T'was a few weeks before Christmas....

It's all about Christmas at l'uccello at the moment, we are busily making Christmas stockings, scented hearts and other lovely things for Christmas orders. We finally signed off on all of our new labels, thanks to the very talented Reina who is making sense of all my crazy ideas. It is very exciting and all products made by us should have their new labels on before the end of next week. I can feel another give away competition coming on to celebrate.

These photos feature some of our fabulous new paper craft products, these ones are called Dresden papers and they are made in Germany, they have been used since Victorian times to make decorations etc.

We are very pleased to announce the first classes at l'uccello, Victorian paper Christmas decorations.

The class is on Sunday the 6th of November from 10am to 1pm at the store. It will be an introduction to making decorations and cards using a combination of traditional paper products and vintage ephemera. We have also imported authentic German glass glitter which is made with sterling silver,  glitter like it used to be to give your decorations a lovely vintage feel. We will also use vintage postcards and antique paper scraps.

We will be making a number of decorations suitable for the tree or as gifts for friends, Christmas crackers, and cards.

The cost will be $65 including a delightful morning tea, materials and tuition. Numbers are very limited and some places are already booked so don't delay if you would like to join us. If the class is over booked we may schedule another class the following weekend.

Please ring the store if you wish to book a spot.

PS we have stacks of new stock in this week including (at last!) gorgeous Artiga striped fabrics in wider 160cm widths, more lovely patchwork fabrics and Mila will be happy to know the birds are in!

Have a fabulous week, if you are wandering up Bourke Street have a look at Kozminsky jewellers, we just did their window today featuring our beloved top hats and antique ribbon rosettes, hoorah. X

New deliveries

This week went so fast, how can it be Sunday already? We are well into Christmas production, the last couple of days we have been making some very jolly Christmas stockings, they are looking very sweet with lots of fun fabrics and vintage trims. Deliveries of all sorts of goodies are piling up, I really must try to get the store room sorted before the boxes take over the store.

 We have had lots of gorgeous new fabrics arrive this week including some of the new French General range and other lovely Moda designs.

 We also received our first delivery of these divine reproduction fabrics, so 1930s, they have a texture a little like bark cloth. Printed in Japan, they are reprints of old archived designs.

Exciting news, Hatched & Patched hand dyed woven wool felts are finally back in stock, including  some gorgeous new colours

Best of all, thanks to my neighbour who has loaned me her old laundy rack, we have been able to put out a fabulous collection of vintage and antique linens. These lovely old pieces feature many different techniques, including tatting, crochet, embroidery, cut thread work, needle, fillet & battenburg lace, applique and cross stitch.  

I also keep forgetting to photograph the new delivery of vintage Czech glass beads, stacks of divine new colours.

And we now stock eco friendly organic bamboo quilt wadding.   

Hope you are having a very laid back Sunday X

In case you were wondering....

In case you are wondering why I have been very quiet on the blog front, we have been flat out making these giant softie perfume bottles.  It is the latest window display at Kleins Perfumery (www.kleinsperfumery.com.au ) in Brunswick Street Fitzroy. With lots of help and beautiful stitchery by Johanna, I have made more or less scale replicas of some of our favourite perfumes at Kleins. Kleins is of course the loveliest perfumery in town and we thought it would be fun get crafty with a few of their divine scents.They are selling fast so if you would like one, you'd better get in quick. 

I have stacks of shop news but the camera battery was flat so hopefully I will get some photos done tomorrow and I will try to post tomorrow of Friday night. Also I will have dates and details for our first classes at l'uccello and dates to pencil in for our Christmas market, so stop by again in a couple of days.

Have a fab Thursday x

Bloomin' marvelous

So I have been a bit behind on the blogging, this time of the year really starts to get a bit crazy. We are busy keeping up with Spring orders and new products, and starting our Christmas production, we have some lovely new treats for this years festive season. we are even starting to plan this years Marche Rouge Christmas market and our first classes, which will be Victorian style Christmas decorations. We have sourced lots of beautiful Dresden embossed, die cut papers and German glass glitter & lameta for authentic looking decorations (they won't be in store fore for another 2-3 weeks, we are just finalising some packaging)

We are also almost ready to go to print with lovely new labels for all of our l'uccello products, we can't wait to see it all together at last.

But the biggest story in store at the moment is the rapidly approaching Spring Carnival, while you are sleeping many of our fabulous milliners are busy creating their magical creations so all the ladies and gents look their glamorous best at the track this year.

Just in time we received a huge new delivery of the glorious blooms, lots of  lovely silk lovelies in a whole rainbow of colours.

Speaking of rainbows I have seen more rainbows in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years, and not ordinary wimpy rainbows, enormous, vibrant, isn't nature unbelievable rainbows. This is another one today from our balcony, I sure it is a good omen.

Lovely vintage silk freesias, velvet violets and strawberries

Posies of blossom and bell flowers. lovely flower broaches.

Pink so intense it almost hurts

Gorgeous new velvet and organza lilies

Pure purple silk and organza rose, lilac orchids and turquoise poppies

Tiny vintage silk leaves

New silk, velvet and organsa rose

Velvet strawberries

Fabulous new deluxe double rose, silk velvet and organza

And to top it off we got hugh new deliveries of ribbon

Hand dyed woven wool felt, (check out Cathy Baines' new patterns on her blog Willow Valley Store, it's in my list on the right)

And a big restock of delicious woolen felt.

Finally, look what I bought myself from my very clever friend Penelope Dursten at Cottage Industry (also in the list on the right) Beautifully made and amusing, classic Miss Pen Pen.

Have a great week  x

l'uccello is open.....

l'uccello is now open Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm & Saturday 10am - 4pm.

 We have decided to make things easier for our lovely customers, no more trying to fit a visit in with your schedule, now we are open every day except Sunday, it's too easy.

Have a splendid week! x

Must do list

No. 1 on my must do list is find time to go to Bendigo to see the White Wedding Dress Exhibition, in the mean time I am savouring this beautiful new book that arrived in store last week. It is by the V & A Museum, and it full of beautiful images of their divine wedding dress collection, I am not sure yet which pieces are in the Bendigo show.

No. 2 on my must do list is a little closer to home, Louise McDonald, maker of exquisite hats is having a retrospective exhibition in the Nicholas Building, so if you love fine millinery make sure you get along to see it. Click the link to the Nicholas Building blog in the right hand column for all the details

No. 3 on my must do list, after making hundreds of paper blossoms for their window display, I must get up to Kozminsky Jewellers, (421 Bourke Street Melbourne) because they are having a sale. Kozminsky stock the most divine range of jewellery, both new and antique, exquisitely refined and always fascinating, this Melbourne icon is home to an eclectic collection of treasures including fine art and objet d'art.

No. 4 on my must do list is to sort and price a small mountain of new stock that has just come in, including these delicious coloured vintage Czech glass buttons.

And these divine creatures from the early 20th century, again from Czechoslovakia

And these fabulous casein and Bakelite and celluloid buttons, perfect for coats or hand knits.

Clearly, whoever said blue and green should never be seen was crazy.

New vintage French ribbons in lovely rich russets, burgundies, black and a perfect shade of barely lilac grey.

Then there is the new velvet leaves and vintage stamens, it's very hard to get work done when everything is so lovely, it's very tempting to just paw over it all day.

New l'uccello Collect rosettes made with Victorian French silk ribbon and special covered buttons including some covered in a fragment of an antique flag and others covered with 19th century metallic lace.

And finally this gorgeous old chocolate box is full of delicate antique lace, divine!

What is on your must do list?

Have a great week, hope you are enjoying some of the lovely early Spring sunshine X