A carry bag using off-cuts and fabric inspired by nature

When I purchase pants, I usually need to shorten the leg and find it hard to throw out the off-cut. Over the years these off-cuts have been re-purposed into cleaning clothes, fabric buckets, pin cushions, zippered purses or cut up and stitched into a quilt... How do you utilise offcuts? With this off-cut, I particularly liked the stitch detail and wanted to keep it intact. The pant leg was reinforced with fusible wadding and became the flap on a message style bag. The lining is leftover shirting fabric, and the body of the bag is using one of my nature inspired fabrics called 'bottle tops round 2'. 

The BottleTop Trees located at Lake Annand Park in Bright Street, Toowoomba inspired this fabric. We had a brief stop at Lake Annand Park while out day tripping, the shape and size of this unique tree caught my eye; I've since learnt the tree in this park is thought to be over 50 years old and is listed on the Natural Trust Registry.   

When you select a textile design, you have over twenty varieties of fabric that the design can be printed onto, making it really easy to get the right weight and type of material for your chosen project. For this project, I have used organic cotton and interfaced it. The linen canvas is my favourite fabric for bags and really lovely to sew.

Sustainability is at the heart of the Spoonflower process, and less than a thimble full of water is used to print 5 yards of fabric. Being able to combine offcuts with something new that has used sustainable manufacturing methods is quite satisfying.


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Nature influences us in many ways, dare to explore

As an artist, we know inspiration is about finding someone or something that is inspiring and drives us to take action to create. Taking the time to explore and enjoy our local area is something husband, and I enjoy together, the fresh air, simple discoveries and an invaluable opportunity to gather and collect inspirational moments. 

These short discoveries not only influenced my first solo exhibition 'Sunday Drives' they also have an ongoing impact on my well being, artworks and fabric collection. A camera and/or sketchbook accompany me on most explorations. With these tools, I capture images, sketch and record thoughts. A resource I can return to for research and inspiration. 

Texture, shape, colour and 'out of place' items caught my eye in our earlier explorations. Over time, I've dived more in-depth into the theme, taking a closer look and exploring different angles. My sketchbooks and digital library are filled with images of bark, trees, trunks, fallen logs, rocks, ants, flowers, leaves, insects, rusty items, canopies, foliage, feathers, seed pods...etc. And lots of skies inspired images.

Recently we returned to Karawatha Forest Park, located South East of where we live. The park is approximately 900 hectares and is one of the most significant remnant bushlands situated just within the city. There are picnic tables, barbecue facilities, and walking tracks at the park. 

Karawatha Forest Park is an essential refuge for over 200 species of wildlife, including a selection of threatened or endangered species such as the greater glider, squirrel glider and rare frogs. The forest also supports red-necked wallabies, swamp wallabies and eastern grey kangaroos. Birdlife is the most visible form of fauna in the park, with over 100 bird species found in the park.

Karawatha Forest contains mainly open eucalypt forest with areas of heath, wetland and woodlands. There are over 320 native plant species in Karawatha. The area includes a variety of habitats from freshwater lagoons and sandstone ridges to dry eucalypt forests and wetlands. It also contains some of the last remaining water heathlands and melaleuca wetlands in Brisbane.

Natures' diversity influences us in many ways, enjoy the moment and dare to wander without purpose or reason. 

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Inspirations from a recent road trip through outback Queensland and Northern New South Wales

Travelling to new places is a great way to gather and collect inspiration, relax and reset the battery. Husband and I have just returned from a 2,111-kilometre road trip through parts of outback Queensland and Northern New South Wales. 

We started in Brisbane and headed to St George via Dalby, then on to Cunnamulla, south to Bourke, then back to Brisbane via Moree, Goondiwindi and Inglewood. It's been a few years since we've road tripped, so we kept it simple, mixing it up with a few nights camping and a few nights in accommodation.

I gathered and collected inspiration, filled a memory card and several pages in a sketchbook.

Since returning the ideas have been flowing.

Silo Art, Thallon Queensland

"Life is a journey. Make the best of it."

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5 Simple ways to enjoy everyday pleasures

A creative life means as we journey through our routine we gather moments of inspiration. Creative opportunities are present throughout our day; incorporating creative time into our daily routines is often easier than we think.

Creative living seems to parallel with slowing down, a conscious choice, and not always an easy one, but with time it leads to more significant inspiration, appreciation, and calmness, in time becoming a way of life. Creativity surrounds use everywhere, every day; here are some tools to help you slow, see and enjoy:

1. Breathe - when life races ahead, pause and take a deep breath. Really feel the air coming into your body; by focusing on each breath, you bring yourself back to the present. 

2. Be present - be mindful of whatever you're doing at that moment. When your mind starts to wonder off, take a breath and gently bring yourself back to the present. Focus on the moment, the environment, hear the sounds and observe the colours, shapes and textures that surround you.

3. Embrace Nature - many of us are in day-jobs and spend much of the day in an office and commuting, getting some outside time can be tough. Start with getting up a half hour early and head outside to walk, to breath, watch the sunrise, hear the birds and other noises, visit a local park, touch the tree bark, or just sit in a new spot while having your morning coffee.

4. Mono-task - In today's busy world we often find ourselves doing multiple things at once. Studies have shown that mono-tasking promotes deep thinking and increases productivity. Start to focus on one thing at a time, when you feel the urge to break away to other tasks, pause, take a breath, and gently pull yourself back. Start doing this during the creative time, experience a new freedom.

5. Find pleasure in every day - this relates to being present and mono-tasking but taking it a step further. Whatever you're doing, be fully present and appreciate every aspect of it. Find an enjoyable angle even when doing the dishes, hanging out the washing or cooking the weeknight meal, take a moment to see the lines, colours, textures and shapes in front of you. When doing the nightly cook, how would it chance the task if you used a different method to cook or served the meal on a plate usually reserved for best occasions? Have a go at cooking by colour, for example, tonight everything on the plate is green etc. sees if it changes how you feel about the task. Does it give you ideas for other projects?

In a world where time is precious, let's not forget to enjoy the time that we do have. 

Creativity surrounds us everywhere in our every day surrounds; allow yourself to slow, see and enjoy.  

As creatives, our productivity doesn't just depend on speed and efficiency. It also depends on our creativity, intuition and innovation, and these things need space to flourish. 

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Texture, the element of art that stimulates sight and touch

The texture is the element of art that refers to the way things look or feel. It is the character of a surface and can be both tactile and visual. Texture stimulates two different senses: sight and touch.

 
Types of texture:

• Tactile or real texture: is the physical quality of a surface, such as rough, smooth, sticky, fuzzy, soft or slick. A real texture is one you can actually feel with your hand, such as a tree trunk, sandpaper, brick, animal fur, etc.

• Visual or Implied texture is the visual quality of a surface. Visual or implied texture can be simulated or invented. The simulated texture is the type of composition that is created to look like something it is not. Visual texture is an illusion of texture created by an artist. For example, Paint can be manipulated to give the impression of texture, while the paper surface remains smooth and flat.

Incorporating texture into the creative process adds another dimension. Painters use different mediums, paint strokes, and surface treatments to create the illusion of texture. 

In textiles, texture starts with fabric selection. When selecting fabric, you consider the weave of the material, whether it be tightly woven to reflect the light or a courser weave like burlap.

With the development of technology, the photographic image now has a role in our textile pieces. The ability to print images onto lengths of fabric means the print on the material also plays a vital role in adding textural interest to our works. Learning to apply digital images to fabric was a pivotal moment in my practice.

Additional levels of texture can be added through the use of hand stitching, thread thickness, quilting, trapunto, beads, buttons, acrylic mediums, puff paint, Tyvek, fabric burning, adding ribbon, lace, applique, and fabric manipulation through pleating, folding, seam construction etc... 

Texture, along with the line, shape, form, colour, space and value are known as the elements of art, the essential design ingredients.

The elements of art help the artist to:

• create visual interest or a focal point
• to create contrast within a design
• to help visually balance a design

Artist across the mediums draw on these elements to create interest or contrast in their works. Sometimes these elements work together and other times the stand alone.

Everywhere, every day we are surrounded by natural and artificial texture. As you gather and collect inspiration keep an eye out for texture. Use a combination of words, sketch and digital image to obtain ideas. Many photographers use macro photography to capture the feel of a subject. Macro mode enables you to get in close, examine the detail and crop the scene. Interested in exploring macro photography further here are a couple of useful articles.

How To Create Your Own Unique Textures and Apply Them To Your Photography by John Davenport

How To Take Amazing Smartphone Macro Photos by Max Therry

The random smoothness and roughness of texture are what draws us in to touch and get a closer look. In addition to photography and sketching, you can use rubbing to capture the character of the texture. In school, you probably placed a piece of paper over the surface, and with a B pencil or charcoal, you lightly rubbed to reveal the pattern. 

This same exercise can be done by laying a piece of fabric across the texture and using a Shiva Oil Paintstik or similar fabric crayon rub across the texture.

1. Prewash the fabric to remove any sizing.
2. Place the textured surface under your fabric.
3. Tape your fabric in place to prevent it from shifting too much.
4. Oil paint sticks are self-sealing, using a piece of paper towel gently remove the film.
5. Lightly rub the paintstik across the fabric, an image of the textured item under the material will appear. 
6. After applying the colour, allow the painted fabric to dry 3-5 days, then heat-set to make the colours permanent.
7. Place a piece of baking paper on the surface of your ironing board, then a bit of old muslin (an old tea towel works well too) and set your iron to the proper setting for the painted fabric, e.g. cotton setting for cotton fabric etc.
8. Put the painted fabric paint-side down on the muslin (or tea towel) and press for 10-15 seconds in each painted spot.

Once the paintstik rubbing has been heat-set, it is colourfast, washable & dry cleanable. Not only have you captured the texture but you are have also created a unique piece of fabric. 

One of the great things about texture is that you can find it everywhere. The more you look, the more you'll discover, you can also make your own texture. Observe your surrounds and enjoy some creative playtime while building your texture library.

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Are you having trouble threading the needle?

You start to notice, it's harder to be hand sewing darker colours, especially at night, the fine print is harder to see, and your eyes feel strained. Holding your work further away sort of assists but, threading the needle... It's hard enough to find time to sew without having to worry about being able to thread a needle.

Most of us will need reading glasses at some point, for the majority this will usually happen in our forties. As you move through the forties, fifties & sixties the natural lens of your eye thickens and becomes less elastic and slowly loses its ability to accommodate from far to near - and back again - this is known as presbyopia.

Many people will just pick up a pair of glasses from a chemist, service station or junk store and for a few these cheater glasses will work. But, if you have astigmatism, you will find it more precise and less tiring on your eyes to have lenses fitted with the correct prescription. When we have stigmatism our eyes are shaped more like a football, the cheater glasses are made with the assumption our eye is perfectly round.

Book an appointment with your local optometrist. Before the test, take notice of how you use your eyes:

• Where do you hold your sewing projects (up close or in your lap)?
• What is the approximate distance of the sewing machine from your eyes?
• Do you mostly sew during the day or at night?
• What sort of visual tasks do you do at your day job?

These tasks, which we perform daily, have different visual lengths - near, intermediate and distance. The optometrist can tailor your prescription and eyewear selection to your individual visual needs. If you do a lot of hand-work or sewing at night, consider having a pair of glasses made specifically for that task.

Even if you don't currently need glasses or contact lenses a routine eye test is recommended. The optometrist will not only look at the vision needs of your eyes, but they also look at the health of your eye and keep a watch for cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases.

In addition to eyewear also consider task lighting. The purpose of task lighting is to not only increase illuminance but also have good contrast. General lighting can be reduced when task lighting provides focused light where needed.

Different approaches for task lighting:

• Localised task lighting, where the lamp supplies both ambient light and task light
• Freely adjustable task light such as a gooseneck, balanced-arm lamp, or swing-arm light
• Magnifying task light, where the task light comes with a built-in magnifying glass
• Asymmetric task light, where the lamp is placed at the side of the work area

Task lighting can also be built into machinery, where a specific work area needs illumination. Many of the new sewing machines now have multiple LED lights across the body of the machine. Even if you don't currently wear glasses having good lighting while you work helps to reduce eye strain.

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Everyday we walk our calico cat

Creativity and inspirational moments surround us every day even when performing daily routines. Every morning we take our indoor cat, Calico, out to explore the nearby parkland. 

Calico is a rescue kitten from the RSPCA, from day one we accustomed her to be on the lead every time we left the house, our morning walk is now something we both look forward to. 

We head out pretty early, and often we watch the sun pop over the horizon, most mornings are spent exploring, but some are spent absorbing the early morning rays. During these quieter days, I get to take photos of her and our surrounds.

Getting up early can be a struggle but the early morning smells, noises and sunlight are very inspiring. The purses are featuring newly released fabrics, 'In the Park' and 'Seaside lattice' both inspired by our early morning adventures.

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Travel, Street Art and Melbourne Laneways

Recently, we travelled to Melbourne to our nephew, and his partner of eight years, Tims' wedding.

Melbourne is well known for its laneway culture. Of course, there are the dark and dingy lanes that we associate with big cities. However, a good proportion of laneways in Melbourne have been embraced with restaurants, cafes, bespoke shops and street art. I downloaded the walking map for Melbourne Laneways, and in between the family events we explored the streets and discovered the personality of each laneway.

During the day the lanes are filled with tourists, we included, taking photos of the changing artwork. Melbourne is a night town so if you explore the laneways too early you cross paths with cleaning crews waking the homeless while going about their routine of picking up spray cans discarded during the night, clearing rubbish and hosing the cobbles; a light smell of urine lingers.

In an earlier post, we looked at six ways to find and collect inspiration, we can add art to this list. Looking outside your preferred genre or medium can ignite new ideas. Take a moment and reflect on your reaction, do some sketching, take a few photos or put your response in words. Ask yourself: Why this reaction? Why do you find it inspiring? What would you like to try?

While standing in these laneways, I feel like a taut rope stuck in a tug a war, being pulled back and forth between seething with the memory of scrubbing graffiti off before re-painting the whole fence and my artist side which is elated with the visual stimulus. I'm intrigued by the colours, scale and the collaboration of competing personalities. The expression of the attitude taken towards current affairs reminds me of Dadaism.

Each lane seems to attract slightly different styles, skill and personalities. Melbourne has embraced street art and turned it into an asset for the city. 

The laneway map also takes you through the mall, past historical buildings and landmarks, and other urban art. 

What to consider when buying a new sewing machine?

Before buying a new sewing machine, think about how you will be using it. Standard clothing repairs and construction don’t require a state-of-the-art, computerized sewing machine. On the other hand, buying the cheapest model available could prevent you from developing your skills beyond the basics and leave you needing to upgrade before too long. Knowing what you’re going to be doing will give you an idea of the features that will be the most useful to you. Before committing to the purchase take a moment to consider the following:

1. What types of projects do you plan to be sewing on the machine? - dressmaking, quilting, bag making, mending, free motion stitching, costumes, evening / bridal wear, curtains etc.

2. What is the thinnest fabric you will be sewing on the machine, and what will be the thickest fabric? - if you plan to make bags or quilt, you will need a machine that can handle thickness with ease.

3. How often will you use the machine and how noisy is it? - How often you plan to use the sewing machine and how loud it is, goes hand in hand. Many sewers, myself included mostly sew in the evening. Unless we have a room that is away from the sleeping family a noisy machine can cause disruptions.

4. What is your budget? - Stretch your budget as much as possible, without breaking it and purchase the best machine you have the budget for. If you are a beginner sewer, consider buying something that may be the next step up. As your confidence and enthusiasm grow, you will want to take on more difficult projects and doing this with a machine that’s set up for this is much more rewarding.

5. How do you plan on paying for the new machine? - Your budget may be determined by how you intend to fund the machine purchase. Will you be using cash, lay-by, credit card or finance. There are many options available if you choose to finance, read the fine print. In the fine print, look for information regarding monthly account keeping fees, transactions fees or any penalties if the loan is paid off early.

6. What attachments & special features are included with the machine purchase? - Most sewing machines come with a range of accessories and features. Ask which attachments come as standard and which you can buy separately.  

Here are a few of the accessories often included:

Presser Feet & Different Width Feet – these are invaluable for basic sewing, allowing you to switch between allowance widths and the zigzag stitch

Buttonhole foot, blind hem foot, zipper foot – these are all essential features for making clothing

Walking Foot, ¼” foot, freehand embroidery foot – these features are necessary if you want to make quilts

And here are a few of the Special Features:

Needle Threader – in some machines this will be automatic and in others, it will semi-automatic or non-existent

Needle Up/Down- This feature allows you to stop the needle either in the up or down position which simplifies pivoting and turning fabric.

Adjustable Speed Control – allows you to adjust how fast or slow you sew.

Needle Position adjustment – Allows you to move the needle either left or right. Ideal for zippers, top stitching and bag making.

Lighting – make sure you can adequately see what you are sewing.

Automatic Thread Cutter – Many machines have an automatic thread cutter; all you have to do is push a button, and it cuts the thread

Knee Lifter – It allows you to lift the presser foot while your hands are holding the fabric in place, ideal when free motion quilting.

Stop/Start button – Some machines have a start-stop button which means you don’t need to have the foot control attached. 

Free Arm – A removable piece from the sewing deck which allows you to slip something narrow (like a sleeve or fabric bowl) under the needle.

Extension Table – extends the table area which is helpful when quilting or free motion stitching

Size of work area - Specialty machines for quilting have a larger area from the needle to the shank of the machine which makes it much easier for bunging up your quilts when quilting them.  

7. How many stitches does the sewing machine have? - At the very least make sure it has: Straight stitch, zig zag & buttonhole and that you are able to alter the length/width of these with ease.  With these stitches, you are able to achieve most general sewing projects. If you plan on quilting with the machine ensure it also has the option to free motion stitch.

    Another aspect to consider is service after the sale. To keep a sewing machine in good running order, it needs to be serviced at least once a year and more regularly if it’s in heavy use. Are there service centers in your local area and do they repair all brands?. If you already have a brand in mind, call your local center and ask the service person if they service that particular brand. There is no point in buying a new sewing machine that is too difficult to get repaired.  Many service centers have preferred brands. It is worth asking them if there are any brands they really don’t like repairing or won’t fix. A poorly repaired machine is very frustrating and affects the enjoyment and quality of your sewing. 

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How a mundane task turned into a creative day out?

The day began routinely walk the cat, re-started morning pages, wash the car, breakfast, do a load of washing and drop the car off to get four new tyres and full wheel alignment. I had booked the car in for a 'while you wait' service taking about one and a half hours. On a whim, well I noticed a bus stop nearby and thought why not. Dropped the car off and caught the bus into town. Of course, there was a bit of looking at the shops, coffee and watch the world go by and finally ended up in the library. 

Allowing the whim moment to keep evolving I went to a section of the library I hadn't previously been and wondered the shelves to see what might grab my attention. A black spined book with white child-like writing peeped out from its bigger neighbours. The way it peeped out reminded me of Calico when we play hide in seek. "Steal like an Artist" by Austin Kloen, intriguing title, unique format 6" square and just one hundred and forty pages long. Page nineteen caught my eye as I thumbed through, right there in black font while on an unplanned trip to the library are the words.

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else - that's how you'll get ahead. From "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon.

mmm.. not sure where this will go, oh well!. Let's run with it. I had one of my sketchbook bags with me so pen and paper in hand. I firstly copied phrases, words and ideas that inspired. As I copied, new ideas came to mind, and I ended up doing a form of word association.

Word association is the process of using at least one word that is related to your topic as the starting point, then allowing your mind to spit bull (no filters) additional words and thoughts that spring to mind.

Start by writing the word at the top of the page. Look at the word and write down whatever comes to mind. Keep writing until you feel tapped out. Review the list and highlight the words that resonate with you. Write these words in columns across a new sheet of paper and one word at a time repeat the process. Once you've finished, sit back and have a look at the lists and again highlight the words that resonate with you. Often there are common elements. This collection of words is now the basis for further investigation. 

I was first introduced to this process during a workshop with Textile Artist Carol Wilkes via a dictionary wordplay exercise. We made a list of words that related to the assigned topic and using thesauruses and dictionaries we looked up each word and expanded the idea. The vintage of the dictionary can yield entirely different results.

Dictionary wordplay, word association and mind mapping are my go-to tools when exploring new subjects, deep diving a project investigation, resolving a stuck point or just exercising the mind with a bit of creative playtime. As you gather and collect inspiration include word association as part of the process, you never know where it will take you. My sketchbooks are works in progress and an ongoing resource; they often end up with all sorts of side thoughts, quick sketches, photos, collected bits n bobs and odd bits of paper. To get you started, I've put together a Word Association Worksheet, it's in PDF format.

Make a Simple Sketchers Go Bag

Preparedness is about being ready, having a system in place enabling you to grab and go at a moment's notice. In a previous post we looked at six ways to find and collect inspiration, we saw that our daily routines be with inspirational moments. Smartphones enable us to take a photo but, what if we could also further explore these moments through sketching or writing.

While sketching is an integral part of my practice, I often leave it to the last minute to put together sketchbook, pens, etc. and usually forget something. While sorting the pantry, my mind drifted to how preparedness might apply to be ready for recording inspirational moments — thus evolved making sketchers' go bag, having a small bag set aside to grab and go at a moments notice.

Over the years I've tried several size sketchbooks, and my preferred size for out and about is A6. The sketchbook size sets the dimensions for the sketchers' go bag, next I considered the items I would like to include in the kit and culled a few to keep it simple and the bag small.

Items chosen for this sketchers go bag:
A6 Sketchbook
Pen, pencil and two black fine point pen
Watercolours and a small selection of coloured fine point pens
A paintbrush pen
Glue stick, eraser and a small pair of scissors

With the size and contents sorted I headed across to 'Let's Sew' board on Pinterest. A board I've filled with tutorials and ideas for sewing projects. I knew I would be cutting the zip to size and wanted to try using the zipper tabs, so for this project, I referred to a tutorial by Amanda at Jedi Craft Girl.


For the main fabric, I selected two fabrics from my range "Together We Soar" & "Jasmine Balcony." I captured the image that inspired jasmine balconies during a previous sketching day out.

To the right side of the outer fabric, I applied "Iron-on Vinyl" which will give the bag some water resistance, I've used Iron-on Vinyl previously and been quite happy with its durability. Decide which size sketchbook will suit you best and cut the materials accordingly: 

Materials for Sketchers' go bag to fit an A6 size sketchbook
Cut 2 - 8 1/2" x 6 1/2" cotton fabric for the front & back
Cut 2 - 8 1/2" x 6 1/2" cotton fabric for the lining
Cut 2 - 8 1/2" x 6 1/2" Iron-on Vinyl to apply to the outer fabric

Materials for Sketchers' go bag to fit an A5 size sketchbook
Cut 2 - 10 1/2" x 8" cotton fabric for the front & back
Cut 2 - 10 1/2" x 8" cotton fabric for the lining
Cut 2 - 10 1/2" x 8" Iron-on Vinyl to apply to the outer fabric

Materials for Sketchers' go bag to fit an A4 size sketchbook
Cut 2 - 13 1/2" x 11" cotton fabric for the front & back
Cut 2 - 13 1/2" x 11" cotton fabric for the lining
Cut 2 - 13 1/2" x 11" Iron-on Vinyl to apply to the outer fabric

You will also need 1 x zipper to fit the bag and if you are cutting the zipper to size also cut 2 - 1 1/2" x 4" pieces of cotton fabric for the zipper tabs.