Stitches & Craft Show Melbourne!

We're definitely gearing up for the Stitches Show, which starts next Wednesday 5th May over at Caufield Racecourse :)

Things have been busy, busy, busy over here at I&S HQ!!

Luckily we have had the invaluable help of one lovely (and very newly arrived from Wales) intern, Megan!! Who has happily completed multitudes of cutting, folding & wrapping.

(Side note, yes things are getting confusing with Lara, Tegan, Lara.D & Megan!)

So if you're heading on over to the Show, do make sure you COME SAY HI :) we'd love to meet you!

The Stitches Shows are always such fun - we totally love doing them! Seriously, what's cooler than getting to hang out with a whole bunch of awesome crafty peeps all day long, for five days?

Ok there's one thing cooler - and that's doing a little 2hr class with us! We're gonna be running an intro to stencil printing & you should totally book in & do it! You get to design & then print your VERY OWN organic cotton/hemp tea towel! Just email us to make a booking :)

See y'all there!

xx Teegs

Giveaway Results!

Thanks so much to you all! Your contributions & suggestions were all received with much interest :) and you have helped us to decide on a few directions we're going to head in.

Far & away, your #1 request was for printed knits/jerseys, so we have tracked down & ordered some organic cotton & hemp knits to experiment with! YAY! We're a bit excited ;)

Quite a lot of you requested bamboo but our research has showed that while the bamboo plant itself is quite sustainable, the process that the plant fibres are put through to be turned in to a lovely soft fabric is definitely not, so we will not be using it.

The #2 request was for ready made tote bags! Ok, we're looking in to organising the equipment needed to print on to small sized things.. give us a bit of time with that one!

Your #3 request was for a lighter weight woven (*hi-five* to my fellow sewists out there, I've been wanting to do this one for a while!) to be used for dressmaking & quilting!

GREAT NEWS: Just yesterday, we received a really lovely sample of a lightweight 142gsm GOTS CERTIFIED (ie, Organic & Fairtrade!!) cotton sateen. IT'S REALLY NICE, PEOPLE.

Stay tuned! ;D

Finally, your #4 request was for tablewear: tea towels, placemats, napkins & table runners. Your wish is our command! Keep an eye out for something like this sooon...

Ok, now saying all that we did get a lot of you requesting all kinds of haberdashery items, but we just don't think we're quite ready to branch out in to general sewing supplies :)

xx Teegs

Nothing Sketchy

OMG look what landed in our inbox today?? These gorgeous handmade journals by Jaclyn of Nothing Sketchy. They are gorgeous:


Handmade journal by Nothing Sketchy - Birch


Handmade journal by Nothing Sketchy - Birch


Handmade journal by Nothing Sketchy -Rooftops


Handmade journal by Nothing Sketchy -Rooftops

Earth Day Giveaway Winner!

Drumroll please...

Comment number 270, Sally from Alaska!

Congratulations, Sally!! You get to select your favourite 4 pieces from our new Tamarillo Collection.

Sally's suggestion was simply "upholstery weight!" Well good news for Sally, & all the other suggestions that we produce an upholstery weight - our Tamarillo Collection is available in two weights: a lighter weight 180gsm, and a lovely 360gsm upholstery weight! Hooray!

We may even have plans to develop our upholstery range further.. stay tuned..

Now, we were rather overwhelmed by the fabulous response from all of you so we decided to pick a couple of runners up as well!

Each runner up will receive a fabric bundle!

Congrats to Gloria (side note: hi-five for being a Scorpio!), Jenni & Fwdmotion!

Ladies, please email us to claim your prizes :)

Hooray!

xx Teegs

Earth Day Giveaway!

To celebrate Earth Day, Jan of the wonderful label Daisy Janie asked us to take part in a blog hop giveaway! Hooray!!

(entries are now closed)

While giveaways are great and all, there is a serous message behind this one, and it's one I'm sure we've all heard before, but I'm going to say it anyway.

We simply cannot continue on the path of throw away consumerism.

In our little corner of the industry, we want to promote the use of organic fabrics. In particular, those that are sustainable & Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS) Certified.

The textile industry uses 25% of the worlds pesticides. 25%!! I can't even fathom how much poison that is, in litres.

The organic textile industry has very specific Standards regarding the use of toxins for something to be classed as organic, and has a hugely positive flow on to the (more often than not 3rd world) communities that grow & produce them. For example, the fields of organic cotton need to be rotated with other crops every few years, which also must be organic. This often means that the communities rotate the cotton with food crops, which means easy access to good quality, organic produce to be eaten and also sold. This, combined with the lack of toxic pesticides, means a hugely increase level of health for the people living around & working the cotton crops. It leads to better local economies, education & working conditions.

(The wonderful Kristen Doran had something to add! She says: I love the eco-friendly side of GOTS certified. But what I love even MORE about GOTS fabrics is the social criteria enforced. There is no forced or bonded labour in these companies. Child labour is not used and working conditions are clean. Working hours do not exceed 48 hours. I could go on... hurray for cotton manufacturers getting on board and looking after the workers. )

If we have to buy, then we must buy organic. It's the least we can do.

Please visit this site for more detailed & (much more) thoroughly researched information. No, no, I insist. Off you go.

We'll wait here...

...Ok, I know you didn't read it but let's continue, if you promise to read it tonight for homework.

On to the giveaway!

Together with the 11 other wonderful people/businesses below, we are giving away something lovely! So hop on over to everyone's blogs to enter their giveaways!! :)

Betz White - Birch Fabrics - Cloud9 Fabrics - Cottage Industrialist - Daisy Janie

Harmony Art - Homesweet - loop - Monaluna - Swanky Swell - Umbrella Prints

Our prize is YOUR SELECTION of your favourite 4 prints from our new Tamarillo Collection!

Each piece will be a fat quarter measuring 47cm x 47cm.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling us what organic, sustainable product you would like to see available from Ink & Spindle!

Anything at all, from types of fabric to finished products, tell us what you want! We are interested in you feedback & will definitely take your suggestions seriously.

Giveaway ends Midnight Monday 26th April, Melbourne time, so plenty of time to have a think about what you'd love us to do!

xx Teegs

p.s please make sure we can contact you!

Erika does it again

Wow, once again we're blown away to see such gorgeous things being made from our fabric. You might remember Erika's Sumor bedhead from a little while ago, well now she's done it again with a custom printed Birch in warm grey:


Birch bedhead by Erika Hellstrom-Allan


Birch bedhead by Erika Hellstrom-Allan

Looks amazing, I love it. If you're interested, Erika can be contacted at ehellstromallan[at]optusnet[dot]com[dot]au.

xx

Open Studio pics

Hello! Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who came along to our Open Studio on Saturday! It was one the best we've had so far with Little Harvest alongside us, a gorgeous shop display, yummy finger food and not one but two printing demonstrations!

And better yet, Emma from Little Harvest spent a chunk of time snapping away with her DSLR so we have some lovely pics to show you:

Teegs and Lara printing Chalk in Snow

The Ink & Spindle and Little Harvest shop - thanks to Lara D for making it look pretty :)

Lara printing (and not looking anywhere near as sick and cold-y as she felt)

Lara explains to the onlookers

Some keen observers (and yummy food thanks to the Harvest ladies)

And last but not least, Lara D, Emma and Jess from Little Harvest! Aren't they lovely!?

Yay! xx

More press!

Ooh-err it's been quite a good few weeks for press around here! Not only did our Harvest studio buddies make it into the Good Weekend the other week, but Lara was also interviewed for the Herald Sun Home magazine about her designs & collaboration with The Wall Sticker Company:


Lara's Herald Sun Home magazine article

Aaaaand on top of all that, 6 of our textiles are appearing as backgrounds in foodie photo shoots styled by Caroline Vekil who happened to be doing a shoot in our building one day. Here's one we managed to catch last week:


Acacia in the Sunday Life magazine - styling by Caroline Velik


Acacia in the Sunday Life magazine - styling by Caroline Velik

Feeling very chuffed about all of that!

Just a reminder...

Just a reminder that our Open Studio is on this Saturday, and it'll be an extra special one because Little Harvest will be there too!



When: 10am - 1pm, Saturday 17th April
Where: Ink & Spindle, Level 2, 10 Elizabeth St Kensington VIC 3031
What: Fabric, sewing kits, gorgeous homewares, softies and little tees, nibbles and a screen printing demo - yay!

Textile Design, Screenprinting & Softies Classes

Great news, everyone!

The next batch of dates have been announced for our workshops!

Design, screenprinting & softies, ahoy!

Please go HERE to book your spot in one of the upcoming classes!

Oh, and if you do come along - please say hi when we drop in for a visit!! Coz last Saturday, when I came in, nobody said hello to me... NOBODY. And yes it made me sad. Awww...

;) xx Teegs

Open Studio - this Saturday 17th April!

Artwork by Too Yeah Media


The Ink & Spindle studio

Hey guess what? We're having an Open Studio this coming Saturday and we've remembered to blog about it a few days in advance! Would you believe it??

And more excitingly, we'll have our new studio neighbours Little Harvest there too, with some of their gorgeous wares on display!



So in summary:

What: Ink & Spindle and Little Harvest Open Studio
When: 10am - 1pm Saturday 17th April
Featuring: Textile and craft wares for sale, screen printing demo and snacky food

Hope to see you there!!

xx

Peppermint Mag!

The lovely Desta from the awesome & eco-conscious Peppermint Magazine asked us if we'd do a little interview for this quarter's Mag! How super exciting for us!

We LOVE Peppermint. A lot. My fav bit? When you click on the "why" section of the website, the heading reads BECAUSE WE GIVE A DAMN. Our sentiments exactly.

Front cover of this month's issue! Just so you know what to look out for when you're next at Mag Nation ;)

And here's our page! Hooray!

Big thanks to Kelley, the editor of this wonderful quarterly, for including us. You're a total inspiration & we love your work :)

xx Teegs

Melanie Bower Autumn/Winter '10

As you probably already know, we don't just print our own designs here at I&S HQ, but also those from a bunch of local designer geniuses!

And as for local, it doesn't get much more so than the expert fashion designer Melanie Bower!

Mel's studio resides in our much beloved (& rather rabbit warren-esque) Younghusband building, down some stairs, out the door, along the cobblestone alley, behind a massive, old, hardwood, warehouse sliding door!

Mel is quite an amazing designer, and got us to print easily the most complicated & technical (& terrifying) design we've yet to (or ever hope to) print! But aside from our ongoing & underlying terror that she will come up with something like this again, the finished garments are utterly amazing! :)

The dresses are opaque black prints on silk georgette - see a sneak peak from her Autumn/Winter '10 collection:

Aren't the photographs beautiful too? They're by Sam Stewart of Middlegrey. Another fantastic Younghusband resident!

Mel's amazing garments are available at Alice Euphemia located in the Nicholas Building in the City (that's the City of Melbourne, sorry non-melbs peeps).

In another treat for Melbournians - you can also see Mel's work in an exhibition on at 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, for 2 weeks from tomorrow! Go! Supporting local talent is awesome! ;)

As is Mel.

xx Teegs

A few cool things to share!

Hope everyone had a lovely, restful, chocolate-filled long weekend! We sure did :)

Highlights had to be the easter egg hunt Luz organised on Thursday morn, for everyone in the whole building. We have a rather large building, so people kept finding eggs all weekend! It was great - even tho we're all (supposedly) adults, everyone was running around like we were 7 years old!! (The awesomest thing was, that even tho they were all yucky milk chocolate, Luz bought me a special dark chocolate bunny so I could trade in all my hunted eggs & still share in the joy! Isn't she the best?? Awwwwh..) It was fun as!

In fact, it was so much fun that Luz & I (thanks to my cousin & husband) had another egg hunt & picnic in the park on Sunday! However the eggs were all again depressingly filled with cow product so they were donated to the studio arvo tea's! (i.e, to our wonderful neighbour Yong who comes in always, always looking for "something sweet" at 3pm.)

Anyhoo! I wanted to share with you a few really ace things that have come to our inbox over the last little while :)

The very lovely Kristen of KLT Works did a little post in which she was kind enough to mention us!

This really clever little bedside organiser from Sasha of Faint Impressions:

This GORGEOUS quilt - only a sneak peak at the moment! - (I'm dying to see this one finished) by none other than the uber-talented Kate of One Flew Over:

And you remember Erika? Well she has another project in the works and with some offcuts, she made her cutie-pie little ones, headbands!

We present you with Their Highnesses, The Scandinavian Wood Princes :)

How utterly adorable are they??

Thanks ladies! You sure do know how to make a couple of gals feel loved :)

xx Teegs