around here today - sewing again!

I picked up my sewing machines from the repair place in Bunbury on Wednesday, only to drive home and receive a phone call from the Janome shop telling me that I had forgotten the foot pedals for both my sewing machine AND my over-locker. Bah! I was itching to sew but I just couldn't without my pedals!! I was so desperate I pulled out this old Elna that I picked up from a car-park market for $20. I knew this was a good machine when I bought it, but I thought it might need a little bit of a service before I could use it.... I was wrong! this machine is a dream to work with!!  Isn't it funny how things work out. Not having my pedals turned out to be a massive blessing in disguise now that it has forced me to become acquainted with this lovely old girl. My advice to anyone looking a buying a sewing machine would be that the older manual machines often turn out to be the nicest to sew with.

So I have been back at it today! Finishing dresses that were ordered before I went away on holidays. It's lovely having half finished dresses draped over my sofa and pretty piles of neatly ironed bias binding hanging over chairs. I have lots of new things I want to try, but I am trying to push them out of my head while I focus on getting back up to date with outstanding orders. 

I am planning on bringing someone on board with me to help with sewing so that I can boost the number of ready to ship dresses available to my lovely ladies. This will hopefully mean that I wont have to turn so many orders away!! 

Meanwhile the little pink house is still a mess with piles of fabric and furniture projects EVERYWHERE  and I am slowly getting through three weeks worth of washing and putting away and all that other boring house stuff that I wish would somehow magically look after itself... Ho hum.

Well I had better get back to work! I hope your having a beautiful day, wherever you may be in the world.

Bec x

cupcakes for my baby

While I was in Bali my small person was on holiday with her dad, exploring NZ. We spent three weeks apart!! I was planning on travelling to Mexico in that time to myself, but I developed a bit of anxiety at the idea of being SO far away from my baby. In the end I decided that Bali would be easier on me for our first time away from each other.  While she was in NZ she celebrated her fourth birthday without me, so today I decided that we would make birthday cupcakes together and let her be in charge of most of the making.

We made them on the kitchen floor, from a packet. It was very messy. We made little flags from toothpicks and washi tape. We made icing with a bit of red and a bit of yellow, which turned out a lovely sherbet orange colour. Zav was in charge of breaking the eggs, mixing, pouring and icing. Its probably a good thing we don't have any guests, because these cupcakes are full of eggshell!!

She came home that little bit more grown up. As they do. 

Bec x

Unpacking...

I am actually home now. Hooray! And I feel incredibly exhausted, I think I may have picked up a bug on the plane home. I have a niggling cough and a slight temperature. I spent today in my pj's with my small person. Unpacking the treasures I bought overseas. Unwrapping the parcels that arrived while I was away. Unloading the car of all the thrifted goodness I found along the way... My beautiful little house that was so clean and neat to come home to, has exploded in chaos and colour! Happy mess, for sure, but I will have to find a home for it all eventually. 

Having all of these beautiful piles of fabric around is inspiring me to make and sew! I am itching to get stuck into it, but my sewing machine is still at the shop being serviced. I will pick it up tomorrow so I am planning a small project tomorrow night to ease me back into the swing of things. Maybe just a dress for my little lady or a cushion cover. Something I can start and finish in one night and get those creative juices pumping. 

It's so good to be home! 

Bec x

no place like home...

I am writing this blog post from my hotel in Bali!! I am laying on my comfy big bed editing some photos from the sugar shack and thinking about having a nap. It as been an amazing trip so far, with just two days left until I fly home.  Home sweet home. My holiday might nearly be over but there really is no place like home to relax. AND it would be a massive lie if I told you that I wasn't looking forward to getting back to work. I actually cant wait!

I will be returning refreshed and inspired, and perhaps with a few new tricks up my sleeve...

Talk soon!

Bec x

This Tuesday I invited the very talented Rachel Woods (aka Sundaypeach on instagram) into my home to take some photographs of this cute little pink house. It was so much fun watching her work and the whole morning was such a joy. I LOVED playing stylist and I cant wait to work with Peach again. I was hand delivered a disk full of photos, beautifully wrapped along with a very gorgeous birthday gift this afternoon. I haven't even had the chance to look through them yet but I simply could not wait to share this sneaky preview with you.

Thank you so much lady peach, for your time and your talent and your beautiful view of the world. You are one gorgeous, amazing lady and I am so glad you moved to town. If you are on instagram definitely look up miss peach (sundaypeach) for daily doses of serene beauty.

I am positively bursting out of my skin with happiness. Here I am on the eve of my 29th birthday, with people I love, in my cozy little home that I have put so much effort into creating, with a job where I get to be creative every day and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I am feeling so proud of what I have achieved and so content with what I have that I am not going to worry about a 'to do list' to conquer for the coming year, but rather just enjoy what I have right here and right now. At least for the moment... that list may come.......later...goals are good too....

I want to thank you all so much for following along, always with kind words of encouragement, cheering me on. Thank you for letting me share my stories with you and taking the time to share your own with me.

Bec x

Sunshine and happiness!!

The last few days I have not been able to wipe the smile off my face! The sun has finally returned and it had everyone in my little town buzzing with positive vibes. We have been gardening and spring cleaning. Garage sale hunting and late afternoon beach walking. Sunsets and fish and chips. A wonderful taste of things to come after a very wet and and very cold August.

One very exciting thing was that I ordered new seat cushions for my retro sofa and they are now here and I love them. Not exactly a cheap thrill considering I found this beauty on the curb but she deserved the special treatment and I am so glad that I chose to have them professionally sewn rather than doing it myself. Once I looked at the cost of materials, fabric/foam/zippers etc; and time it was actually really good value.

Happy days! I hope you are loving some sunshine wherever you may be in the world :)

Market night announcement...

I am still making preparations to head off on holiday and  I have decided to host a market night on the Sunday the 18th of August, at 5pm WA time to earn myself a little spending money. I only have a small number of ready to ship dresses available, maybe 10. I will also release a very limited number of custom dresses.... I will upload pictures of all of the available dresses on Thursday next week along with all of the nitty gritty you will need to know to partake in the evenings events.

In other exciting news I am currently working with a delicious lady on overhauling my blog. You can expect a new look here SOON. The new blog will hopefully be easy to navigate and will have lots of information that has previously been a bit difficult to find. You should be able to find all the info you need on placing orders, bridesmaids dresses, all of my social media links etc... You will be able to find all of my past DIY projects in one place! I also have a photoshoot coming up so that I can give you all a tour of my sugar shack! I cant wait!

GIVEAWAY WINNER - There were too many beautiful comments for me to choose so in the end I had to do it randomly, and my lovely winner is all the way over in Finland :) Thank you all for entering xxx

AnikóJuly 30, 2013 at 5:58 PM

happy 400th! i love the concept and look of your line! very inspiring to see your studio space also, all that vintage goodness...! i also really like the honest writing on your blog, nice to see real people behind successful small businesses! here's for the next 400 posts and many more gorgeous frocks!
best wishes from Finland!