O3 Ethical Events Craft Boutique

I'm really excited to be a part of this event at the O3 Gallery in Oxford. Organized by Feng Ho, the gallery's resident ethical fashion expert, the event features some fantastically talented designer makers and I'm all of a tingle to be included alongside them. If you're in Oxford or nearby on the 25th, come by and say hello!  For more information, check out the O3 Gallery events page.

In pictures...

Today I'm wearing boots and 2 jumpers. So that's the summer over then. At least this past fortnight has been spent mostly in the sun - weddings, Texas (for work), France (for fun) and bag photoshoots. Just your average August really!

Trying out my new vintage hat

A bit of colour in San Antonio

Gorgeous France



Chilling out with Daddy




A bit too grand for our Victorian Terrace...?




Taking photos (only another month till I'll have finally finished editing them all!)



Vintage Haul: Part 3

Here's the delicious, ice-cream colour tank-top I discovered in my vintage clothes haul at Truck Festival. It's perfect with wide-legged jeans and wedge sandles. I'm definitely chanelling a 70s vibe this summer!

Vintage Haul: Part 2

As well as being a rather splendid weekend for weather, music and bags, I managed to squeeze in a bit of bargain vintage shopping at Truck Festival. First on the list is this rather splendid and very vibrant high-waisted 70s maxi-skirt.

Spend a day in a field with a maxi-skirt and see what you can gather up in the voluminous fabric folds - grass, flowers, spare change, small children...

In the press...

I've been walking on air this week as the Cornflower Carnival Maddie tote is featured in this months Cross Stitcher Magazine! Here she is, in her green and blue splendour, at the top right of the page...

A month in pictures Part 2: Truck Festival

Last weekend I had a stall at Truck festival, and for the first time, I sold knickers. Definitely a crowd pleaser, although frequent cries of "nice pants" kept me checking that my own underwear was well tucked away!

The weather was perfect and the atmosphere was very jolly indeed. After a truly hectic run-up it couldn't get much better than relaxing in the sun, chatting about vintage fabric, underwear and bags with lots of lovely people. My stall was next to Darn it and Stitch so inbetween chatting to customers I got to hang out with my buddies - even more perfect! Other highlights included Johnny Flynn, Gruff Rhys, lentil dahl from the Rotary club (that's food, not another band name) and the "Truck All Stars" finale performance of the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album.

There's some great photos on the Truck Festival website including this photo of your's truly, well and truly caught in an act of last minute preparation. Here are some of the shots I took.

The bow-tie hair clip came into it's own on "sports casual" dress up day...

Pretty things on the Darn it and Stitch stall...

I love this necklace from fellow etsians Delilah and Wild, just one of my lovely purchases (of which, more posts are to come!)...

Vintage Haul: The final installment... for now!

I've been cheating a bit by spreading out last weekend's vintage shopping over a few posts. This is the last one - honest!

I love the pattern of this shift dress. It's way too big, but I'm planning to take it in and add a peter pan collar in time for a wedding next weekend (I'll let you know how it goes!)

I've been wanting a cosy shawl and a long brown belt for ages. And the scarf? Well, you can never have too many, I say!

Vintage Haul: Part 1

This dress was hidden at the back of a stall at Latitude. I really wasn't supposed to be shopping at the time, but buying dresses is much more fun than standing in a queue for the ladies! It has the kind of unusual and slightly flappy top section that makes boys like my OH feel confused and uncomfortable - but that's all to the good in my book (tee hee!).

A month in pictures (and some words too) Part 1

This month has passed by in a blur of chicken pox, festival, sewing then more festival. Its been a great month, despite medieval pox, mud, knicker elastic induced wrist ache and unwashed hair. I have to admit, returning to normal living has been a bit of a come down. You can't beat the taste of tea in the fresh air - but on the plus side, clean hair is good. So here are a few snaps of what I've been up too...

Deploying emergency butterfly-cake distraction techniques on a pox-poorly little monkey (it didn’t work really).

A fab weekend of mud, kids, music and mud!

A cosy snooze

(It's apple juice - honest!)

What do you think?

Right at the very very top of my guilt list, in big bold red letters and with lots of underlining is Updating my Etsy and Folksy Shops. Somehow, something else always comes up which is pretty rubbish as how am I going to sell stuff if it's just sitting at home in my stock cupboard - right?

I'm travelling a lot this week, so no time for listing (again!) but at least I managed to make a start on the photos at the weekend. I've stuck with the usual white back-drop shots, but have also tried something a bit different with some outdoor shots involving a real-life human (well, me!). What do you think - does our shed and concrete yard add anything?!

Bikini!

Here's the second of the samples I've been working on for workshops. This time - a cotton bikini. I'm not sure cotton works for swimming, but it definitely does the job for posing!

The bottoms are based on my knicker pattern but with a draw string waist. The tops are based on McCalls M5400 but needed some adaptation for a nonstretch fabric. It took a while, but after a bit of growling and lots of unpicking, I think I cracked it.

Sorry about the rubbish photo - I was so relieved it had finally worked that I couldn't wait to tidy up all the loose threads!

UK Handmade Craft Profile: Soapmaking

This week I've been engaged in the very wholesome world of soapmaking for my latest craft profile on UKHandmade. Am very tempted to give it a go, although need to get over my Fight-Club induced fear of caustic soda first!

Featured: soapychica | BarSoap | Saffron Barr

Knickers!

I've been working on some samples for the next workshops at Darn it and Stitch. First up is knickers (27th June), and I have to say that I'm pretty proud of these frilly smalls. I knew exactly what I had in mind, but couldn't find a pattern anywhere - so, I bulk bought a load of knickers from the high street then started hacking! I think the end result has just the right amount of frill, can be easily adapted with ribbons and lace, and they're pretty simple to whip up. I'll definitely be making some for myself and will let you know once the pattern is in my shop.

Latest additions to the fabric stash

More vintage fabric has come my way recently and this time, ebay was not involved!

Our local swap shop turned up tops with this funky curtain and groovy towel. I'm keeping the towel for it's original towelly purpose, but no doubt the curtain will make it's way to a bag...

Another fabulous curtain was donated to me at my last farmer's market - perfect for the summer!

baby's got some brand new clothes

After the pre-holiday weeks of manic stitching till the small hours while watching back-to-back Mad Men and absorbing the annual recommended allowance for caffeine and chocolate, I thought it was time to do some non-bag related sewing. Little F needed some new frocks, so I made some tweaks to the Leila & Ben sweet little dress pattern and whipped up a couple using bits of fabric I've been saving for a while. I widened the bottom and dropped the front neckline, but otherwise loved this pattern - quick and easy and looks cute on too.

Back to the real world...

So much to catch up.. where to start?

First off - Wood - a very lovely, family friendly festival. I got lots of good feedback about my bags, the weather was great, the other stall holders were super nice and me and my cushion-making compadre, Liv, had a wonderful time playing humbug (hum a tune and the other person has to guess it). We upgraded to "operabug" for a while but started to put off the customers.

So altogether a fab weekend. I forgot to take proper pictures of the stall, but here's a mini-customer enjoying Liv's trunk of cushions.

One short day at home to wash off the mud and brush my hair and then off we went to the Algarve for a week of beach combing, cheese & ham toasties and a beautiful friendship beween Wally the dog and our little monkey.



Back home in Blighty our flowers had enjoyed a week of rain and provided a very nice welcome home party.

Slightly panicked work in progress

So, this time my excuse for irregular blogging is the sewing frenzy that I have been immersed in for the past few weeks. I'm trying something new and having a stall at a festival - Wood festival, described as the greener, younger and quieter sibling to Truck.


The countdown is nearly... umm... counted down and I now have just 2 nights of sewing left before I can make no more!

Fingers crossed I have enough in stock...

Vintage treats from The OK Corral

Today I am in crisis mode. Just like the time I discovered H is for Home, I have spent much of the past hour sitting on my hands in order to stop buying some (maybe even all) of the lovely vintage treats from The OK Corral.

Their website is gorgeous and so is their collection of fabulous vintage and retro finds. I am feeling a bit sick with envy and may even stamp my feet a bit. Here is just a little taster of what they have in stock at the moment...