Colour and Design Weekend

Moxie

I am off to Canberra's Colour and Design weekend hosted by the ISCD and Inside Story.  It's been ages since I did anything like this, so I am looking forward to learning.  I have a great desire to do more creative learning in the future when my children are older.  I also have a cool antique chair that needs modern coat of paint... I was going to go for something in the yellow/mustard tones... will see what the verdict is after tomorrow!! 

Some posts I enjoyed this week:

• Maintaining a work / life balance - especially for creative start-up businesses
• Fussy eater or picky eater - and what to do about it?
• We are hanging for the return of Mad Men - watching it tonight! woot
• Fabric necklace by Ruby

Paper and Copper Pipe Sculptures: Anna-Wili Highfield

These stunning paper sculptures are breathtaking don't you think?  I would love to see them up close in person and maybe that is a possibility as super talented artist Anna-Wili Highfield resides in Sydney!!  Anna has a degree in fine arts and makes her sculptures out of archival cotton paper and copper pipe.

I can't get over how incredible they are, such beautiful work.  Mr Deer is a mix of copper pipe, palm bark and driftwood.

 

The Blue Wren is made from paper.  I would love to try archival cotton paper flowers - my style...   Thanks for the inspiration Anna!!

Dip Dyed - Ombre, Coffee Filter Pom Pom's Tutorial

I am over at Jordan's today with a guest post. A tutorial on my dip dyed coffee filter pom pom's! Enjoy :-)

Handmade Cloud Pillows / Cushions

I made some cloud pillows with my own free pattern I used for Josiah's fabric wall decals!  I used a spotty cotton fabric from Spotlight, the blue in the bottom photo is closer to the true colour.

The bigger pillow (back) holds a better shape, true to the original cloud shape. Josiah enjoyed throwing them out of his cot continually!!  He is almost due for a big bed and is coming up to two in May, where did that time go?

We finally went and checked out Costco which is fairly new to Canberra.  I've wanted a globe for the kids for a while and they needed a night light, so when I spotted this globe/night light - I grabbed it.  They fight over who turns it on at night.

T Dress: Stylish Dress Book - Yoshiko Tsukiori

T Dress

I made a 'trial' of the T Dress in voile, which you can tell by the length, is more of a tunic!

Back

I cut a size 10 with no seam allowances because I am generally an 8-10 in tops (Australian sizing).  I have found it to be a pretty good fit and comfortable.  I squeezed this whole top out of 1m of fabric so it ended up being slightly shorter than I will make my 'proper top'.

This front placket was a bit fiddly and I hope the next one will be a bit easier and neater at the v point!  A pretty easy sew suitable for a confident beginner.

Wedding bouquets: Wunderplant Studio - Melbourne

Wunderplant Studio

Amy Wright from Wunderplant is the designer behind these stunning flowers.  It's so nice to see a return of Australian native flowers used in a tasteful way.  The bigger flowers in this bouquet above are flannel flowers.

You can see more lovely images on Amy's blog.  These images totally made my day and make me miss floristry - I do wish Canberra had flower markets.

Via Design Files

Paper Flowers for Easter

I made some paper flowers for Shop Handmade for Easter, something handmade and cheery.

The orange bloom, (bottom photo) is my favourite.  These flowers have flat bases and are best viewed on the wall or floor... so I played around with them near my mirror, just for fun.  They really need to be graded in sizes to 'work' but- pretty nonetheless.

Handmade Hair Accessories - Grace Designs

Lilly wearing my organza flower headband sash - isn't this photo all kinds of wonderful, particularly the light.  Thank you Amanda!  Completely different style again below... so cheeky.

OK Google, let's see how you handle Blogspot blogs that BLATANTLY STEAL content.

Stealing blog posts for ad revenue makes baby boys cry.

I recognise that it's hard to come up with original ideas.

I acknowledge that my own work and blog posts are often influenced, sometimes very directly, by the work, writing and designs of others.

Wherever possible, I consider it good form to link back to the original author, to cite, and to get permission.  Links are how the web works, ideas are meant to be spread, and all that.

You can imagine the sick feeling in my stomach when one of my Google News Alerts for "canberra handmade market" started returning text that sounded awfully familiar to posts I recently wrote regarding the event.

Curious, I clicked through to the article, and was shocked to find pictures of myself, complete with the verbatim text of several dozen posts I've written here over the last few years, mixed in with what appears to be content directly lifted from several other blogs (Louis Vuitton, among others).

I was incensed, and seeing red.  This blatant digital thievery was just plain rude, and, if my 'bush lawyering' senses were correct, most likely very illegal.

Practical Action

My handsome, helpful husband suggested that this was probably largely an automatically-generated blog, with some internet lowlife sniffing out trending topics and wrapping them up in a spammy, ad-revenue-generating eyesore, sucking the link juice and integrity out of original blogs whilst hiding behind their online anonymity.

I'm trying very, very hard not to take it personally.  I do feel as though Google has let me down, so they were my second port of call. It turns out they have a few forms I could fill out (but none of them like what Centrelink has ever thrown at me).

1. Report DMCA violation  (considering the blog is hosted on a the Google-controlled blogspot.com, I hope that this encourages them to act quickly)
2. Report Web Spam (I'm now being out-ranked by this counterfeit blog for terms like "canberra handmade market".  Google's magic algorithm is not infallible, it would seem.)

So I dutifully filled them out, and will now wait with bated breath for Google's response, while staring daggers at this counterfeit site.  I won't link to it - it's not likely that that your visits or disapproving comments on that blog will have any positive action in the long run.

Over to you, Google.

I'll update this post if and when Google takes action.  Let me know in the comments if anything like this has happened to you online, and how you've dealt with it.

Handmade Market Favourites - March 2012

SN Scully & co

I had a ring like this years ago - almost the exact same shape, it cost me $10 from Mexico and I loved it dearly.  I never loose anything but I lost this ring - boo hoo.  I should have tried this one on... can you spot me in the photo?

Harper & Edie

I wish I had of gone back to shop on the Sunday... next time!!  I hope Harper and Edie come to the fashion only market on the 5th May!  The dress above reminds me of something my Mum used to wear.  I love most of their clothes.. from Melbourne of course.

Harper & Edie

An April Idea

An April Idea had obviously put in a lot of thought into her stall presentation, the stalls that do stand out a mile. 

An April Idea


 

Gorgeous prints from Smart Alex Textiles!  They had some lovely birds in red also.  More favourites to come during the week.... breakfast and coffee are calling!

Giant Paper Flowers

I love to rise to a challenge so I agreed to quote on some enormous paper flowers for Australia Fashion Week.  I reluctantly had to pull out - due to circumstances out of my control but benefited from the experience and loved the end result.

I was glad Gordon took some photos of me working because I don't think I've ever captured my work in progress.  It's amazing what you can do with paper, a pair of scissors, card stock and a few packets of glue sticks!

Finished Product - 1m x 1m

I am desperate for the sun to shine here in Canberra for the Balloon festival on the weekend, it's not looking too promising at this stage.  I will however get to the Handmade Market, rain, hail or shine :-)  Shop Handmade adopted this blossom today... Have a fabulous weekend!

**Update - 2nd July 2013**
I don't currently have a pattern or tutorial for this flower, I would like to do one when the time permits.  I also can't reply to you by email if your blogger profile is set to no-reply blogger!  Thanks for the lovely feedback on my flower.

Update on dimensions and materials etc.. 2016

Canberra Handmade Market this weekend

Handmade Market

A beautiful atmosphere to shop in, wander, enjoy yummy treats... I'll be taking photos for the Handmade Market on Sat!  See you there.

Sewing Designer Knock off's and Muslins

Country Road

There are a lot of American designer label knockoffs around the web, not usually using a pattern but free-styling.  How do you feel about sewing a big name designer 'knock off'?  I would rather use it as inspiration than a complete copy I guess...there isn't much imagination required to copy!  It is nice to sew a current look for half the price which would be my main motivation behind a knock off.

via Tessuti

So when I saw this Waterfall jacket in Country Road (top image) it reminded me of the above jacket seen on the Tessuti blog, a similar look for possibly cheaper but not directly copying!  The jacket above is a commercial pattern - Vogue 8714.  The Tessuti blog features a mix of pattern and Japanese sewing book reviews in photograph, which I love because they give me a much better idea of what the end product will really look like in real life instead of on a twiggy model. 

J Cardigan via Make Something

As you know I have a couple of Japanese sewing books and I love looking online to see if someone else has made/modified a project I would like to make from it.  I have made a 'muslin' (like a draft version) of the T dress in a cheap voile from Lincraft before I use my nice material.  I find the idea of making an unwearable muslin a complete waste of time.  I don't think I will make a muslin for every pattern I make but since this is the first of my Japanese pattern book sewing I thought it would give me a better feel for what it is like.  There are a couple of interesting posts on muslin's on Gertie's Sewing blog - how do you feel about making a muslin?  I think we call Muslin, Calico in Australia!  It is what I would be using if I was making an unwearable muslin!

Unique Wedding Backdrop - Rolled Paper

Annie McElwain Photography

Anything done en mass looks brilliant!  This is a smart idea by one bride who didn't want to waste the leftover cuts from her paper flower archway.... rolled paper at its best, via Green Wedding Shoes.

I have been working on a few paper flower jobs and quotes myself... keeping me busy and hopefully I will have some photos to share soon!

Design Files Open House - Pop Up Shop

Image The Design Files

I check in on The Design Files every now and then but obviously haven't been there since December!!  What a very cool idea to hold a pop up shop in an actual house and fit it out with the coolest of merchandise just as it would look in 'your home'.  If you are a bit slow like me you can see the movie to catch up on some details or review some of the products they were selling.  I wonder if the concept was influenced by the Not Wedding?

Images via Decor8.