fair@square, peppermint and summer dresses

Next month I'm going to be showing several dresses of mine at the fashion parade of the Fair@Square Festival. It's at Fed Square in Melbourne on Sunday December 13th from 11am-7pm and all about embracing all that's ethical and fair trade.

As well as the fashion show, there's going to be panel discussions and workshops - t-shirt reconstruction, screenprinting, hat-making and kids craft activities. Plus you can shop for fair trade and ethical goods from over 50 vendors. I won't be selling, I'm just going to be presenting at the fashion show. Come along, if you're in the area! It's sure to be heaps of fun and educational, too.

The festival is being sponsored by the wonderful Peppermint Magazine, among others, which makes a good segway for pointing out that I'm in the latest issue, yay!

(click to enlarge)

I thought I'd show you some of the one-off dresses I've been making lately. I haven't decided which to present at the fashion parade yet. Your thoughts would be lovely!











Which do you like best?

have you voted?

This week, the online voting lines are open for the national Australian climate change poll. I blogged about it here if you missed it. If you haven't voted yet, head over to YOUth Decide and do so! And tell your friends to vote as well. We've only got a few days left.

Aren't the flash mobs in the video cute? I'd never heard of flash mobs before this. If you haven't either, they're a form of art or activism (or both) where people in public, seemingly randomly, break into dance. This is the first one I saw and I was totally gobsmacked by it's awesomeness:



It was put on by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition a few months ago, with choreography by So You Think You Can Dance. I think it got some kind of global flash mob award? I'm really proud of Australia for getting together and putting on events like these.

Market at St Albans in Melbourne

For the Melbournians - on Monday 4th May (yes, that's this coming Monday!) I'm holding a stall at the Fair Trade Market to be held at Victoria University, St. Albans in Building 9. It's running from 11am-2pm. Click here for directions if you're free!

Holiday return

I'm back from Tasmania! It was gorgeous and fun. Will upload pics when I have them. I feel kind of like a different person now that I'm back. The house feels strange because I did a complete reorganise just before we went away (plus, it is tidy. Shock horror).

I've never really had a 'refreshing' holiday before (probably because as a part-time uni student living with a casual retail job living with her parents, I never needed a break). During the trip, I got a bunch of ideas for my novel, and wrote most of my plot outline. I feel good about getting stuck back into Heidi & Seek. Not feeling quite as good about the essay I have due on Monday. But still overwhelmingly happy with life. It was lovely to have more quality family time than usual.

In other news, Etsy Voter has popped up I'm-not-sure-when, but basically there are a number of polls where you choose between items with a certain theme. I'm in a new poll at the moment called Eco-friendly Items for a Better World (isn't that lovely?). Click the link to vote for my Ella dress if you wanna.


I'm fixing up orders placed while I was away, but I won't be back to listing and making until Monday.

Also! Sydney-siders, there's going to be a public talk about ethical fashion at the University of Sydney. It's called Slaves to Fashion - the apparel industry and the race to the bottom. It's next Monday the 20th April, from 4-5:30pm, given by Prof. Robert J.S. Ross from Clark University, USA. It will be in Room 148 of the RC Mills building, which is in between City Rd and the Manning Bar. Wish I could go. Even events like this in Melbourne, I don't end up attending for lack of time.

Backpacks and Round She Goes market

I love backpacks and don't quite understand why 99.9% of bags in stores are not backpacks. Unless I'm interested in wearing a sporty number with an Adidas logo on it or some such (I'm not). Bag-makers - there's a whole market there that needs taking advantage of! Stylish, unique, cute backpacks.

I've come to appreciate backpacks a whole lot more since I've had Ellie, because carrying her means I'm constantly having to rely on the strength of my arms and shoulders and neck. They are not appreciating it. Backpacks are much friendlier to my body than shoulder bags, especially given the amount of junk I seem to carry around these days.

For the past few months I've been on the look out for a cute second-hand or eco-friendly backpack for everyday use, to replace this one.


I got this in Thailand a few years ago. I still love it. Maybe I'll try to figure out how to convert it into a backpack at some point.

Anyway, I headed to the Round She Goes market on the weekend and found one. I intended to mention the market here before the event, but it completely slipped my mind, sorry ladies. It's for quality preloved and local designer goods. And I'm going to be selling at the next two markets in July and October! For those readers in Melbourne, check out the website for more details.

Here's the backpack I found for a whopping $5.


It reminds me of the early 90s a lot, but I like the fact that I haven't seen anyone wearing something similar recently. I was drawn to the plaid, the blue, and the cute drawstring. It's a good size. Hopefully I can make it look a little more current.

I also picked up this merino wool Country Road cardigan for myself, as well as a few other pieces to reconstruct for Heidi & Seek. I think the cardi is calling for a couple of ruffles at the neckline.


Here's what I wore. I forgot to take a picture in the daylight, but I was really pleased with the outfit and wanted to capture it despite the darkness.

Scarf: salvaged from mum's charity shop donations
Shirts: thrifted
Shorts: Had them forever, not sure of the brand. Mum shortened them for me before I could sew; they used to be knee-length.

Fashion show - La Dolce Vita and Handmade Help

I'm participating in a fashion show at the end of the month! ALL profits from the show are going to the Bushfire Appeal, so it's a very good cause. If you are in Melbourne and would like to attend, here are the details:

La Dolce Vita - young designers fashion show
'Enjoy the sweet life with the excitement of fashion. Featuring 8 young designers showing their unique collections.'

Saturday 28 February
2-5pm Eltham Community & Reception Centre

$25 inc. champagne and finger food
Contact Georgia to book and for ticket and event info: 0425 806 039

Style Melbourne are covering it and their post about the show here lists the other designers involved.

The Handmade Help blog lists items for sale (and sold) where all or a percentage of the sale price will be donated to the appeal as well. Also check out the Etsy shop OzBushfireAppeal.

My favourites:

Blue Lagoon Earrings by Michvanetta from the OzBushfireAppeal shop

Lambie by Lark


Courtyard garden by Gretchenmist

I heart teapots brooch by SophieIsobelDesigns

I bought this dress for my little one:

Blossom sun dress by SparklyGreenKnickers

I know Ellie is a bit young for this (fits 3-4 and she is 1 and a half) but she will grow into it and it is gorgeous. All proceeds from the SparklyGreenKnickers shop goes to the Bushfire Appeal.

We donated as much money as we could last night - to the Red Cross, Wildlife Victoria and the RSPCA - and put together toys, clothes and children's and adult's books to donate for the drive they are doing at Tim's work. I put my copy of Twilight in - hope it finds someone who really wanted to read it.

Sustainability Expo: Part 1

On Sunday there was a Sustainability Expo at my local town centre. Good fun, good info.


There was a stall run by fair trade local label Etiko. I thought their presence was great. They sell clothing, footwear and sportsballs, and let's just say they are incredibly inspiring in terms of ethical business. They won the Victorian Premiers Sustainability Award for 2008, as well as the Sensis Social Responsibility Award at the 2008 Telstra Business Awards. (Don't you just love when sponsor brand names are just stuck in the title of events and places?) I'll do more of a write up on Etiko soon.


Tim was particularly interested in electric bicycles - a quick and energy-saving alternative to driving and public transport. Why doesn't he just ride a regular bike, you ask? Because it's too long a ride when the roads between home and his work are riddled with huge hills. He's done it a few times but only had the energy to go one way for the day. The bike isn't within our budget for the moment, but it'd be nice when we have some extra cash.

I bought this book, The Conscious Cook by Giselle Wilkinson, while Ellie munched on a free banana.


The auther, Giselle, manned the stall and talked to me for a little while about sustainability and the contents of her book. It has pretty much everything you would want to know about eating ethically without being complicated. It's divided into parts: recipes, how what you eat affects you, how it affects the world and what you can do about it.

Giselle talked about the idea that there are so many things to look for when choosing ethical products - fair trade, water use, carbon emissions, and so on - that we should choose the ones that are most important to us and work toward making those issues prevalent in our purchasing. I loved this sentiment because it acknowledges that we are human and can't be perfect in every area.

The book is $34.95RRP and available in good bookstores and from the Conscious Cook website. Highly recommended.

I still have lots to share about the expo, so part 2 of this post will be coming tomorrow. Stay tuned. Also! I've added four items, skirts and a vintage blazer, to my Etsy shop. Check 'em out check 'em out.

RAW Sustainable Fashion Parade

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the RAW Sustainable Fashion Parade before they sold out. It was on Friday night. Ellie stayed with the grandparents while Tim and I trekked out to the Docklands, which, may I say, is quite confusing to navigate when your maps are old, given that it's newly developed.

A lovely lady approached Tim and I while we were figuring out directions with an 'Are you heading to the fashion parade?' Given that we were still a 15 minute walk away from the venue, we were quite chuffed that she thought we were fashionable individuals. Of course, she might have just seen us rushing and figured that we must both be running late to the same thing. But I'll just pretend that we looked good for the sake of gloating.

The parade showcased clothing and accessories made from recycled or organic materials. I really enjoyed the show, apart from me feeling like I was going to faint halfway through and needing to sit down. Wonderful Tim took photos for me though.

What I didn't consider was that my phone is not the ideal picture taking machine I thought (hoped) it might be, because I didn't want to lug the proper camera around.

Here are a few of my favourites for which the photos weren't a blurry mess (Photoshop couldn't fix them completely, I'm afraid).


Reconstructed shirt by Mucke. I think this was my favourite. The way it draped was just beautiful. I loved that the ties at the back actually looked like shirt sleeves, but weren't bulky at all.


Dress made from vintage kimono/obi fabric by Fourth Daughter. Love love love the colour combo and cut.


Made from reclaimed materials by Rachael Cassar. The leggings look significantly better on the model than those girls from Southland but I'm still not a fan of wearing them as pants. But this top and dress are just divine. Miss Cassar defines her style as 'transeasonal' which I do appreciate.

A fun and inspiring night. I would love to be involved in this next year!

Ethical shopping workshop in Melbourne

I stumbled across this event while looking for web pages about the RAW Sustainable Fashion Parade that I attended last night, which I'll make a post about later. Melbournians, check it out:

Ethical Shopping workshop

"Come along and hear about sustainable and ethical purchasing practices for the everyday consumer. This workshop may well change your purchasing habits by providing information on products, companies, issues and alternatives to assist in making better choices. A trip to the local supermarket will be part of this workshop followed by a light meal from the purchases."

Sounds good to me. It's so great that this kind of thing is available. I'll be attending. Another great thing is that the workshop is FREE.

Link

When
29/11/2008
2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Where
Kensington Neighbourhood House
89 McCracken Street
Kensington 3031