NEW :: hexiburst handprinted cushions

Cushions :: at last! These have been a while in the making :: designing the fabric, printing it and putting it all together over the last few months has been a lovely journey. It was great to finally launch these at the Bowerbird Design Market in Adelaide a few weeks ago to very enthusiastic customers. They almost sold out, so I have been printing and sewing again to release these online.

The Hexiburst design evolved from one of my #52weeksofprintmaking pieces (which is happening on my instagram account :: you can find me over there as @yardagedesign). The cushion is reversible, with an invisible zipper, with my Waves design on the back in a two colour print. Waves started as a background to the ever popular Girt by Sea tea towel, but is now out on its own!

Handprinted cushion covers online in the Yardage Design shop right now :: sustainable cushions inserts (made from recycled plastic bottles) also available.

Have a great week!

{ new } vintage green australia market bag

Sometimes colour inspiration comes from unlikely places :: in the case of this lovely, vintage green, it was from an old tin lid. It seemed appropriate to print something Australian. Vintage green Australia Market Bags are in the Yardage Design online shop now for a limited time …

Have a great day!

{ new } ochre australia tea towel

In true Australian style, the "Girt by Sea" linen tea towel has had a makeover and is now also available in a wonderful, earthy ochre colourway …

The ochre, and the original blue, "Girt by Sea" linen tea towels are available in the Yardage Design online shop right now.

Have a fantastic week!

{ new } lime HEX tea towel

Zesty and in the shop right now!

it's a new year and i'm getting sorted already!

Happy new year! To be honest, 2013 was a pretty good year, both professionally and personally, which actually makes 2014 feel even more exciting. While it's still holiday time for the next month, I'm quietly working in the wee hours (when I feel like it!) to get things in order for this coming year. First cab off the rank was a better website platform - it went live last night - let me know what you think (click here for a look)!

Second up, is prep for my annual (but 6 months late!) misprints and samples sale. It's going to be HUGE! Make sure you sign up for the Yardage Design newsletter (on the right of this post in the sidebar) and keep your eyes peeled at the end of the month for all of the details.

There are also new designs in the works and planning for at least a couple of markets - in Brisbane, but perhaps an interstate one or two.

In the mean time, you will find me over on Instagram (@yardagedesign) faffing about and generally recharging. Wishing you all a vibrant, happy and healthy 2014!

melbourne finders keepers market :: the wrap!

It's been just over a week since the Melbourne Finders Keepers Market, and what a weekend it was! I arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning (for the first time since moving to Brissy in January) and felt instantly at home. Then, the mad rushing about began! Off to Shop for Shops for bags and stands, a quick visit to the Abbotsford Convent to see my friend Pip's new painting exhibition, lunch at my favourite Japanese joint, check in to the hotel then bump in at the Royal Exhibition Building. Bump in was awesome, mainly because the lovely Cam from Curlypops came to help me (and brought props!). I also hadn't seen Cam since her double lung transplant earlier in the year :: the difference was astonishing and was truly a highlight of the weekend.

After bump in, we scoffed a sandwich and got ready for the doors to open at 6pm. It was a fun night of catching up with new and known faces, but by 10pm we were zapped! Next morning I was up bright and early to faff with the stall before opening at 10am. Cam was there to help again which was amazing! More lovely people to meet and catch up with. At several points it was social central in and around the Yardage Design stall. Great sales and good laughs made it a brilliant day!

At 5pm, we bumped out (I'm always amazed how quickly this happens compared to bump in!) and I choofed off to get some of my favourite chinese food for dinner, and then pretty much collapsed into bed. Sunday morning saw me up and about with the birds, eager to get down to Camberwell Market before all the good stuff went. Treasures were found and old friends chatted too :: I miss my Sunday morning ritual at this place. After that it was a quick delivery of stock to Little Shop of Handmade in Carnegie before heading to the airport and flying back to Brisbane. Such a good weekend!

In other news, the Yardage Design online shop has been updated with some new colourways and designs launched at the market last week. The new "Girt by Sea" tea towels have already sold out, but I'm in the middle of printing more so these will be in the shop soon (this week, I hope).

Have a great week!

monday inspiration :: customer colour combos

I'm always pretty fascinated by what colours/fabrics my customers choose. After two markets in the last month where I have had a range of my "Fan" design available in quilting and medium weight fabrics, I thought I would share the colour combo's that were the most popular (insert impromptu little photoshoot with citrus here!).

Purple, red, orange and yellow : this particular combo was chosen by a customer at the Winter Design Market a few weeks ago and I just love it. I think these would look great as patchwork cushion covers {adding to my list of things to make}. Several other customers also bought this or a similar palate, but replaced the purple with ocean blue which also looks great.

"Oranges and lemons, the bells of St Clements" {totally stuck on my brain when I see these two colours} :: these colours have been the most popular of all. Perhaps it's the preparation for spring and summer, or just that they are happy colours. Who knows, but they work well together. Red {below} is always the go-to choice for people who see my fabrics, love them, "need" some and can't decide on a colour/don't have a specific project in mind. I think I should call it Stash Red!

Wishing you all a creative week, and hoping today is the day ...

Fabric and pennant available in the Yardage Design online store.

Happy Monday!

making lumpy letters

The other day I had an OK idea about making a little fabric sign for Yardage Design. So I traced the letters "y" and "d" in my favourite font on to some linen. 

Windows are great lightboxes ...

The idea was coming together. Now to the fun part ~ thread sketch the letters to give them definition. I don't know why I started with the "d" and not the "y" ...

In my enthusiasm, I launched into the thread sketchery with sewing abandon. Actually, in my haste I realised that I probably should have stiffened the back of the fabric with some interfacing or tear-away. I had neither of these things, so I just winged it and hoped for the best. This is what I got ...

There will be another attempt at a later date ... when I work out how to ask for tear-away in Spanish (everything is over the counter here so you have to know exactly what you want). 

The idea still works for me, but the lesson learned ~ none really. Just have a go and see what happens. You can nearly always have a do-over with sewing and it's good to learn through experience. That's how ideas evolve.

Have a creative week everyone!

first quilt of the year ... finished!

I think it's always good to finish a project reasonably close to when you started it ... in this case, just a week or so, which is almost a record for me. To be fair, I think the big squares made it pretty easy!

As I mentioned last week, I needed to sew the binding on to my quilted patchwork of Yardage Design fabrics. Possibly my least favourite job, but worth the effort in the end ~ I think the red really sets the other fabrics off beautifully.

Lots of Yardage Design fabric packs (mixes of three or four designs and colourways) are available in the shop at the moment if you fancy making a quilt like this yourself.
There is also a new SALE section of the shop with discounted and discontinued fabrics and homewares ~ be quick and snag a bargain!

More Thursday creativity here.

i like circles

I've been messing about with Inkscape lately ... even though I now own Illustrator, I find the intuitiveness and familiarity of Inkscape easier and more enjoyable. I've been playing with circles, swizzle (minus the stick) and my new favourite colour combo of sea green and cherry red ...

Hope your weekend is shaping up as a good one so far!

delayed reaction

Yardage Design was in the Herald Sun Home magazine on 10 September. I wasn't there to see it on the day, but my friend Pam kindly posted me a couple of copies. This all happened weeks ago and then the mags got buried under some stuff in my (messy) little craft room. They were uncovered during the huge clean-up I had yesterday, so I scanned them. For those that missed it or didn't see it, here it is ...

Thanks to Karen for being such a wonderful interviewer and writing such lovely words. I was chuffed to say the least.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! We're going to be busy preparing for the arrival of family all the way from Australia next week ~ can. not. wait. In semi-not-really-related news, if you are an Australian visiting Madrid and I happen to hear your accent, I WILL just start talking to you ~ as happened today much to the amusement of the Aussie family concerned!

cutting + folding

It was all about fabric cutting and folding here this morning, with orders for a number of lovely customers and stockists to fill. It's one of my favourite jobs! I took a few minutes to take some photo's ...

This set of fabrics will be at the lovely, crafty Onabee shop in Kensington tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying a sunny afternoon wherever you are!

a new fabric design in the works ...

This week I've had some time to start turning some of the ideas in my notebooks into actual designs. The abundance of carved wood, ornate stone buildings and the influence of art nouveau in Spain has featured heavily in  my sketches. This is a sneaky peek at the design I'm working on at the moment ...

This design is at the final tweeking stage. When I get to that stage, I print it on to some paper backed fabric (just through the computer printer) in colours I'm thinking about. I always find a need to feel it and drape it all over the place before I decide whether to go ahead with handprinting yardage. This one is nearly there. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter (top of the column on the right under "about me") and you'll be the first to know when it is released. I'm thinking fresh new colourways in pale blue and cool green ready for spring ... thoughts?

In other news, the Yardage Design SHOP is now OPEN again. I will be back in Australia on the weekend, so orders will be posted from Monday. Early birds will snag a few left-over bargains!

More creative spaces here.

yardage design scarf by Jennie

I absolutely LOVE it when people let me know that they've made something with my fabric. I was, understandably, thrilled when Jennie from W Class Cushions commented that she had made a scarf with a Yardage Design fabric pack. How excellent is this ...

Thanks Jennie, I'm adding you to my Things people have made using Yardage Design fabric page which you can find as a tab at the top of this blog (just below the banner). If you've made something using something I've printed, let me know - you'll make my day!

Pop over to Jennie's lovely blog for a look at her gorgeous baby and other gorgeous craftiness.

regional press

I'm originally from western NSW, so I was really chuffed when the people of Style Magazine contacted me late last year asking to include me in their Autumn edition. Style Magazine is a beautiful lifestyle magazine for women in country and central NSW. The Autumn edition came out last week, coinciding beautifully with my trip home to visit family. It was nice to be able to show people what I do, and then say "see, this is me" and point to my little blurb in the mag! Thanks to Cherie from Style Magazine for finding me and including me.

I hope you're having a lovely week so far. It's quite warm here in Melbourne, but compared to the 43 degrees C when I stepped off the plane in Dubbo last week, it seems OK!

my creative space ... little dresses

This may be the last of the holiday sewing, but it was probably the most enjoyable. I made two little dresses for my nieces ...

I used two wonderful patterns from Wink Designs - the Criss Cross Reversible Dress and the Petal Power Sun Dress. The Criss Cross Reversible Dress was a pleasure to make - very satisfying and great instructions meant no mistakes on my part - yahoo! Fabric for this dress came from the stash, but was orginally bought from Patchwork on Central Park.

The only thing I changed on the pattern was including a pocket instead of appliqueing some flowers on one side of the dress. (I did a post on my tags the other day, if you're interested in finding out how to get your own tags).

The Sun Dress was also made from fabric from the stash, originally from Patchwork on Central Park. No changes to this dress, except that I put press studs on the back instead of buttons. Super easy to make.

For more creative spaces, visit Kootoyoo! Have a great Thursday!