anoisette

I just discovered ink & spindle, a hand printed textiles studio based in Melbourne, Australia. Amazing amazing beautiful stuff! And printed with sustainable principles to boot. It’s incredibly inspiring to see people following their heart and talents and doing what they love. One of the designers, Lara Cameron, shared this post on her blog which I really like: 10 (Potentially Controversial) Tips for Starting a Small Craft/Design Business.

I found it after giving up in frustration on the freehand machine embroidery I was attempting for friend’s very late wedding gift. Although actually it’s technically not late since it hasn’t been a year yet. But still, I need to get this done.

my embroidery epic fail

This was after coming home from breakfast with an inspiring friend, who runs a fantastic store, and thinking that I should just make things and stop thinking so much about what to do next.

I’m way over trying on wedding dresses after going to a bunch of places last week. After a while they all start to look the same. I’m seriously thinking of making my own. But first I want to get some of my ideas on paper, quickly and easily, while still looking recognizable. I’m really out of practise sketching though. Luckily I found these awesome free fashion croquis templates. They’re great quality and you can even download them in Illustrator format. I printed a basic front facing one and now we’ll see what I can come up with for dress ideas.

My sewing corner is a disgraceful mess. I’ve been accumulating more and more stuff and running out of space to put it. It’s time to get back to thinking more about how to organize the space. I put a bunch of books on hold at the library, like Dream Sewing Spaces: Design & Organization for Spaces Large and Small, and I can’t wait to see what kind of ideas and suggestions come up. Looking through the quilting stashes at Ami Simms’ Show Me Your Stash is reinforcing the practicality of an Ikea bookcase like the EXPEDIT, I especially love the ones where the fabrics are organized in a rainbow of colors.

Also, I wanted to mention that this post is the first one in which I used Wordpress’ iPhone app. I uploaded the photo straight from my iPhone. I love it when technology makes things so easy!

So we made the trek down to the Making Memories with Scrapbooking store and although it was far it was totally worth it. They have such an amazing selection and we were able to find a nice card stock to mount our save the date magnets on. The best part was that since it’s my birthday month, I got 25% off my purchase. It was also great to check out all the wonderfully creative cards and wedding invitation samples they had throughout the store. They have a wedding invitations class coming up soon and if it weren’t so far I’d really consider going.

Here’s an example of a gorgeous Ikea sewing studio. I love how it looks so light and airy even though it’s in a basement. That EXPEDIT bookcase sure is popular for studios. It’s great to see things being used, rather than just imagining it in your head. For example when I was at Ikea about a month ago buying my sewing machine table I seriously considered buying the VIKA ARTUR trestles for a cutting table (although at the moment I have nowhere to put it) because the white ones were on sale for a pretty good price. But I wasn’t sure if they were what I really wanted for a cutting table or if they would work. But it looks like it works in that studio! See more lovely photos at The Yvestown Blog.

I’m floored by how amazing this selvedge dress is. I mean, the dress is fantastic on its own, but the fact that it’s made from the edges of fabric that normally just gets thrown away just blows my mind. From now on I will be saving my selvedges and maybe just one day I might be able to make a lovely pillow. Have a vist over at creator Jodie’s blog, Ric-Rac, for more lovely and inspiring selvedge projects.

I’m in the process of getting ideas on how to set up my sewing room. I’m starting from scratch so I figure I might as well put some thought into it and start off on the right track.

Originally I was looking at just getting something like this from Ikea. I thought the little cubbies would be great for storing tools and supplies and fabrics. But then I realized that the desk would be a) too low for cutting comfortably, and b) too small for laying out fabrics for cutting.

So I turned to the web for inspiration and luckily there are heaps of ideas out there for affordable solutions for sewing and cutting tables. An inspiring place to start is this slide show of some of the big name designer’s ateliers in Paris, including Christian Lacroix, Dior and Chanel.

An now back to the real world. Pink Chalk Studio has probably one of the most affordable solutions I’ve come across: a regular old banquet table ingeniously heightened with some PVC pipes from the hardware store. Check it out, complete with ideas on how to niftify it.

If you have the room (which sadly, I don’t) Gorgeous Things shows off a deliciously spacious cutting table using some Ikea table legs and a big piece of melamine coated particle board.

And another Ikea hack. this one is so pretty and all those drawers are great for storage and keeping things out of sight. But it’s a bit pricey since you’d need two of the $400 dressers, plus the top.

Wow I love the idea behind this Made by Petchy Driftwood Jewelry Rack. I’ve long been in need of a necklace storage and organizing solution and this is an awesome one! In fact it’s giving me an idea for something similar based on an Ikea spice rack shelf. Another thing to add to the never ending to-do list…

I just found out the Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival is happening this week-end and I’m wondering if I should go. I still have a big yarn stash to work through though. But it would be nice to ooh and aah over people’s lovely creations.

First there was Ponoko, then Shapeways, and now I have just discovered Spoonflower, which is the one I am most excited for if only because it appeals the most to my crafty textile background.

Awesomeness!