Frocks on Bikes

I'm sure that many of you, like me, are excited about the Frocks on Bikes events happening in Christchurch this coming Saturday (October 24th, 2-5pm, Victoria Square). I'm sure you have already lined up a lovely frock to wear, polished your saddlebags and dusted your basket in anticipation. That just leaves one aesthetically displeasing aspect of the whole affair to be dealing with: the helmet.

I have no objection to wearing a helmet apart from the fact that all the ones I've ever seen for sale are so jolly ugly. They look sporty and I don't tend to like the look of sporty things.

So imagine my delight when I happened upon this photo by Mel Clark of the thing of beauty pictured above. I smiled, I coveted and I was inspired to knit when I saw this picture of Xanthe Harrison in her stunning Pony Club Helmet. Xanthe's idea was brought to fruition with yarn and pattern from South Seas Knitting. You can read the original post on the Slip Slip knit blog here. Xanthe won the best dressed in show award at the Ponsonby Frocks on Bikes parade in Auckland.

So quick, get knitting and hopefully we'll see something as gorgeous as this on Saturday. Given my knitting skills, mine should be just about finished in time for next year's events.

I'm cured! Oh no I'm not....

Only this morning while out in Realworldland distributing Stash reHash flyers and collecting donations, I was merrily boasting about how this whole process has cured me of my fabric addiction.

And then the unthinkable happened. Well actually it is thinkable because this is what I constantly hope/dream/pray will happen and fantasise about when I can't get to sleep at night. Today I collected a box of donations and it includes fabric by one of my all-time favourite designers.

The Australian designer Florence Broadhurst was by all accounts as mad as a meat axe. Good-mad though, not bad-mad. She was primarily a wallpaper designer, though whether she actually did any designing herself is unclear. Regardless of whether she did or not, she was still one styley chick, led an incredible life and her company produced beautiful work. Recently her designs have been reprinted from the original screens onto fabrics, wallpaper and a great range of products by Signature Prints in Australia.

If you don't know her work and would like to find out more, Christchurch City Libraries hold two biographies of her, including the one pictured above. Christchurch's very own wonderful Alice in Videoland also holds a great documentary about her life called Unfolding Florence: The many lives of Florence Broadhurst.

Now I'm off to put my hoping/dreaming/praying powers to work on a rather more pressing matter in this household.... Hopefully that will be just as successful.

Lace, lace and more lace

Today I received several bag loads of donated lace offcuts from a bridalwear manufacturer. Some are just tiny pieces and some lengths are garment, or at least bodice, sized.

A few of these gorgeous little morsels still have their original price-tags attached. They originally cost more per metre than I would get if I sold my family's car! They'll set you back somewhat less at Stash reHash.

Women are always right

Many years ago, when I was having trouble remembering which side the buttonholes went on women's clothing, I was taught to simply remember that "Women are always right".

If you need some gorgeous buttons to poke through your buttonholes, then look at what I have just been sorting out for the Arthritis NZ stall. The other day a lovely woman donated a huge, mixed-up bag of vintage buttons. With the wonders of a teacher-only day and child slave-labour they are now all sorted and carded and ready for you to snap them up.

I suspect they'll go like hot-cakes. Am I right or am I right?

A most exciting garage sale. Don’t keep it a secret!

Emma who ran the fabulous Everything Vintage Market is having a Huge Vintage Garage Sale. Emma has gorgeous things and tons of dishy fabrics. If you can't wait for Stash reHash or can't make it, then I suggest you head to:

26 Retreat Road, Avonside, Christchurch,
from 8am Saturday 17th October,

for:
Vintage Fabric
Heaps of Craft Items
Lampshades, Frames, etc
Vintage & Retro Homewares
Retro Clothes

Super cheap… must go! Moving back to Australia sale of the century…

All the items pictured above are things Emma has sold recently. Oh la la!

Arthritis New Zealand donations - Wow!

Some of you may have seen this photo of Stash reHash stall-holder Prue in The Mail recently sorting through her fabrics. It accompanied an article about Stash reHash asking for donations of fabrics, notions, yarn, haberdashery etc for Arthritis New Zealand's stall.

The response has been amazing so a huge thanks to everyone who has donated goods. Many of the people who have donated goods are themselves affected by arthritis and have benefitted from the excellent services provided by Arthritis New Zealand.

If you would like more information about Arthritis New Zealand, please see their website. There is even a support group for parents of children affected by arthritis.

One of my favourite movie lines is in Jaws where the chap deadpans, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat". Well judging from the volume of donations we've received for Stash reHash, "I think we're going to need a bigger table if not a bigger hall!"

Interiors fabric sale at Decorum in Lyttelton

If you are after dishy interiors fabrics at amazing prices and can't wait to see what turns up at Stash reHash, then I suggest you head to Decorum at 5A Oxford Street in Lyttelton. Decorum is a gorgeous wee shop selling antiques and textiles and they are currently having a fabric sale. They are open Thur-Sun, 10-5 or by appointment. The sale ends on Sunday 11th October.

While I was there I also spied readymade cushions in my favourite textile design to come out of New Zealand in the past couple of years. The design pictured above is part of Sheree Davis' "Urban Intrusion" series and it depicts houses peeking out through the bush-clad hills of Wellington's urban landscape.

I love this design because it is so obviously a New Zealand image but it is in no way kitschy or kiwianaish. It is cool and contemporary and depicts a place I love probably more than is healthy for someone who lives in Christchurch. Ah Wellington, where you can get your recommended number of daily steps just getting from your house to your letterbox. Where if you don't sweep your patio for a fortnight it will regenerate into native bush. Where it rains horizontally, where your frock's hem will spend lots of time flapping about your ears and where my hair immediately pings into a curly do to rival Susan Boyle's.

So happy shopping at Decorum but please leave a couple of those cushions for me.

One person's annoying unfinished project is another person's treasure

Lots of Stash reHash stall-holders have mentioned they'll be selling unfinished projects: either their own or ones they have inherited from other people. Some of these date back decades and include half-finished tapestries, half-knitted jerseys, patchwork projects and cut-out garments complete with pattern. Hopefully we'll find them new homes at the market and they'll be completed and loved as much as my best-ever unfinished project purchase.

I bought the coat pictured above for a couple of dollars in an op-shop in Lower Hutt nearly fifteen years ago. It was only partially made and pinned to the front of it was a large plastic bag containing a homemade paper pattern, all the required extra fabric pieces and instructions handwritten in very shaky handwriting. I tried the coat on and instantly fell in love. It reminded me of a Romeo Gigli coat I'd recently tried on in London and loved but been unable to afford. My smartypants friend/shopping companion was not impressed. She kept humming the Dr Who theme tune and quoting Julian Clary ("True or False: Corduroy is a mistake?") but I was undeterred. I bought it, finished it and have loved wearing it ever since.

Now a spooky thing happened when I was just out in the garden photographing this coat. A Yellow Admiral butterfly landed on it! I was so pleased and surprised that I fell over backwards, missed the photo opportunity and nearly squashed all the freshly planted Bok Choy. I'm not one for "signs" but if you read what I wrote for the Featured Seller spot on Felt this week, you'll understand why I was so excited. Rightio, I'm off outside to plant nettles.