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Things no-one told me about sewing...

• you will need to iron a lot.  I mean a lot
• a nice chunky knitting needle is the bee's knees for pushing out corners
• you will wish you had been born with a quick-unpick as a spare limb
• re-threading the overlocker could lead to the need for therapy
• the bobbin will run out of cotton right in the middle of a main seam - usually the front neckline
• no matter how many buttons you own, you will neeeeed more
• did I mention the ironing?

Bags for Little Ladies

I just had to share some of the wee handbags I've tried out this week.  Ideas are still zooming around my mind, but these first ones have certainly got me in the mood to make more.

Of course, Moo had to get in on the act and try the handbags for size, which got me thinking - maybe there's room for a range of Little Man Bags?

Pip pip, Lady B.

It's in the bag

I recently had a rather big brainstorm, with flashes of light and more than a considerable number of sparks flying, and decided out of the blue to start making and selling bags.  Handbags, tote bags, wee funky bags for kids, purses, make-up bags, you name it, I feel the urge to make it.  I can hardly wait to get to my machine each day now and try a new pattern and see what lairy and crazy or cool and gorgeous bag I can whip up.  Of course, this has opened up a whole new avenue of potential spending - a disaster for a compulsive purchaser of anything crafty, such as myself.  (I am thinking maybe you are the same, eh?)

So now, to add to the stashes of fabric, I have buckles, and gigantic buttons, and handles, and magnetic snaps, and webbing, and lordie knows what other new goodies!  Please don't tell Mr Flo - he'll cry.

Add to that the excitement of finding so many online free bag patterns to print off and try out, and wowser, there really is no end to the fun to be had.

That said, I must be off now and faff with the strap for a wee monster handbag - it may be for a child but it still has to have *just* the right handle!

Summer shorts and boardies time

Well it's soon gonna be *that* time of year... you know the one... where the big orange orb in the sky is in full bloom for hours and hours a day, the water is warm, and the jandals get a good airing.  Time for the chilly bin to be dusted off and the BBQ to be fired up.  It's SHORTS TIME!

I love summer, not just for wearing shorts and t shirts and sandals and suncream, but also for being able to make shorts and skirts for MooAndFlo. So today I whipped up the first few pairs, and here's a sneaky peeky...

Crafts v. Sweat shops

When people find out I make clothes and sell them, I get one of two responses:

"Ooh good on you, what do you make?" and then lots of enthusing about craft fairs and small businesses selling quirky and wonderful things...

OR

"You could get those made overseas at a fraction of the cost and then sell them here - you'd be rich in no time" and a lecture about how me working for below minimum wage is madness...

So here's the deal:  I sew because it's therapeutic.  I sew because it is a wonderful feeling when someone buys something you made.  I sew because the thank you emails and photos really do make my day.  I sew because creating something is just so much fun.  I sew because it's a good way to keep learning something new.  I sew for more reasons than money. 

As for hiring some poorly paid sweat shop workers, often children, almost always female, to whip some stuff up to make line my pockets, well the thought appalls me.  I'm no saint, but seriously, are people really just focused that much on the dollar sign?

So, next time you are torn between buying something handmade by a local crafter and buying something mass made, just ponder who made the garment you are looking at and why.

10 step programme

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.

I like to think I can stop at one print, but once I've started it just seems to start a domino effect and before I know it my trolley has 15 bolts in it, some of it the hard stuff like quilters' cotton.  And I tell myself, okay, well I'll just get one metre of each, that's not so bad... then I see the 50% off sign and soon I am sneaking 2- and 3- metre cuts into my unmarked brown shopping bag and hoping no-one will notice. 

So I'm asking you, as my friends, please don't offer me offcuts.  Don't ply me with remnants or fat quarters.  Keep your bolt ends locked in a cuboard out of reach.

Please help me to help myself.

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.

Project Runway?

Maybe I've been watching too much TV (again), but after getting more and more frustrated with the trouser patterns I have (too wide, too baggy, random sizing, etc) it suddenly occurred to me that I should get a little bit Project Runway and make my own patterns.  I've only ever made stuff from pre-made patterns and not ventured down this crazy route before, so it was a wee bit of a leap, but hey ho, I'm nothing if not up for a challenge.  So I designed and made a pair of jeans for my 2 year old...

Now, they were not too bad, and the back was fabulous if I say so myself, but there was something about the front that reminded one of an old man wearing a catheter and bag.  It wasn't the look I'd been aiming for.  I could imagine Tim Gunn eyeing them up, tilting his head, putting on the frown and saying "Dianne, I'm worried.  Make it work!"

So I took them off my poor wee model, unpicked my front seam, and trimmed where I thought trimming was needed, then I got Doris The Overlocker back on the job and went for take 2.  And you know what, it worked!  On the second try!  And they looked good.  No, great!  I quickly altered the pattern I'd made, and got it ready to go into proper production for MooAndFlo 

This is the wee fella in said trousers - back view because he's not even slightly co-operative when modeling my wares.  He'd not stand a chance in Top Model (yes I watch that, too)

It may not sound like much - but to see children in clothes I make is exciting enough, but to see them in trousers I have also designed is Very Exciting Indeed :)

Now I've got to do the patten in other sizes and see how I go, but you know what, I'm inspired, I'm giddy, and can't wait to give it a go!

To keep you in stitches...

A woman got a new job at the Tickle Me Elmo factory. The boss quickly explained that she would be on the assembly line just before the dolls were packed into boxes and she'd have a very important job. They started up the line and within twenty minutes had to shut it down because the new lady couldn't keep up, so the boss went to find out the problem. The woman had a heap of dolls waiting and was getting into quite a flap.  "I'm going as fast as I can!" she cried. The boss looked and saw that she was sewing little cloth bags containing two walnuts onto each doll. The boss looked at her and it dawned..."Noooo" he laughed "I said to give each doll Two--Test--Tickles."

Girls love monsters too

When looking at girls' clothes in the stores, I see lots of pink, lots of bows, butterflies, ribbons and lace, but I don't see nearly enough monsters, but I know for a fact that girls love monsters, too!  So look what I've rustled up today at MooAndFlo

When is sewing not sewing?

You'd think that a stay-at-home mum with a wee sewing venture would mainly spend her time sewing, wouldn't you?  Or at the very least, she'd be at the fabric store picking out new material and buttons and lace and other jollies.  Or maybe at the post office posting garments out to her customers?  But no - I spend about 30-50% of my MooAndFlo time doing non-craft tasks, like invoicing, reconciling the accounts, replying to customer queries, and all manner of things that don't involve needle and thread.  But my time's not just taken up by admin, which, let's face it, has been around forever and isn't likely to change in essence anytime soon.  What takes up a lot of my MooAndFlo time is updating social media like this.

I blog.  I Tweet.  I update Facebook.  Why?   Why not spend more time sewing and less time in front of the computer?  Well, to put it simply, the Internet is my shop - it's my wee village store.  And rather than put an advert in the local rag or fliers in letter boxes, I publicise through social media.  Even the customers that know me personally almost always buy from me through the web, having seen something on MooAndFlo's Facebook page and taken a shine to it.  And despite being in a little treehouse in the middle of the bush in New Zealand, Internet promotion has lead to orders from as far away as the UK.

So when is sewing not sewing?  When it's putting on my media and sales hats and getting the garments out there for the world to see.  I'd love to tell you more, but I must dash - I've Tweets to make...

Pins, needles and nails

So, I went to a wedding a the weekend - no, not that one, another one - and it was all rather lovely.  I, of course, used the opportunity for a bit of pampering and had my eyebrows and nails done, and as a result looked as good as Flo possibly could on the day, which is fortunate as I seem to have garnered a prime spot in the group photo, right behind the happy couple.  Unfortunately, I have discovered a downside to this burst of beautification:  it's blummin hard to sew in false nails.

My sewing machine has an auto threader - so far so good.  However, as soon as I whipped out the twin needle and had to thread by hand I discovered I was more or less disabled by these pretty wee nails and had the precision and accuracy of a two year old.  Much to my embarrassment, after five minutes of faffing, it transpired I also the patience of a two year old, and the tanties ensued.

I fear for later in the day when I have to re-thread Doris, my trusty overlocker.  Four threads to cope with, all intertwined, and it tries my patience on the best of days with ten functioning fingers.  It's not going to be pretty - I've got the Rescue Remedy on standby.