Fashion Rocks the Convent

Thea & Sami has been invited to participate in a Frugal Fashion Parade. You may be wondering what our organic garments have to do with being frugal? Surely, anything that can be worn for a long time and not categorized as disposable fashion, is frugal indeed.

The fashion parade is taking place on Sunday, 23rd October at lovely Benedict House in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. Please click here for more information on the fashion parade and the participants.

I love buildings with a history and Benedict House was originally built as a boarding school by the Good Samaritan Sisters. It has had a colourful history including having former Australian Prime Ministers, Ben Chifley named after it and Paul Keating as an owner in the 1980's.

You may be excited to know that the gallery not only sells lovely jewellery but also runs regular beading workshops so you can make you own masterpieces. These delicious images are borrowed from their website here.

Back to fashion, don't forget that Botanique is on tomorrow night although I believe they were close to being sold out.

Our Summer organic fashion collection is now in-store at Bliss Ecowear!

A Woman For All Seasons

I LOVE my new organic cotton tunic and have been wearing it for 3 days! I just don't want to take it off. It is just so incredibly soft, comfortable and showing off our hand-printed fabric is just an added bonus. Fear not people, I have been changing my leggings and top.



Now you know what we have been working on lately. Our organic cotton basics have been very popular and so through encouragement from my wonderful business mentor, Jane Hopkins, Thea & Sami has developed a range of trans-seasonal jersey fashions. Jane is just one of the hand-picked business skills mentors available through the QLD Small Business Solutions programme. If you live outside Queensland then I'm sorry because you're out of luck.

Named in Jane's honour, I introduce you to our "Play Jane" tunic made from 100% organic cotton jersey which beautifully skims the body and is available either printed or not. In keeping with our sustainable philosophy, the tunic is of high quality and can be layered and worn in several different ways; with a belt, without a belt, as a summer dress or as a tunic over a top and leggings for the cooler months. Best of all, organic cotton = no pesticides and no nasty chemicals, yay!

Our coordinating "Too-busy-to-shave" leggings and "Hug-Me" 3/4 sleeved, fitted t-shirts are now available in our on-line store. The tunics are now available on-line! Click here. The leggings and t-shirt are made from 90% organic cotton and 10% spandex to retain their shape. More colours to follow shortly.



The black "Play Jane" worn with a vintage gold braided (model's own and not for sale) becomes a sexy little black dress. Bring back disco, I say! And the best thing is that these beauties are machine-washable and crush-proof. Perfect for travelling.

Plain tunics will include black, red and green. A few people have suggested that we make printed leggings so that is the very next thing that we are doing. As a small business, we are very fortunate to have found a local manufacturer that supports us and will sew small batches for us.



More red. Since you all love red, you will be happy to hear that we have received a shipment of red organic cotton jersey so this will be added to our on-line eco-fabrics too. The "Play Jane" tunic in natural white features our "Marguerite" print. Worn over the ever-versatile "Hug-Me" tee or again, as a sleeveless dress with a belt. Which version do you like?



Are you now wishing that you could screen-print your own designs? Come and learn how but be quick because I will only be teaching one more Brisbane class and that is happening this weekend. There is still a couple of spots left but first in, first served. Book on-line at Screen-Printing Workshops.
Author's note: workshop is now full!

Lady Beetle Breakfast

What a lovely way to start the day. I LOVE going to the Artisan champagne breakfasts and always for a good cause. 

If you are in Brisbane, please keep free the morning of Tuesday, 5th May and bring your mum or friends along to support the Royal Brisbane Childrens' Hospital which will benefit from proceeds raised. The Mart store is the best place in Brisbane for finding those unique, hand-made gifts for special mothers.

The event runs from 7:30-9:30 am at Artisan, located at 381 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley. Tickets are $20 and profits from entry fees and 10% of proceeds from (m)art & Electric Boy sales at the event will be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation. RSVP essential by Thursday 30 April 2009

To RSVP and pay in advance, please contact Shannon McCaskill on 07 3215 0800 or email: info[at]artisan[dot]org[dot]

Thea & Sami are proud to be showing our limited-collection of hand-printed organic fashions on the runway. 



Other featured designers include:
So in Design - Reversible Skirts
Electric Boy - kids' t-shirts
Various jewellery designers from the Mart store and
Jess Dabro who made this adorable "Sea Creature".

 

Lucky door prizes have been donated by the designers plus other sponsors.

Does anybody want to model on the morning? It's all very friendly and casual and I am looking for a model who is a size 8, 10 or 14.  I will pay for your ticket and you will get a scrumptious champagne breakfast while mingling with other artisans and lovely mothers.  Please email Thea.

Who is Kitty Kat?

Web Designer Kat Tran Phuc was another busy girl who finished numerous screen-prints in Alarna's group class on Saturday. This is a selection from her 'Kitty Kat' range, derived from her name.



With much patience cutting her stencil and skill at screen-printing a ribbed tank top (never easy) I'm sure that all will agree that the final product is a success!

With only 2 weeks left (eek!) until the Stitches and Craft Show in Melbourne and with pending orders, I won't be teaching any more workshops until the end of March now.

Today we were busy (never a weekend off) doing our own photo-shoot for our next Spring/Summer range so stay tuned for a peek at some our lovely hand-printed organic clothing.