A Piece Of Cloth

Photo courtesy Gleaners Inc - that's my dress on the left

Tonight was the opening night of A Piece Of Cloth at Gleaners Inc

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the opening, but thank goodness I was thinking ahead, and had all of my pieces completed before that middle of the night phone call came through.

I didn't get a chance to photograph my dress, so I've borrowed one of Liz's lovely photos (above).

From the very beginning, I wanted to take my piece of cloth, use it as inspiration, design my own fabric, and make a dress for the exhibition.

This was my original mocked up design inspiration for the finished dress.

I couldn't stop at one design.... so I included them all in some cards

To finish it off, I also designed a one-off cushion featuring some of my designs.

I can't wait to actually get over to Brunswick to see it...

Sometimes things don't last very long

....before they're snapped up!
 

If you follow me on Instagram (@curlypops), you usually get the first sneaky peek at anything that I'm working on.

The Roses Cushion was snapped up pretty quickly indeed!
 

The Little Boy and The Northern Territory are both heading to Gleaners Inc on Friday.

Did I blog this one?

Does anyone else have trouble keeping up with all of this social media malarkey?

Here's another new cushion design... I'm pretty sure I tweeted and facebooked and instagrammed (@curlypops) it, but I'm sure I forgot to blog about it.

It's all my favourite colours together in harmony!


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A Perfect Match

A little while ago, I made B-Fab and Boyance a personalised cushion as an engagement gift.

I knew that they were moving into a new place, and buying a new couch, so I was having a massive dilemma trying to choose the design colours. 

There was only one solution. I had to engage the specialised spying services of a double agent to find out the colour of the fabric on the couch, and make a cushion to match.....

But, the cushion was blue and grey.... and totally not B-Fab's colours at all.

So, a quick brainwave and.....

Voila!

The Happy Couple now have the perfectly matching set!

A very late engagement

Sometimes handmade gifts don't quite get made in time for an occasion...

The fabric panels arrived on Tuesday and I madly scrambled to get this cushion finished so that I could take it along to NCB lastnight for B-Fab (please forgive the hastily taken blurry iPhone snaps as I was running out the door).

Just in case the design doesn't make any sense to you.... that's the happy couples first initials.

....and here it is in its new home - on Boyance's couch!

Only 1 week late

Better late than never hey!

I finally managed to deliver Bec's completely finished birthday pressie yesterday.... and she loved it. Phew. Although she may have been a teensy bit disappointed that it wasn't a pair of hot pants Anna.

I've been hoarding collecting ribbons and vintage trims for years and years. I have bucketloads of them, in fact.

Another lesson learned from my day at the 6 Steps Workshop.... I must start using what I have, and not living by that old mantra 'She who dies with the most fabric (and trims) wins!' .

I'm completely in love with the way this turned out, so I had a hard time handing it over yesterday.

If you would like to make something similar, it really is easy peasy.

Just cut a piece of calico to the size that you need for your cushion cover front. Without overthinking the placement of ribbons and trim, just start laying down pieces and stitching them into place, criss crossing over as you go. The more random, the better..

(apologies - blurry iPhone snap).

I made sure to change my thread colour to match each piece of trim or ribbon.

(apologies - blurry iPhone snap)

Once everything is stiched into place, neatly trim the edges (you'll notice that this project definitely required coffee).

You can then turn it into a cushion cover, or anything else your imagination can conjure up!

Bunting to the Rescue....

The beautiful coloured bunting has disappeared from Gleaners Inc... but never fear, a brand new batch is heading that way thisafternoon.

I played teatowel lucky dip to decide which country was next on the cushion list....

....and the winner was Suid Afrika (or South Africa to us). Check out that fabbo elephant in the top left hand corner!

If you see anything you like from Gleaners Inc and can't make it into the shop, just get in touch with Liz and she'll organise an online sale for you pronto!

I've added lots of new goodies to the shop too, so pop on over for a little look.

If you're thinking about buying pressies for Christmas, please get in early as there have been lots of reports of delays with Australia Post.

I sent an order to QLD on Nov 2nd which didn't arrive until Nov 15th (13 days later), yet I sent a package to the UK on Nov 11th which arrived on Nov 17th (6 days). It makes no sense!!!

*I have complained to Australia Post and the standard answer was that it can take up to 10 business days for delivery. What the???

Getting Cushy - Part Two

After showing off my most recent foray into cushion making, I'd completely forgotten about these gorgeous cushions that I created for Gleaners Inc.

Scotland..... this one reminded me of my crafty cousin Iona. She runs community craft workshops and has an online eco-shop and a bricks and mortar eco-boutique named Wolf Bones in Glasgow.

Malta...... this one reminded me of Peta Pledger - dressmaker extra-ordinaire

and last but not least Tassie.....

This one reminds me of you Linda!

Getting Cushy

I've needed some new cushions for my bland boring couch for the longest time, so my Go Granny fabric was the perfect solution to add some much needed colour.

So easy to make - you just follow the lines to cut the front cushion panels!

One wasn't enough, so I made a matching pair.... using a plain cotton drill for the backing.

On Saturday afternoon, I finally put them on the couch, plumped them up and admired them, and then walked out of the room.....

..... and when I returned

The Technicolour Chook Strikes Back

Well it seems like an eon ago, but today the technicolour chook is finally making a return.

He's been waiting in the wings (very bad pun intended) for the loooooongest time.

You see, after Vic drew him for me waaaaaay back in March, I ordered a fabric version, with the intention of making my mum a cushion for Mothers Day.

I waited and I waited and I waited...... and after about 8 weeks, he arrived. Two whole weeks after Mothers Day.

Never one to be defeated, I hatched (another very bad pun intended) an alternative plan to make him into a cushion for my mums birthday (which is today).

Somewhere between mid-May and last week, he got completely lost in the fabric jungle known as 'my stash'.

But then luckily on Friday, I had a massive clean up and he magically re-appeared.

Talk about perfect timing...

Original Chook Drawing courtesy of Vic
Green Spotty fabric courtesy of Liz
Perfectly sized zip in Tomato Sauce Red courtesy of the Op Shop Gods
Happy Birthday Mum

The Mookah Challenge - Completed (sort of)

Just in time for the final day of Blogtoberfest.... I completed my challenge set by the lovely girls over at Mookah.

After the complete failure of trying to make the felted jumper into a softie, I appliqued it onto a new cushion cover instead. I used the same base fabric as my one of my new art canvasses, so now I have a cute little cushion for the couch.

There is however half of a felted jumper left over, so I don't think that I can truly say that I completed the challenge...... stay tuned for more felty jumper to come in the future!