Sew Is Life

Good morning lovely people on this glorious Monday! I have the most exciting news to share! The ‘Tickle the imagination’, an Australian designer & maker magazine for handmade creatives will be available in newsagencies today (18th March).

This magazine has grown an cult following of DIY and lovers of handmade across the nation. With over 7000 fans on their Facebook Page and increasing daily. I am a great supporter of this magazine because it was created here, in my home town - Perth by a lady by the name of Tanya Collier. 

Tanya has supported small businesses around the country by featuring their handmade wares in this beautifully photographed magazine. The pages are full of inspiration, colour and a delight to sit down and relax to.

‘Tickle the imagination’ has come a long way to reach its goal of achieving its first print issue. As it began as an online e-zine. It has been made possible by the many supporters who have given a pledge to Tanya’s pozible project. Now Tanya is hoping to turn the ‘celebrations issue’ into print. You can help out by pledging here.

For now, you can pick up their annual issue from newsagents or order online for delivery straight to your doorstep. 

I woke up feeling this is such great news. It’s fantastic that more magazines like these are making print…let’s keep our print industry alive and buy magazines and books! We can’t let technology take over our love of paper and prose…

Are you fan of magazines or e-zines?

E x

I have had fabric ideas flying through my mind all weekend for my #sewingdares challenge. Read the previous post to find out more about this ‘DARE’. And this is what I came up with, I couldn’t find any oil cloth in my current fabric library so I headed down to Spotlight and picked up this beige/white spotty number. The oil cloth will be perfect for the interior of the makeup bag, so spills and powders can be easily wiped away.

For the exterior I decided on a houndstooth tweed. I bought a plain black zip and now I am looking for a red ribbon…maybe a velvet one to finish it off. 

It’s very ‘London-esque’ inspired. If you have been following Sewislife for a while, you would probably know I’m very much a Cath Kidston fan, and this polka oil cloth reminds me of her bag designs.

I shall be back soon to share my step-by-step process of sewing this makeup bag. I can’t wait to get started and show you guys the end result!!

Wish me luck ;)

What would be your ideal small sewing project?

E x

I am currently stuck in a sewing/DIY rut…due to factors outside of this blog. But I promised myself in 2013 to not let stress get me down and I would put some time aside for my favourite hobby, sewing - it is the one thing that truely relaxes me because it’s when I am in my creative element :)

So I caught onto the bug that is #sewingdares on Twitter. It all started with Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow throwing the tagline out there and a whole heap of sewinistas in the Twitterverse heard! I actually caught on from Leila at Three Dresses Project and she has dished me the dare to sew a ‘make up bag/case’. 

I haven’t sewn one before, so it will be a new challenge! I love it! That is the purpose of #sewingdares. To have fun and not take things too seriously.

Care to join in?

If you are up for it, jump onto twitter and demand a dare by including the hashtag #sewingdares in your tweet and you will receive your next sewing mission from one of the girls or I’m happy to ‘dare you’ (you just have to let me know your level of sewing, and if you have a blog I can check it out and give you a challenge that you haven’t done before).

Head over here to see what all the fuss is about. The love of sewing is spreading worldwide!

My #Sewingdares challenge

A make up bag is the perfect dare, given I am such a beauty buff and into my skincare. Honestly I can never have too many cosmetic bags! Plus they are such cute gifts to give to a girlfriend.

Here are some ‘brainstorming’ drawings I did the other day to get me started (please forgive my scribbles, I used to study art in school but it’s pretty clear that I have lost ALL my drawing ability).

Next step, to fish through my fabric stash and pick out some favourites.

Which design do you think I should go with?

Too be continued :)

Enjoy your weekend All! 

E x

Well here we are again! 3 more days till December and Christmas is merely a hop and step away! Some people tell me they are already organised with their Christmas shopping this year…I’m shocked! What are they? Super humans?? I’m almost halfway there with the kids presents wrapped and ready to sit under the tree. Now about that tree… I must get a move on with the decorations because we will be away on holidays early December which means I won’t have the energy or time to trim the house when I return. So time to get my Christmas cheer on early!!

Have you started your Christmas decorating yet? Is your tree up yet? Are you sending cards to your loved ones? I’m a card person, I like receiving cards and giving them out. However it has become a lost tradition in this day and age of technology. E-cards just don’t produce the same warm, fuzzy feelings don’t you think?

If your budget is to spend most of your dough on the gifts and holidays this year, why not DIY the decorations? It’s simple to do, looks pretty and warms your house :) All you really need is some card, ribbons, paints and old decorations.

Here are some inspiring photos I came across on Pinterest

My all time favourite - bunting! This looks so chic!

Decorate your own wreath and place on your door

Sew your own Christmas stockings using the same colour palette but in different patterns

Brown paper and ribbons, and use wooden rubber stamps

Paint a tree branch white and hang ornaments off it

A DIY screen-printed reindeer sweater (isn’t this cute?)

Hope these images have inspired you to get your ‘craft’ on and transform your personal space into something you can be proud of and show off to your friends and family :)

Let the official countdown begin!

Do you take Christmas decorating into your own hands or do you invite the rest of the family to help out?

E x

This year I decided NO MATTER what…I’m going to enter the Tessuti Awards 2012. I am not sure I managed to muster up the motivation and strength to complete this sewing project, there were a few late nights, sore back and sore hands but I finished it!

This competition runs every year, by Tessuti Fabrics, a company based in Melbourne. They sell designer fabrics to the keen sewinista and each year they run competition with a specific theme, this year’s was ‘Spots & Stripes’ and it had to be a dress suitable for race wear. The 1st prize this year was $5000 to spend on a trip of the winner’s choice.

For me, it wasn’t about the money or winning in the end. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could sew a dress and wear it. In the past 2 years, since I started sewing I would only sew PJ pants and skirts for myself. The rest of the sewing projects were clothing for the kids, bags and homewares.

When I finished the project my inner sewinista was jumping for joy, throwing confetti into the air! It was such a great feeling to finally say I sewed a dress. However, I couldn’t take photos of me wearing the dress because I still had baby weight to lose. The photos I uploaded to the voting site were pretty crap, as the dress hung on a hanger behind my bathroom door…

So one beautiful, sunny day this week I decided to try the dress on again and it fits. Woot woot! And just when the competition has come to an end…*sigh*.Here they are anyway, Hubby helped me to take the photos in my parent’s backyard :) 

And did you notice it has a peplum! I love peplums…

What do you guys think? Would you wear something like this to the races?

E x

If you are a pattern-crazed, textile greedy, colour enthusiast and have a passion for interior design you will enjoy reading the new, recently released book by freelance interior and lifestyle stylist Selina Lake. She is also the author of ‘Romantic Style’ and ‘Bazaar Style’. The new book is titled ‘Homespun style’ which is such great resource for those who want to include personal touches and inject a bit of warmth and ‘homeliness’ into their personal space and life. 

I was simply engrossed from start to finish, the photography is captivating and inspirational to say the least! The idea of fresh flowers around the house daily is something of a dream, but this is an expensive wish unless I grow my own blooms. 

The ideas in the book are anything but expensive, it opens your mind to the concept of the 3 Rs, recycle, reuse and restore! The thought of placing mismatched chairs around an old wooden table had never crossed my mind until now! 

If you haven’t noticed already, I can be rather textile hungry…yes I love beautiful patterned textiles especially those with romantic or vintage flair. I have built up quite a hefty collection and this book gave me some great storage ideas, so I can display my colourful remnants and also it gave me ideas on what I could make.

Looking at my sad sewing corner, it doesn’t appear as organised as the room below, it can sometimes be an eyesore! I know my hubz unconsciously shakes his head whenever he walks pass.

And look at this office space, some people will think it is “too busy” but that would be my dream workspace because gorgeous imagery is what keeps my mind constantly buzzing! 

Here is a short video of Selina talking about ‘Homespun Style’:

I grabbed this book from my local library but you love to collect design books you can buy yourself a copy from Selina’s Website

Where do you draw inspiration from to decorate your own personal space?

E x