Emsah Moda...

One of my childhood friends, her sister and her mother are starting up a fashion label called Emsah Moda and I CAN'T wait till it is in production. The three ladies all have impeccable taste in fashion and interior design and I know what they come up with will blow our minds with vintage inspired fabrics, elegant designs smashed with rock chic and AmAzInG Jewelry by Debbi.
It got me thinking about my 'style'... mmeeehhhh what style! Sadly I know what I LOVE but just can't seem to 1. Pull it off with confidence or 2. Put it together so it looks good in the first place!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Nina Proudmans' style...looks effortless, layered and oh so vintage funk...on me...when i TRY and put something like this together...looks like I fell in the salvo bin, rolled around and came out with whatever stuck! I can't pull off the layered necklace and scarf...I look more like a tree has caught flying garbage bags, string and junk in a strong southerly wind! Then I feel like I an constantly pulling the 40 layers down as they all independently creep up my body to form a roll just under my breasts! AND while sorting the layers that are going UP, I am also pulling the layers that are going DOWN up!!!  I have small calves and find it hard to get boots that fit them without gaping and having that so not cool 'gumboot' look, but I JUST found a pair and have been wearing them like a second skin since they arrived. So how do you do it? Where to do you shop...do you go to one shop and get the catalogue and say I want 'that outfit' because that is the only way I could ever do it, I just can't get individual pieces from different stores to mesh together and look good. I have the most beautiful pieces in my cupboard....from vintage and antique shops that I would love to wear....what I need is a stylist...someone to say 'yes' or 'NO!!!!' to what I put together and my husband who thinks it is OK to wear your sheep skin moccasins to the pub is NOT the person to help me!
SO please let me know how you do it...where you shop and who helps you!

Mrs Wooofully Unfashionable! xxx

Copy Cat, Dirty Rat....

So A cyber friend had a dig at 'no one in particular' about buy and using patterns and NOT crediting the creator of that pattern....I thought it might have been a dig at me... So I had a look at myself, and what I have been making, and the patterns I have used, read them front to back and made sure there was no where on them that asked to be specifically credited....then I had a *gulp* moment and thought about the patterns that have been traced, handed on and gifted to me...were they all above board? Well it turns out one of them was NOT above board, and not only was it not above board in the sense that it should have been credited, WORSE....it says....'You are welcome to make as many of these as you like for yourself or for gifts but you are NOT permitted to sell them' .....EEEKKKK.....feeling pretty bad about using the pattern and selling the items now. The pattern from what I can see comes from over seas and the chances of the original person finding little me here in the sticks is low, however that isn't the point or what it is about, it is about being true to yourself and being fair on the person that created and sold this pattern, so I have made the decision to not make anymore to sell, but will stick to the guidelines and only gift them. I would just like to add here that I have seen another person selling the same item and NOT crediting the creator either, so it wasn't just my wrong...maybe they don't know either? One pattern that is getting absolutely *SmAsHeD* by people claiming it as their own is the WhimsyDolls, dolls and softies....there are a lot who DO credit her, but a lot that don't too.
NOW....my Wooo Horses are NOT a pattern, but are a melting pot of snips and chops until they were just right using free images, written instructions, trial and error....IF they were a pattern wouldn't there be other people out there making exactly the same as me!? I have seen a lot of the Melly and Me 'Giddy Up' horses getting around and not all people credit that pattern but you can tell plain as day that they have used it....anyway I challenge you to go through your patterns and see if you are being true to yourself and fair on the person/s that made your patterns. I truly don't care if you choose to not advertise it, that is none of my business or concern, I just think it is an interesting exercise as I would never have thought to do it until my cyber friend pointed it out.....Thanks Elizabeth! I feel better for being honest to myself.
I remember when I was making my 'Bibbles....the Bib for Dribble' I started to look into copy rights and licensing and found out very quickly that is it 1. Expensive 2. not fail safe...the slightest change to your pattern and it no longer is 'yours' and 3. Realistically a waste of time because WAS I going to hunt down someone who did copy me, take them to court and sue them....um no. AND if a BIG manufacturing company decided to run with it (dreaming I know) as if little old me is going to be able to say 'hey that is my idea', they are going to chew me up and spit me out and make millions (dreaming again) out of my idea.....so obviously I moved on! LOL

Rant officially over....for today!

Mrs Woo xxx

Licking the sunshine up.

http://lardcave.net/hsc/english.2ug.slessor.countrytowns.html

This is my all time favourite peom by Kenneth Slessor, I wish it was summer and I could be dozing on a verandha in the warm afternoon sun!
I found this pic today of my son and I could feel the warmth of the sun....

Todays tip...cherish every moment!

Dreamer

I am a chronic dreamer, I stair vacantly at things, imagine non living things to come to life and get lost looking at an old house wondering who lived there, what they were like, did they have a vegie garden out the back and flowers out the front....my husband makes me aware of this 'flaw' all too often! My son has inherited this trait and I am constantly repeating his name, which must sound like an echo in his head because he rarely looks up until at least the 3rd time and a raise of the volume button! His imagination is so vivid I love hearing his stories...at night I get him to close his eyes and imagine he is doing something that he can't really do...for the last few weeks we have been driving Uncle Lenni's big red tractor and chasing sheep through the paddocks! He turns the key and his eyelids, though shut, flutter as you can see him imagining the parts of the tractor, then he smiles and happily drives off in his head to a far away place where everything is possible... that is how I feel everyday, so thank you devine world for colliding me and my WoooHorses into each other, and thank you Jack Jonhson for the profound words you sang to me earlier while I was sewing...."Girl don't let your dreams be dreams"....mate I am trying!

Mrs Woo xxx

Double up

So sorry but I just HAD to add this tip of the day before I forgot it!!!! If you want to buy something from America and they don't ship it to Australia you can go http://www.myus.com/  and they will buy it and ship it to you!

Have you got a handy hint that might help another crafty out?

Tip of the Day

Ok so I don't have a lot to say today but thought I'd share a tip with you...if you don't have an overlocker but want a nice neat and tidy seam try this...a french seam.


Happy sewing!

Mrs Woo xxx

Bounce with Me

Ok so today I'll let you in on what I have been dreaming up...Bounce. I hate, hate, hate the cattiness that has erupted since  facebook and the craft world collided! I just don't get it...and I do. First of all I don't get WHY there is so much cattiness amoung those who make similar products as everyone has different tastes and even if I were parked next to another stall at the markets selling hair clips it wouldn't worry me, actually I would encourage it as there is more chance of selling items if you band together and support each other! A customer might come and buy one clips off me and then another of the stall beside me, I wouldnt feel ripped off, I'd be stoked to have sold THAT clip! MMMMM 'ripped off' this brings me to the part where I DO understand the cattiness in the craft world....if you blaitantly take anothers ideas and steal their 'flare' then you deserve to be snarled at...take inspiration by all means but don't just take someone elses idea and call it your own, you can not feel proud of yourself and it is not being your true and honest self. I have most certainly taken inspiration from others and would never deny that, it is about how you use that inspiration that matters..

Soooo BOUNCE... I have an amazing network of sewing friends, both here physically and in cyber space, and we 'bounce' ideas and concepts off each other all the time to make our products better and that gave me the idea to start a blog where we all help each other with insprationsal ideas to better our products, help market our items better, give tips and tricks and generally be nice to each other! In asking that you 'share' I also want to make it clear that if you 'choose' to share your thoughts and ideas you have to give up that intellectual property and licence that comes with it...you can not offer an idea up and then get the claws out when someone tries it! This is a sharing is caring page and I would love for anyone to participate....so me first hey!

I found this amazing blog via a beautiful cyber friend Heidi, of 'Fabric in Bloom' (facebook page) and it is the best thing since pinking shears and visafix! 'One Crafty Mumma' by Melissa Goodsell from Tasmania...link...http://melissagoodsell.typepad.com/day_to_day/2010/10/fabric-storage.html has posted a tutorial which she found at, The Little Green Bean's Blog http://maluukkonen.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-addiction.html and it is one of those Oprah 'Ta Dah' moments...when everything becomes clear and you wonder WHY you were blind to it for so long! I am going to try this and will (one day, can't say it will be soon though) post a picture of my BEFORE and AFTER fabric stash. I LOVE that you can make your cards any size so scraps and remnants can still be stored neatly...unlike me who has a 120 Litre tub overflowing with bits and pieces I just can't throw out!

So there you go...Bounce and my first 'sharing is caring' post....I hope you Like, Love and share both my post and the other posts I linked....

Mrs Woo xxx

Day Dot

Well here I go...trying to 'blog' ....not sure what to do really, feel a little lost and vulnerable!
Some exciting news for today...for me anyway...is that I am full booked for the rest of 2011! My hubby says that I should get someone in to sew for me, but that's not right, I can't put love into something that someone else has sewn, even if it is my pattern, fabrics and accessories....I am not doing this WoooHorse thing for the money, it is just something that I am so in love with and I will do it, slowly, until they are wanted no more.
Anyway that's my daily 'blog'...sounds a little feral really!
To the barn, there are owls to stuff and horses to sew...
I'll explain 'Bounce' in my next post...something else I am passionate about!

Mrs Woo xxx