New in Store - 14th August 2016

I have had so many new fabrics come in over the last week or two that is is going to take me a few weeks to get them all up on the website. This week I have added a couple of Cotton & Steel fabrics from the Playful and Tokyo Train Ride Collections. 

Frida's garden in the home decorator weight are back in the ever popular black and tea colour, be quick if you want either of these as they generally don't last long. 

For those of the rockabilly persuasion there are flamingos, zombie pinup girls, day of the dead and tattoo sewing notions.

Vintage Vogue and Butterick ladies dress patterns have also been restocked with an addition of a new Circa 1954 close-fitting dress with low scoop neckline bodice extending into cap sleeves, upper bodice front gathers, darted at waist, flared skirt.

Top Row

Vintage Vogue Pattern V2960 - Button Front Dress

Flamingo Paradise Water Flamingos Blue By Robert Kaufman

Flamingo Paradise Floral Flamingos Multi By Robert Kaufman

Vintage Couturier Tattoo Aqua By Robert Kaufman

2nd Row

Playful Viewfinders Navy By Cotton & Steel

Playful Playroom Pink By Cotton & Steel

Playful Viewfinders Natural By Cotton & Steel

3rd Row

Tokyo Train Ride Train Ride Aqua By Cotton & Steel

Tokyo Train Ride Shibuya Mustard By Cotton & Steel

Tokyo Train Ride Harajuku Aqua By Cotton & Steel

Bottom Row

Fashion For Home - Frida's Garden Black By Alexander Henry

Beauties And Brains (Zombie Pinups) Mauve By Alexander Henry

Dia De La Catrina Black By Alexander Henry

Fashion For Home - Frida's Garden Tea By Alexander Henry

Till next week, happy sewing :)

- Ky

New in Store - 13th December 2015

This week is all about the Alexander Henry Fabrics, we have new fabrics from the Folklorico and Haunted House ranges plus a few oldies but goodies :)

Top Row

Fiesta De San Marcos Midnight By Alexander Henry

Heart Of Darkness Black/Orange By Alexander Henry

Heart Of Darkness Black/Red By Alexander Henry

Favourite Haunts Black By Alexander Henry Fabric

2nd Row

Mi Vida En Papel Black/Multi By Alexander Henry

Mini Calaveras Black By Alexander Henry

Alma Y Corazon Black By Alexander Henry

Todo Para Ti (Frida Kahlo) Turquoise By Alexander Henry

3rd Row

Catrina Floral Natural/Bright By Alexander Henry

Dia De La Catrina Natural By Alexander Henry

Catrina Floral Black By Alexander Henry

Dia De La Catrina Black By Alexander Henry

Bottom Row

Mirage Navy By Alexander Henry

Mindblowers Natural By Alexander Henry

Sweethearts Natural By Alexander Henry Fabric

Till next week, happy sewing :)

- Ky

New in Store - January 19

Lots of new Alexander Henry from the Indochine and Nicole's Prints ranges. 

Top

The Rose Tattoo Tea by Alexander Henry

Vinyl Vacation Light Tea by Alexander Henry

Middle

Full Deck Tea by Alexander Henry

The Rose Tattoo Black Tea by Alexander Henry

Aki Bonsai Blue by Alexander Henry

Aoi Has 2 Sisters Turquoise/Red by Alexander Henry

Bottom

Aki Bonsai Red by Alexander Henry

Vinyl Vacation Natural/Pink by Alexander Henry

A-Chan Border Pink by Alexander Henry

Lots of Voodoo Rabbit favourites are now back in stock !!!

Top Left

Frida's Garden Black by Alexander Henry

Top Right

Frida's Garden Tea by Alexander Henry

Bottom Left

Skulls and Roses by Alexander Henry

Bottom Right

Resting In Roses Black by Alexander Henry

Till next week
- Ky

New Fabric Jan 12 - Frida Khalo and Charlie Harper

Left

Frida La Catrina Dark Marine by Alexander Henry

Baile De Calaveras Tea/Marine by Alexander Henry

Middle

Charlie Harper Cardinal Stagger Cream by Birch Fabrics

Charlie Harper Feeding Station Cream by Birch Fabrics

Charlie Harper Twigs Tomato Red by Birch Fabrics

Right

Route 66 Black by Alexander Henry

Frida La Catrina Dark Eggplant by Alexander Henry

If you have always wanted to learn how to sew why not sign up for our Beginners Sewing Class.

Learn to Sew - from Zilch to Zips (5 weeks from January 21)

- Ky

Fabric Friday - Route 66 via Hot Rod, Muscle Car and Semi Trailer Truck

How would you travel the iconic Route 66? How about via a sexy Muscle Car, or a vintage Hot Rod or really make an impression in a massive semi trailer with a custom paint job? With these fabrics you can go with all three!

Top Row

Custom Cabs Natural by Alexander Henry

Outfoxed Stripe Navy Blue by Andover

Middle Row

Hot Rods Red by Alexander Henry

Premium Solid Daffodil by Northcott

Route 66 Black by Alexander Henry

Bottom Row

Pure Muscle Royal Blue by Alexander Henry

Spot On Pindot Cardinal Red by Robert Kaufman

- Ky

Sewing a Circle Skirt with Voodoo Rabbit Fabric and Funky Friends Factory

A few weekends ago Voodoo Rabbit (Ky and Cloud) had a fun filled sewing day with Pauline from Funky Friends Factory. Pauline and I sewed up some cool 50s style circle skirts and Cloud started a Hummingbird inspired pencil/straight skirt (more on that skirt in a future post ;)

Although a deft hand at sewing soft toys Pauline hasn't really sewn clothing before so this was a new challenge for her and I got a chance to test out my teaching skills. 

Cutting out

Pockets successfully attached to the front of the skirt, now what?

Pauline's first invisible zipper, looks pretty good doesn't it :)

Pauline testing the twirl factor of her skirt - it met her approval :) If you come and visit us at Rockabilly Riot this is probably what you are going to find her doing.

Voodoo Rabbit have some Circle Skirt classes coming up where you can learn how to sew a Full Circle Skirt with side seam pockets, invisible back zipper and a waistband. You will also learn how to fussy cut your fabric so that you get the best-looking skirt possible from your chosen design.

Convenient pockets sewn into the side seams.

If you would like to be part of our Circle Skirt workshop the first class will be held on Sunday July 21 from 10am - 5pm (1hr break for lunch) and the second will be in September. More information and sign up can be found in our webstore: Learn to Sew - Circle Skirt (July 21).

Finished circle skirts, what do you think? Pauline used Tiki Winki Poppy by Michael Miller and I used Hula Skull Black by Alexander Henry.

- Ky

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

Fabric Friday: New fabric part 1

We are finally starting to make our way through the mountain of new fabric that has arrived in the last few weeks. It has all been photographed and all of the images have been processed in photoshop (except for the 5 new bolts that arrived today).

Here are the fabrics that have been listed in the last week.

Anime Geisha Cartoon by Transpacific

Anime Beach Trip by Transpacific

Half Web by Voodoo Rabbit

Shelburne Circus by Windham Fabrics

Tiki Lounge by Alexander Henry

Domestic Diva Panel and Utensil Damask by Riley Blake

Bunny Goth Apron Panel by Voodoo Rabbit

... and that isn't even half of what we have received.

We need space in our shop for all of the new fabric so don't forget to check out the sale section, we added in some Alexander Henry and Michael Miller today.

- Ky and Cloud

Fabric Friday: Tiki

Aloha!

We have received a new batch of goodies from Alexander Henry! These fantastic Tiki prints were ordered waaaaay back in November last year and we are so excited that they are here :D

First up, is Tiki Gods. It is possible that this may all get used up as shop 'samples' because Polymonkey needs a new shirt and Cloud is angling for a halter neck dress out of it. Cloud is slack though when it comes to getting around to sewing new clothes so get in quick!

If Cloud is lucky, I will let her have a dress or a halter top out of Tiki Island (above) instead of the Tiki Gods. Maybe. The aqua background is quite summery & this fabric would make an amazing bikini with matching sarong.

We have one more Tiki fabric on order (a smaller, red version of the Tiki Island). Hopefully it will arrive soon!

Ky

New Dress

I have been working on this dress for quite a while now and have only just managed to finish it.
The pattern is Vogue 2902 and it is only the second Vogue pattern that I have attempted to make. As Vogue patterns are notoriously difficult, I enlisted some help from my sewing teacher, Alison. Even with help it was a difficult pattern to fit due to the strange way that the bodice is constructed. I don't think I have ever done as much unpicking as I did on this dress.

The top band and straps are sewn as a seperate piece that is then topstiched over the main bodice piece. The fit can't be checked until this step has been done. Unfortunately for me, it is the point where I discoverd that the dress needed to be taken in approx 2cm on each side. I had to unpick and resew the side seams on the lining, bodice, piping and top band to do the adjustment.

The front darts are very short and deep and difficult to sew without having pointy bits at the front of the dress. Madonna in her Gaultier stage is not the look I was going for! In the end Alison suggested turning the darts into fake princess seams so that they could be eased out over a longer distance and the pointy bits avoided.

The waistband also proved to be problematic. It took several attempts to get it straight. I also made a belt to hide any remaining wonkiness.

The outer fabric is a Yuwa print that I picked up on sale while I was in Japan earlier this year.
I have lined the dress with cotton voile which ended up costing 2 or 3 times more than the outer fabric. It is worth it as cotton is much better than a synthetic lining in the Brisbane summer heat.

Overall the dress has turned out ok and the skirt has a satisfyingly high twirl rating.

Ky

Fabric Friday: Cherries, Cherries and more Cherries

Since last August the bunnies have been sourcing as many Cherry themed fabrics as we can lay our little paws on. We have amassed a nice little collection and in keeping with this weeks rockabilly theme I thought I would show them all off.

Top
Nostalgic Memories on yellow or blue by Yuwa
Cherry Picked Gingham by Wilmington Prints
Cherry Picked Labels by Wilmington Prints

Middle
Berry Delicious on aqua by Moda
Vintage Cherries by Michael Miller
Classic Cherries on Black- Japanese Cotton Fabric

Bottom
Okiniri by Kiyohara & Co Ltd
Lovely Punch Girls - Kitties by Lecien
Patchwork Berries by Kokka

We adore each and every one of these prints and would love the opportunity to keep them all to ourselves (especially Cloud) but alas we must let them go.
Any one of these prints could be used to make or embellish an awesome outfit, apron, bag, quilt, the options are endless. What would you make?

Ky

My Creative Space...

Creativity has been a bit light on this week as my sewing room is a mess in the aftermath of the Kustom Kraft market last weekend, full of boxes of fabric and buttons waiting to be unpacked.

My latest Spoonflower fabric swatches arrived yesterday. Please forgive the foldline through the middle of the samples, my ironing board was under 5 layers of stuff when I was taking the photos.

This set is from my Cherry Tattoo Collection and the print is very imaginatively called Flaming Cherry Tattoo Large. It is available in 4 colourways.

This one is from a new collection I am starting called 8-bit love, it is called Heart of Darts and was designed in collaboration with my partner Polymonkey. He has a program on his iPhone called 32x32 and creates 8-bit doodles on it obsessively. I decided I should take them and incorporate them into fabric designs.

Don't forget to check out Kirsty's blog for some more creative spaces.

Ky