Material Needs

How good are Melly & me? Part 2

I have just cleaned up after the Sangsang ravers and have decided to publish another post about Melly & me. I have previously discussed that their patterns are easy to understand and are great for Material Newbies (crafters who have only just started as opposed to Material Needers who have a few more threads in their sewing baskets). But Melly & me also have an excellent tutorial on their blog called the 'Scrappy Challenge'. This tutorial has allowed me the courage to tackle a quilt bigger than a drink coaster. Now I hear the diehard patchworkers out there shouting that this is just a log cabin block but Melly & me make it look so easy and incredibly cool with all those excellent fabric scraps - very important factors to a crafting newbie!

My sewing sisters & I have only encoutered one problem with this challenge - we are sewing innocents, therefore we have no scraps! We have embarrassed ourselves a little bit, scrounging on the sewing classroom floor for pieces, begging more experienced sewers to spare us a few little bright cuttings. Although we share most of the time, I know Annette keeps a few of the good ones for herself - dieb!

Although I have sewn hundreds to choose from (true - mean it - honestly Chris I have been doing my homework!) here are just a couple of blocks so far:

I know quite a few new ladies who are participating in this challenge, so if you have any scraps to spare please email the shop. Any scraps will be greatly appreciated and fought over the same way a flock of seagulls fight over a single chip (aka french fry).

R.

How good are Melly & me? Part 1.

The other night at sewing class I was talking to Annette (who is German and wears funky Birkenstocks) and Annette made me sew my quilt binding wonky. Although I insisted that Annette should be the one to correct this, Chris banished me to the front of the shop to unpick the wonky binding. Anyhoo, I started to follow the instructions given but then I noticed a little face staring at me. It was the face of little Sangsang – one of the fun patterns from Melly & Me. Chris was still busy in the work room so I had a little flick through the rest – Sangsang, Freya, Hooty & Tweet, Lottie & Little Lady, Mrs Perkins - all patterns and more sitting right on the counter at Material Needs. Although new to everything crafty, these patterns seemed easy to read and quite achievable for all skill levels. Yay for Melly & me and their simple instructions!

 

Myself and a few other Material Needers chose to bring some little Sangsangs to life and with the help of my Eddie Spaghetti as chaperone they all had a nice Friday evening that didn’t get too wild & crazy. Here are some memories:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now don't look at my Eddie Spaghetti's dirty beardy. Also, don't be fooled by the white maltese breed. As a puppy, I had visions of him matching my beautiful shabby chic bedroom, but he is in fact a filthy creature and seems to find it amusing. He did like the little Sangsangs though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this was later in the night when the techno trance & raving started:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As more of the Melly & me little ones come to life, I'll post their pics too. I think Freya & Mrs Perkins want tickets to next week's gig.

 

R.

Bring forth your vintage pin cushions & tins

I feel I have to post these photos early in order to encourage more readers to come forward. I love a pretty pin tin as much as the next Mrs but when I started attending sewing classes I noticed that lots of Material Needers had the most awesome pin cushions and tins - but worst of all, they didn't even notice, "...this old thing? My Grandmother used to keep her soap in this!"  For example, the following pin tin belongs to Linda. I nearly fainted when I saw this little beauty in the background and when I requested that I take a photo I think she thought me slightly odd:

and this cutesy from the sewing basket of Amanda:

So, any Material Needers (or members of the world wide crafting community) who have these treasures hiding, not getting the attention they deserve, email us a pic to feature - the older and more used the better - none of these mass produced Spotlight specials - I'm talking pretty tins or cushions that you've been stabbing or scratching for years. Take a look, and get back to me.

R.

Caroline Sharkey - what a workshop!

A couple of weekends ago, Caroline Sharkey conducted a workshop where quite a few Material Needers attended. Everyone who attended seemed so excited to talk about Caroline's skills and what projects they had created. Chris said that Caroline had brought along the most exquisite examples of her work and all who attended couldn't help but be inspired. Everyone was so eager to continue their projects that they barely ate their lunch...ok, well maybe a few treaties were consumed but really quickly. Here are just a few WIP (Apparently in the crafting community this stands for 'Works in Progress' - all the cool kids are using it)

by Barbie Davis

Freya, 14 yrs!

It's difficult to see in these photos but the detail in these works is amazing. All little tiny pieces of material make up the backgrounds. Go check out Caroline's website and you'll see what I mean.

Of course there was plenty more to come out of this workshop - so much in fact that we are holding a viewing night at the store.  Friday 6th June student viewing and then on Saturday 7th June the exhibition will be open to the public. Come along and be inspired (or just plain jealous like me!). Call the store on 02 6643 5366 for more details.

And for those of you in other countries reading this, I should think you will do your best to attend this exhibition but if you can't I'll keep you posted!

R.

Material Needs enters the world of blog!

I have always wanted to sew – patchwork and clothes with vintage fabrics mainly. And after giving up my busy city life and moving to the country I decided to finally put aside the time and attend a class. This choice brought me to ‘Material Needs’, the fabric shop in the main street of Grafton NSW. I explained to the lady that I had never sewn properly but I had a good collection of fabric gathering dust in the bottom of my linen cupboard. Nevertheless, I was swiftly enrolled in an evening class and away we went – I was now a sewer!

I tell you this only really to introduce you to the store – not only a place with a huge range of fabric, sewing machines and haberdashery but a place where crafting individuals meet to be inspired, supported, educated and indulge in the odd evening treaty. I’m not sure if the owners (who I will soon introduce) are aware of the lovely place they have created for the local crafting community but I hope to bring regular postings about the fun products, classes, workshops and inspiring projects that emerge from this shop – Material Needs.

 

 

Quick introductions

 

 

Barbie Davis

The ‘About Me’ page has more details but Barbie is the business owner and she originally bought this shop to fulfil her craving for patchwork and all things crafty. Barbie has a hubby (Shane) and 3 cute girls who can all sew. Barbie has such an eye for fabric, you will see in future posts her various quilts and funky items like yo yo hairclips.

 

 

Christine Mitchell

Chris is Barbie’s Mum and works tirelessly in the shop and as a sewing teacher. We always joke in class that Chris is the ‘Master’ but truly she is an amazing sewing teacher. Chris is well known in her areas, featured for her felting skills on ‘Sew Inspirational’ and is invited to teach at state conferences. Despite such attention, Chris still tolerates us students when we sew our pant legs together or go a bit crazy with the overlocker. ‘Sew Inspirational’ has a good run down about Chris and her craft life story.

 

 

Reece (casual author)

I don’t actually own, work or teach at this shop (but I thought I’d steal a bit of attention anyway!). As explained above, I’m a newbie to the craft world. After admiring everyone else’s projects I decided to finally have a go. I have learned many things but the classes are so much fun, I seem spend more time admiring the fabric and talking during my classes rather than applying my new skills. Nevertheless, with Barbie & Chris’s advice about the technical things, I’ll do my best to report about Material Needs. My many interests include my family, thrifting, authentic vintage fabric, 1930s repro. fabric, blogging (but mainly admiring other blogs), learning to sew & crochet (at a snail’s pace) and my puppies

Thanks for reading!

R.

Under construction...

Exciting products and activities from our store 'Material Needs' coming soon!!