Travelling Bunnies - Cotton Carnivale and Riley Blake Fabric

I've been a jet-setting bunny so far this year, first I was in Melbourne attend a bag making workshop with Nicole Mallalieu and last weekend I was off again to attend Cotton Carnivale in Noosa. Cotton Carnivale is a retreat/convention for fabric store owners and teachers held by Millhouse Collection and Riley Blake Fabrics.

Cindy (left) and Jina (right) are from Riley Blake Designs and flew over from the States for the event. They are pictured with Sue Daley the english paper piecing queen.

As well as talks about running a fabric business and Riley Blake fabrics, we had the opportunity to attend workshops to learn new techniques and meet some new pattern designers. Here were are looking very studious as we learn english paper piecing with Sue Daley.

I made this cute little reversible dress with Monica Poole in 2.5hrs!!! The best thing about this dress is that all of the seams are enclosed so you can get a very professional finish without requiring an overlocker. We have been looking for a range of children's patterns and I think that these will be the ones we will stock.

Cute little fox soft toy with Melanie McNeice from Melly & Me.

Machine appliquéd and quilt as you go table runner with Zoe Clifton. No I didn't finish this one during the workshop I had to do the last bit at home. Typical isn't it, you go away to a sewing retreat and come home with new UFO's !!

Fussy cut english paper piecing with Sue Daley - we will be stocking EPP products very soon!

Embroidered pin cushion with Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches, yeah still a bit to go on this one...

On Saturday night we attended a maskerade party. I love to dress up and I'm pretty thrilled with my new The Ghastlies Marilyn dress that I made for the occasion. Steph from Cake Patterns was at the party as well. 

By the end of the weekend I was exhausted but full of new ideas and plans for Voodoo Rabbit, keep an eye out for new products and classes over the coming months.

The last big event for the firs quarter of this year is the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show in March. There is a lot of prep is required for this show so I'd better get started, only 5 weeks to go !!

- Ky 

Travelling Bunny: 3-day Bag Masterclass with Nicole Mallalieu

Last week I flew down to Melbourne to attended a 3-day bag making masterclass with Nicole Mallalieu (You Sew Girl). The class was hosted by Kimono House which is a lovely little fabric shop in Melbourne's CBD which specialises in Japanese fabrics, kimonos/ yukatas and crafts.

Kimono House workshop space

Machines were supplied for all of the out of town students which was a great help.
I was lucky enough to score Nikki's Bernina for the 3 days :) 

On Friday afternoon Leanne, the owner of Kimono House, took us for walk around Melbourne CBD with a focus on craft. The walk ended at Spring Street Grocer, with what is reputed to be the best gelati in Melbourne. I tried three flavours (dairy free chocolate, salted caramel and pistachio) and approved of them all :)

A few of the locations we went to on the tour.
Top: Clementine's (all stock is made and crafted in Victoria) and Corky Saint Clair
Middle: Subject To Change, Gewurzhaus Herb and Spice Merchants, The Cats Meow
Bottom: Morris and Sons, Spring Street Grocer

Nicole demonstrating the finer points of bag making.

Over the 3 days we learnt heaps of tips and tricks from Nikki including techniques for hard bag bases, zipper applications, customising handle straps, and interfacing options. Everyone had a great time and finished sewing up either a Day Bag, Large Tote Bag or Beach Bag.

Hurrying to finish off our bags on Saturday afternoon

All of the finished bags

I made up a Cartas Marcadas Large Satchel and a very Nautical Beach Bag (Beach Bag still requires lining)

I'm quite taken with the bright striped interior of the Large Satchel, especially teamed with the hot pink zipper.

I had a great time away and picked up heaps of tips for professional bag making which I look forward to imparting to our customers and students. We are hoping to run a few bag making workshops at Voodoo Rabbit this year so make sure to sign up to our newsletter (top left on the side menu) for notification of upcoming classes.

- Ky

Fabric Friday - Holiday Travel Fabric

It seems that everyone I know is on holidays or is about to go on holidays and at least one of them will be in Paris for a day. *sigh* Since I'm not going to be travelling anytime soon I'll have to console myself with some travel themed fabric.

Top Row

A Ghastlie Clover Mold Green by Alexander Henry

Passport Vintage Cameras Cream by Northcott

Middle Row

Centennial Solids Turquoise Tide by Marcus Fabrics

Passport Stamps Black by Northcott

Premium Solid Tomato by Northcott

Bottom Row

Passport Paris Map Green by Northcott

Airmail 1930's - Airmail Stripe Cream by Clothworks

In keeping with the travel theme we have finally cut out our You Sew Girl Beauty Case sample. When the camera fabric arrived last week I just knew that I had to use it on this project :)

Bon Voyage till next week.
- Ky

Travelling Bunnies - Den-Den, Giant Bugs & Going home (Day 8)

We're home! First thing yesterday we went back to Excelsior Coffee (a bit like a Japanese version of Starbucks) for breakfast. It was the only place we found in Osaka that had a barista and a real espresso machine and didn't charge 400 yen per coffee (which would be almost $6 AUD with the current rate). Ky was super happy because not only was it a real cappucino, it came with choc sprinkles on top.

Yep another picture of food

Extra added bonus for Ky was grossing me out by eating prawns for breakfast (bottom feeders - totally ick). Ky managed to gross me out a lot on this trip by eating prawns, scallops & octopus tentacles whenever she got a chance to.

After a quick stop for last minute gifts and a play on the giant claw machines at a nearby arcade (Ky won me a Gloomy Bear plushie!!!!) we raced back to the hotel to check out & stash our luggage. We had five hours to kill before we had to catch a train back to Kansai airport & we weren't planning on wasting it.

We jumped on the subway to Nipponbashi station near Den-Den town. Den-Den in Osaka is the equivalent of Akihabara in Tokyo - full of electronics, comics, toys and capsule toy stores. At night, the area is lit up like a Christmas tree. During the day it is quite a lot more subdued.

Den Den town looking downright boring during the day

I was trying to hunt down shops that had accessories for my Usaggie doll - shoes in particular. I can make her clothes myself but no way can I make shoes. Ky researched the 'dolly' stores in Den-Den and found a recommendation for Volks. To be honest, it was a huge disappointment. Not much dolly stuff at all and none for Usaggie (or Blythe either). We stopped off for lunch and decided to wander around a bit afterwards.

In Japan, it pays to look up! We were looking down a side street at a huge 'Melonbooks' sign when we spotted this on the roof of a nearby building. No idea why it was there but we thought it was awesome.
 

Good thing we decided to investigate the giant bug too - it lead us to a back street and a stack of anime, toy & capsule toy stores. One of them, Kotobukiya had what I was searching for - Usaggie shoes! We also found that the same items found in stores on this street were way less expensive than those on Sakai-Suji (the main street).

We then wandered off back towards Namba via Doguya-Suji (Kitchen Town) and Dotombori.

Hovering Cow sign

Tako yaki cooking

 

We got back the hotel, collected our luggage and caught the train from Namba back to Kansai Airport. Along the way Ky managed to run over my foot with her luggage - all 35kg of it >_< All I can say is "Heavy fabric is heavy". We must have looked crazy because we were on the train platform laughing ourselves stupid while I hopped around on one foot trying not to cry and Ky kept saying 'Sorry! Sorry!' over and over again. I guess you just had to be there :P

The flight check-in was almost a disaster. Jetstar still had us down as being in Ecomomy even though we paid for upgrades to Business Class. To fix the problem meant that Ky & I may not have been able to sit together. I got stern. My feet were sore, I wanted a shower & I was not in the mood to deal with Jetstar borking our flight up. We needed to be in Business Class for the luggage limits! We were under by less than a kilo (not including our hand luggage). Like I said before, "Heavy fabric is heavy".

0.6kg under luggage allowance!!

Flights finally sorted, we caught the shuttle train (yup the airport is that big) from the main terminal out to our gate and the Jetstar lounge. No showers. They were back at the main terminal! We decided to have a coffee / snack then go back. I dropped by biscuit into my coffee. Made Ky laugh but it wasn't looking like our airport experience was going very well!

After a hot shower (500 yen & totally worth it) we boarded the plane. Our seats were fixed up and we were sitting together again. Business Class is rad. I've always flown Economy & hated it. This was.... incredible. Customer service, free Bailey's, plunger coffee, real food, hot towels, real napkins, real cutlery, free water... did I mention LEG ROOM! Another great thing about Business Class? When your flight is delayed by 2 hours due to engine problems and Japanese Customs won't let you disembark while the repairs are done you get snacks and LEG ROOM and drinks.

We landed at Coolangatta just after 8.30am. I got home around 11.30 and slept for the rest of the day. The Great Unpacking begins tomorrow.

~ Cloud & Ky

Travelling Bunnies - The Search for Coffee, More Shopping & Osaka Wildlife (Day 7)

Hello Bunneh Lovers! Tonight is our last night in Osaka & we need to pack so this post will be short on words and big on pictures (^_^)

In our ongoing search for good coffee this is the best we have found.

 We slept in (bliss) and then hit the streets for more shopping. After breakfast we explored a craft shop on the second floor of the Daimaru South building in Shinsaibashi Suji, so Cloud could look for yarn. They had lots of yarn but Cloud didn't know how much to get (they sell it in 10g lots off big skeins) so didn't buy any.

Japanese school girls have much more interesting uniforms than we ever had.

Shin Saibashi Suji shopping arcade

We also went back to the Bodyline outlet where Cloud bought her strawberry Lolita shoes. We got busted trying on a jacket by one of the staff members. She said "No try. No try." That meant "No buy. No buy." for us. Japanese styles are so differently cut than Western clothes there was no way were buying clothes without making sure they would fit first. The store did give us inspiration for the types of fabric we could be stocking for the Goth / Lolita / Cosplay crowd though!

Next was back to Otsukaya to pick up the fabric that we couldn't carry yesterday. Last night we worked out how much of our luggage allowance was left so that we could fill to capacity. We bought more lace trim - pink with embroidered cherries, skulls and spiders. We raced back to the hotel, dropped off our loot and went straight back out again.

Cloud got herself a new hairdo and also some shoes for her Usaggie doll. Then back on the subway and off to Umeda for a quick trip to Kinokuniya Books, Yodobashi Camera and Vie de France for a maple scone.

On the way home we checked out the Osaka wildlife.

Isn't it pretty?

Now it's off to pack, weigh our luggage again, see how much we can cram into carry-on and get ready to fly home tomorrow night. If we can get free Wi-Fi in the airport tomorrow night we will post again.

~ Cloud & Ky

Travelling Bunnies - Kokka & Fabric Store Raids (Day 6)

We had our appointment with Kokka this morning and it was AMAZING!  Australia is the last to see the new ranges after release at the international shows (like the recent Spring Quilt Fair in Salt Lake City) so getting to see them a week after the event was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

We were very lucky that Kokka has an English woman working there at the moment so we had a translator (^_^) Cloud knows enough Japanese to get herself into trouble but that is about it!

We placed an order that should (hopefully) get to us in Australia in about 3 months or so. Here is a preview for you.

New Melody Miller Ruby Star Spring Range

After finishing up at Kokka we decided that it was time to do some more craft shopping for ourselves. First up, we took off to Namba Park to go to World Craft Shop. It isn't there anymore (>_<) but there was a great bookstore which used to have a large collection of craft books. I say 'used to' because we bought about half of it! Namba Park is also a pretty cool building becuase it has rooftop gardens - greenery is not common in downtown Osaka.

Toraya in Ebisu Shopping Street was our next stop. Success! Not only was this fabric store still in existence it was 3 levels chock full of textile goodness. We found some really cute goth / lolita pre-ruffled trim, skull ribbon tape, and new Kokka in colourways that we hadn't already ordered.

It was bucketing with rain but we rushed back to the hotel to drop off our parcels, jumped back on the subway and went to our next store - Otsukaya in Esaka. Again there was far too much too choose from. Otsukaya not only has Japanese prints, they also have a small range of Alexander Henry and also Liberty of London prints. The fabric of the day (it was a tough competition too) would absolutely have to be this Hello Kitty x Liberty print.

WANT!

Tomorrow we are going back to Otsukaya for the fabrics that we couldn't carry today. We also needed to check our luggage allowance to make sure we could bring everything back home! Also on the agenda is finding shoes for Cloud's new toy - a cute Usaggie doll (^_^)

We fly home on Wednesday evening so tomorrow may be our last blog post from Osaka. The blog posts about Osaka may be going for a while though - we have a load of photos.

~ Cloud & Ky