The pointy end

The next few weeks are full and busy with my favourite markets all lined up. 

Just in time to think about some new things for this little turn towards Autumnal weather.

This Saturday you'll find me back in Seddon at the Maribyrnong Makers Market.

I love this market, you will too!

And then on Sunday, I'll be back in Geelong for Piccadilly Market.

Another favourite, in a lovely venue.

And I'm going to be neighbours with my very good friend Crayon Chick.

That'll be fun!

After that comes Easter here at home in Apollo Bay.

I've been working on lots of new things, including some gorgeous heavy and soft jumbo cord skirts.

Perfect for cooler days (at last!).

Making

Only a week to go until another Melbourne Finders Keepers!

I do love this event.

It's huge, it's in the beautiful and historic Royal Exhibition Buildings, there's so many great designers, and live music as well.

I'll be trying to get out and catch up with some of my maker friends too. 

It feels like ages since I've got out from behind my sewing machine!

There's been lots of shirt making, and the arrival of a spur of the moment purchase of some truly beautiful smooth and silky cotton chambray kept me busy for a couple of days working on a new skirt design.

And here she is.

Of course, there's a bit of Liberty worked in. 

I can't help it!

Making a start

It's a little bit limbo land here at the moment.

Even though the calendar says we still have a whole month of Summer to enjoy, my thoughts are slowly turning towards those cooler days that'll be here soon enough.

Thankfully, it's never a chore to have a play around with some new fabrics!

And so, I'm making a start.

Skirt nostalgia

Loving this skirt, from Tilly.

The Frankie & Ray skirt-a-thon continues, so perhaps I've got skirts on the brain this week.

I was just taking a little afternoon tea break from the sewing, and taking a little wander around when I came across this heavenly summery skirt.

It's taken me straight back to my high school needlework class, and the planning for that essential wardrobe item for a teenage girl - the knee length wrap skirt, preferably in a print just like this one. Or maybe with a palm tree or two. Or a hibiscus flower. Oh, the choices, the colours, the possibilites!

I can remember all that delicious anticipation of just how fabulous the finished garment was going to be. 

I'm feeling quite young again, or maybe a bit old!

Easily distracted

This new fabric arrived in the mail yesterday....

...and this wasn't on my list of things to do today!

Nicely balanced

Today's been one of those rare days where I've managed a bit of everything.

A gorgeous morning saw the old bloke and I take to the local golf course for a whack around 9 holes in the sunshine. We're hopeless, but we're not letting that stop us.

Then we stopped at our favourite local deli, Wickens, for the best coffee in town. We bumped into a couple of friends there and had a nice chat.

Then after a bit of lunch we took the hound down to the beach for a quick swim.

Home again, and a few hours at the sewing machine working with some great new fabric and I've finished a skirt that'll be making an appearance in my range soon.

This is a new hemp and organic cotton 'denim' I've been waiting to get my hands on for a while.

It feels a little bit like a cross between linen and silk, it's kind of crisp and smooth at the same time.

It's kind of lighter weight than I thought it would be, but perhaps that's a good thing? Good for warmer weather, and ok for Winter with some boots and tights.

I love the result!

If only every day went so smoothly!

Playing around with pockets

With no pressing need to go anywhere or do anything much this week has given me a bit of time to explore a new pocket idea.

I was loving this fabric as pockets on a ticking stripe skirt a little while ago, but ran out of the stripe.

I've been wanting to try one big patch pocket on a skirt for a while, so this seemed like a good way to make use of my fabric, and try something new as well!

First try resulted in a pocket a little bit too small, but I'm happy with the proportions of this one.

Now I just need to make a couple more to take to market this Saturday!

It seems I'm very good at giving myself things to do....

Loving Thursdays

I'm loving Thursdays.

I'm finding myself looking forward to the weekly show and tell that is My Creative Space.

I love seeing what all the players have been up to in the week.

It's also putting a spring in my endeavours, helping me to keep motivated in the run up to a busy market time!

This week's all about pockets, and skirts to go with the pockets.

These pockets are made from the off cuts from fabric I've been using for some shirts.

I hate throwing any left overs away, and in one of those aha moments, I realised this is actually a pretty nice match with the navy stripe cotton.

A little bit French, n'est pas?

New blue

There's less than a week to go until Finders Keepers, and I'm alternating between thinking I'll never be ready, and being very excited.

So, with this kind of time frame (and state of mind), I've been mad enough to decide to add another skirt into my range!

I just couldn't help but buy some of this very Summery light weight chambray cotton, the colour just seduced me.

Gosh, darn, they are difficult to photograph though.

Hello sunshine!

Well, I was gearing up for another grumble about this cold old Spring, and just like that the clouds have cleared, the rain has stopped, and the wind has dropped!

It's still a bit on the chilly side here, but goodness knows, I am not complaining!

Perhaps I've conjured up some sunshine with the return of my favourite floral linen?

Christmas is coming

Here's a little look at the new skirts I'll have ready for Shirt & Skirt next week.

I'm very happy with the way the new linen pockets look against the stripe. I'll be working on having some red stripe ones ready too.

A call from I Dream a Highway for more stock made me realise that it's only 2 weeks until Christmas! Some more t-shirts and belts have gone to them in today's post.

A big stocktake of t-shirts has left me in a small panic, but never fear, my fantastic suppliers are pulling out all stops to get their orders filled before closing for the break. I seem to get caught by surprise at how quickly December goes by every year.

I've also ordered some more fabric today, and am looking forward to working with something new for my red 3/4 sleeve t-shirts.

Oh, it's going to be a busy week!

Sneak preview

I am officially in pre Magnolia Square mode.

Early up this morning, no dawdling over breakfast with the newspaper, a bit of grocery shopping done before 10am, and straight to my workroom.

I've started work on my new tea towel idea, Summer skirts with vintage tea towel pockets.

I'm calling these my Deckchair Skirts, because that stripe reminds me of that lovely canvas stripe that was on some timber deckchairs that we had at home when I was a young girl.

I have 2 colourways, and hope to have about 4 skirts in each ready to go by this time next week.