for individuality, along side my 'Keep Clam and Carry Bong' poster.

I'm still laughing over those words of inspiration.

Gina has also passed on a Sunshine Award for me to do with what I will. I am required to write seven things about myself that you may not already know. Let's give it a try!

1. The first comments on that eclectic style post mentioned that blackboard paint was very 2000-2003. I then remembered seeing it on Secret Life of Us which debuted in 2001. I spent a few moments' mental energy recalling the names of Evan, Alex, and of course the lovely Kelly. The next day I was working at Olive Grove and who walked in but Deb Mailman. Searching for the bon mot that would recruit her as my new best friend the first thing that leapt into my head was asking if she thought the blackboard paint in Kelly's apartment was cool or outdated. Happily I managed to stop myself before I said any such thing. Sadly we're not new best friends.

2. I read a lot as a kid and like most children didn't know how to pronounce all the words I encountered. My defense amongst my friends was always that my mum's from the US and that's how they pronounce it there.

3. One memorable mispronounced word was 'Connecticut', the state the Baby Sitters Club members live in. The first C is silent, any surprise my friends and I were all wrong on the correct way to say it? A recent post on Dooce led me to a bunch of BSC revival blogs which I read from start to finish. My favourites are Dibbly Fresh for snark and Are You There You? It's Me Nikki for sweet recollections on a wide range of YA fiction.

4. Another BSC blog, What Claudia Wore, involves a lot of reader discussion about Laine's silver squiggle pin. Do you know what I'm talking about? Along with that pin my most memorable BSC clothing items were a shirt Dawn wore that was blue on the outside and green on the inside so that when she rolled up the sleeves you could see the other colour, and in the first BSC book I read (#23, Dawn on the Coast) Dawn wore "a metallic green string bikini". I thought a 'string' bikini meant it was crocheted and I was agape that a 13 year old girl would wear a bikini top with her nipples poking through, California girl or no. Even timid MaryAnne only refused to wear one because her dad would be mad if he found out.

5. My son Jack shares his name with one of my grandfathers and one of my hubby's grandfathers. More interestingly, both my dad and hubby's dad are named Robert James. Fortunately one goes by Rob and the other goes by Jim.

6. I keep getting sucked into games on Facebook. My current one is Treasure Madness which actually continues to be interesting and involves more than logging in once a day to click on squares. If you're looking for a new TM crew member let me know.

7. Having only ever stayed in hospital once in my life, when Jack was born, I've got to say I like being in hospital. I'm sure my feelings would be vastly different if I'd actually been sick or had experience attending a sick relative. As it is, to me hospital means lolling on a remote-controlled bed all day, eating meals brought in on a tray (jelly and custard good, steamed cabbage bad), people coming in to entertain me (I'm blocking out memories of what ward midwives do when they drop in) and having a brand new baby to poke and pull faces at. I'd stay a week if I could. I have to be prepared for this time being quite different. With Jack I was in a single occupancy room at The Women's and this time I'm going to the Mercy which only has dual occ rooms. Being kept awake by someone else's baby, fantastic.

Now I'm obliged to nominate seven other people to write similar inanities about themselves.

1. Konstant Kaos
2. Pivotal Xpressions
3. The L-T Experience
4. Little Cooties
5. The Craft Revival
6. Two Bits Patches
7. Dance For Cheese

Eclectic Checklist

Even in my second pregnancy I'm still an avid follower of Up The Duff. There's one milestone I've hit at exactly the same time as Hermoine the Modern Girl - that of interior design nesting. These nesting instincts could be put to good use cleaning the house, but why be practical when there's good money to be wasted on home decorating magazines?

At least I spent some time on researching the different magazines (ie wasted half a day on the magazines' websites and blogs) so that I could find one magazine that wouldn't drive me mad with its fussy childless coordinated wallpapers and divans. I realised that what I want is an interior design mag that looks like an Ikea catalogue - something that admits most people want their seating to face the television and kids own more than one toy each. I settled for Real Living mag, which gives Ikea and Spotlight pos-mens and is a bit more attainable than those mags that worship Alessi and, I don't know, whatever other overpriced designers I'm not cool enough to have heard of. And happily, the edition I bought is out of date today so there'll be a brand new one for me to buy as soon as I find another $6.95 down the back of the couch!

Anywho, the current issue is all about Eclectic, which I've decided is my thing. Nothing has to match and you can mix in questionable hard rubbish finds with last year's Ikea markdowns. It's individual and yooneek. But upon careful browsing of the magazine I found there are rules to eclecticism - four essentials that a home must have to be truly individual and eclectic. I've counted how many times each of these essentials appear in separate features of this single issue.

1. Anglophilia - four appearances




It doesn't matter how far removed the Anglo-Celtics are from your heritage, decorating your home with a misappropriated Union Jack or quaint WWII slogan adds instant cache. It's pop, it's retro! And far less risk of cultural insensitivity than decorating in an Asian theme when you can't even pronounce your favourite dish in the Thai takeaway menu. Just make sure you know the difference between a Union Jack, St George's Cross, Britain, the United Kingdom and England. Nothing more embarrassing than referring to your Union Jack wall art as 'the English flag'.

2. Bus & Tram Scrolls - four appearances


Trams are in, hurrah for me. Being a more attainable magazine Real Living features screenprints of public transport destination scrolls rather than recommending you shell out thousands for the real thing. If you want to find out who's making screenprinted tram scrolls rather than fiddly appliqued tram cushions you'll have to buy the mag - I'm not going to use my own blog to promote my more successful competitors.

3. Wooden Letters - five appearances


Spell out your driving force by writing it on the wall. Although you might want to think twice about nailing 'Subtlety' to your mantlepiece. Even cooler than full words is the first initials of the house's residents (in mismatched distressed colours and sizes, of course) or one large random letter in your favourite vintage typeface. Putting WTFLOL or FIGJAM on the wall probably isn't considered eclectic.

4. Blackboard paint - four appearances


Very practical. I'm not being sarcastic. Although given the fact that blackboard paint only featured in the homes without children, I'm thinking it's less about giving littlies an acceptable creative outlet and more the contemporary version of Joey & Chandler's Magna Doodle message board. Kids' stuff in an adult home - quirky and cool. Kids' stuff in a family home - you'd better pack that away before someone notices you procreated.

I hope my Sunday cynicism doesn't lead you to believe I dislike all these things, or think less of people who have them. I want blackboard paint when we buy a house - but it'll be for the kids. Our loungeroom has a Transport for London poster but that's because my hubby's British and we used to live there. I'm envious of people who can put this kind of stuff together out of an internal sense of style rather than grabbing at whatever's in this month's magazine or style blog. But the idea of buying individuality is a big turn-off.

A side note - interestingly, all the blog posts I borrowed images from (click the images to view original sources) are from 2008-09. I guess that goes to show Real Living's idea of eclectic really is retro.

Cooking in the Craft Room

I've been baking, using my favourite ingredient.


Yummy wool felt! I love felt food. Last year for the birthdays of my nieces and fairy goddaughter (three birthdays in 12 days) I made felt tarts. This year I wanted to enjoy the relaxation of hand sewing in front of the telly again, but make it a little different. So I started by going 2D.


I'm not quite sure what each embroidered applique will end up as part of - why think too far ahead? But in the meantime I'm working on cupcake applique kits as part of my Christmas range. Ah, the joys of crafting for money - I'm already making Christmas stock in July. This is mostly because the two months maternity leave I've granted myself end mid-November and I hope to not have to push myself too hard during the silly season.

The kits will have detailed instructions suitable for kids, once I grit my teeth to clean up the photos and start writing. Some kits will just have the felt, backing fabric, thread and instructions; full kits will also include an embroidery hoop, needles and instructions on making your own applique templates. There's no need to oblige a well-equipped crafty household to buy all the extras and there's no need to distress well-meaning adults who don't know where embroidery hoops come from.

It's the kind of thing I often received for birthdays and Christmas (usually longstitch kits, which I loved, and latch hook kits, which were much more frustrating) and makes a lovely activity for the days after Christmas. I did giggle to myself as I stitched and photographed the sample over an hour or so, knowing how long they'll take a first-time embroiderer to finish. Well, learning slowly is all part of growing up crafty isn't it?

Cushions to die for

I make cushions. You make cushions. We see cushions everywhere we go. But these cushions (found via Mr X Stitch) have blown my tiny mind.

Tara Badcock lives in Tasmania and makes come of the most exquisite freemotion machine-embroidered designs I've seen.


Blanket cushion - Empire Owl


Silver Gull cushion


Bird of Paradise cushion (this one's hand embroidered)
I'm experiencing the sensation of being completely awed by someone's work, and equally crushed that I didn't do it first. It's a feeling Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Brian Slade captures perfectly in Velvet Goldmine, watching Curt Wilde on stage. Does that happen to you?

Tara's Flickr stream is well worth a browse (and drool). Tara's work is stocked in shops around Australia. Her Etsy shop is a little understocked, but Tara's Flickr says she's about to have her first baby - I'll excuse anything under those circumstances! All the best with the bub, Tara.

Bridget Davies is a UK artist who works with both textiles and paint. Again, I'm crushed that I didn't come up with these first.


The Boudour cushion


No.1 The Street cushion
If you don't click on anything else in this post, please click this one link to Bridget's Flickr set to see how beautiful all her cushions look next to each other!

Lastly, Villa Hunter a maker of cushions which I discovered in person at Daylesford Makers Market last weekend.


I bought the blue Ship in a Bottle cushion for myself! The anchor hanging on a bit of rope tickles me pink.

If you don't find them at a market, you can shop for Villa Hunter on their website or Etsy.

All images property of the makers.

Doily table runner

I found this super-glam nanna-chic project which will be just perfect for the big stash of doilies I'm building up. How would it look if they'd all had a go with different shades of Dylon, hmm?

Arc skirts in Denim & Corduroy

I'm not sure how much of a fashion sin it is to combine denim and corduroy in one garment.



Hopefully the print's cute enough for me to get away with it.



Available, as always, at Olive Grove.

Daylesford Makers Market loot

A week on from the big roadtrip, I've finally recovered sufficiently to document my loot from the day.


Some plates from Woodend Salvos and Mill Markets.


Yep, I am going to do this to them.
Probably.
Maybe not the one with the lovely orange trees around the border though...


Cards for framing and a lamington rattle for New Baby, from Lark.


A night bus badge from Lark for Hubby T (several years too late - could have prevented him from waking up in Crystal Palace many a time) and a pretzel tin from Mill Markets which I think I can bear to give away as a thankyou for making a certain baby quilt.


Bakelite buttons with gorgeous floral detail (very hard to photograph) from Daylesford Bazaar which will probably end up on stuff for the shop.


And just for me - a Shop in a Bottle cushion by Villa Hunter, from Daylesford Makers Market.
I love it!
Fabiola (who helped organise the trip) has posted her roadtrip loot as well, check it out!

Introducing: Arc Skirts and Fragments

I finally took photos of those new skirts I've been insisting I made.


The Arc Skirt is a straight knee-length skirt with a curved pocket on one side.
This one's in stretch denim with red contrast.


Yep, that's a real hand-sized pocket with a functional button.
Sorry about the glarey red, it's a hard colour to correct in Photoshop.


There's an invisible zip and a kick pleat in the back.
They are ace. And I sold two yesterday!


This one is in the same black cotton sateen I used for my Teaparty dress, with purple contrast.
The sheen makes it look quite eveningy, or 'Office Goth'.
If you know any goth ladies who need a dressy but serviceable work skirt send 'em my way.

And here's the jewellery I made.

Fragments pendants and brooches. Don't worry, I sanded the edges.
I bought heaps more plates in Daylesford yesterday, so there'll be a lot more in this range.

Find 'em all at Olive Grove.

What's your definition of handmade/homemade?

This is making me laugh today.

My Independence

If you do an image search for 'working mum' 90% of the results will show a woman wearing a black suit, balancing a child on one hip while talking on a mobile and looking at a laptop. Try it. This woman appears a bit different because she's making eye contact with her child but in actual fact she's looking past him at the printout he's just scribbled on. He wants an apple. And another episode of Thomas & Friends.

*****

I'm an independent woman. Making the decision to leave paid employment in order to have a baby was a tough one. There were two big hurdles for me to accept - closing my own separate bank account to rely on a joint one with my husband, and changing from identifying myself as a data administrator/ dressmaker/ whatever other job I fancied this month to being identified by the world at large as A Mum.

To cut a long story short this is why setting up my craft business has meant so much to me. Yes, it'd be nice to sit at home making lovely things for my baby and escaping the pressure of deadlines and expectations. But it was more important to me that even once I was mainly A Mum, that I challenge myself and achieve tangible, quantifiable things. Having a market stall once a month. Making a big sale. Having my work and name appear in magazines and newspapers. It gave me back my identity, and in a way entirely of my own crafting (if you'll pardon the pun).

My business has also allowed me to contribute money to the household. Not regularly, but after Christmas I was able to put a nice lump sum into our house deposit account and did the same again a couple months ago. The money I spend on craft supplies for my business also gives me a bit of a boost. I'm not spending household money on myself, but I still get to go out and acquire things (capitalism is fun, in moderate doses) and appreciate the process of turning them into other things. You could call it a hobby if it weren't for the ABN, sole trader status and the ATO's insistence that any profit counts as my taxable income. It's a way of spending money without spending our money.

The closer I get to having this second baby (twelve weeks to go) the more anxious I become about the future of my business. What if I simply cannot produce enough stock once I've got two children with incompatible play skills and naptimes?

The thought of simply giving it up has occurred to me. Remove the pressure to cover expenses, keep things fresh, always put a professional finish on things. But when I imagine identifying myself solely as A Mum, that independent part of me gasps for air.

One trick I've learned recently when meeting the opinion/ idea/ suggestion that love for your kids should give every mother all the satisfaction they need in life, is to ask if the commentator would say the same about a father. Are fathers expected to find all the pleasure they need in life in raising children, and prefer it to having a career? Rarely ever. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I should feel guilty about motherhood not filling every requirement in my life. I need more. If you're wondering, over the last year my husband has secured a job he loves and has the fortune to be challenged and fulfilled while being paid for it. Knowing this helps me give myself 'permission' to chase the same fulfillment for myself. If he was a miserable, downtrodden sod I might settle for less in my own ambitions.

If I did stop my business it would be irresistible to me to start seeking another form of employment, and the most likely scenario involves a lot more paid childcare than I use now (currently two mornings a week). The pressure would be off for a while, but I'd quickly find a different source of pressure to replace it with. And at the same time I'd know I'd given up on what I'd created out of my own imagination.

Inevitably I will take up paid employment again. But not now - not when I'm six months pregnant. My opportunity now is to try to keep my business running and hopefully make it viable enough, in some form or another, to make it worth keeping up even when I've got a different hat on a few days a week. When I look long-term that way seems that something must work out, somehow.

Yes, business life (all life) will be difficult with a new baby. I've granted myself two months maternity leave and will be 'back' mid November, at the start of the Christmas season. I'm already planning my Christmas stock and hoping to get most of it made before my maternity leave starts. Any markets I'm at this December there'll be a baby strapped to my front in a sling. It's not a peaceful picture but it's the one I can work with.

And by the time Christmas is over, my little Jack will be six months older than he is now and might even be trusted to play quietly with some crayons (rather than repeatedly gathering them up and hurling them across the room as he did when we tried drawing the other day). When that happens it'll be easier for me to work alongside him, rather than sneaking out of the room while Thomas is on or waiting all day for him to take a nap. And New Baby will develop their own personality and eventually sleep through the night and before I know it Jack will be trying to take responsibility for their entertainment and happiness.

I do have a challenging time ahead but I do feel it's worth working through, and not giving up. I might feel differently again in another twelve hours - I change my mind about this several times a day - but I am going to try to keep that positive picture of my future business and future children who love 'working' alongside Mum, in my head. Believe me, every time I read about you mums assigning tasks such as sewing patchwork purses, making self-cover buttons, counting the badges and drawing only on the blackboard, I store it up as evidence that crafting alongside children is possible - maybe even enjoyable.



I get comments sometimes about my 'honest' posts. On this blog I don't intend to paint a rosy picture of running a craft business while raising kids. For me it's tough, it's frustrating, and it would take a whole tub of Vaseline on the lens to make it look anything like a magazine photoshoot. But it's who I am, it's what I need in my life and honesty is the only way I can approach it. If I wasn't doing this I wouldn't feel I was becoming complete.