Mad I'm not a hatter

We have had so many new pieces of vintage millinery turn up this week. I'm mad not to be a hatter. Or milliner to be precise, we have a young and passionate hatter who insists that milliners make women's hats and hatters make men's hats. Is this true? What happens when a maker of women's hats makes a hat for a man?

The photo above features some of our lovely vintage millinery stock, including:

vintage Swiss braid, French silk veiling, beautiful wide sheer silvery grey vintage rayon ribbon, antique French horse hair hat adornments and lots of pearly and hand dyed vintage stamens.

Art deco bird shaped adornments, extra wide vintage French yellow/gold colour moire rayon ribbon and sheer French rayon ribbon. These lovely old Swiss braids are beautiful, the black one featured in this photo looks like Venetian candy cane spiral glass. The vintage yellow stamens are new, and they complement the rest of our collection perfectly.

I adore these colours so much I almost can't bare to part with them. Beautiful ivory wide French rayon ribbons in woven stripes and and polka dots, cotton and silk grosgrain, prettiest pearly stamens, two of my favourite Swiss braids and of course the divine Deco angel wings.

This wonderful Kelly green is soooo Irma Le Duce! A favourite film of mine with the gorgeous young Shirley Maclaine playing the Parisian street walker Irma and Jack Lemmon as her confused lover. It is quite mad but worth watching for the costumes and her charming shabby apartment. The reason I always associate green with this film is Irma only wears green clothes, particularly this shade. This photo features two sets of art deco French angel wings, a black feather adornment featuring egret feathers, French plaid and black moire rayon ribbon, Victorian silk ribbon, glorious wide Swiss braid, vintage stamens and fabulous French buttons.  

This collection of adornments feature lots of lovely game bird feathers such as pheasant, they are so old but in such great condition it really is amazing.

Classic French chic, navy blue and ivory, very Jackie O. Heavy double sided extra wide satin in navy, sheer French cream wide rayon ribbon and beautiful navy moire with a woven chequered boarder. Vintage ivory Swiss braid, antique French navy bird hat adornment and sublime silk veiling in navy with tiny ivory hail spot.

Finally a rare collection of vintage millinery fabrics. From the left, heavy lustrous dark chocolate brown satin, taupe, grey and scarlet velvet with machine stitched detail, lemon fine grosgrain and slightly courser bluish grey and white grosgrain. A number of these lovely things sold before I could even get them into the display cabinet, so if you see something you like don't hesitate to call.

Have a great week and check in next week, there should be a few more things by then x

What a circus!

It has been another fast and fun week at l'uccello, we finally finished all of the hot air balloons for Kleins Perfumery's Easter window display last week. So this week has been all about circus girls for Kozminsky Jewellers' new window display. But something curious is going on, I have been obsessing about circus girls for months and all of a sudden there are circuses and speigel tents everywhere. It is of course Comedy Festival time in Melbourne. the above image is one of three speigel tents in town at the moment. So I am in giddy showgirl heaven with so many lovely old references to see. I have done a little tour of them all and then down to St Kilda, the Moscow Circus is also in town and Luna park is a perennial favourite.

Quick catch up from last week, these are the hot air balloons at Kleins Perfumery, we used fabrics form this years range of Lavender Heat Pillows and Scented Pillows for Linen. So if you need a new heat pillow to keep cosy this winter pop into Kleins Perfumery in Fitzroy, Muse Beauty Boutique in Canberra or l'uccello.

This is the first of a series of circus girls we are making, all of them are dressed in costumes made from rare antique trims, divine vintage ribbons and other special pieces of moire, velvet, lace and silk from my collection. I wanted them to look like they came from some old side show/circus display, after painting them I have applied layers of glaze to make them look old and a little shabby.

The Famous Speigel Tent outside the Melbourne Arts Centre St. Kilda Rd

Down by the river next to Federation Square there is another Speigel tent, featured in the top picture, along the way I saw this lovely little carousel.

And a Ferris wheel

In the city square is my favourite, called the Bosco

The big top on St Kilda Beach, I forgot my camera so apologies the phone photos are a bit blurry.

I was a little deflated by the entirely inflated facade and entrance to the circus, I love old circus and side show art. So feeling like I needed a little more romance I finished my tour at Luna Park.

It took me a while to find the laughing clowns, they are right down the back and there is only 4 of them, I remember a great long row, all busy with kids. I used to love the way the paint was so thick and chipped from having another coat of paint applied over and over again for so many years. These clowns don't have that pedigree but they were fun never the less, and I won a whirly gig!

 So whirly gig in hand I finished my tour, a little sad that the old Giggle Palace and other such things are gone but very happy that so many of these lovely old amusements remain.



Behind the times........

Well here I am at last, I'm at bit behind with everything at the moment, including the blog. I decided that it needed a bit of a makeover and as you know I'm not very techy, so it will take a while to finish. We have also been very busy filling wholesale orders, trying to keep on top of the mess, making lots of hot air balloons for the Klein's Easter window, developing new products and most exciting, working on our new packaging and branding. According to my significant other I have taken on a resemblance to the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I'm late, I'm late for a very important........

This is our lovely new range of Lavender heat pillows, hand made by us with pure cotton fabrics and natural ingredients, including fragrant Victorian lavender.

Sneak peek, they are not quite finished, these gorgeous cockades and rosettes are mostly made from vintage ribbons and have a pin back so they can be worn as a broach. They will be on sale shortly.

I don't have a picture of the hot air balloons yet, but if you are in Brunswick Street Fitzroy and want to have a look at them they are at Klein's Perfumery (313 Brunswick Street)

Basket full of happiness, waiting for the tram, South Melbourne.

We have so much lovely new stock, including these glass pearly coated buttons

Fab new stock of vintage coat buttons in great colours

Balls of silk yarn, spun from the threads left over from silk sari production

We have some great pieces of recycled vintage cloth from Nepal at the moment, lots of cross stitch and indigo and authentic Nepalese dust. Perfect for a gypsy caravan!

New stock of Sajou thread winders and needles including a couple of lovely new designs

This is Kookie, he popped in last week to say ciao, clearly he feels right at home at l'uccello, maybe he speaks Italian.

One of my current obsessions is the work of this French artist, Isabelle De Borchgrave, magnificent! This is from an article in Selvedge, issue 34 May/June 2010.

 I have finally seen Bright Star, this image on the cover of Selvedge is from the film. How beautiful is this film!!? I was enthralled, the costumes are so wonderful, the textures and colours, the art direction of the whole film is just so beautiful I couldn't speak. The actors are lovely and moving and Keats poetry is like a dream. And Sophie Digard scarves and cardigans! If you love textiles and haven't seen this film, you must see it. 

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

John Keats from Endymion 

Speaking of Sophie Digard, our winter collection is not far away so stay tuned, the colours and patterns are more beautiful than ever.

Finally a brief word about the passing of one of my favourite movie stars, Elizabeth Taylor. One of my favourite films is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, if anyone thinks petticoats aren't sexy they haven't seen that film. I loved her style, her passion, her extravagance, her acting, her beauty and old school Hollywood movie star glamour, she was an inspiring and courageous woman.



50,000 things

I can't believe it is Friday night already, how did the year get to be so fast already? I feel like I have 50,000 things in my head, and that is about 49,995 things too many! I have wasted at least a whole work day on emails, our connection at the shop is the worst ever, can I just say telephones are wonderful inventions! You pick them up, dial, talk, hang up - easy. As apposed to try 5 times to connect to the server, open the mail, loose the connection, connect again, take 10 minutes to load, then horror of horrors, attachments. Anyway sorry about the diatribe, telstra man is coming soon to put the cable on.

 So to rid myself of such pointless angst I spent yesterday creating a couple of vignettes with various props that I am collecting to decorate the shop for our rapidly approaching first birthday. We also have had some lovely new stock arrive so a few hours of arranging and patting them all did the trick.

Today I was happy as a lark, it was the perfect big sky day, endless blue that goes on forever and the golden sunshine of autumn. I have lots to catch up on, but some times you have to remember to breath.

We are having a gorgeous range of cockades and rosettes made using our lovely vintage ribbons.

Too much is never enough.

Fabulous new paisleys have just arrived.

More beautiful Valdani hand dyed threads.

Heavenly bullion tassels, made from real metal, they date from the early 1900s

More trims for my circus girls, a new project starting next week, too exciting.

I have started pinching the art work from home, this lovely old print is perfect behind the counter, don't you think?

PS Dear Fabricfantastique, apologies! I went to post your comment last week, but accidentally deleted it instead, thanks for taking the time to send it.

Happy Labour Day/Moomba have a great long week end x

Autumn already

It seems like all of a sudden Summer is over, it's kind of melancholy at first, this last flourish of Butterfly Bush from my garden is so lovely and fragrant. But then I start to think of cosy scarves and lovely new boots for winter and it makes me quite cheerful. I also find I am much more inclined to get crafty in the cooler weather, suddenly felts, pompoms and crochet seem so appealing. I have been especially happy because I have been able to wear my new Sophie Digard scarf, it is just so beautiful.

The crazy filter that I like on my iphone doesn't do the colours justice, they are heaven!

The big news of the week is we are hosting our first Crafty Hens Party on Saturday - craft, afternoon tea and girlfriends, it is sure to be a relaxing and fun afternoon.

Because of this l'uccello will be closing early this week only, at 2 pm. We hope this doesn't cause anyone any inconvenience.

Saturday hours 10am-2pm

this week only 

These fabulous old magazines from the 1930s arrived today, I'm thinking this could be my look for the season, a little hunter chic!

How glamorous are these dames?!

These fabulous baskets from Ghana arrived today, beautifully woven in lovely patterns and colours, perfect for storing crafty stash or for carrying your supplies to a class or two.

Gratuitous cotton reel shot

Have a great week, don't forget about early closing this Saturday x