2 days in Melbourne @ the Stitches and Craft Show.

Our two day visit to Melbourne and the Stitches and Craft show was a blast! We were most impressed by how well the show was put together by Angela and Ross at Living Creatively. They did a fantastic job of incorporating the LC stamp throughout which give it a fresh, fun and contemporary feel that captured the crafting world as many of us in this community have come to know and love. My favourite new addition to the show was the Incubator section – our very own indie, crafty designers/sewers/artists (and some bloggers too!) lined up together selling and displaying their inspiring wares. It was so wonderful to meet these fabulous and talented people that we’ve come to admire online.

We were able to meet Jodie from Ric Rac and have an up-close and personal swoon over her wonderful Selvedge Frock.

An absolute highlight was finally meeting Nichola (Nikki-shell) at the Burdastyle and Wardrobe Refashion stands. She is even lovelier in the flesh and I was thrilled to see her in Tessuti’s Vincent cotton/elastane made in Burdastyle’s Heidi dress.

I couldn’t resist buying this magpie necklace , plus bracelets for the girls and the cutest pin-cushion cuff to wear whilst I sew, from Fiona. And then located next to Fiona was Justine, from Mixtape so I stocked up on a few back issues I’d missed.

Crafting is cool (but we already knew that!!!) The new creative wave of the DIY movement is steadily growing with more and more of us shunning mass produced product and instead prefering to make, wear, buy and give handmade products. Here (below) is a sneek peek from a fantastic documentary shown at the Stitches and Craft Show called Handmade Nation by Faythe Levine. In Faythe’s book ‘Handmade Nation – the Rise of DIY Art, Craft and Design’, Sabrina Gschwandtner from Knit Knit says “I love making things. I love writing about aesthetic objects and their makers. I love conversations about making things. I love thinking about making things”. My sentiments exactly!

I’m so unbelievably glad I had Faythe’s book with me on my painful flight back to Sydney. We departed, on schedule, at 5pm only to be told that we had to return to Melbourne after 15 mins in the air because there’s ‘something wrong with the plane’. Not my favourite combination of words, I must say. One hour later, we were Sydney bound and when we finally landed in Sydney around 7pm, we were stuck on the plane for nearly two hours due to an electrical storm that necessitated the evacuation of all ground crew. Oh yes, it was a loooooong journey back home, but well worth it given all the wonderful folk we met at the Melbourne Stiches and Craft show!