The Midwinter Affair Night Market 2015

That's our stall, in a biiig Bedouin tent. It rained, and rained, and rained. But the people came anyway! Roads were closing all over the middle of the North Island but somehow it all happened anyway.
Thanks to strong North West winds on the previous Thursday when the tents were erected, they had to be closed at one end and the open end facing AWAY from the pathways, so the poor punters had to trudge through increasingly muddy, slippery grass to come into the tents.It was a pity it didn't either blow OR rain, as if it had stuck to one or the other, the fair would have been easier!
But everyone was happy - they had their yummy eats and mulled wine and gumboots, and we chatted to lots of Wellingtonians, and locals, and gave out lots of postcards and class flyers, and we EVEN sold some lampshades!
Not quite as many as last year but given the numbers were much lower, we were delighted. And because lampshades and rain are NOT great companions, we made use of big rubbish bags to pack them and get them back to the car.
We stayed the weekend at Amelie Rose Cottage, not the fabulous Plum Tree that we love, which has sold and is no longer a holiday let - but just across the road. A lovely double bay villa.
My sister and her family came over for the fair and for the night - and it was a very novel experience to be woken up by a curious 6 year old nephew, knocking politely on our door then coming in and telling me off for getting "too tired at the market, Mamush, you shouldn't have let them get you so tired."
My sleep-fuddled brain finally clicked that this was Peter's roundabout way of telling me to GET UP. So, we did!
It is Sunday afternoon now and I am so pooped I can hardly move. I fell alseep on the drive home even.

Perhaps Peter had a point?

Full Circle, almost.

Well, we got interesting news last week. Our landlords from our little shop in the CBD came in to ask us if we would be interested in getting out of our lease early. Hmm. Business has not been fabulous and while we're not losing money, we're not really making any either, but with only a couple weeks to act, this was very left field.
Why? Well, The Golden Mile, as Lambton Quay is known, is the street in Wellington where all the High St shops are - the overseas ones that sell fast fashion and high turnover stuff that if you are reading this blog probably leave you about as unmoved as they do me. And they need somewhere to go, right?
So, over the past year as the small, independent businesses in our area of the mall's leases came up, no one was renewing, until less than half of us were left. We knew something was up, and when rumours of Top Shop coming to the Golden Mile started appearing in the papers, we weren't all that surprised. Not that anyone has confirmed this to us, but it is pretty obvious anyway.
This post is not about the despicability of those involved in flicking us out, or why, however. It is a mixed blessing as business had been slow down that end of town. Lack of signage meant we were the best kept secret on the Quay. Bringing the whole business back into the one big shop means more staff there (because I am not about to let anyone go!)  more stock, and more TIME.
More time to grow our online sales, tutorial support and social media presence. More time to develop product. More time to do those things I was moaning about in my last post I only had about 4 hours a week to do. Having that extra person working in the shop several days a week while I am not trying to order and manage for two shops is like having four hours a day instead. I am in Heaven!
So all in all, it has been a horrible week, but now the decisions have been made and paperwork signed, I am well happy to be out of it.The one very large regret is letting down all of our wonderful regular customers who supported us. Knowing it is not US who has let them down but circumstances beyond out control is no consolation to them I am sure.
Once we are moved out, which happens on Thursday, we'll have the excitement/chaos of massaging all the extra bits of furniture and shop fittings into our already fairly full space. Mel, our manager from Lambton Quay, is the most amazingly organised person I've ever met, and I know she is itching to get into it - Melping as we call it! I am so excited to have her back in Marion St as I know I can just let her get on with it :)

Yes indeed, every cloud has a silver lining and I am looking forward to a much expanded empire involving more internet and less bricks, mortar, landlord problems, leaky ceilings, signage drama etc etc.

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro - an artistic term for the use of bold contrast between light and dark. I love that word - first learned in Art History class in my last year of school. A whole year of going deep into the mysteries of Renaissance painting.
I love it because it says so much about life, which is often a canvas of dark and light. Bloggers often present the light, because who doesn't want to put their best foot forward, and who really wants to read a bunch of sad and bad anyway?
The trouble is, without the dark, with just light, there is no depth, no third dimension. I would think that my posts are pretty honest - I am not a candy coater at the best of times, and yet sometimes I get responses that show, my life comes across as a fairy tale. HA! Love it!
Now, I have blessings both earned and gifted aplenty. I would never deny it. But just to give you an idea of what it is like, I want to describe a "slightly more eventful for effect" typical day.

I wake up between 7.30am and 8.30am. I do not sleep well, sometimes I am awake most of the night, and so I sleep as long as I can. I get up, make a smoothie, and read some blogs, check Facebook, email etc.
About 9am I shower, dress, and head out. Sometimes I pop into a local supplier to pick up a few things. Mostly though I drive straight to work. First stop however is Custom, my local coffee shop, for a large flat white to take away, a catch up with the Custom crew and the other regulars, many of whom are local business owners also.

 My fave coffee shop is never usually this empty

Also, I apply my lipstick while waiting for my coffee. It's a ritual now. And because you look to me for beauty tips, it is always a 24 hour stay, either L'Oreal or Maybelline. And red. This way none of it leaks into the tiny wrinkles radiating from my lips, resulting in a Heath Ledger as The Joker grin guaranteed not to sell craft supplies to anyone.

"What type of scissors were you looking for?" Nah, it doesn't work. 

I get into the shop about 9.30-9.45, switch on the PC and deal with any genuine emails. You know, the ones that are not from some idiot suggesting that they can transform our website. Pretty soon my trusty assistant arrives - this is going to be Ben or Karyn, and they get the shop ready and open. 

The day goes like this: we share stories of what we did since we last saw each other. We answer phone calls, serve customers, I ring or email suppliers with orders or queries, deal with Etsy orders. Orders arrive via courier.

Not our courier, our guy is very cool - he has a beard AND a curly moustache!

 We unpack these, I take the invoice into the office and produce price stickers, or create a label sheet if it is something we bag up ourselves. I ring or email suppliers asking why something is missing, letting them know they have sent the wrong colour/size/style, find an alternative supplier if I have to. I reckon I spend 30% of my time chasing errors, omissions and finding new sources. Some days a rep will turn up and I look through folders, have a bit of a harmless gossip, stroke new fabrics, that kind of thing. The Trusty Assistant handles most of the customer service so I can waste spend time on this stuff. And in Excel, where I keep track of expenditure and cashflow to the last cent. I may also do pay roll, reconcile our accounting system, or other creative pursuits *ahem*.
Meanwhile the amazing Melissa is holding down the fort at our small shop in the heart of the business district, and the two of us are cross referencing stock levels, organising transfers of stock, new signage, all kinds. Melissa is a rock and she holds down that shop by herself, and also runs our big shop on Sundays solo so we can have a day off.

If I have got the admin off my back, I try to spend some time in the afternoon either making lampshades, working on commission work that may include lampshades, cutting and sewing bunting strings for sale, making prototypes for various products, kits etc, preparing classes and instruction sheets, taking photos of the shop or product for our Facebook page. This is the stuff that everyone imagines a business owner doing all day. I am lucky if I get four hours a week towards it. Mostly because it is very trying to do anything requiring concentration when you have to stop and deal with the phone and dealing with customers whom I love btw don't get me wrong. My Karyn and Ben and MrC who all partner me on different days, are fantastic but inevitably we get so busy two people need to be in the shop, or a tricky sewing or cake decorating question needs my assistance. Such is life!
At 4.45 on MrC's "office job" days, he walks in the door and I gratefully throw a pile of jobs at him - please pack this lampshade kit, please change that flickering fluoro tube, please ring this woman you promised we could find x for and tell her we can't, please give me a hug and a kiss and take over, please!!!

 Really, sometimes we waltz around the shop when our wedding song comes on the play list.

Then I often DO get an hour of peace to finish jobs, since all the suppliers close at 4-4.30.
We shut at 6pm, although often there is a sewing class on, and Leimomi and her students arrive from 5.30 onwards so the shop is usually full of laughter and energy as we walk out. Some nights I head off to a sewing group, go to a weekly open mic comedy night, or have dinner with one of my friends (we have monthly date nights so as to ensure we do get to see one another!) But most nights, I go home, make or unpack dinner, do some dishes, sit on the couch and watch TV or play on the netbook, because I am too tired to do much else.
On Saturdays, three of us work the shop - MrC and Karyn out front and my job is to teach a class each week. I love Saturday! I try to keep my classes to a half day which is the best because I have the luxury of three hours of uninterrupted business time. My only task is to balance the spreadsheets for the week. And some Saturday nights, I perform!
Sunday is my day off. I try to spend it doing only things I really enjoy, in my own time. Lately this has involved sequins, ahem.
If that sounds glamorous, I'm not telling it right! Satisfying yes. But a lot of it is boring, frustrating, repetitive and has more to do with understanding finances than designing amazing things. And communicating with people who have stuffed up without being aggressive, just assertive, but that is always tricky. And without all of that, there's no fun stuff, so it must come first.
Because financially, most businesses live on a knife edge. Even successful ones. Mess it up - get carried away with buying lots of something that doesn't sell, put too many staff on, and you can be staring at the bottom of an overdraft the bank won't extend.
Lately we have had sad news about the seemingly sudden fall of high profile businesses - BHL being one of them.All we have seen is the light, so when the dark comes it is sudden and we can question what was really going on all that time.
Our business is successful because I have twenty years experience working in businesses, writing business cases, being involved in business strategy, but also looking and thinking and being curious about the places I have worked. I tell you though, I no longer have "opinions" about what other businesses should have done or not.
So if I have a request, it is to please don't fantasise about being in business - please don't get into it with your head in the clouds. It is hard work, and if you are an employer, people's livelihoods are on the line. Responsibility.
 Nuff said. :)

UPDATE: I started this post weeks ago and have kept picking at it. And as I did, a big black shadow has fallen over my business, with light breaking it up. More on that in my next post!

"Do You Have a Licence for that Monkey?"

Inspector Clouseau may never have uttered that exact phrase, but it was in my head when I found this fabric at Emporos in Greytown, and as I made this lampshade last Saturday.
My bestie Ross brought this floor stand and shade to me recently with a casual, "See if you can do something with this" that only friends of 35 years plus can pull off.
Knowing what an amazing house they have and what a penchant for the exotic they have, I went with Mr Monkey.

My naughty monkey in his flamboyant Aladdin's costume. I LOVE this fabric!!!

I didn't take a before shot of the shade, but it was right at home with these boring beige beasties

 A full length body shot.

 Close up and Personal

 One of the other Monkeys and the trims - a beaded one sewn to a braided one - I only bought two metres of it but the wonderful Zara from Off Grid Chic got me an extra metre as the shop is near her place of work. :) Yes I have a shop full of trims and a stash full of trims. But blue? Not one inch of blue did I own!

 Same trim with the edge trimmed flat.

 I was so lazy but it worked - I reused the original lining. It was in good nick and of course, fit perfectly!

Teeny, tiny Peacock and BIG costume!

The peacock is done! He is very blingy which is a good thing!

He is based on a white bird with a long white feather tail. Said bird got coated in Mod Podge then green glitter, before being covered in rhinestones, sequins, and the tiny eyes cut out of the main fabric. I eschewed making the lovely little feathers as against my dark hair, none of the detail would show up. Instead I just built up the tail by sticking the eyes directly onto the original feathers, building it out and up as I went. I like it. It's a little bit smaller than I imagined but with some flowers, it will make a stunning hair piece.

To go with: This corset top!

This top is built onto a torselet type top that was brown, so I covered the front in purple charmeuse and appliqued the cut out scallopy eyes onto it in a radiating pattern. Then I applied an extra piece to make a V at the bottom (nothing like making it up as you go along!) to which I'd added the purple and green fringing. The last touch is covering the fringing top with scallops.

It amuses me that this way up, the fabric says Peacock, but the other way up I think it would say Mermaid. 

The last piece, the duster jacket, was the first I made - I wore it out on Sunday. This is made from the fabric as it was, a shimmering wonder of peacock eyes. The trouble with sequin dusters though, is how easily you can look like "Valmay from Brizzy going to the RSL on a Friday night" i.e. just tasteless, not outrageous. So, I added the same purple with green fringe combo to the hem, and I still need to hand stitch the scallops to it. Currently pinned.
I suspect this outfit will be seen first in an out of town gig in July, however if I get called in to Emcee a show in Wellington before that, I know I am READY.
So, that leaves more encrusting of my current ringmaster's costume with recently acquired rhinestones along with a new sequin jacket for that, and another red sequin outfit from the piece I just received that is AWESOME too.
Oh, the bling. :)

Teeny, tiny peacock feathers

I'm making a peacock for Constance to wear in her hair. That means tiny feathers. The "hair peacock" is the cherry on top of an outfit I've been working on every possible moment since Sunday. With three days almost off in a row, I've put a lot of time into the corset and over jacket in the most exquisite sequinned net.
But I am not showing you that yet!! No no no!
What I want to show you is the teeny, tiny peacock feather I just made. It is about 4 inches (10cm) long.
The eye is cut from the sequinned fabric and the plumes are frayed organza.

 'Scuse bad night time photos.

I think I will add a second layer of plume in green. Isn't it a cutie?
While I was not sleeping last night, I went over and over how to make it and my plan worked almost exactly as I imagined.
That's kinda satisfying, although I'd have been better to sleep and trust I could sort it out as I go. But that's not how it works, yeah?
I had one white bird left at the shop that is kind of peacockish, and I've coated it in green glitter. It will be the base upon which I build this...this...well, let's find out shall we? It is for Constance so it will need to be visible from space. I reckon 25 of these little feather will do it.
More on Peacockalooza soon!

Eglantyne's Hat

This week, I made a hat for Eglantyne Jebb, circa 1918. She was the Founder of Save The Children. A fierce and passionate, intelligent woman who made a huge difference to the plight of children after the first world war and beyond.

I had never heard of her until yesterday, when a customer came into the shop to buy some trims for a hat.
 The customer is Anne Chamberlain, who has written and performs a one woman show about Eglantyne Jebb. The frail, 100 year old hat had belonged to Anne's Great Aunt, and I declared that it was not to be used as a prop any longer, we were going to remake the Hat. As the Hat has appeared in all of the publicity shots, we set out to create something very like it, only with a few concessions to stage and the demands of touring.
I dispatched Anne off to get a $5 black straw hat and half a metre of black silk satin and off we went.
Nach, I forgot to take progress shots and have no pic of the original $5 hat, but it was just the typical sort. I cut it into shape, reapplied the edge with a zigzag, steamed the shaping out of the crown, applied cotton sateen bias and millinery wire to the edge of the brim, cut the sash out and wired it. All this while sitting at the back of the shop with Anne, chatting about everything from Eglantyne's life to her life to my life to hats and, well, bonding! Anne whisked the hat off overnight to do some handsewing. 
This is the hat when it came back to me this morning:

 

 The lining and inner band are pinned in. Sewing it in will be the final job.

 A side back view - the sash tucks under the brim at the back.

 Today I stuck the trim on the underside of the brim with Aleene's tacky, held on with pegs as it dries. The brim shape is typical of the time - shortest at the back, longest at the sides.

 A front view - the rather exciting extra bow thing that extends across the front and is anchored by the flowers is wired inside - I've never seen the like but the original had it and it works. Actually the flowers are not this bright - the velvet leaves that look dark pink here are burgundy.

 A side front view

 Side and front views all at once.

 The original hat - it is more dashing in lots of ways and is a bit bigger - ours shrunk a bit during the making. The very shiny fabric I think is glazed cotton - we opted for silk satin as there was no time to find such a specific fabric.

The whole outfit - the suit is Anne's Grandmother's from the late 1920s. Although the show is set earlier, the style is pretty old fashioned and works just fine.

Those in the know will know that the "straw" of our hat is wrong - too coarse by far. but on stage noone will notice this I hope, and in every other way, inside and out, I think it will pass muster.
Now any readers in or near Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Hereford, Cambridge or Richmond in the UK could look out for Anne's show later in the year. (Link to her website). It had great reviews here.
The whole Hat experience has been quiet magical for us both - cathartic and timely. I loved being able to contribute to this show. AND, as we were sitting today adding finishing touches, in walked Jan Bolwell, another amazing performer who has done a one woman show about her Grandfather's experiences  in WW1. They know one another, of course, and it was such a privilege to share a table with two such talented women.