two crafty dames : deeply fabulous vintage-inspired handmade fashion

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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!

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!

Trish & Paula pose prettily on the magic carpet

It was with great delight that the Dames accepted another gracious invitation to afternoon tea with the fabulous artist Trish Little! You might remember from our last visit to Trish’s studio, my gushing about her beautiful decoration of her home with lovingly restored furniture, quirky and artistic objects, especially the various hand hooked rag rugs scattered about the house. And so our merry party did herald a special occasion: the unveiling of a custom-made hand-hooked rag rug especially for MOI!

It was love at first sight, and the love only burned brighter as Trish described the various recycled “rags” that had gone into its creation, a treasured length of fabric that was meant to be made into a skirt (or was it a jacket?), a print designed by an Aboriginal artist with a decidedly “Ken Done” colour scheme, and the green accent fabric meticulously dyed by hand to just the right colour to finish the zig-zag border of the rug. The artist masterfully wrestled with this 1.3 x 1.9m beauty, hooking lengths of fabric through a hessian base in arduous 85+ hour long process. Delicious texture underfoot, and jewelled colours glinting in a gorgeous harlequin pattern, this truly is a “magic carpet” which i will treasure forever…

…and as suspected, it looks completely wonderful against my 70′s “violent orange” loungeroom floor!

As if our delicious afternoon tea and the unveiling of the magic carpet was not enough, Trish very generously gifted to us some more of her vintage textile treasures. Dear readers, it is a great surprise we did not hyperventilate with all the gasping we did as Trish unveiled (with great bombast) one deeply fabulous garment after another. Stay tuned for a studio tour of Trish’s artistic abode and a photo story of the gorgeous garments!

If you would love a hand-hooked rug of your very own, Trish has several stowed away carefully, waiting for a loving home to go to. Email us if you would like us to put you in touch with the artist!

You can find out more about Trish’s artworks and the history of her hand-hooked rugs with this fantastic article and interview by Rebecca McLaren on the ABC Goldfields website.

Detail of the luscious fabric rags used in the carpet

How spoiled are we?! Homemade brownies and fresh mulberries from the garden for tea… Is it just me or are we suddenly characters in an Enid Blyton book?

Heavenly scented roses from Trish’s garden decorate the table

Until the 31st of October Hoola Hoop are getting right into the Frocktober spirit by offering very hard-to-resist specials on some of their beautiful frocks. A generous portion of sales from selected ‘Frocktober’  dresses will be donated to Ovarian Cancer Research, and 5% of sales from all full priced dresses will also be donated if you mention it’s for Frocktober.  So go ahead my lovelies and buy a super cute new dress guilt free, afterall it’s for a very good cause!

Left: The Diner Dress. Right: Fifi Gizmo Dress

Left: Gina Dress. Right: Fifi Ziggy Dress

The dames were delighted to be invited along to “The Airing of the Quilts” at the home of local textile artist and “Crazy Stitcher”, Margie McIntosh on the 25th September 2010. Organised as a fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Margie adopted the idea from an American tradition where quilts are hung in a garden setting for viewing by the public.

A vast array of beautiful quilts by local and invited artists fluttered in the breeze on this perfect spring day- complimented of course with a delicious afternoon tea, fluffy scones with lashings of jam and cream! (Carly restrained herself but Paula helped herself to seconds). It was a pleasure to be welcomed into the home of Margie and for her to share the special stories behind each quilt. We look forward to the next “airing”!

Detail of a quilt by Paula’s primary school Librarian, Mrs Lois Nagle

Beautiful Everlasting “Paper Daisy” wildflowers decorated the tea table

By now you would have figured out that the Dames simply adore tea. What you might not know is that we also like to leave a light footprint on the environment. So naturally we LOVE these environmentally friendly tea cups! Aren’t they just the cutest?! If you want to get your hands on one of these little beauties head over to the Earthology Website.

Spring is here! The Dames have already shed our winter coats and have embraced the glorious spring weather by frolicking around in our favourite floral frocks. Hoorah! Etsy store Timeless Vixen Vintage have us drooling over their collection of gorgeous vintage floral day dresses. Imagine hosting a fabulous spring outdoor tea party in one of these fine frocks… HEAVEN!

Gorgeous 1950′s floral frock complete with rose detail

1950′s Yellow Poppy  Floral Garden Print Dress

Eeeeeee! Check out these adorable 50′s inspired ‘Gidget’ playsuits from Australian label Moxie Minx. How fun would it be to frolic around in one of these sassy little numbers! Moxie Minx have a collection of ready made playsuits for sale on their online store or you can choose from a selection of super cute fabrics and have one custom made just for you.

Check out these gorgeous dresses made by Melbourne designer Peta Pledger. Drawing inspiration from vintage patterns, 50′s housewives and pin-up glamour, this Aussie designer creates fabulous figure flattering garments  for lovely ladies of all shapes and sizes.

Any dame would look fetching in these gorgeous dresses.

Charming graphics on the Peta Pledger website.