A therapeutic cushion!

The short version of this blog post goes like this. Had a crap week, made an awesome cushion that made all the planets align and now I feel awesome {insert picture of totally blissed out Byron Bay earth mother cradling baby here}.

The long version goes like this......

I have had complete and utter life-fail this week. Like, COMPLETE meltdown stuff.

Everything I did sucked. From dropping everything I touched, insomnia, burning food, not having enough milk (and not the normal cow kind either if you get my drift...) panic attack central, somehow tangling the threads on my overlocker (?!?!?!), my blog went into free-fall when I deleted some html, general arguments over stupid things with Hubby and a new found phobia of snakes (well, the old lady over the road did have one in her letterbox so that one is kinda legit). My week has sucked. Big time. And to top it off? Hubby went to a titty bar this afternoon. Noice. Just what these saggy, lifeless boobies need. Some perky 18 year old competition. Even my daughter doesn't want them. Don't even get me started on that (I will most definately cry).

And did I mention that Hubby is a Kiwi and the frikin Rugby World Cup started tonight? Yes, woe is me.

There are other, bigger things that happened too which I won't go into here. But let's just say they are pretty pivotal and life changing. Enough to make me a hormonal nervous wreck. And before you ask, NO I am not pregnant. Ew, definately not. Ew. EW! Like wouldn't I like, have to, you know, do.....that...thing? Nope, definately not pregnant.

So while I was trying to scrape my blog back together (you like? It's all shiny and kinda new!) I found all these other reeeeeaaaalllly cool blogs that are doing exactly what I want to do if I ever get time ever, ever, ever again. Instead of being all cool and composed about it, the green-eyed monster came out and I have been super depressed ever since.

I haven't had the urge, want or need to sew all week. For the first time since MLL started I have no orders for bunting. Instead of being upset about the downturn in business I am breathing a sigh of relief. I can have creative headspace and do what I want for a little while. Which this week involved sleeping at odd hours and teaching myself html coding.

Then this afternoon I decided to finish a cushion I had started a week ago for my Spring range. There were bits here, bits there. I accidentally cut the wrong size peice of fabric 3 times. Yep, fail continues. I was trying to 'meet the market'. What would someone want to buy? Were there too many fabrics on the one cushion? Someone suggested doilies, which I had actually been toying with. Definately. Yep, doilies. But no, that didn't work either. After cutting the wrong size for the 4th time I looked at my ironing board, now totally covered in bits of odd shaped pink fabric. What on earth was the universe trying to tell me? Then I listened to my creative heart. I wanted to make a birdy cushion. I wanted to put ric-rac on it, make it zhooshy and girly. I wanted doilies, frills, roses, birds, shabby sewing, applique and it all had to be on the one cushion.

So I started to stitch. And I realised then that when I let myself go, when I made what I really, honestly wanted to make then I was happy. I played for ages with techniques that I had been meaning to try but didn't have time. Using thick upholstery thread, shabby style applique. I let my imagination run wild and when I realised how happy I was at that exact moment I knew that the cushion I was making I could never sell. At what price is happiness? No, this cushion was for my Minky. To say sorry for being a horrible, miserable Mummy this week. With each snagged thread or wonky seam I didn't care about un-picking it to make it sellable. After all it was for my baby girl, to say 'I love you', and a reminder to myself to be honest to my craft. Because that is what will make me happy in the end. So here it is.

Better go, Sonny Bill just had his shirt ripped off on the field. Poor Sonny......

J xx

Life as I know it. And a bit of sewing.

Is it wrong that I am watching Sesame Street? Alone?

While you ponder that question I will keep going.

Life has changed. BIG TIME. I just had this awesome/horrifying flashback to this time a few years ago when I would have loved to still be in my PJ's at 9am. Instead I was running around in heels, late for work in the city. Large double-shot-skim latte in one hand, mobile in the other texting the girls about where Friday night drinks would be.

Never in a million years did I think I would be living in suburbia on the Gold Coast with a baby, doing my best impression of a stay-at-home Mum and housewife. Sigh. I do look back fondly at those days.

It isn't with a heavy heart I write this though. I adore my life - even if my husband thinks otherwise when he walks in the door at 6pm each night. I am reminded often of how lucky I am to be able to work from home (or not at all) and still have a comfortable roof over my head.

The curse of the suburban housewife has also sparked a few other memories. My own childhood in suburban Sydney in the late 70s and 80s. A time when we had no footpath on Castle Hill Road, Cherrybrook didn't exist and summer consisted of a long drive to Mona Vale beach or playing under the sprinkler.

The smell of jasmine and blossoms filled each September day with the promise of warmth and fun times ahead. As each day inched ever so longer, afternoons after school would be filled with playing in the backyard with friends (real or imaginary) in the sandpit or collecting snails. I remember once I was at a 'little friend's' house after school and we had each found about 3 snails each in her garden. Her Mum put mine in a snaplock bag to take home and as I sat in the back of Mum's Datsun 1600 on the short drive home I started sucking the the corner of the bag - yes I was an odd child! Suddenly I accidentally inhaled a peice of plastic. Terrified of what would happen to my snails, I didn't utter a word but spent the rest of the evening convinced I would stop breathing and drop dead. Needless to say I was fine, although I think Mum disposed of the snails rather quickly before they ate their way out and into her garden.

I look at Minky now and giggle at all the funny things she will do out in the garden.

It is her first spring.

All this has inspired me to make some pretty things that reflect all these memories. Spring flowers, caterpillars, garden pants and pretty dresses to get all muddy.

If I ever get any time to get out of my Farex-clad pj's and back behind the sewing machine!

Better go, Bananas have just started!

xxx

If the dress fits...

I've been thinking for ages about a new direction. Left, right, straight ahead? Well a bit of each actually...

Since I this blog is a journal of my creative journey I will start with the basics.

I want to create. Design, sew, paint, draw, sing, dance etc. You name it. I want to work with colour and fabric. I want to create beautiful rooms from unique pieces. I want to make the old and dull full of life and colour.

No more sitting around reading interiors magazines and craft blogs. I AM going to do what I want.

Not sure if anyone has noticed but I have had a bit of a dilemma lately. I have felt for a long time that I want to have a go at making clothes, particularly for girls. But the market is swamped. Which kinda makes me think, well who am I really trying to please? You or me? I certainly don't making a living out of any of it so it has to be about making myself happy.

Girls' stuff is a natural progression for me as I have Minky who is now almost 8 months. Most of my friends have toddler girls too so there is an instant market for anything I make. But again, I don't really want to make to sell. And I don't want to be seen as following everyone else. If any moola comes from it then that's a bonus. It will really just fund my fabric addiction. I just want to create for the love of it. Having spent hours trawling e-patterns I have found a few cute ones that I will try, but for me it isn't so much about shmancy patterns but about colour and using awesome fabrics together to create fun clothes.

The other thing I want to do is more interior design focused. I'm about to embark on a custom order including a cushion. Not a huge deal but it's a tiny step in the direction I would like to see myself head. Could you imagine a whole coordinating My Little Lovebird Nursery range? Ooooooeeeeee!!! Yes please!

Anyways, back to dressmaking. I had a little practice run while I was on holidays. This was the outcome. Eek! Embarrassment time. My MIL gave me some old fabric to use. My French seams aren't perfect but I learnt a lot, like how to ruffle and use an overlocker.

So here goes. Please don't laugh!!

Cute pattern my MIL had at her place. For a first attempt EVER at sewing a dress it was bloody hard!!

First ever pillowcase dress! I even made my own bias. Awww clever me!

So that is that. Who knows what will pop up on my page in the coming months. I just have to repeat to myself 'do it because you love it. Do it for yourself'. That is what I really want.

J xxx

Family Vintage

When I was over in NZ a few weeks back, my mother-in-law pulled out an old brown paper bag, the type you used to get groceries in. I was puzzled as to what old goodies she had kept for all these years. She had already pulled out heaps of my husband’s blocks from when he was a baby, and his sister's old rocking doll. This is a house full of immaculately kept vintage treasures.

So you can imagine I nearly fell off my chair when she started to pull out about half a dozen dresses she had made for her daughter in the 1970s. The fabrics alone sent me into heart palpitations and left me absolutely itching to get back to the sewing machine and bolt to the nearest antique linen shop (more on that later!).

Back in those days, my father-in-law worked 3 jobs and ran his own business to pay the mortgage and my MIL stayed at home raising the babies. There wasn't any left over income for new clothes and they live in a fairly remote place with only a local corner shop. Where as these days it is seen as kind of trendy and kitsch for a middle-class WAHM to pick up a needle and thread, back then it was a means of saving money and be thrifty.

With my passion for sewing I was totally awestruck at the beautiful work she had done and each one was still in amazing condition. Worn a bit on the edges from days spent playing in the yard or down by the river, but still beautiful and a testament to her skill.

So here are a few photos I took. None of which do justice to the fabrics in cotton and cord. I am now endeavouring to sew my own dresses. I did complete two while I was there, but more on that later.

Enjoy xx

Chickens and Eggs

It's been an interesting day in Facebook-land. It all started long, long ago.....

There were these frilly nappy covers. And doilies. And lace. And 'vintage' prints of cute things. Then came along some talented women who turned these things into hot, must-have items for little girls (and the odd boy). Now let's not forget that these are products made by Mums, for kids.

So this morning two very strange and coincidental things happened. Firstly, I found a new designer on FB who is making things very similar to a designer I already follow who has been around for yonks. I noticed the similarities and was going to email her (established designer, not the newbie) but thought i'd leave it, best not meddle. Ironically, this designer had already been alerted today to the fact that someone else completely different had indeed been finding quite a lot of 'inspiration' in her work. So much so that this person decided to almost identically replicate one of her designs and sell it on a popular site. By the time I had finished my coffee I felt so sorry for this poor woman. Here, by her own talent, she had effectively spawned a series of imitators. Or 'inspirations'. Call it what you will, there were undeniable similarities too close to call coincidence.

A third horrible thing then happened when I thought I'd check out my own page on said crafty-selling website. Lo and behold there is someone selling something incredibly similar to one of my own designs. I had NEVER EVER seen one of these particular 'things' before I started making them. And to make matters worse, it wasn't listed months ago, it was listed very recently, like yesterday. Very recently after I have listed very similar listings. Lsts use an example here. Say there are heaps of people selling teddy bears. They all have different clothes on them, some are blue, some are pink, some are big, some are small. Then I start making two-headed teddy bears. I didn't invent the teddy but I did add an extra head to it. Then lets say that within a few days another person starts selling two-headed teddy bears. How do I feel? (Besids making creepy toys, lets not even go there. Probably not the best analogy but it was all I could come up with!) Not only that but this person actually re-worded my text! The bloody nerve!!! Should I feel flattered? Trust me, there aint a huge market here for 'two-headed teddy bears'!!!

So here I was feeling all sorry for my fave designer when I too was kicked in the guts. It hasn't left me all day but has given me a lot to think about.

Is there a difference between 'design' and 'inspiration'? Can a true designer ever claim inspiration without a certain level of artistic credit going to the original object?

We aren't coming up with completely unique ideas here folks. Yes, we put our own very personalised marks on things. This is what makes a designer different from an inventor. None of us invented the ruffled nappy cover, pinny or embellished baby singlet. Hell, I didn't invent bunting but I mix and match certain bits and call them certain things. Nor did anyone invent the dress but it is what that person adds to it that makes it unique. We certainly aren’t the first to up-cycle doilies or make yo-yos or appliqué singlets. Unless you own copyright over a certain image then it is free for all. But it is what you do with it that counts. Or what you don't do with it more to the point. If you are going to use a very distinctive motif then be sure it hasn't been done before. Any credibility you have as a designer will be instantly dismissed, no matter how genuinely original you think you may have been. Research people - sadly someone has probably already done what you want to do.

Today I have been left with an eerie feeling that all this 'niceness' on Facebook can sometimes be a facade for something simmering just below the surface. Or perhaps that is just because I have been hurt and bullied before and I am the cynical one. (I was going to mention bullying here but that is another blog post entirely).

At the end of the day we have to remember who we are doing this for. It might be our own small businesses but our products are for children. Babies. Little people who look up to us as role models.

Oh and if you want to take 'inspiration' from my designs or anyone elses, a final word. Don't make it so bleedingly bloody obvious!

What I lurve

I am hopelessly in love with so many things at the moment. I have never been so inspired, so full of creative energy. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

So I made a list. As you do!

The list is mainly comprised of pages/people I have met through FB and subsequently blogs, etsy stores, madeit stores, markets... Oh my! It goes on and on and on....

I feel like I have been re-born into this crafty movement. I have turned into a circa 1950s housewife, mother, sewing fanatic and I LOVE it!!

I had a horrible dream last night about packing up my house and having to move interstate. Horrible I tell you! But in reality it's ok because A. I am not moving, and B. Everything I have grown to love is on the internets. Isn't it great??!

So here is The List, not in any particular order, of what is making me so squeekily happy at the moment. Drum roll.....

~ Frilly nappy covers. I know, I know, I am late to the bus stop on that one. But hey, ruffles on a little bum are so cute. Tell me they're not??

~ Fabric. Oh lordy, fabric. Soft and floraly, stripy and bright. You name it. I love the feel of it, the folds when it's fresh out of the envelope in the mail. I keep even the tiniest winciest offcuts. I'm scared my cat will eat one and choke.

~ Dresses for Minky. Am I brave enough to start making them? Refer to above point. Bunting just isn't enough to satisfy my crafty-fabric loving ways at the moment.

~ Crafty blogs. Don't have time to mention them all here but sheesh, there are some rippers. That's another bloggy entry all together.

~ Boys stuff. There just isn't enough of it and I want more!!

~ Vintage childrens book illustrations and cartoons. I am getting some serious inspiration from the past.

(from Sweet Eye Candy Creations)

~ This crazy little blonde thing. AND this dress by Here Kitty Kitty (I can't even put it in the cupboard it's so pretty)

Do I really have to say more??!

Kids v's Design

I'm blogging when I should be putting the washing on the line. I'm blogging when Minky is asleep and I should be having a shower. I'm blogging instead of making a coffee. Oh, hang on that last one IS important, back in a sec....

*sip* Ah that's better!

So much to catch up on, so little time. I keep thinking about all these cool things I am going to write about and how I will become the next really interesting person on blogger. Alas Minky keeps me too busy and I am trying to juggle home, sewing and all that. So for now my interesting-ness will have to stay in my own head and be drip fed to you all one post at a (far in between) time.

One thing that I have been thinking about lately though is kid's rooms. Funny that, since I spend most of my day and night in one. I read an article somewhere, maybe Home Beautiful or the SMH or somewhere about a new kid's store opening up in Sydney around Dank Street. Without going into too much detail it basically put forward the idea that people who have mega-trendy homes need mega-trendy rooms for their little ones so they can keep their bedroom doors open without being embarrassed. Why should you let a children's messy, Dora splattered room spoil the overall aesthetic of your shiny, Eames filled inner city terrace? I had to laugh at the photo of this shop. Honestly it had about 3 things on the shelves, none of which the average toddler would find even moderately interesting. I'd be terrified of letting a 3 year old loose in there in case he/she left muddy footprints on the shiny white polished concrete floors! Most 6 year old girls would rather stare at their own reflection, play with their hair and wonder what to dress Barbie in when she got home than admire the fine lines of the retro-inspired foot stools (something apparently kid's reeeealy need in their bedroom).

So it got me thinking about how our own design ideas filter though to our babies rooms. From the initial stages of planning a 'nursery' right up to teenage rooms (the latter I will not *thank GOD* have to experience for a long while yet).

Having a strong passion for design, colour and interiors didn't sway me to make Minky's room 'fit' with the style of the rest of the house. She is a baby, babies need baby rooms. She didn't need a $3000 cot, Swedish bed linen or wall art that would be more at home in the Tate Modern. She needed a cuddly cot, white just to keep it simple, soft fluffy toys and a comfy chair for me to sit in. I kept it neutral with splashes of bright red and green as we didn't know if bub was a he or a she. And the rest I made myself.

Sure, I had off cuts from Cloth fabric which I turned into cushion covers but I always kept it child friendly. Bright. Soft. Not hard and stark. My baby needed a warm coocoon not a reminder that Mum and Dad were at the forefront of cutting edge 'staarl' and just itching to be featured in the next Vogue Living.

Kiddies need a bedroom that is inviting. So what if they want to splash Barbie from one end to another? Have Bratz dolls curtains and a Dora doona cover? Let them be kids. They don't understand the difference between Bebe Jou and the Wiggles. They just care that little Jack next door gets a Ben 10 sheet set and they are stuck with plain white bamboo-organic-dye-free-fun-free sheets that won't scream bad taste when their bedroom door is left open.

My antidote to all this silliness was to hand make a heap of stuff and recycle things from the shed (shock horror!). I've mentioned the birdy mobile before, and also my cushions. My dear friend crocheted a blankie and I made my first bunting. Minky got thousands of teddy bears when she was born, so they adorn every corner and shelf. There is an old set of drawers that I put in there. They were the first thing I bought when I moved out of home 12 years ago, and now they are hers. I didn't even get time to paint them. Her big designer pieces are a $18 lamp from Ikea and a wardrobe of French clothing her Grandma bought from ozsale.com.au. Other than that my aim was to have a place she would feel safe and happy.

The end result was something that I am proud of because I put MY heart and soul into it for MY daughter. And if it is a mess, well then I guess it does match the rest of the house, and I will keep that door wide open to show the world that I have a baby, and her comfort and enjoyment of her surrounds means more to me than anything else. See how it has evolved below...

So if you really want to integrate your children’s room with the rest of the house, stop and think for a moment. Will it really give them an advanced sense of style at age 3 or just make them feel sad they don't have a fun bedroom they can relate too? Bring on Dora I say.

Minky's first cot photo - I was so proud of this.

And after a few months of settling in, it's much pinker.

The Handmade Originality Pledge

Something that has been playing on my mind for ages is copyright of handmade products on Facebook.

I've mentioned before about the amazing online community of WAHM's that has sprung up (particularly in QLD for some reason). I spend hours looking at gorgeous things for babies and kids and often think 'oh I could make that'. And there is that line. Do you go and make something because it is easier and cheaper? Do you do it because it gives you more satisfaction than buying it in the first place? Or do you buy it from the person selling it?

I first encountered this when I was looking for a mobile for my daughters room. There was one that I had seen in a shop that was handmade, but it was a few hundred dollars, and there was no way that I would pay that for what it was. I scoured madeit, etsy and the like for something similar but couldn't find anything I liked. There were loads of mobiles, but nothing fitted the look I wanted. So in the end I bought some fabric and made one myself, taking inspiration from both the expensive one I saw in the shop, and also others online. It took a few weeks in between feeding/washing/sleeping with a 4 week old baby but in the end I had personalised it and made it myself and was really proud.

Loads of friends said I should make more and sell them but my conscious has told me not to. It wasn't my idea 100% and I felt that it wouldn't be fair to capitalise on it.

However the creative bug had found me and had to keep sewing. I had seen bunting popping up all over the place and thought it would be easy enough to make. So off to Spotlight I headed. I spent ages trying to perfect the right shape, length, colours etc. to make mine just perfect for Minky's room and when I finished it I was proud as punch. I didn't use a pattern or copy a picture, I just let my basic sewing skills guide me through and in the end came up with my own idea.

Now I am in the process of playing with lots of different embellishments on my bunting and am so proud of all the little bits I have put together. I am really hesitant however to put it on Facebook. What if someone copies me? Sure, I didn't invent bunting but I have put together some cool combinations of things that are all my own idea.

I have also invented a new product that involves singlets. I am not going to say more now, but I have already spoken to friends in marketing about potential copyright, but again, there isn't much I can do, and it will undoubtedly be copied. So do I make this product or not? Who do I go to if it gets stolen?

Go to any markets these days and there are so many bibs, frilly nappy covers, baby singlets with bits on them, softies etc. It is so hard to come up with an original idea.

I have made a few baby singlets and love playing with lacey bits and frills but I don't think I will seriously make them to sell as my major product because there is so much out there that is samesy already. I have a stack of doilies I stumbled upon on ebay ready to put on my frilly singlets, but after a recent trip to my local market saw that there is already sooooo many out there. It isn't worth my time to try and break into that market. I thought I was being original by threading ribbon through the neckline of bonds singlets but within a week I found someone else doing the same thing. I also thought using a particular fabric was also original but saw 3 others the same within a week too. Damn Spotlight is too popular!(Having said that, they are so fun to make that I will use up what I already have but no more after that!!)

It is hard to be creative in a modern, small world. But there is similarity due to popular styles and there is blatantly stealing an idea.

So when I found this today, I had to share it. The Contemporary Handmade Alliance has started a pledge for all crafters to keep it real. I have signed it and am promising to only exhibit my own, original ideas. I hope others follow by example too. It is such a great market that has been created and it should be respected for what it is.

I am proud of my designs. They usually come to me surfing the net looking at fabric websites, but more often than not it is when I am feeding Minky at 2am, in the dark, alone with my thoughts.

True, honest creativity comes from within. ♥

Another New Beginning for Lovebirds!

So I started this blog aaaages ago with the intention of having a place where I could document everything I loved. Since then I have had my beautiful daughter who we shall call Minky (to protect her precious identity). My little Minky has inspired me to start doing all those mothery type crafty things we learned about in school home economics classes. And now I am officially hooked on sewing! And why not sell things I thought. Might even make back some of the money I seem to be spending on fabric (hello parity, hello Amy Butler fabrics from the US!)

I began noticing a trend of cute little pages on Facebook by WAHM's selling handmade baby and kids things. There has also been a rise in markets, like The Butterfly Tree, Mathildas Markets and Finders Keepers. If you know my obsession with design, colour, fabric and stationery then you will appreciate how totally excited this has made me. Anyway, I wanted in on the whole thing.

In January this year, I began making bunting flags for friends and before I knew it, My Little Lovebird was born. Since then I have played around with lots of modern crafty things like baby singlets, birdy mobiles and bought loads of cool fabric. My main focus will be on bunting and singlety bits, but I am thinking of a few other bubba 'accoutrements' too....watch this space!!

So if there is anyone out there reading this, please let me know! It is my intention to not only showcase my items for sale, but also bring some gorgeousness and inspiration into everyday life.

Check back soon for a link to my Etsy and MadeIt stores.

Enjoy!!
xx