Fashions of 1981 and all that make up......

Recently Martino came home with a bag filled with sewing patterns. A conversation with a cafe customer (who happens to be a professional dressmaker) resulted in the kind lady gifting me all sorts of patterns and instruction books.  Fashions from 1981, which although are a little questionable, would help me learn the basics of sewing clothing for myself.  So the deal is for some time, I have been watching hours of online tutorials and experimenting with mini versions of dresses and tops (using fabric from thrift store finds) all in the quest to sew pieces for myself.  At the same time I am getting used to the all the stitches and different sewing feet of my new machine.  So these patterns have come at the perfect time as now I have even more information and tips that are simple in their construction allowing me to move towards to finally cutting into real fabric pieces.   Its a little scary - but very exciting!!

Before I do tho, I wanted to share with you the fashions - clothing, hair and make up of 1981/1982.....

shoulder pads - check / big hair - check / over sized dresses and awkward stares....and check!

Culottes - remember them?

A party in your pants!! hahaha

Bed jacket?  really.....and all I can manage is a tshirt. I would be wayyy under dressed for bed in the 80's!

the front view was not included in this pattern.  very odd.....but allows for much self expression..

Ok the pictures might not be very fashion forward, but the wealth of information contained in these patterns is very useful to me. So let the fashion creations begin........

Craft and Quilt Fair - June, 2012 :: Darling Harbour, Sydney

Mum and I visited the recent Craft and Quilt fair held at Darling Harbour.  A day filled with so much colour, creativity and love for all things hand stitched.   Hundreds of thousands of stitches created work that made me feel very excited about this age old craft of sewing.   I promised a blog post to a few friends who were unable to attend.  Unfortunately the day was cut short due to a cold I was fighting off.  The virus won out in the end and I had to come home and straight to bed.  However, we still got to see some wonderful creations which inspired us to continue creating beautiful work.

Here is what we saw:

Intricate hangups from all over the world.  This beautiful piece entitled "Poppies of Love" by Geraldine Alix was my favourite:

Another detailed hangup by Californian fiber artist - Myra Wood

The fair also included this wonderful Travelling Friendship Quilt.  The story of a quilt that came together after 8 suitcases (one per state) traveled within each respective state, passed from friend to friend, group to group, each creating a square depicting their town.  At the end of the year all 8 suitcases return and are incorporated to create a 4 metre square quilt.  Read more about the project here:

A map showing all the places that participated

The fair also included an exhibition of Loani Prior's  latest book    - How Tea Cosies Changed the World.   These tea cosies show how a humble teapot can be transformed into an wacky and very creative piece of art.  Sure to start many conversations....and isn't that what sharing tea is all about?

Even in my feverish state, I managed to capture this beautiful work just as we were leaving the show.  From a distance this looked like pencil drawings, upon closer inspection I realized it was free form machine embroidery. Gorgeous work by Cheryl Bridgart - more of which can be seen here......simply stunning.

Frida Kahlo Softie by craftyclaudes

For the last few weeks I have been working on this little Frida Kahlo softie/cushion as a Birthday gift for my sister.   The idea came to me watching a short film on Frida recently.  I loved her unique style, passion for her Mexican heritage and her colourful self portraits.   So after spying this gorgeous fabric on one of my recent shops

I got to sketching and practicing my pattern making skills.  Using a template of a babushka doll that I had made recently, 

Raiding my fabric stash I found these cotton napkins that I got to use for Frida's face.

 More cutting and many hours of sewing by both machine and hand.....I finally completed her in time to give to my sis.

A little poncho with pom poms made me smile.......arribaaaaa!!

 Hand stitching felt flowers for her hair piece....

 Martino let Frida enjoy a little bit of chill out time in his fave chair. She enjoyed it for a little while.  We got used to seeing her around the apartment in all stages of creation......

but now she goes home with my sis to hang out in the Queensland Sunshine.  I think Frida was a hit!  

Autumn happenings.......as seen thru the lens

A little busy this month so letting my camera do the talking for this post. Lots of colours and patterns from nature and my surroundings.  Blink and you miss some of it.   So I stop and admire it instead.....

Jamie's Mexican Street Corn salad - spicy and colourful

Just look at her!.....a beauty.

Kilim Rug dreaming.....the price tag brings me right back down to earth with a big thud!

Monocle L O V E ...my mind thanks you.

Birthday presents  ROCK!

yes....it tastes as delicious as it looks.  yum yum!  Monica's famous pineapple cake.

and this you ask?   why, its a thin slice of carrot.  Thank you Mother Nature. 

See you again Venus....somewhere out there.

Inspired by this amazing artist that I still cannot get out of my head

On my walk to work....i stop to admire the quiet work going on around me.