relaunched

I'm done, I'm done! And so excited. Check out my relaunched shop at heidiandseek.etsy.com and let me know what you think of my new direction?

I've got five styles. Come meet them.

Mia

Yoki

Snoop

Emelda

Oh Bow

It's interesting how completely different the same style can be with the different fabrics used. Though, I sometimes have changed up the styles a tiny bit to fit the fabrics.

heidiandseek.etsy.com

new stock and stockist

There are some changes a'happenin'. My start date for incube8r is looming (it's next Wednesday) so I've been preparing enough stock for my space. A few things that were in my Etsy shop are going there. And the rest I decided to unlist and re-reconstruct because they haven't sold. All the old is therefore gone and so my Etsy shop has begun afresh!

I've listed a few things in sizes XS and S (8 and 10 Australian) because I can model those myself. Size M (12) will be coming when I can arrange a session with my lovely new model, Lauren, and I'm still trying to find a size 14 model. (If you know someone near Surrey Hills in Melbourne that might be interested, please pass on the message. (It's a paid gig.))

These are my favourites:




Click here to check out the rest.

I was informed by the lovely Isy of incube8r that the average size shopper there is a 12, so I've rethought the way I do some things.

• When I set up shop I made a size Australian 8 (US 6) into a Heidi & Seek small. But that means a 10 is a medium a 12 is a large, which is a bit weird. I've changed it up now so size XS is an 8, 10 is a small, etc. I've made the change clear in listings (I hope).
  
• I made a size 16 (XL) pattern and some size 16 things will be going to incube8r.
• I'm making a wider range of different sizes now. As soon as I get my models organised I'll keep my Etsy shop well-stocked in a range of sizes, too.

I want to get back to listing constantly on Etsy again. I just need to organise my time better so that I can keep incube8r and Etsy (plus MadeIt, when I open shop again there) well stocked consistently. At the moment most of my time is going to incube8r stock.

I'm taking one class at uni, Advanced Fiction Writing. That coupled with my fashion course in the evenings means I'm so so busy in all my spare time with deadlines and homework. I need a better system to manage it all. Any tips?

WINTER IS HERE

Yes, I know I'm a bit late. Forgive me; I have pretty things for you to look at. I listed 40 cool winter threads in my Etsy shop today (and holy cow it took almost an entire day, crazy). Here are a few of my favourites.

heidiandseek on Etsy

Several of the oversized collar jumpers have disappeared already (which is awesome for knowing what to make more of next). So there will be more of those coming soon!

This is obviously not a traditional 'collection' where I make a bunch of things then I'm finished and done designing until the next season. That means I'll be making new things (from Friday) and will continue to list new things regularly again once I've caught up.

So! If you have any suggestions about things you'd like to see more of or less of, I'm all ears. Okay, now I'm imagining a person covered in ears. Gross.

sneak peek at winter collection

I don't tend to make 'collections', since I put new designs up daily. In the past I've made whichever season clothing I feel like making, with the assumption that I'm selling all over the world, so there are multiple seasons going on at once.

I have since realised that I have pretty much zero winter clothing in my shop, when it's 5 degrees celcius in Melbourne right now, and subsequently, that this is a really dumb thing not to plan ahead for.

So I'm working on a winter collection, which will all be launched at in my Etsy shop in a big bunch, instead of my usual 'few here, few there' method of listing. After that I'll continue to make and list winter clothing and summer clothing. Here's a sneak peek at some of the upcoming winter designs.




They'll be launched in a week or two along with the rest. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions about what you'd like to see for winter (in the way of dresses, jumpers, and tops), please do let me know. I'm still making, so I'm very open to ideas!

Crafting failures and successes

You know how sometimes you create something that you can be proud of (and you have this 'yes!' moment when you're done) and then other times the finished product isn't quite so great? I found examples of this in my most recent batch of Heidi & Seek creations.

Here's the one I love:

vanessa top on Etsy

Here's the one I feel like shoving under the bed:


When my experimentations with colour and design went awry, sometimes I would list these pieces anyway to see if someone else might like them and they're just not my style (and sometimes they would sell) but now I think that if I don't like them then they shouldn't be representing my work in my shop. I'll let you know what it turns into when I change it up.

Mind you, the first top came with its own set of problems, because first I made a top out of the purple fabric alone, which turned out a disaster, so I reconstructed it into the vanessa top. Such is the beauty of designing one-offs on a whim! I think it's much more fun than reproducing the same thing over and over.

One more thing: check out this thought-provoking post from OutsaPop Trashion about why, in ten years time, buying recycled clothing might not be an option.

New designs

I'm a bit excited about the new stuff I've just uploaded. I think I'm going in a bit of a new direction. Love the asymmetry, so I'm going to be trying more of that in the future. I'm also really into ruffley bits. Would love to hear your thoughts! There's more to be listed over the next week or so.

XS/S sugar top

M granger top

S tattoo top

We have lift-off: awareness badges on Etsy

I've finally got these pictured and listed! Don't they look cute, all lined up in this picture? You can check 'em out on Etsy here. I'm really pleased with the concept of these. I love that they're innocent and cute looking but they purport big ideas. My favourites are this and this.

Also, photos from the fashion show are up on Style Melbourne here! Four of the seven or so outfits I showcased are there. Awesome.

The Made It relaunch is here!

Made It is an Australian website for buying and selling handmade, and they've just had a complete overhaul. There's now favourites, a new look, and other nifty new things. I think they're still working out some of the kinks so it won't be perfect just yet. I've uploaded a slew of new things to my Made It shop. My favourites:

finders keepers dress

anchored top

rally singlet top

Check out the rest at madeit.com.au/heidiandseek.

And! Here's a sneak peek at what else I've been working on recently.


To be made into various accessories. Still working everything out. Who would have thought there'd be so much work involved in making and selling these little things?! Just thinking about planning packaging for them gives me a bit of a headache because I already have lots on my plate with the fashion show coming up this weekend. If you have any ideas for phrases to put on them I'd love to hear them. I've had a few more ideas since I made these, but haven't had time to create them.

I'm starting back at uni next week. I want to be there and I'm excited to be back, but I have no idea how I'm going to juggle everything. I need to be way more organised. I seem to have misplaced one of my three diaries, which isn't helping. I have a huge one for recording Heidi & Seek work, a weekly planner for personal, business and study events, to-dos and notes, and a mini one (which I lost) that I carry around everywhere to write things down in when I'm out. I want to start jotting down every purchase I make so I can cut down on the unnecessaries. Tim pokes fun at my having three, but they make sense, right?

For some reason, diaries make me happy. The kind of happy I get when I'm browsing in a Kikki K store. Just think about the pretty organisation prospects, oh my! I would love to have enough time to organise the entire house, crafting and thrifting along the way, and having a rightful place for everything. I think that's just a pipe dream at the moment though, unless we win the lottery or a house. Ah, what-ifs.

I smell a change

I'm on the Etsy front page right now, yay.

I've been doing some thinking and I've decided to no longer make clothing from scratch, and instead concentrate on reconstructing. This is for a few reasons:

• Making items from scratch usually meant buying factory remnant fabric. This seems kind of like buying regular recycled paper instead of post-consumer paper. Recycled paper is made from the offcuts from paper mills (so maybe not truly recycled?), and post-consumer recycled paper has been used by the consumer, then recycled and made into new paper. It's still better than buying new, but post-consumer is better still, no?
• I wasn't making much of a wage, much less profit. I've now restructured my prices and created a comprehensive spreadsheet including ALL of my costs. Previously I just set my prices at what I thought they were worth, plus factored in some kind of wage. It wasn't very formal. Now that I'm starting to do more wholesaling, I've really had to work this out properly.
• Everything I make will definitely be one-of-a-kind now. I previously had the idea to do a made to order collection, choose your own size and I'll make you a copy kind of thing, but I think there's something special about having something that's yours, and yours only.
• It means I can make more things and list more regularly. Making things from scratch often took triple the time of a reconstruction that ends up the same level of pretty at the end.

I've been doing the reconstructing all of this week. I've become enamoured with gathering, so expect to see lots of frills and cute little flutter sleeves like this one:

M piece by piece dress

I've also been working on warmer designs - wool jumpers and long-sleeved things. If you'd like to see more of anything in particular, please do let me know.

A jumble of topics

I'm trying to 'fix' my hair in this picture, because I wore a fedora all day and it ended up weirdly flat. I went to the Australian Open with my big bro. The tickets were my dad's. He used to go every year with a friend of his. Jason and I decided it would be our tradition from now on. He and I get along really well but don't see each other that much.

I used to play competition tennis and really enjoyed it. I'd love to start playing again but I don't think I have the committment. It was a good day out, apart from when we ventured into the outside courts and I ended up with a red, sunburnt chest. That'll make for attractive Heidi & Seek product pictures.

I really love this new dress I listed today. If it was my size I'd be very tempted to keep it.

M karma dress

I'm going to make more party dresses as I realised I don't have many.

The lovely Tricia of blog Little eco footprints wrote a little piece about Heidi & Seek recently, which you can see here. I love her blog because of how thought-provoking and informative it is. Tricia also makes cute bibs, wipes and, shortly, nappies from reclaimed materials. Her website is Flannel Fings if you'd like to have a looksee.

I did a Google search for Heidi & Seek the other day to see if there was any press I didn't know about, and what do you know, I found one. EcoSalon featured my label last week! I was quite chuffed, the write-up is original and lovely. They featured the Block Girl dress:


This dress has gotten a lot of attention. I've taken it down off my Etsy shop because it's now available at a shiny new stockist instead! The shop is called Lulu and is truly gorgeous. There are homewares, clothing and accessories, all quirky and lovely. I'm flattered that my designs are among such company. If you're a Melbournite, check it out at:
322a Carlisle St, Balaclava (cnr Westbury and Carlisle Streets)
I've got another Tasmanian stockist coming up within the next couple of months, too. Busy busy busy.

New press. And meet Tabitha!

I am sitting here, while my slow computer loads between pages, unpicking an entire dress that I sewed together wrong because I wasn't paying enough attention. The front is fine, but I sewed the back to it so that the wrong side of the fabric faces out. Poo. When I did it this morning I threw up my hands, cursed, ate almost an entire pizza and decided I didn't want to look at it again. I may have overreacted a little.

In the last couple of days Heidi & Seek was featured on two blogs. First is on Crafting a Green World, which you can check out here. Lucille, who wrote the piece, was such a darling. "Crafting a Green World features do-it-yourself projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials. Find knitting, sewing, crocheting, and other project ideas for eco-friendly and fashionable clothes, crafts, gifts and more." It's very cool, check it out.

I was also featured on Fashion Evolved, an awesome eco chic fashion blog, here. Her write up was so nice to read. Thank you Amanda!

I've added to my collection of items available made to order in your size. Meet Tabitha:


She enjoys frolicking, thrift shopping and jumping in puddles in her wellingtons. Available here from my Etsy shop.

New listings!

XL singer dress

I named this singer because it kind of reminds me of those Singer dressforms in the same colour.

M save face top

S garden pocket top

New Years, new listings in all sizes

Happy 2009, guys! I was a little preoccupied when writing my last post and completely forgot about mentioning the new year. Whoops, apologies.

My New Years Eve wasn't spent doing anything particularly exciting, just a low-key party. But I did get away with a half second-hand outfit. It was too dark by the time we left to get a photo. I wore a neat, black pleated mini skirt (which I think was a netball skirt), a long, purple chiffon top (second-hand Seduce), second-hand grey tights. I also wore purple flats from Santini and a deep red cropped jacket from MNG, both of which I got years and years ago.

These are the new listings for tonight - one in each size, hoorah! About time, eh? Listings in a variety of sizes will be a regular thing.

S friend of the sea dress

M/L flirt with disaster top

L reactive top

New listings and Twilight

I've been busily working this week on only size medium and large garments. Very soon I'll get to listing an even amount smalls, mediums and larges so that my shop is more balanced. It takes me about a week to get items listed because I usually photograph a batch of garments once each week or two, then stagger the listings until the next batch is photographed. I've also got more custom garments coming up.

Just listed these two tops:

M looks like rain top

S candy house top

I'm going to take a tiny fashion break and talk books for a minute. Before I got into fashion designing, my hobby was writing fiction. Now that designing is my job, I find myself wanting to write as a hobby again. Here's why:

In this post, I was talking about how I don't read much and that I haven't been engrossed in a book in forever. Since then, Twilight came along. The feeling of being engrossed came back, but not in the way I remember. The book was disappointing. It was slow, silly and dull in parts. But I loved the premise and the idea of the character Edward (protagonist's love interest), and that's what kept me reading.

The movie was more fascinating and more frustrating. It was richer, and the characters had more life to them, but they just sort of followed the motions of the plot on the screen. I didn't really care about them, didn't believe that the main duo was in love except that they told us so. I felt like they could have done so much more with the story. And vampire's skin sparkling in the sun? There was no way to not make that look dumb.

Rather than read more of the series, I'm instead left feeling inspired to find, read and/or try to create other stories with the same amount of passion but with more depth, feeling and plausibility than the Twilight books.

We'll see how I go.

Long post: today's outfit, shopping and new listings

I hope everyone had a fantabulous Christmas! We had a fun time. Although there was a gaping hole where my dad should have been..


Okay this picture of Ellie was actually from the weekend, but she was just as delightful yesterday, which may or may not have anything to do with the oodles of presents she recieved (this bouncer was not one of them, but she does find it far more fascinating than she did when she was little enough to use it).

This is what I wore today:

Dress: Review
Boots: Josef Siebel
Bag: Somewhere in Thailand

I pledge to do more outfit posts. I keep intending to take outfit pictures but either I forget the camera, it's out of batteries or I plan to do it 'later' and by the time I remember it's too dark for a decent photo. Poo.

Today was my brother's 25th birthday. I went to Chadstone shopping centre to get his present this morning before his birthday lunch (yes, I left it stupidly late. But I did know what I was getting him). In Australia, Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), is pretty well-known for its sales. Stores open at 7am and people arrive in droves to get their hands on a bargain. After driving around the carpark for 20 minutes I thought it was a completely dumb idea to shop that day, but then I tumbled into a parking spot completely by fluke. I thought my luck was getting a little better. It ended up being a good morning, depite it taking three times as long to get anywhere because of the crowds.

I got myself some significantly reduced tights and socks from Myer and a necklace. I avoid all clothes in shopping centres, except to browse for inspiration (which 99% of the time is a waste of time). However, I figure that tights and socks are machine-made and therefore don't require sweatshops, but I haven't done any research on it. If anyone knows, please hook me up. This is the necklace I got:


And I got this fedora from K-mart for $10, also significantly reduced.


I never seem to find hats that look good on me, but I quite like this one and I need one for summer. I never really wore hats before but now I want to set a good example for Ellie. The band around the hat is a little tacky looking, so I think I'll replace it or remove it altogether.

I also got lime green chairs from Target for our dining table. I've been looking for second-hand chairs for ages and gave up when I found these cute little numbers (for 30% off). I'm quite over eating on stools.

The gift I got my bro was a remote controlled helicopter. They are pretty damn cool.

In Heidi & Seek news, these are the new listings for tonight.

S/M dance polka top

S in frame top

S reinforce dress

How I create

This top, imagined, is a testament to the strange, organic way I have of making things.


I first made it as a skirt, but I was unhappy with how it looked so it sat in the 'to alter' pile for a while. As a skirt, the lace lined the hem of the skirt. Then when I revisited it I decided to try it as a top instead. I flipped it upside down, sewed up the excess and made and added contrasting straps. I love how it turned out. It's drapy and loose in a flattering way.

These are my other listings for today.

S nanna betty top

XS the real girl dress