My Creative Space

We didn't have a market this weekend so I got my creative on! It has been a while. Too long in fact. I bought a the third of the 'Softies' books recently - Simple Softies - which is chock full of patterns for toys that can be made without a sewing machine.

I got the book mainly so I could make the Sampler Kitty. Here's mine:

He has the sweetest little face! This was done with Satin Stitch and Chain Stitch.

To embellish him, I used a scrap of our Gingham Invaded Black on White & handstitched a sampler of different stitches. From the top:

Whipped Whipped Stitch (I think that is what it is called)
Single Feather Stitch
Cross Stitch (to hold down the Gingham Invaded fabric)
Raised Stem Stitch
Arrowhead Stitch
Running Stitch

He was assembled with Whip Stitch.

Kitty sits on my window sill at work and makes me smile during the day. He's so squishable & cute!

Head over to Kirsty's blog to see what other people have been doing this week :)

- Cloud

Free Grug Pattern

Some of you may remember that earlier this year I blogged about this awesome Grug toy that Sue (a fellow ASG member) made for one of her grandchildren. Sue very kindly supplied me with the rough working pattern that she created to make Grug. Since then I have been faffing around trying to write up some instructions and create diagrams so that we can share this pattern with you all.

The pattern can be downloaded from here.

Before you jump in to make a Grug of your very own here are a few disclaimers:

• Grug is a copyrighted character so you cannot sell the complete toy or the pattern.
• The instructions (pages 1 - 4) are on A4 size pages and the pattern pieces (pages 5 - 7) are on A3 size pages.
• The difficulty level of this pattern would be for an intermediate to experienced sewer. I have made some assumptions of knowledge when writing the instructions.
• I have not personally tested this pattern (I hate using furry fabrics) so if someone would like to volunteer to pattern test it would be greatly appreciated.
• If you encounter any errors please let me know and I will update the pattern.
• Grug is just over 30cm tall when completed.

- Ky

Treasury Tuesday

Yay three treasuries again this week. Thank you to everyone who has included us in their treasuries, help us say thank you by clicking on the curators name to check out their store. You can also click on the image if you wish to go to the treasury page on Etsy.

First up we have a cute Halloween themed treasury curated by pocketcarnival. Pocketcarnival is located in Melbourne and she handmakes bags, purses, cards and cute art.

A cheery little treasury by MyOliviaJewelry. My Olivia creates and sells jewelry made using a variety of materials including metal, wire, gemstones, crystals, glass beads, and anything else she can incorporate into her work.

We seem to have made it into another football themed threasury, this one is curated by silverypear. Silverypear appears to be an Etsy buyer rather than a seller.

- Ky

Fabic Friday (on Monday) - New fabric part 4

A bit late with last weeks Fabric Friday post since it is now Monday (where did the weekend go?). We listed lots of new fabrics last week, here is a quick recap.

Echino - Camera by Kokka, this is a beautiful Cotton/Linen blend (Cotton 45% Linen 55%) is perfect for making bags and other structured items.

Echino - Glasses by Kokka available in green or black. This fabric is also a cotton linen blend (Cotton 45% Linen 55%).

Paseo de los Muertos (Dance of the Dead) by Alexander Henry. Dancing skeletons just in time for Halloween and the Day of the Dead.

Tattoo by Alexander Henry, this design is an oldie but we have always loved it, it was just reprinted so we had to order it in.

Last of all we have Punctuation by American Jane for Moda. These fabrics are printed in Japan so the base cloth and print quality are of an extremely high standard.

Alphabet Panel available in Red, Green and Black.

Cute little Daisy Floral available in Red, Green and Blue.

Larger Floral also available in Red, Green and Blue

All of these fabrics and more can be found in our shop. We ship internationally and have free shipping for Australia Orders over $50.

- Ky and Cloud

Vote #1 Voodoo Rabbit

Our Squee Bunny Heart fabric is in this weeks Spoonflower design competition, please vote for us:)

- Ky

My Creative Space

Last Sunday at our ASG neighbourhood meeting we looked at shirring. I've tried shirring once before with limited success due to incorrect elastic tension and fabric weight. I'm happy to say I have had more success this time around :)

When I was in Japan earlier this year I spotted an awesome fabric that was perfect for shirring, it is only 1m wide but each side is finished with a scalloped edge and embroidery of bats, skull and roses. Due to my non-imposing height this is long enough to make a myself a dress. I purchased 2m of this fabric in total, in hindsight I should have gotten more. It is a very light weight fabric but still heavy enough so that it isn't see through.

Bodice Detail

This time I started by hand winding the bobbin with the shirring elastic making sure that I stretched it as I wound it onto the bobbin so that it had some tension on it to help it gather as I sewed. By the final bobbin I had decided to just wind the bobbin on my machine's bobbin winder, this seemed to work fine as well. Each bobbin held enough elastic to do 4 rows of shirring.

I set my stitch length to 5 and sewed each row of shirring 1.5cm (5/8in) apart. I used the quilting gauge that came with my machine to help keep the rows evenly spaced.

Once all of the shirring was done all I had to do was sew up the back seam, I ended up with a 9cm seam allowance as the dress was a bit loose and I also needed extra fabric to make some straps.

Hem Detail

Now all that is left to do it cut off the seam allowance, make two shoulder straps and attach them. Hopefully I will have time to finish it off tonight.

- Ky

PS: I believe Kirsty is on holidays so there is no Creative Space link up on Kootoyoo this week.

No Market This Sunday

The southbank lifestyle markets were booked out this weekend so we were unable to get a spot for this Sunday 26th September =(

There, there don't be sad, we will try again next week and hopefully we will be able to get a spot for Sunday the 3rd October.

- Ky and Cloud

Treasury Tuesday

Woohoo three treasuries this week. Click on the image to go to the treasury page on Etsy or click on the curators name to check out their shop. Thank you to everyone who has included us in their treasuries.

Curated by CaitlinSainio, check out her store to see cute little crochet ornaments and fibre art.

Curated by fellow Dust Team member citykitten, who makes fabric and paper inspired handmade cards, jewellery and homeware.

 Curated by Vintage Basket, who sells vintage bags and purses

- Ky and Cloud

Another Kustom Kraft Market Over

Papa Squee and his clan of mini Squees

On Sunday we attended the last Kustom Kraft market to be held in Brisbane for a while as the organiser is moving down to Melbourne. The Kustom Kraft Market was the first market that we ever held a stall at back in November last year, we have certainly come a long way since then.

We have had to rethink our stall layout again, we now have so much fabric that we just don't have car space to take it all anymore (plus we were one car down on Sunday since my little Torana had broken down a few days before). For future markets we will be displaying all of the fabric that we have meterage for on the front rack and the rest will be available as fat quarters only.

The last of Cloud's Voodoo Rabbit plushies sold and we have discontinued them in favour of the felt Squee bunnys. If anyone is interested we may release the Voodoo Rabbits as a pattern.

The Sugar Shakers

The Sugar Shakers were the first of the three bands that played during the day, because of the rain the bands were set up inside the hall. Each band was good but as they progressed they seemed to get louder, as you can imagine in a small hall this was a bit hard on the ears. The other two bands were The Vampers and Graveyard Rumble.

There was also a food available for the first time ever, the Greaser Burger was awesome.

- Ky

Kustom Kraft Market - Sunday 19th September

This Sunday you will find the bunnies at the Kustom Kraft markets with our brand new Alexander Henry fabrics, which won't be listed in our shop until some time next week.

The Ghastlies, Sebastian Ghastly, Paseo De Los Muertos and Tattoo by Alexander Henry

We will have buttons, fabric fat quarters and fabric panels available as well as meterage of select fabrics (i.e the new Alexander Henry Prints). If you are planning on coming along and would like meterage of a particular fabric let us know and we will make sure that we have it with us:)

When: Sunday 19th September 2010
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Where: Jagera Arts Centre, 121 Cordelia St, South Brisbane (off Vulture St).
What: Alternatve and subculture market (rockabilly, goth, retro, vintage)

It may be a little rainy on Sunday but we will be inside where it is dry, so make sure you pop along for a visit as this may be the last Kustom Kraft market in Brisbane for awhile.

- Ky and Cloud

Fabric Friday: New fabric part 3

We still have lots of new fabric arriving and we have no idea how we are going to list it all as our online store is full to the brim! (we have a number limit on the number of products we can list but don't worry we hope to remedy this before too long.)

First up we have the delicious Meadowsweet 2 range from Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller. This range has a wonderful vintage retro feel to it and the colours are scrumptious.

Meadow Dot in Geranium (orange red) and Robins Egg (light cyan blue)

Paper Snowflakes in Loden (dark green)

Poppy Parade in Loden (dark green)

As well as new stock we have also been able to restock a few popular items that have sold out quickly in the past.

Our Voodoo Rabbit Bunny Squee Large is back in stock and we have also a second, smaller Squee print available as well - Squee Hearts.

We have also managed to stock some more of the Aunt Lindy paper dolls fabric panel, this print was very popular first time around and sold out in a matter of weeks.

All of these fabrics and more can be found in our shop. We ship internationally and have free shipping for Australia Orders over $50.

- Ky and Cloud

Treasury Tuesday

We are in two new treasuries this week. Click on the image to go to the treasury page on Etsy or click on the curators name to check out their shop. Thank you to everyone who has included us in their treasuries.

First up our Original Design Spidery Web Orange Fabric has been included in a happy halloween treasury, we really wish Halloween was a bigger event in Australia is would be so cool.

Curated by fellow team bacon member kokosboutique , make sure you pop by her store to check out her one of a kind hair clips.

Next is a treasury that I would not expect Voodoo Rabbit to have been picked for but it is still very cool to be included. Our Laced Metal and Black Faux Leather Buttons have been included in a football treasury, I guess the lacing on the buttons does look a lot like a football.

Curated by MollysMuses, pop by her store to see her lovely collection of original and vintage photographic prints.

 

- Ky and Cloud

Valley Laneway Market Roundup

We had a great time at the Valley Laneway Markets yesterday. We arrived early and got a very nice spot in Winn lane right next to the Flamingo Cafe. Since we had a bit of space around us we decided to try out a new stall layout, what do you think?

We also had heaps of new fabrics, some of which haven't been listed in our online shops yet. The panels were popular especially these guys (who have just been listed today) they all come on one panel and you simply cut them out and sew them together.

Other popular items were the Domestic Diva, Gnomeville and Alice in Wonderland panels (only 2 Alice panels left).

It was all too much excitment for this puppy who had a snooze next to our stall, we know how she felt, we were both very tired by the end of the day as well.

Next weekend is the Kustom Kraft Markets at the Jagera Arts Centre, 121 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well.

- Ky and Cloud

Valley Laneway Markets - Sunday 12th September

This coming Sunday, we will be at Valley Laneway Markets. We will have fabric on the bolts (so you can get the length that you want), fat quarters, buttons and handmade rabbit goodness. All of our new stock will be available including some that has yet to be listed.

You can find us in Winn Lane (see map below).

We hope to see you there!

- Ky and Cloud

Fabric Friday: New fabric part 2

We have listed some very cool fabrics this week, first up we have lots of super cute gnome fabric from Michael Miller.

Gnomeville Panel

Gnomeville Polka Dots in Black, Moss and Red

Gnomeville Gnoming Around

Gnome-Some Traveller

Just in time for Halloween we have the the Haunted Mansion range by Sanae for Moda. We don't stock much Moda fabric as a rule but we couldn't pass up these great stripe and wallpaper prints.

Spider Stripe in Black

Spider Wallpaper in Black, Green and Purple

Forest Stripe in Purple and Black

In other Halloween news, we are expecting a new shipment of Alexander Henry fabric to arrive in the next week or so with the long awaited Ghastlies designs included, Yay :-)

We still have heaps of fabric to be listed so stay tuned.

- Ky