Mushrooms for Free

Blog giveaways are fun and a great way to promote new products. I love this new print so I am giving away one printed quantity, 50 x 70 cm (19.5 x 27.5 inches) to somebody to make a project with.



To enter, please leave a comment telling us what you would make with this fabric. You will receive an additional entry for linking this entry to your own blog (tell me that you have). The winner will choose which mushroom fabric they would like to use - the natural or white linen or the organic cotton jersey and the print colour (brown or red).



We would expect the winner to make their project and then we will reveal the finished result on the Thea & Sami blog. How exciting!  Entries close on Valentine's Day and the winner will be announced on February 15th.

Organic Mushrooms

For the first time since I set up my studio, I needed to have new large screens made. Ouch!  At $300 (AU) just for the screen and not including digitally-printed film positives, clamps and image exposure, setting up for screen-printing is not cheap; a fact that customers don't always appreciate.



This is our new mushrooms design - which I thought would be fun for small sewing projects.  I have printed it in the organic cotton jersey (below) as not many people offer hand-printed fabrics in jerseys.  This fabric is ideal for making t-shirts, sleepware and children's clothing.  The organic cotton is pesticide and chemical free making it ideal for senstive skins. The white is bleached with hydrogen peroxide and not chlorine which means it is better for the environment too.
 


The printed organic jersey is now available via the Thea & Sami shopping site  and is also offered  in the brown on natural linen or red on white linen (shown below).  Any other colour suggestions are welcome.  Please contact me with any wholesale enquiries.

See Us at the Show

Thea & Sami has been selected as one of the Indie Designers to exhibit in the Incubator Section of the Stitches & Craft Shows this year.  Shows will be held respectively in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.  The shows are being organised by Living Creatively to appeal to a younger and broader audience then previous years and there is a lot happening!  There are workshops, demonstrations and lots of Australian hand-made and crafting products to see and buy.

Living Creatively is a cool on-line community dedicated to creativity so check it out here for more information, show updates, sewing projects and even business tips.

The first show will be held at the Melbourne Showgrounds from March 11 - March 15, 2009.  We will be printing lots of new organic and natural fabrics, homewares and eco-fashions to show you all.  Please let me know if you are intending to attend and of course, come and say hello!



Our popular Fretwork design is now available for purchase in our on-line store.  Other designs and colours are also listed and are printed on hemp/organic cotton.  I will be giving away some fabric soon so keep following the blog.  Soon to be listed is our new mushrooms fabric in natural linen.  

Little Brown Dog

Rebecca Lewis loves to sew.  I met Bec when we both participated in the Young Designers Market at Southbank (Brisbane) last December.  Her label "Little Brown Dog" utilises materials found at Opportunity Shops.  Very ecologically responsible!

As part of my efforts to promote creative talents from South East Queensland, I asked Bec a few questions so that we could know her better:

How did you start your business?
It was an ET doona (duvet) cover that started it all.  I stumbled across it in an op-shop and it became a skirt for me and fisherman pants for my brother.  Both of us received great feed back when wearing them out so I began scouring op-shops for more crazy material to transform into clothes for other people.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I start with the material and try to imagine what it would look best as; skirt, trousers, shirt or dress.  I also look to old patterns for inspiration, these too can be found in op-shops.  It's well worth sorting through dusting boxes to find the occasional gem.

Where can people buy your designs from?
By contacting me via my blog or at the Little Market at the Avid Reader Bookshop usually the last Friday of the month but check Lovely Things Makers  for market details.

Can people bring their own fabrics for you to sew?
Absolutely, I love doing made to order as people get something unique that they really want and can help design.

Why did you come to the Thea & Sami screen-printing class?
For further inspiration and to see how I might integrate screen print into my work. I also wanted to meet other creative souls.

Are you going to be incorporating printing in your work?
Hopefully in strange and interesting ways.

What do you love about living creatively in South East Queensland?
Meeting other passionately creative people, sharing ideas and the fantastic op-shops to be found in every suburb.

Do you have a tip for other crafters/arty types?
Sewing: start simple, build your confidence and skills by pulling apart old clothes to see how they're put together, treat it like a puzzle and see if you can figure out how to put it together again or use it to inspire you to work from scratch.

What don't people usually know about you and you don't mind telling?
I cut my own hair.

Thanks Bec.



Here is another cool design from the screen-printing workshop Bec attended. To see the others, check out Rebecca screen-prints.

Soul Economy and the Last Markets

Not long ago, I stumbled across Soul Economy, a wonderful Australian website that promotes socially responsible businesses. The dynamo behind the site is Amanda McKenzie, who has a background in international marketing and sales.

The site provides information on fair-trade, organic and ethical enterprises. Regular interviews with soulful entrepreneurs are also featured and I am honoured to have been added to that list. To see my interview and others like it, please visit Soul Economy. You can also list your business on the directory if you feel that it meets the criteria.


This Sunday, February 1st will be the last time that the Designers Emporium Boutique Market will be trading at the Everton Park Hotel. If you live on the northside of Brisbane or are visiting, please come along and support the stall-holders and say good-bye. For location and times, visit the Market Blog.  There will be a Thea & Sami bargain bin plus my regular hand-printed wares.

Thea & Sami Wrap Dress

While the rest of us were screen-printing on Saturday, Emily Tappenden, our resident fashion guru whipped up this beautiful wrap dress in our freshly printed Marguerite design.  The eco-fabric we have used is a very exciting 55% hemp/45% PET muslin.  Hemp is a wonderful sustainable, natural fibre and PET (short for Polyethylene terephthalate) is made of from 100% recycled plastic bottles.  While I am not a big fan of synthetics, you have to love the fact that this fabric is utilising what would otherwise end up in land-fill and and isn't depleting the Earth's natural resources in its production.

We have sampled another blouse from the same fabric and have printed, washed, dried and pressed it and it has fared remarkably well.  And speaking of recycling, what do you think of our in-house mannequin Justine (so-named by Emily)?  A friend rescued her from being dumped by a major clothing chain store.  It is incredible how many of these poor girls are tossed when they reach a certain age and are now longer shiny and new, kind of like real life?

And if you are wondering why Emily has yet to appear in any blog photos - it's because she is always hiding from the camera but I promise I will catch her soon.

I would really appreciate your feedback on our wrap dress from Thea & Sami's upcoming 2009 eco-fashion range.

Funky Fabrix

Funky Birds from a funky lady.  How cute are these?? Design is not just about shapes but colour too!



Shona Farr was the fifth participant in our screen-printing workshop yesterday and is a fabric lover from way back. Together with husband Jason, Shona owns and operates Funky Fabrix, an on-line store that specialises in vintage fabrics as well as Australian designer fabric.  The store now has a physical presence right here in Brisbane at Mitchelton.  I am looking forward to visiting the store soon and including it as one of Thea & Sami's new stockists of hand-printed sustainable fabrics and homewares. 

I promise that the fabrics will be listed very soon on our own shopping site too.

 

Shona was very productive yesterday and is seen here busily cutting out another stencil of a cute bird and tree.  In addition to her calico prints, she managed to print a tea-towel plus 3 organic cotton t-shirts for her children.  I hope they don't mind the matching outfits :)



Towards the end of the class, everybody is usually blow-drying their work so they can take it home. It's always a challenge getting people to stop printing in the Saturday class but that's okay because it shows that they are having fun.

Shona will be returning to the Thea & Sami studio in February to do our t-shirt commercial screen-printing class.

Tsk Tsk is in the Studio

I was honoured to have the very talented Tiel Seivl-Keevers in my screen-printing class yesterday.  Tiel is an illustrator, fabric designer, soft toy-maker plus a young mother of two.  Tiel needed no introduction to screen-printing but wanted to refresh her skills to concentrate on fabric designs & prints this year.


 
These floral prints are an example of Tiel's unique style and you can see more of her work by checking out Tsk Tsk, her design company.



This beautiful white print was done on paper and only smudged a little because the screens (43T mesh) we were using were better suited for fabric.  Paper generally requires a finer mesh screen and poster ink.  However, you can successfully screen-print on more fibrous, hand-made paper with the fabric screens and Permaset Aqua inks.

Katrina had a House

  
We were delighted to also play host to Katrina Donald yesterday in the Thea & Sami studio.  Katrina came to the screen-printing workshop with her friend Tiel and put her artistic talents to good use by printing several little houses and furniture too.



We all loved this Queenslander house printed on a children's t-shirt, perfect for celebrating Australia Day tomorrow.  So reminiscent of an Australian home in a sunburnt country.

Cheating is Allowed

If you really don't think you can draw your own designs, then do what our clever girl Kelly Goldstein did and ask your graphic designer husband (or boyfriend/sister/friend/other) to draw them for you.

Kelly is a lovely stay-at-home-mum with 2 young children and was looking for a fun day out and so came along to our screen-printing class.  Personally, I thank her and the rest of yesterday's group for braving what must have been Brisbane's most humid day ever and coming along to the Thea & Sami Studio (no air-conditioning here) to print.



Kelly was very productive and printed cute t-shirts for her little ones.



How cute is this lady bug?

No Need to be a Professional

Brisbane designers often attend the Thea & Sami Screen-Printing Workshops to learn fabric printing and to find inspiration for their work in various mediums.  It may seem daunting for others to be surrounded by professional artists. However, I can assure you that even participants who insist that they are not artistic, will often amaze themselves with what they achieve.



Emily Cottrell was one of our delightful class attendees yesterday and was a little nervous about her abilities but as you can see, her flower design is adorable.  She printed other cute designs too but chose this one for her organic cotton t-shirt and left quite pleased and rightfully so!

Emily is an admininistrative assistant by day but does enjoy sewing and quilting in her spare time.  I do believe that everybody is creative.

Ceramic Chicken

I couldn't resist this funny chicken that I bought last Sunday at the Peregian Beach Markets.

It really does remind me of European folk art and is hand-made by Sunshine Coast ceramicist Toni Moriarty.  She makes them in different colours and sizes and only started making them last year and yes, she does keep real chickens!



Toni trades under the "Cheeky Chicks" name.  Find out more by emailing Toni:  toni.moriarty[at]hotmail.com.au.  

Please support hand-made at your local craft markets.

The Great Australian Birdhouse

Don't you just love new discoveries at local craft markets?  It's getting more difficult to find originality so I was quite excited when I stumbled across these adorable bird houses at the Peregian Beach Markets last Sunday.



As well as each being a unique creation, the next best thing about them is that they are environmentally friendly, built using salvaged materials such as wood off-cuts, twigs and metal. The appeal of the rusted iron roofs even gives them that authentic Aussie pioneer shack look.

 

The talent behind these hand-made treasures is former flight attendant Tony Lefevre. Like many of us trying to make a living from our crafts, he supplements his income with a "real" job. Tony drives a school bus which still allows him plenty of time to follow his passion.

 

I love this mansion of bird houses.  There are other versions available including some with replica rainwater tanks made of old beetroot (beets) tins.  I'm told that his children are getting a little tired of eating beetroots.

Tony's creations can also be found at the Yandina markets every Saturday otherwise you can contact him to find out how else you can acquire your own by emailing: tonylef5[at]iprimus.com.au  

Let me know what you think of these and if you know of anyone else who is making good use of of salvaged materials.

Nicholas and Rebecca Screen Print Too

Nicholas Kamols recently graduated from High School and found that the screen-printing class has given him the motivation he needed to continue with his art studies. Nicholas wasted no time wearing his one-off (vodka) t-shirt design which even matched the belt he was wearing on Saturday.

 

Rebecca Lewis loves vintage fabrics and designs.  She has her own fashion label called Little Brown Dog that upcycles op-shop finds.  We will be featuring more of Bec's work and inspirations soon.



But for now, just how cute are her little owl designs?

Sonya and Jennifer Screen Print

You may be wondering just how much we do get done in our screen-printing workshops? Although mostly beginners, everybody does leave with amazing stuff that they have personally designed and printed on the day.  Our blog will be showcasing exactly what is achieved in each class with a little imagination, some screen-printing supplies and of course the best teacher ever (joking)!



Last Saturday, we had 4 participants. First up we have Sonya Hildred-Ward who had previously studied fashion design in New Zealand and was eager to try a little fabric design.

Sonya's design skills will no doubt come in handy as she and her husband embark on their new business called 1260 Chic.  The company will be importing leather bags and accessories that are hand-crafted in Morocco.  Sonya visited the region recently to ensure that the artisans are working under fair trade conditions.

Don't you just love her funky 2-colour print? Very reminiscent of 60's floral prints.



Jennifer Marchant also runs her own business called Graphic Objects and can be contacted on jennifer[at]grapicobjects.com.au.  She put her artistic talents to work and created this bright citrus print on a natural linen tea-towel.


 
Jen's first design was supposed to be an abstract but I am convinced that this is a very cool kiwifruit screen print.

 

Selling Your Products

Yesterday we drove to Peregian Beach near Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.  It wasn't a nice day, weather wise but it was a wonderful day regardless.  I showed a potential new stockist (more on that in the future) my new fabrics and she loved them.  

Professional presentation is very important so I cut the fabric swatches, overlocked them and put them together in this adorable fabric sample book.  Note the Thea & Sami label in the bottom corner of the Marguerite print.

 

There is no point in creating wonderful products if you aren't getting sales so you must find the right places to do that.  Craft markets are a good place to start and to get direct feed back.  Trade shows can be good for securing retailers but often expensive if you are starting out.

It's always best if you can personally visit potential outlets to determine if your products would fit into the esthetic of the store and if the quality and pricing of other items is similar to yours.  You certainly don't want your beautiful, locally crafted work competing with mass-produced, cheaper versions from Asia.

If you can't physically visit the stores yourself because of distance, the next best method of finding the right locations is to check where your competitors are selling theirs. Looking at their websites will usually reveal this information.

Call the store first and ask to speak to the owner or buyer. They will usually want to see examples of your work first through digital images.  This is where a website or blog comes in handy and will save your time and theirs if it is not what they are looking for.  Assuming that they like what they see, you can then can make an appointment or arrange to send swatches/samples to them.  Ensure that you include a wholesale price list, ordering information and your terms and conditions clearly set out. 



My final piece of advice is to not try and sell your wares to a store where the buyer is not excited about your products.  If they don't love them, they really won't be successful in selling them.  You really are better off moving on to somebody that does appreciate your craft.



Fabrics from top to bottom:  Marguerite print in Dusty Rose on Hemp/Organic Cotton,  Iron Flowers in Chocolate Brown on Natural Linen, Fretwork in Cactus Green also on Hemp/Organic Cotton.