Sew Good!

Finally I have put together the dates for

 Robyne Melia's crazy patchwork classes

March 24th, 31st & April 14th and 21st

 All Saturdays, 10am - 3.30pm with half an hour for lunch. We have scheduled the classes to run either side of Easter to give everyone plenty of time to work on their stitches.

Classes are of course in our lovely new class room on the 4th floor and include morning and afternoon tea. We will also provide supplementary materials, threads and other lovely haberdashery bits and bobs to add to participants own collections.

A full list of things you need to bring and a brief outline of the class by Robyne will be provided upon booking.

Robyne is an incredibly talented and lovely woman, with years of teaching experience. The classes will have a relaxed pace with various stitches adapted for different levels of experience.

We are so excited that our first classes are going to be with Ms. Melia, her knowledge, passion and sense of humour guarantee an inspiring and fun series of classes.

The full series of classes including supplementary materials and refreshments is $280, payment is required at the time of booking. Please give us a call or email if you would like to make a booking or require any further details.

If you haven't already visited Robyne's blog it is in my list on the right, also see her recent interview here www.intocraft.com.au

Here are some images supplied by Robyne of her work and feature the style of stitches and motifs that will be covered in the classes.

GORGEOUS!!

Reasons to be cheerful

It is hard not to be cheerful when you have such lovely things to play with, I spoilt myself this week with this gorgeous Victorian merit rosette. I bought it under the pretext of using it as an example for a class that we are planning later in the year, but any excuse would do, I love it! It goes perfectly with our new antique glass berry sprays and these pale icy diorish blue leaves. The background is my favourite pattern from the new French General range for Moda, Rouenneries Deux that arrived this week.

It has been a great week at l'uccello, we are all a little weary but happy to have completed so many  jobs, it is always so satisfying to cross a few things off the to do list. This week we delivered a huge order of bunting to the Melbourne Arts Centre for the Speigel Tent season. The lovely Tony from the arts centre found us while Christmas shopping in the Nicholas Building last year and asked us to design bunting to match his theme for the Speigel Tent season, and a mini version for them to sell at their events. We also managed to fill all of our wholesale orders and top up our own supplies of products that have been out of stock for a while.

To top it all off we have had the great privilege of being featured by WGSN, they are one of the top trend forecasting companies in the world. It is a service that design companies subscribe to for all the latest trends, we are featured in their Vintage Melbourne report. AND we have been viewing the new season Sophie Digard collections for winter and spring, very, very exciting! I went a bit mad so expect lots of lovely new designs and colours, broaches (at last!),  and lots of other lovelies all due April/May.

There is still a very long to do list, and at the top is class timetable, we should be ready to start listing classes next week. We would love to hear from you regarding which day and time you would prefer classes to be scheduled, even if you can't attend, I'm not sure what suits most people best, feel free to leave comments. On the subject of comments, I do sometimes forget to answer, I do apologise of I have done this to anyone recently.

Here are a few snaps of this weeks comings and goings..... 

I managed to be going past just as the bunting was being installed. Many, many thanks to Connie for ALL that sewing!

Just arrived, French General Rouenneries range, gorgeous!!

Part of our new range of applique, quilting and embroidery books, very inspirational.

This book by much admired author Trish Burr is perfect for embroiderers wanting to develop their skills with colour.

Delicious vintage French cotton and linen lace, perfect to team up with the new Rouenneries range.

Just a small sample of new vintage button arrivals

Lovely vintage Czech orchids and Chrysanthemums

 Delicate antique German glass sprays

I am redesigning the store signage, not quite sure where it is going just yet, however I am happy with the new door patchwork. As the door is now permanently open you can't see the patchwork I had on the outside, I kind of miss it so I thought another on the inside would be good idea. Of course forgetting how long the first one took, never mind it is always worth it when you finish, don't you find?

Have a splendid week and I promise timetable shortly! x

Heavens to Betsy!

Well time really does fly, sometimes when you are having fun and sometimes when you definitely are not. We have been so busy this week I can't believe it is only the end of January. We are still trying to finish off the move to our new store room and classroom ( it is starting to look lovely) but we have so many orders everything is in a state of half finished flux. To add to the chaos I have been off installing Valentines day windows for Kleins Perfumery and Kozminskys and all the new year deliveries are rolling in. Fun and chaos and a little bit grumpiness, guess who got trapped in a lift for half an hour, that will teach me not to take the stairs.

I must confess it is very hard to get on the the less lovely jobs when there are so many new treasures to  sort through and admire. We have had lots of new vintage millinery pieces come in, and sell out very quickly. Just arrived today is a huge shipment of fabulous stamens, with more millinery trims on the way. Stacks and stacks of new vintage buttons, sorry forgot to photograph them. Boxes of new Sajou embroidery delights, a few new pieces of Sophie Digard, new Moda fabrics, pretty scented soaps and some gorgeous new books on embroidery, quilting and applique. Now to work out where to put it all!

Sajou stranded thread has a lovely sheen and is a joy to work with, I've teamed them up with some of my favourite Liberty fabrics, including this one the lovely Betsy

St Pierre woolen/polymide thread, perfect for stitching projects made with our pure wool felt.

Sajou couture thimbles, scissors, thread winder cards and needles, all beautifully crafted in France.

Assortments of linen lace making thread in pretty colours, some plain and some variegated, from Au Chinois, also French.

Beautiful vintage Anchor broder thread in great vintage colours.

Vintage berry stamens

New varieties of pretty vintage stamens

Sweetest ever spun cotton mushrooms.

Lovely Bon Bon soaps in 8 fragrances, made in Australia and triple milled.

Classic French country enamel soap dishes (well German actually), practical and stylish.

Sneak peek at this weeks big project, we will tell you more next week.

Gratuitous shot of some of my personal stash, I have been collecting lots of lovely shabby things for my circus girls (as featured in the Age recently, see I must be busy I didn't even remember to brag about that!)

Have a lovely week  x