It's not often you're just excited about what happened at church...

I call it " the end of the day of the white man" which sounds terribly racist but in our church, the majority of new faces and younger faces are largely other than caucasian.  I love it!  Harley (spelt incorrectly I presume) hails from Liberia and I can only assume it is the land of snappy dressers.  If he's not immaculately dressed in something contemporary, he'll be in traditional African dress.  With it's blazing colours and shiny bling, it's a sight for sore eyes.

Having been an observer for some weeks, maybe months, Harley was baptised yesterday.  Flaunting protocol, all our brothers and sisters from Papua New Guinea are out of their seats and cluster around the baptismal tank. No bizarre swimming togs and white sheet tunics here.  Harley is immersed in a tank of water in his street clothes. After the baptism I notice an organised conga line forming.  I jump in and Harley handshakes and hugs his way down the line.  I get a soggy hug and a "God bless" from the Lord's newest recruit.  It's so beautiful, I have to melt back into the crowd before the tears form in my eyes.

Begin it now...

Just watched a lovely piece in a Creativebug class on fabric design.  Was it Heather Ross or Lizzy House who said, if she'd planted an orchard 20 years ago, how fruitful and beautiful would it be today?  The takeaway message...begin it today.  Some small step...some tiny seed planted today will still be a tiny seedling in a week, but in twenty years time... watch out!

Each day's task seems so small and fruitless in my grand plan to make a living out of my own creativity. I do realise that working as Woolies would bring in a faster income. Met the lovely Monalisa ( yes, her real name) who is working the checkout at Woolies.  She once had her own Thai restaurant (Elephant Jump - what a name!) but sold it. I'm sure it's a lot easier for her to pay the bills working at Woolies, but the glint in your eye definitely is fading.

So we soldier on.  Today I'm uploading a video to you-tube on how to apply snaps.  Small stuff but it's a start. It's a seed...

Moving right along...

I have a new website at www.clotheslinepatterns.com.  Please visit me there to see what I've been up to lately!

All Over, Red Rover!

Thoroughly exhaustimicated at the end of term.  I promise you I worked harder for this quaint little TAFE course, than I ever did to earn a degree! To finish the course we have a College Parade, which is a bit like a graduation ceremony, but with more chandeliers and bling.  Although I was thinking "Don't trip!" and "Stand that collar up!" and the like, it's still quite satisfying to see your garments being tromped down the catwalk by a bunch of Amazonian women.  

Sorry I don't have photos from the parade, but here's the outfits I made on some of our lovely students.  Thanks to Lynette Rees for the great shots.StasiIvyAnn

Technical drawings, fabric swatches and toiles!

Hand drawn sketch in ink and conte crayonWorking from my mood board (see previous blog entry!) I hand draw sketches of what I'm going to make. 

For more clarity, these can also be translated into a technical drawing on a computer drawing program.Technical drawing in Adobe Illustrator

Patterns are drawn up by hand and a toile or test garment pieced together.  At college, we have rolls and rolls of fabric oddments to cobble toiles together.  At home, I like to pick up cheap fabric from op shops for testing patterns.  It can be a bit of an eyesore, but it's great for trialling. Here's a snap taken in our college studio...

Test garment made of scrap fabrics!

Love collecting fabric swatches from stores until I make my mind up!But you can relax, the final garment will be made in lovely ice-cream coloured silks and organzas.  Can't wait!