A truly beautiful Minxy mix of charm, inspiration, practical advice, and pretty projects to simplify and beautify your life and home. - Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity
AWW craft… and another book or two
Photo album cover in a Florence Broadhurst signature print
Phew – it’s been a busy few weeks. Firstly, I’ve been writing and shooting a bunch of things for Australian Women’s Weekly with my lovely mate, Dean Wilmot. Here’s one project I can show you above, which was just published in the May issue last week. To see the full article and step-by-step instructions, click here. The fabric is from Signature Prints, and the toile de jouy paper I used to line the inside is from favourite stationers, Cavallini Papers & Co. (via Balmain’s Duck Egg Blue).
Secondly, I’ve been writing a big piece for Vogue and interviewing people in all sorts of time zones lately, which can be quite tricky for a fuzzy brain to keep track of. I’m almost done, and it’s due to appear later in the year.
And thirdly, I’ve been working on the almost-final draft of my next book, a memoir… which is very different from the crafting, but I hope not such a surprise when you see it. Plus I’ve just signed on for another crafty book with Murdoch Books, to be published next year. Stay tuned for more news soon!
One thing I have been reading and enjoying for all the beautiful pics is my dear friend Lisa’s new blog, Stiff White Peaks about her travels in New York… Ah, to be there… I feel like I’m tripping through Manhattan vicariously though, just reading about all the things she’s been up to. I love the inspiration of setting up a blog as a sort-of journal of a time… it’s a great idea, non? And must save one from repeating themselves in all those emails home!
‘Just Married’ wedding duvet cover
Colette & Kendall's wedding duvet cover
What have you been up to this Anzac Day long weekend (apart from the dawn service, of course)? We’ve enjoyed a few long, lazy meals with friends, and in my spare time I’ve been working on this big sewing project which I’ve finally completed.
About a month ago my friend Colette got married, and I promised to make her a duvet cover using fabric she’d chosen (one of the projects inside The Crafty Minx). Last weekend we went on a shopping expedition to find most of the material above – Colette’s favourite was the Amy Butler roses print below, which I’m also loving.
Amy Butler panel, front and centre
To match the duvet cover I edged two pillowcases with the roses and some paisley for Kendall.
His & hers pillowcases
Paisley-edged pillowcase
I do hope they like it – the green’s for Kendall, and the pink is to match their antique bedroom fireplace (panelled with dark pink tiles). There’s no tricksy zips or buttonholes to add, either – I made ties instead, which do up into pretty bows at the foot of the bed…
Bow ties
And it’s all wrapped up & waiting on their doorstep, for when they arrive home this evening.
Wishing dreams of adventure
Love bug rides into Milano
Covered bug by Bokja Design
Check out this hilarious idea by Bokja Design, first spotted on Design Boom and sent on by my lovely friend, Sara.
Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibrcreated the ‘Bojka Bug’, covering an old Volkswagen Beetle with handmade vintage fabrics from the Middle East as well as tapestries and car stickers. The Bug was on show at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during Milan Design Week 2010 and was sold on eBay to raise money for charity.
It’s arrived!
Grinning like an idiot
Yes, the new book is finally back from the printers. Thank you, Murdoch – I love it to bits!
Only 5 weeks or so until it hits stores, and I hit the road with my suitcase full of fabric, needles, thread, scissors and other fripperies for workshops around the country.
My friend Dean Wilmot took this pic today, as we’ve just been shooting a new craft feature for the Australian Women’s Weekly in my hothouse kitchen. The photo album cover I made for the Mother’s Day issue will be out mid-next week, with more projects to follow on later in the year (some new, and some you’ve seen before in The Crafty Minx - each with a new twist).
Hope to see you in one of the workshops soon, mon amies. Stay tuned for dates & details…
High art embroidery
Embroidered heart by Andrea Dezso
Oh my, I’m gobsmacked – look at the work in this, will you?
Andrea Dezsö is a NY ‘visual artist and writer creating deeply personal narratives across a broad range of media including drawing, artist’s books, cut paper, embroidery, sculpture, installation, animation and large-scale murals.’
First spotted on Dossier37.
Embroidered walk by Andrea Dezso
The School of Life
The School of Life bookstore, London WC1
The past year has been so unsettling for so many people, what with all the economic uncertainty and job losses. The upside is that it’s forced a lot of us to take a good look at our lives, and that’s where wonderful ideas like this really come to the fore:
The School of Life is a bookstore in London specialising in an edited selection of books on all the great topics crucial to leading a good life. They describe their stock as: ‘a mix of high and low, new and old, predictable and astonishing… we have created a kind of chemist for the mind, where you can find shelves such as “how to enjoy your own company”, “how to make a difference” or “how to survive insomnia”.’
They also run workshops and what they call ‘bibliotherapy’ sessions, constructing a recommended reading list for people who want to broaden their horizons. Clever business idea – I like it a lot.
The Sweat Shop Cafe, Paris
Martena Duss (left) and Sissi Holleis at the Sweat Shop cafe in Paris. Photograph: Munia Sbouri
Oh, I love this! My very dear friend Meiling, who now lives in Delhi, just sent me this article:
“Perched at a worktable strewn with pins, needles and colourful balls of thread, Martena Duss and Sissi Holleis are chatting over coffee when Ellinor Duhs comes in for her afternoon apple juice. A chic septuagenarian with flame-red hair piled on top and fingers laden with costume jewellery, she settles down at a Formica table and takes out a half-finished tapestry. “It is Bauhaus inspired,” she explains, adding with a cackle: “I excel at everything that is of no use.”
Amid cups of coffee and slices of cake, frivolity and industry are the order of the day at the Sweat Shop, Paris’s only sewing cafe, which Duss and Holleis opened last month in a quiet street near the trendy bars and boutiques of the Canal Saint Martin.”
For more, click here for the original Guardian UK article by Lizzy Davies.
Old smock, new look
Charity store find gets a makeover
This 100% cotton smock was a great find from our local charity store, and only took a small amount of tweaking to get it looking right.
Bye bye, frou frou
First, I chopped off the frilly white collar, bow and edging from the bottom hem. Then I added these three blue buttons from Ici et La. Ta daaa (as Olive would say).
Smocks looks so dear on little girls. The simpler, the better – don’t you think?
Olive in her old/new smock
The Keeper’s House
POSSIBILITIES textile art basket bowl from The Keeper's House, Etsy
Next skill to learn: basket weaving. I’m loving this bowl by Etsy store, The Keeper’s House. It also strikes me as an excellent way to use up any small, excess scraps of fabric, wrapping them around an inner coil of pliant bamboo or plastic.
Speaking of Liberty…
I mentioned finding the sweetest Liberty print skirt at a flea market earlier in the week, which prompted me to trawl the website for these lust-worthy items. I’m off to the UK later in the year, where I’ll be making a pitstop at my favourite London department store.
Top of the shopping list? Reams of fabric, of course. But this suitcase – a collaboration with Paris’ new concept store, Merci – will be hard to resist.
Supercute suitcase from the Merci Paris/Liberty range
More from Merci Paris/Liberty range
Liberty sardines from Do Little Designs