To Market, To Market...

Agh! Another week almost gone. I started writing this blog on Monday and now it is Thursday. Time flying and all that jazz...

~Practice Market @ home~

Well I did it. What an achievement for this little piggy. Last Sunday, 5th June I officially took My Little Lovebird to the public, like, real live people, not just computer people. It was at The Upper Market which is a fairly new market in a school not far from where I live on the Gold Coast.

To say I was nervous would be lying my tits off. I barely slept the night before and when I arrived I wanted to turn around and run, or hide behind my husband (who desperately wanted to get out of there. I think the crafty ladies scared him!)

But I didn't run. Or hide, well, I hid behind my table for a bit but then got brave. And had a triple-shot skim latte so talked my pants off. And I loved every last tiny minute of it!

Here is my little stall.....

Lovebird started when Chloe was about 5 weeks old. Many close to me must have thought I had lost the plot somewhere between giving birth and all those night feeds. I had a newborn baby, my first. She had colic, silent reflux and didn't sleep. But I was bloody determined that I was going to make this little dream of mine work. It was just funny timing that's all.

4 months of days and nights spent huddled over the sewing machine, cursing each mistake and unpicking 3m of bunting over and over. Turning the dining area into a rainbow of colour, cotton and loose threads. Oh and did I mention completely renovating the living and dining with new floors, paint etc while having my in-laws stay for 3 weeks?

My husband has been amazing through it all, poor bloke. There were days/weeks I could see the look on his face, wishing he had his house back and not the sweatshop that it had become. Wondering why I was doing it all. He has cooked, cleaned, been the best Daddy to Minky. I couldn't have done it without his amazing support (love you babe).

I don't know if it was a reaction to the fear of post-natal depression but something very deep inside me has refused to let failure be an option this time. I was and still am, a prime candidate for it and wether it be subconsciously or not, MLL and sewing have been my saviours.

I didn't sell much at the markets but I don't care. I feel like it was the first box to tick off in my new life. Mother, tick! Wife, tick! Crafter, tick! Business owner and runnerer, tick! Markets, tick! Those who knew me in my 'old life', well lets just say she is dead and buried. And I will never look back.

This is the real me.

For the first time in my life I 'AM' something to be proud of.

J xxx

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??!

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. ♥