Melbourne Wallpaper Class

Now I can reveal the other exciting half of my Melbourne weekend; I participated in a wallpaper printing class hosted by Harvest Textiles and taught by Clare Vuletich, an Australian textile designer based in London.

For me personally, the best thing about the class was to have a day devoted to designing, at long last! I didn't have time to prepare any designs before the class, something I ask my own students to do, so was quite pleased with the results.

This is my cut stencil ready to be printed.

These abstract roses were designed in 2 minutes flat and need to be developed further but it's a start, right?

I have been thinking about roses a lot lately and this is another design that I would like to play around with. I am taking a week off in November just to relax and work on new fabric designs so am already inspired.

I hand-painted the background before printing my second strip of wallpaper to add some texture. I just used the screen-printing ink, the same that we use for printing on our fabrics - Permaset.

This is my stencil drying, after printing. I like the negative design too. Which do you prefer?

There were 8 people in the class and here are some of the wallpapers on display with Clare in the foreground. To see more images from the class, visit the Harvest Textiles blog here.

Good news! Harvest Textiles are teaching future wallpaper as well as their usual fabric printing classes so you can check those out here.

All images are taken by me (Thea) with the exception of last image which is courtesy of Harvest Textiles.

Friday Follower - Harvest Textiles

Today's Friday Follower is a team of 3 creative souls that have come together to form the label Harvest Textiles. Melbourne readers will be especially excited to know that the girls teach screen-printing classes on a regular basis. Read on:



1. Who is Harvest Textiles?
Harvest Textiles started late last year and has been been growing very organically; our motto is slow and steady. Harvest Textiles is made up of Lara Davies, Jess Wright and Emma Byrnes; three women with a love of textiles and the handmade who come from various backgrounds.

Lara was trained in Fine Art and majored in Drawing. She teaches the screen printing and textile design workshops. Jess is trained as a graphic designer and has worked for many years designing children's wares and now teaches toy-making workshops. Emma has training in Communications and is our business pro, she was a founding member of the organic shop Plump in Yarraville and also happens to be a fantastic photographer and web designer. We are pretty lucky to have such a diverse range of skills to draw on, which makes it possible to achieve almost everything in house.


2. What do you do?
Harvest Textiles run workshops from our studio that is also the home of Ink and Spindle. We also produce a children's label called Little Harvest that makes hand drawn and hand screen-printed clothing, handmade costumes and handmade contemporary toys. As a brand, we try to use organic, recycled or locally produced fabrics where possible to reduce our impact on the environment. We are passionate about creating products that are not mass produced and made by our own hand.

3. What can participants expect from your class?
Participants can expect to be inspired to use the creative side of their brain in a very fun and relaxed environment. We try to make all of the workshops really enjoyable so people don't feel intimidated. Its really common for people to rock up and feel a bit confronted about doing new things like drawing or printing or sewing. So we make sure the classes draw out these talents that they never knew they had!

In our screen printing classes we make sure we focus as much time on the art of making great designs as we do to general printing techniques. This means people are always really happy with what they print, as I'm sure you know Thea, 99% of a good print is having a fantastic design.

4. What are some of your future business plans?
We are planning to release a range of hand-printed children's costumes in early June which we are really excited about. We are also working on some yardage designs for some exciting new garments we have in mind. And Jess is always coming up with new toy designs so I'm always excited about that.

Our journey so far as a business has taken us in many unplanned directions, so who knows what next. We do have to say a big thanks to Ink and Spindle for putting a roof over our head and welcoming us into their hearts even though we were strangers at the time. We have learnt a lot from them about being kind and generous to others in your industry because not everyone in business is like that unfortunately.

5. Is there something interesting you would each like to share that isn't common knowledge?
Ummmmm because we all have children under the age of 6 you can often find us in our studio between 8pm and midnight drinking tea and eating dark chocolate Kit-Kats at the sewing machine. Recently I have started to think that its going to make us all insomniacs...all that caffeine after dark!

Thanks Lara and Harvest Textiles, we look forward to following your progress. If you're in Melbourne, you can see and visit the studio tomorrow at their Open Studio.

All images are courtesy of Harvest Textiles. For more info, see image source from top of bottom: Woollen blanket bats, Little Harvest girls' dresses, Screenprinting class, Amber from first class, Pretty Stencils.

Shaping the Domestic Goddess

I used to be able to do this and I will again.... soon. I have promised myself that I will get back to exercising so visited the Pure Health gym at Coorparoo yesterday. I have done 3 of their Pilates classes already and they're great! I tried out the first class for free and then purchased a 10-class pass which is better (I think) than having to commit for a year. Most gyms in Australia will offer you a free trial class if you ask.

If I were in Brisbane this weekend, I would be attending Michelle Vandermeer's book-binding class. How beautiful are these leather-bound journals? This is a great opportunity learn from a pro as Michelle lives and usually teaches in Sydney. Some places are still available if you visit Michelle's blog: Shelbyville.


Have you ever wanted to make the perfect cupcake? These delights were made by The Cupcake Company here in Brisbane and they teach classes! To register your interest, visit here. For classes in Perth, visit Babycakes and in Melbourne, check out Crabapple Cupcakes.


There are numerous places to learn sewing such as The Thread Den in Melbourne and here in Brisbane, I can personally recommend Ana Fataccioli's classes. Ana (pictured) is a professional pattern-maker and also teaches pattern drafting. Visit her website here. In Melbourne, you can learn how to draft your own patterns at Designer Stitch.

Even better, certain Melbournians (you know who you are) can stop harassing me now as Screen-Printing workshops are starting at Ink and Spindle's studio this month. Of course, I am still teaching screen-printing in Brisbane.

Do you know of any other great workshops? Please let us know. Oh, we're going to be a nation of super-skilled domestic goddesses this year!