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Yes its been ridiculously hot in Sydney lately, and my sewing room has literally become a sweatshop while I have been sewing softies. Today these little guys headed off to their interim home at Shorties in Newtown.
They are super cute aren’t they!
Rachel
In my creative space today…..
A new batch of softies
including some newbies and some old favourites
and a half watched First Season DVD of Big Love… Oh how I love this show…
What do you think of the new softies, does the Moustache Man take your fancy?
To check out more creative spaces stop by at Kirsty’s.
Rachel
As many of you know I haven’t been producing soft toys for a few months now. It just got way too hard with our previous living arrangements, the move and the renovations. After a fairly long break though I am keen to get back into it. I’ve missed creating toys, interacting with my retailers, writing patterns, and the sense of accomplishment softying (is that a word?) brought me. I anticipate that I’ll be up and running around the end of the month, and I am really excited about it. I’ll be streamlining my range with some old favourites and there will be some cool new designs as well.
If you are a boutique interested in supplying The Two Windmills products contact me through email Rachel@thetwowindmills.com.
Rachel
In my creative space today(in no specific order)….
the beginnings of a cold I think…
a packet of mint slice biscuits lefts over from last nights Inner West craft room
arms and legs
a new idea
2 toddlers (one of which keeps kicking me off my desk chair)
10 kg of stuffing
sketches of robots
empty bunny and space cadet bodies (to see some full ones check out my shop)
Whats in your creative space today?
To see some others visit Kirsty…
Rachel
Hey there,
Over the Christmas and New Year period I spent a lot of time working on some designs I had in my head and on paper. Here they are…
Oliver the spaceboy
Moby the Whale
And Lady Penelope the penguin
What do you think? They’ll be in my madeit and etsy shops by the end of the week.
Rachel
Yes I’m still obsessed with whales. Here are some more drafts, arranged in order of most recent.
I’m pretty happy with the first one, though perhaps he needs something more. What do you think?
Rachel
By the way this is my 99th post. The next one will be a giveaway!
Funny hats
I was recently asked to consider making some ‘eco’ softies for a local store, and its been something I have been thinking a lot about lately. To be honest I know very little about fabric production methods, and bugger all about how hobbyfill is made. So far almost my softies have been mostly made of all new materials (that are pre-washed in phosphate free detergent) and are all stuffed with polyfil.
On the internet I have found it hard to find simple and clear information. From some reading it seems clear that world wide there is little clear definition around what constitutes a ‘organic fabric’, and the dyes used on it, and even less information on stuffing.
To clarify when I say ‘eco’ to me this means made with the environment in mind; either produced from environmentally sustainable material, using recycled materials, but also produced using locally obtained materials. There seems little point in using organic materials if they are all shipped over from the other side of the world. Is this what everyone else thinks?
So I have done some research on production of ‘eco’ softies from a cost and convenience perspective and would love if any of you wanted to share your ideas and opinions.
Fabric options:
As far as I can tell there are three options for fabric.
Organic printed fabric – can be expensive starting at around $16 US a yard (compared to around $8)
Locally screenprinted fabric- again can be expensive but most seem to be screenprinted on environmentally friendly fabric with gentle inks.
Recycled fabric from clothes, sheets etc. Requires a bit of luck and a lot of fossicking in Op shops… the fun bit.
Filling
So far stuffing seems to be a sticking point. The closest I could find was pure wool stuffing which is again expensive at $35 p kg (including the $10 for postage as it’s from Victoria). I have noticed some overseas softie makers using polyfil made from recycled plastic bottles but I can’t seem to source this locally. Does anyone know of any other filling types available in Australia?
Selling
Is there a market for ‘eco’ softies outside of specific stores that specialise in this sort of thing. Has anyone who sells handmade goods ever been asked about ‘environmentally friendly’ options? As a purchaser is this something that would change your buying decision in handmade goods such a soft toys?
Here are some interesting links on these issues
Thursday, I don’t care about you
The role of Organic production in the cotton industry
“Certified organic clothing” what does it mean?
I’d love to hear what y’all think
Rachel
These softies and many others are now in the my shops on 
Well what a day today was… For those who don’t know a huge dust storm encapsulated Sydney this morning. This is the view from our window into our complex’s gardens, at around 7am, and I have to say it didn’t much improve throughout the morning.
In the afternoon the kids and I drove to Spotlight. (For those who might not know Spotlight is a large craft chain store staff by dim witted teenagers that know nothing about craft). Cadel and Hamish have developed a hatred for the place which involves them whining upon entering the car park and Cadel attempting to bargain with me “No Mummy, maybe we go to Spotlight tomorrow.”.
I needed some stuffing and some embroidery thread though, so off I went trekking out to the Auburn branch so the kids could have an extra long nap. Anyhow, in true Spotlight fashion, every bag of stuffing was either opened or squashed, and as one would expect they were out of the embroidery thread colour I was wanting.. (a very unusual colour)… black. So we left empty handed. A rather uneventful and unforgettable day.
I have lots of things cut out and am doing lots of handwork on my softies, but I’m trying to stay off the machine until my new one arrives. Hopefully I’ll have some work to show off next week.
In other news I am picking up my new machine at the end of the week so stay tuned…
Rachel
Once upon a time (back in 2004) there was a girl who occasionally embroidered and sewed quilts. She had yet to learn of the excitement of sewing soft toys and clothes and joked that she could only sew flat things.
Anyhow when she bought her first sewing machine, she didn’t want to spend much money and bought the cheapest machine she could. She didn’t have a lot of confidence in her sewing skills and was taught to use the machine by her husband (the son of a seamstress).
Years passed and her confidence grew and she began to sew pretty great stuff, and for longer and longer periods. Suddenly the little machine that could began to rebel at days involving 5-6 hours plus of sewing. Strange things started to happen, stitches were dropped and one day the little machine that could… couldn’t. Her husband was able to get it working again but the machine was now extra temperamental.
And so the hunt began for the replacement….
Rachel
