two crafty dames : deeply fabulous vintage-inspired handmade fashion

Feeling at home in the Artlife Centre for Community Arts & Lifestyle courses!
Pretty aprons, cute bunting, and my nan’s treasured antique Singer sewing machine.
Thanks to Pictures by Clair for the lovely photograph x

Carly and I have been having the most fabulous time teaching our sewing class at Artlife these past few weeks! Suffice to say we were pretty darn nervous on our first day but we soon got the hang of things- our students are just darling and absolutely thirsty for sewing knowledge! It is a privilege to share what we know with these wonderful women who are so eager to learn and create.

However it’s with a tinge of sadness I write this post; the morning of our last class, 23rd July 2011, my beloved Nan, Nellie Lorraine Wright, passed away at the age of 90. The feelings that come with losing a loved one are always inexplicable, but it is just impossible not to smile when you think of her. My nan was such a firecracker, sharp as a tack and so quick to laugh. In her heyday she was strong as an ox and had the resilience that can only come from having lived through the war years and the depression. She was resourceful, a brilliant cook and so deft with her hands, a talented knitter, seamstress and crocheter– in fact she taught herself to crochet by examining existing stiches, because she couldnt figure out how to decipher the crochet patterns! (Oh i am a girl after her own heart)!

My nan taught my mother Lynda to sew, and she in turn taught me. So on the day my Nan passed away, I was so proud to turn up to the day’s sewing lesson, shoulders back and a smile on my face, ready to give the class my best and to pass on the skills and knowledge she had learned from her mother before her. Isn’t that a wonderful legacy?

Love you always, Nannie x

In Memoriam
Nellie Lorraine Wright 1920-2011

Left: I love this photo of Nan in “the wash house”.  Check out that vintage washing machine!
Right: 2 year old Paula with Nan & Pop

We have added lots of lovely winter inspired brooches to our Big Cartel store. If you haven’t already, be sure to check them out here

Hello lovely readers, it’s been a while hasn’t it! Well I can assure you that the Dames have not been idle since our last post. VTEC Kalgoorlie have asked us to host a 6 week sewing workshop as part of their new exciting Artlife initiative,  so we have been busily sourcing our materials and preparing our patterns. Naturally vintage-inspired accessories are our theme for the workshop and the fabulous projects our students will be making include a domestic goddess gathered half-apron (with matching pot holder of course!), an eco friendly foldable shopping tote, beautiful buttons and embellishments, hand stitched fabric flowers,  and a fabulous floral headband and brooch. We are rather excited, and a little bit nervous too! It’s the first workshop the Dames have hosted so wish us luck!!

If you are interested in coming along to the workshops it’s not too late, it starts this Saturday so get in quick! Check out the artlife website for more details http://artlifevtec.com/courses/sewing/

I have always had a big soft spot for felt, however it wasn’t until I discovered 100% merino wool felt sometime last year that my love for the stuff really blossomed. I had only ever known the fuzzy acrylic stuff that all the local craft shops seem to stock here. It was with great joy that I found that the internet had a whole rainbow of lovely thick, smooth, wool felt available for my perusal and purchase. I find that I tend to work with felt in the colder months (and this year is no exception), it’s perfect for creating those winter accessories; felt flower brooches, headband embellishments, cloche hats and house slippers … oh my the possibilities are endless! Here are a few of the felt inspired goodies I have been making over the past few weeks:

Felt Urchin Nesting Bowls. Made with 3mm designer felt. You can buy the pattern here

Felt Feather Headbands using 100% Merino Wool Felt

Back: Felt Feather Headband. Front: Nanna Doily Brooch made with wool felt, a hand dyed doily, yarn and self covered button.

More Nanna Doily Brooches

Us dames are quite partial to a wee bit of afternoon tea, so naturally we were delighted to be invited to a rather scrumptious High Tea over the Easter Weekend. There were baked treats a plenty, plates and plates of delicious dainty finger sandwhiches and cup after cup of lovely piping hot tea. Suffice to say, we were rather happily stuffed by the end of it and treated ourselves further to a well earned nap once we had rolled on home. What better way to spend Easter Sunday? I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Left: Darling little easter themed mini carrot cupcakes. Right: The cutest tea cosy you ever did see (you can buy one just like it here).

Lolly coloured macarons made by Miss Paula. Flavours included Vanilla and Rose, Lime and Jasmine Tea, Passionfruit and Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate and Cranberry.

Left: Tasty little Lime Meringue Pie morsels. Right: Strawberry and Cream Sponge Friands… these were to die for!

These retro little beauties are known as Sponge Lillies.

The gorgeous “Little Sisters” studio, at the Museum Village Esperance, is fitted out with lots of repurposed vintage treasures thrifted from op shops and garage sales!

On our recent trip to Esperance for Festival of the Wind, we were absolutely delighted to discover Marisse Hotop’s “Little Sisters” studio in the museum village! The studio has been just beautifully decorated, with all of the fittings made from repurposed vintage furniture and curios. So imaginative and inspiring! The overall look is so indie kitsch/granny chic and WE LOVE! (How fabulous is the bureau with red drawers?)

At the time of writing, Marisse made the hard decision not to renew her lease and move back into her home studio. Aswell as the venue change, Marrise is changing her business name to “Cactus in a Teacup”, and you will know from our Spring Festival post, that cactus’ in teacups are among our favourite things.

It was really fabulous to chat with Marisse and get her insight in running a retail space, because as you know, the Two Crafty Dames will soon be opening our own store, Fossick Handmade. Of course we told Marisse that we wanted to carry her gorgeous creations, especially her awesome softies (i couldnt resist the little denim bat or velvet Mr. Slug, and Mr. Whale with his zippered mouth almost came home with me too)! So if you want a little Cactus in a Teacup softie to call your very own, watch this space!

Marisse gives Carly a sneaky peak at her latest creations

Oh, the beautiful chaos!

Look at this old beauty- Marisse’s lovely old Bernina sewing machine. The little artwork in the corner was given to her by a friend, to celebrate the new business name “Cactus in a Teacup”

Even Marisse’s swing tags and backing cards are hand made- gorgeous. I couldnt leave this beautiful card behind, complete with handmade envelope using vintage golden book pages. The saucy little pin-up girl magnets are proudly displayed in my studio, complete with backing board (I couldn’t bear to remove it!)

Left: This lovely little bat softie was made with upcycled jeans and tablecloth fabric- his little feet are fabric loops that you can use to hang him up by, and you can also fasten his wings shut (when it is bedtime).
Right: more beautiful details from Marisse’s retail studio.

My favourite softie, Mr. Slug. Made of soft, plush stretch velvet, love his boggly eyes and wonky smile!

Phew! What a crazy few weeks it’s been! Whilst the Dames have been pretty quiet on the bloggy front, in the real world we have as busy as two long tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. A new exciting business venture has been on the cards for us for some time now and over the past couple of months preparation and planning to bring our little venture to fruition have consumed most of our spare time. Sooo…. Can you guys keep a secret??? Can you really??? Ok then, Guess what? The Two Crafty Dames are going to be opening up a shop! Woooooo! A real life shop with a cash register and customers and everything! We can’t divulge too much information right now but what we can tell you is that the shop is going to be called Fossick Handmade (cute huh!) and it’s going to be jam packed full of lovely handmade art and craft from designers around Australia. Joining us on this exciting new venture is the lovely Tina Bryce, who you might remember from an earlier post, was the powerhouse behind the art2go pop up shop held in September last year. More to be revealed later!

Last weekend the Dames, along with Tina and her two delightful girls, packed up our little crafty bags and trundled off to Esperance to join in the Festival of the Wind celebrations. The Sunday markets were a great opportunity to sell our wares under the Fossick Handmade banner and although the morning started of rather dreary, by the end of the day the sun was shining, the customers were ooing over our lovely goodies and kittens were being passed around for cuddles. As well as our own designs, we tempted customers with designs from Rebecca Roth, the Strutt Sisters, Liana Kabel, Chunky Timbers, Kitty Came Home and Only Midge.

A sumptuous selection of the handmade goodies that were on offer. Button Necklaces by 76 Tilly Lane. Prints by delightful dame Paula.

Vendor’s view. Lovely customers full of lovely compliments!

Aprons, aprons, aprons! Made by delicious dame Carly.



Front: Beautiful resin jewellery by Rebecca Roth. Back: Funky necklaces from the Strutt Sisters.

Jewellery by Mallee Girl Tina Bryce. How gorgeous is the Fossick Logo!

Goodies Galore! Back: Big Button Badges by Paula Fletcher and Knitted Nanna Brooches by Kitty Came Home. Front: Knitted Bags by Mallee Girl Designs and funky jewellery by Liana Kabel.

Ziggy the leafy sea dragon thought our stall was tops!

Roses are red, Violets are blue
Dirndl skirts rock
And lovehearts do to!

Ok… so poetry isn’t exactly my forte, I think I’ll stick to sewing! As you are probably well aware, a certain lovey dovey day is just around the corner. For this weeks post I have taken inspiration from the classic valentines day poem and posted pictures of my recent creations themed in red and blue. Personally I’m not one to go out and buy lavish gifts for Valentine’s Day. A little handmade gift and a homecooked meal is a winner in my book! If you are a bit stuck on what to give your sweety for Valentine’s Day, why not bake them something delicious such as a batch of Paula’s Chunky Divine Chocoloate Chip Cookies (they are to die for!). You can download the recipe here

My first dirndl skirt in a vintage inspired romantic rose print

Sweetheart Brooch made from gorgeous 100% Merino Wool Felt (I LOVE this felt!)

Supercute heart cabochon earrings. Even our earring cards are red and blue!

Carly had been hoarding this super cute strawberry print fabric for a special project- Lucky me, it makes a gorgeous, swishy cafe apron! Guaranteed to make cleaning and cooking much more fun

Now this is my kind of Christmas hamper!! A simple kraft cardboard box filled to the brim with crafty goodness, all in my favourite shades of BLUE! Teal silk rose hand tooled by Olivia from Studio Olive, *swoon*Close up of the precious fabric stash gifted to me by Olivia, made up of vintage fabrics pilfered from the dusty stashes of relatives & friends (hehe) and some newer additions from good ol’ Spotlight!

OK so it’s a tad late, but I just had to share our divine crafty christmas presents! Carly, Olivia and I took the Handmade pledge this christmas 2010, vowing not to buy our gifts for each other this year, but to make them from scratch. A fabulous idea back in October, but of course December crept up on us without much warning and last minute gift-making ensued!!

As always, the actual decision about WHAT to make was the hardest part for me, I wanted something relatively simple and inexpensive to make but meaningful at the same time. Finally I decided to make an old school recipe card box, filled with 6×4″ system cards and a couple of delicious tried-and-true recipes from family and friends. The idea being that we write down our absolute favourite recipes, and trade cards with each other until we build up a nice little stash of reliable and yummy standby recipes!

Once I’d worked out the pattern, all it took was some book board, PVA glue and a good sharp knife to put the boxes together, and then cover them with cute fabrics and papers from my existing stash. It was all a bit of trial and error, and the darling things certainly aren’t perfect (cutting out straight lines was never my forte) but topped off with a giant coloured button, they do cut a cute figure in the kitchen and were eagerly accepted by the recipients. Yay!

You can download the recipes I included with the boxes here:

The Harris Scarfe Lady’s Scones
Apple Parcels with Butterscotch Sauce
Divine Chunky Choc cookies
Nigella’s Chocolate Pistachio Fudge
Super Yummy Tomato & Basil Pasta

Recipe boxes handmade by me and covered in cute cotton fabrics for Carly and Nadine- Observe Nadine’s droolworthy vanilla Kitchen Aid!

Close up of the recipe cards- Download the yummy recipes for free here!

Hello dear blog readers and a Happy New Year to You!! 2011 is already shaping up to be a very busy year for the Dames!

Unbelievably, this little Dame has been engaged for almost a year now! My how time flies! Seeing as I have been procrastinating for so long I have decided that my New Years resolution, other than the obligatory diet and exercise, is to start ‘seriously’ planning the big  ‘W’.  Whilst a date is yet to be set and a venue hasn’t really been discussed I am, however, very excited to announce that I have found THE DRESS, which of course is the most important thing of all right? I love my dress so much that I just had to share it with all you lovely people. Fortunately for me my sweety doesn’t read the blog so his groomly peepers won’t be seeing the dress before the ‘big day’. I purchased my dress from Timeless Vixen Vintage, a gorgeous Etsy store full to the brim with exquisite vintage delights.  Do you Carly, take this dress to be your fabulous bridal frock, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honour, and cherish, ’til death do you part? “I DO!”

Vintage 1950′s cocktail gown. Isn’t it fabulous?

Gorgeous scalloped sweetheart neckline with even more gorgeous sage green embroidery.

Lovely from every angle!