singlet and bloomers

Goodbye Wren - Hello Dirty Hands!

2010-06-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

As most of you will be aware, I wrapped up Wren on Saturday and handed it over to the new owner - hurray! It's been a blast, and I've learnt so much on many levels, but I just can't wait to get back to making stuff again. There is also the little matter of a certain two and a half year old whose company I have been missing terribly.... although the last couple of days he's been calling me Suki the Elephant... not sure if this is entirely complimentary!

Anyway, a huge thanks to everyone who supported me through this escapade - the greatest part has been meeting so many lovely people :)

xo Sal

Wren Creative & Good News for Sir Tom

2010-06-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to announce that the exquisite Sir Tom clutches are featured in the newest edition of Marie Claire - congratulations Anne! I'm so proud to have them in my little shop :)

And the details of this coming Wednesday's Creative Night...

Wren Creative

Where: In the shop

When: Wed 9th June

Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

What to Bring:

Your latest project or nothing, (I can certainly set you up with a crochet hook if you're bored!)
A cup/mug for tea or you may wish to bring wine or other such contraband - you just need something to drink out of.
Tim & Meagan from Manic Organic have kindly offered us the use of their hot water and if you would like to try some of their lovely organic leaf teas, it will cost a whopping 50c a cup!

RSVP: By Monday night

Wren Creative Evening - Tuesday Night!

2010-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

How cute is this pendant by That Vintage?

Wren Creative is on again next Tuesday, so if you missed out last night, see you then!

Details below........

Wren Creative

Where: In the shop

When: Tuesday 25th May

Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

What to Bring:

Your latest project or nothing, (I can certainly set you up with a crochet hook if you're bored!)
A cup/mug for tea or you may wish to bring wine or other such contraband - you just need something to drink out of.
Tim & Meagan from Manic Organic have kindly offered us the use of their hot water and if you would like to try some of their lovely organic leaf teas, it will cost a whopping 50c a cup!
A bowl and spoon if you'd like to indulge in some homemade soup.

RSVP: By Monday night - just so I can arrange snacks and seating :)

Please send to anyone else you think may be interested!

xo Sal

POSTPONED - Wren Creative

2010-05-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late notice, but for anyone who isn't on the email list, tonight's Wren Creative is postponed until next Tuesday. Apologies again - I had to fly to Brisbane last minute :)

See you all next week!

xo Sal

Fortnightly Event - Wren Creative & I'm making Soup

2010-04-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

After the success of the first Wren Creative Evening, we just can't wait another month, so the next one will be held Wednesday 28th April, (sorry, I know we had discussed Thursday, but Wednesday seems to be working a bit better for everyone). So the details for anyone who missed out last time are:

Where: In the shop - Come around to the back entrance.

When: Wednesday 28th April

Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

What to Bring: Your latest project or nothing. A cup/mug for tea or you may wish to bring wine or other such contraband - you just need something to drink out of. A bowl and spoon if you'd like to have some of the soup I'm making :)

RSVP: By Tuesday night - just so I can arrange food and seating

Please send to anyone else you think may be interested!

Looking forward to seeing you again.

xo Sal

Wren Creative Evening - Tuesday Night!

2010-04-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

For anyone not on the mailing list, apologies for the last minute notice, but the first installment of Wren Creative is tomorrow night... here are the details:

Wren Creative

Where: In the shop - Come around to the back entrance. I will leave the door open until about 7.15, after that just give us a knock

When: Tuesday 13th April

Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

What to Bring:

Your latest project or nothing, (I can certainly set you up with a crochet hook if you're bored!)
A cup/mug for tea or you may wish to bring wine or other such contraband - you just need something to drink out of.
Tim & Meagan from Manic Organic have kindly offered us the use of their hot water and if you would like to try some of their lovely organic leaf teas, it will cost a whopping 50c a cup!
A snack if you want to. I will also whip something up for us to nibble on.

RSVP: By Monday night - just so I can arrange snacks and seating :)

Please send to anyone else you think may be interested!

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night.

xo Sal

A Lovely Morning Tea & Wren Creative Evenings

2010-03-29T00:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for making the Wren Handmade opening celebration a wonderful success! Saturday morning was just delightful thanks to some of the lovely people I've met since having lived in this area coming along to support this new venture. It's always difficult moving to a new place, (and I have oh far too much experience when it comes to moving!) but I am constantly surprised by the generosity and kindness shown to me - sometimes by people I barely know!

Anyway, thanks to all the wonderful people who dropped in over the day to share their time, a cup of organic tea and some excellent treats :) I could easily do that every Saturday... though I don't know if I should consume quite so much chocolate next time, despite it's organic goodness. Anyway, I'd most particularly like to send big thanks out to Shane for being such an amazing help on and prior to the day - you are a legend, lovely!

And as usual, I have been completely slack with the photography side of things, (would you believe not only did I have no batteries, but I left my camera at home too?!) however, through my friend Lisa I was lucky enough to meet the wonderful Kim Arnold, who has sent me these lovely images that she took on the day - thanks Kim!

After such a tumultuous couple of weeks I am ready for a rest for the next few days, but I will be working on planning the first Wren Creative Evening for Tuesday 13th April - watch this space for details, or email your details to salharris@live.com if you'd like to be on the mailing list.

xo Sal

Opening Celebration - Wren Handmade

2010-03-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

Wren Handmade

Opening Celebration!
Organic Tea Tasting & Morning Tea
You are invited to help us celebrate the opening of Wren Handmade, a new retail space specialising in unique pieces crafted by Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and hobbyists. Come and browse through our beautiful products whilst indulging in divine organic teas and tasty nibbles from the Illawarra's organic specialists.
When: Saturday 27^th March 2010
Time: 9.30 – 11.30 am
Where: Mezzanine Level, Manic Organic(Shop 1, 409-411 Princes Hwy, Woonona)

Wren Handmade - Open for Business

2010-03-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

After a hectic couple of weeks the shop opened on Wednesday with just enough stock thanks to the efforts of all the wonderful suppliers who have agreed to be a part of this new space – thanks everyone J All of the products are just as beautiful as I imagined, so now I just need to work on displaying them to their best advantage, and I suspect this will take time, trial and error. It’s been interesting trying to work in with the lime green and rusty orange walls, but so far I’ve had nothing but compliments, and I think they are even starting to grow on me…

It has been a lot of fun putting this all together, but due to the timeframe there’s still a few vital components missing, such as a sign for the front…yes, vital! On Thursday I had a visit from two lovely people from one of the local papers for a chat and a photo shoot, (aagghh, my hair!) but apart from that it’s time for me to get my head around the whole marketing business and start the word a-spreading!

The reaction so far has been really positive, and all the people working in the organics store are just a joy to be around, so I feel it’s all going to come together beautifully.

The last two and a half weeks have been quite a ride, and on top of trying to organise the shop opening we have all had a really awful flu, I started uni, had to go to a festival five and a half hours drive away, my husband’s work has been insanely busy and I can’t find my reading glasses anywhere! But somehow we have managed, mostly because my saintly mother in law came up for a week and a half to look after our little man while we rushed crazily around.

Official Opening

The official opening will be Saturday March 27^th 2pm. Watch this space for further details!

Wren Creative Evenings

I’m also going to be running regular meetings for people who like to hang out, work on their latest crafty project and drink tea/whatever, so if you’re interested shoot me a message or email to salharris@live.com and I can add you to the mailing list. These evenings will be free and you don’t need to commit – just come along when you can J

That’s all for now, folks! More details to follow…

And thanks again to everyone who has made this venture possible - you know who you are.

Have a lovely weekend

xo Sal

A Shop!

2010-02-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I know I seem to have something exciting to reveal just about every time I write a post, (maybe I'm a little easily pleased!) but this really is a big one!

I can now confirm that I will be opening a retail space in approximately a fortnight! The space will be located in the top section of Manic Organic, Shop 1 / 409 – 411 Princes Highway, Woonona. I can't wait to move into this space, (vacated by EcoDepot, who are off WWOOFing for a year in Europe) and am frantically working to open within the timeframe I've set - wish me luck.

Just some of the wonderful items my space will be featuring are:

Ruby Victoria Lino Prints and Letterpress Printed Stationary
Jewellery by That Vintage, The Little Button, Flamboyant Jo and more
My new line of organic screenprinted t-shirts for men, women and children, as well as a selection of handmade children's clothes from my label.
Original handmade bags by Silk & Purple
Japanese linen purses
Homewares from Sydney designer Cushiontree and artist Rose Colbeck
A small range of loveable softies
Eco Journals

and much, much more - watch this space for info on opening.

xo Sal

P.S. Still trying to think of a name...

howling for owls & fox and cubs

2010-02-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

ok, let's just make it very clear that I never meant to make an owl print. Really. There are owls everywhere at the moment, and I guess I thought I really didn't have anything to add to the theme. But it seems there is a reason for owls being everywhere - people keep asking me for one!

So I've been resisting and avoiding and changing the subject until

yesterday. And what changed my mind? Let's just say that someone, (and you know who you are) used a very dirty trick. Despite my attempts to be a hardened and cynical businesswoman, (stop laughing, Mum) if someone says "well...my son just loves owls so very much" I'm going to give in every time. Very dirty trick indeed. So are you happy now K? Here's my version of the owl just for AJ :)

And another newbie hot off the scalpel is the fox and cubs. I've had a really great response to this, particularly on the brighter green and the lovely soft olive coloured singlets. Can't wait to start some more prints for the organic men's and women's tees that just arrived. As an aside, I made the mistake of sending out for ideas for men's designs and was rewarded with the following very helpful response from my son's godfather: "boobies". Oh dear.

If you have any fabulous ideas that don't involve anatomy, please throw them my way!

xo Sal

Rocket Rascals Kids Outfitters & A Seated Craft

2010-01-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

Another month has nearly past, and I have been keeping a low profile as I prepare for another creative year. There a few exciting things on the "possible", "highly possible" and "impending" lists at the moment, but I'm not going to be releasing any juicy details until things are set in stone.... watch this space!

And speaking of space, you might be wondering what those child astronauts are doing up there. I am so very pleased to announce a new stockist of the Birdhouse singlets and bibs - the divine Rocket Rascals Kids Outfitters. Owned by the lovely Marcela, Rocket Rascals in Thirroul is absolutely laden with a gorgeous range of kids clothing, shoes, toys, books and accessories, as well as bedroom furnishings and things for mum. Fabulous finds in here, such as Paperwings, (if you haven't seen this yet and you have a girl, please take a deep breath, clink the link and prepare to be smitten). And if you're in the area, you should definitely take advantage of the Rocket Rascals post Xmas sale - I know I did :)

And in other totally unrelated news, I am sooo excited to be receiving a visit later this week from my most wonderful and talented friend from Berlin, (ex-Melbourne) who is back in Australia for a holiday after finishing her first album - you can listen to a couple of the songs pre-release by clicking here: A Seated Craft. Make sure you have the good speakers plugged in, pour yourself a glass or cup of whatever takes your fancy, close your eyes and do it all while any small people are tucked away in bed.

Enjoy your Australia Day, whatever it may entail :)

Happy New Year & a New Boutique

2010-01-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone else had as good a Christmas and New Year as I did - lots of friends, family, food and fun, and of course, spending stacks of time with my husband and son. Completely in awe of anyone who blogged over the holiday period, as I was far too busy (lazy) reading books, drinking tea, chatting and generally swanning about!

Saying that, I wasn't completely inactive, and am happy to announce another stockist of the singlets - yey! I don't know about anyone else, but I am constantly amazed at how the universe looks after me, and would like to share this story...

I was spending the morning with a close friend near the beach at Merimbula, (Far South Coast NSW) however due to some very nasty weather, we were forced to leave. We decided on an early lunch, and chose to drive back into the town. As we were coming up to the intersection we were mortified to see that the main street was jammed, and the queue of cars going in to town stretched as far as we could see. After a few minutes of much dismayed huffing and cries of disbelief, we quickly changed lanes and decided to drive to the nearby village of Pambula. On our way up to look at one of the cafe menus, lo and behold, we chanced upon the brand new Eve Boutique full of goodies - are rare sight in those parts! After chatting with the lovely owner Libby, we were to discover that she had only been open ten days, and only decided to embark on this venture four weeks ago! Anyway, cutting a long story short, Libby has become my latest stockist, and is also interested in my friend's handmade jewellery.... it just seemed to me that everything that happened that day pointed us in the direction we needed to go....someone up there is looking after us.

Anyhoo, Libby will be sending me some pics of the shop when she has a chance, which I shall post along with some I'm planning to take of Milhouse Designs. In the meantime - hasn't she got a lovely sticker!

I posted a comment a while ago about an old foot operated Singer I picked up at a local junk market - isn't it a beauty? Still sitting in the shed waiting for some love unfortunately. New Year's resolutions for 2010 include:

1. More exercise (on top of list every year...)

2. Find a house to buy in Thirroul - gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous

3. Try not to come up with too many crazy schemes

4. Find some sort of musical or theatrical pursuit to become involved in

5. Go on more camping trips

There are many more, but I won't bore you... would love to hear other people's resolutions if you get a moment to post something...

Looking forward to another beautiful year.

Milk Thieves

2009-12-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

It really must be Christmas, because I can now announce another new stockist! Milk Thieves is Wollongong's newest hidden treasure (upstairs at 157 Crown St in Wollongong - blink and you'll miss the entry). The concept of graphic designer and artist Emma-Lee, the store is a mix of artworks, handmade jewellery, cards, bags accessories, soaps and more, as well as serving as a base for Emma-Lee's graphic design business. More a gallery/shop, the space serves as a venue for independent creative work to be showcased. Thanks Emma-Lee for inviting me to submit some work for this exciting new venture!

Milhouse Designs

2009-12-14T22:53:00.001-08:00

The wait is over! I am so very pleased to announce that the Birdhouse boutique range is now available at Milhouse Designs in Mangerton! If you're like me and haven't even started your Christmas shopping yet, drop in and view the range of divine children's wear, toys, gifts, jewellery, accessories and the yummy Perfume and Skincare Company range of lotions and potions - especially the fig and olive fragrance mmmmm... My only regret is forgetting to take the camera when I dropped off the order today, but I will attempt to rectify this in a couple of days. For now here's a snap of the lovely Afri Beads I picked up there for a friend's christmas present. These fairtrade beads are made by the Kind Mothers Program in Uganda, and are handmade from recycled paper - gorgeous!

New stockists

2009-12-13T02:19:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to announce new stockists of the birdhouse range! Next time you're in Manly, you can check out some limited edition pieces in the children's section of the beautiful fashion and homewares boutique Mr and Mrs Smith - that is, if you can get past all the things you'll want to buy for yourself!

As well as a select range of children's clothes, toys and accessories, you'll be sure to find some treasures amongst the designer clothes, handbags, shoes, and exclusive homewares. It's a privilege to be invited to contribute some pieces!

As for the other new stockist... well you're just going to have to wait until the end of the week when the singlets hit the rack to find out!

Congratulations Rene!

2009-12-13T01:56:00.000-08:00

A little while ago, I was lucky enough to meet the lovely Rene on holidays in Gerringong. And it gives me great pleasure to be able to congratulate her on her new website and range of activewear for mummies to be. You can find Rene's new range on www.fitformum.com.au. A must for all yummy mummies!

Some new designs

2009-12-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

Well this one's not completely new, but I wanted to post it nonetheless. My first experiment with a lino print, and a bit of a challenge to print on to fabric - particularly as I haven' t attached the lino to a block yet, so it's messy work! I've been making these in the larger sizes, (2-6) and they've been best sellers - everyone likes a bicycle maybe? It's been an inspiration to start work on some other lino prints anyway.

Anybody for a jaunt around the harbour or a spot of fishing? I was originally uninterested in developing images that had a "mechanical" rather than natural feel to them, but I have so many requests for boats and cars that I thought I'd give them a shot. That, and the fact that my two year old is now obsessed with anything that moves and makes noise I think provides ample justification...

A bit tardy

2009-11-30T01:31:00.000-08:00

There's always a really good excuse for not having paid any attention to the blog for a while, but apart from the usual excuses about too much work and not enough time, I don't have anything spectacular to share... I suppose I could make something up?

Last weekend was another three day haul - Wollongong, Manly and Frenchs Forest markets. Sooo glad I finally tried out Manly market, as not only was it a great day, the vibe was lovely, the stallholders around me were charming and there was excellent coffee available close by! Will definitely be heading back to Manly regularly from now on.

Once again I'm down south at the in-laws enjoying a few days of respite and celebrating a few birthdays. This has also given me a chance to work on some new designs - watch this space for the prints over the coming couple of weeks! I was approached by a couple of local boutique owners who were interested in stocking my goodies last Friday, so will be interested to see how this pans out. I wasn't planning on stocking any retail outlets until next year, so this will be a great learning experience, and will give me some ideas about the sort of issues I may have to face if the wholesale line comes to fruition.

Anyway, ciao for now as I'm off to the Candelo markets to ruffle through the junk in search of treasure! Speaking of which, most recent acquisition from a wonderful country market was an old Singer sewing machine in the cabinet for... (sit down please ladies) $15! Can you believe it? I still have to touch it occasionally to check that it is indeed real.

Summer Rush

2009-11-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

My big t-shirt shipment arrived late last week - beautiful organic cotton - so it has been dye central here for quite a few days now. And I'm wondering how some of my friends organise their time. I have only one 2 year old, but still don't manage to get anywhere near as much done as a certain dear friend of mine with two kiddies, a market stall, a drama school and more. In fact, I think she should do a little less just to make the rest of us feel at least slightly productive.

Some bibs and and little bucket hats also made their way into my possession, and I'm having fun dying them in the brighter colours I tend to use - personally I always dreamed of having a stack of darker coloured bibs when Mika was still using them, as they all tended to look like a swarm of insects had a come a cropper on them at great speed after about two uses. These sold like hotcakes at Bondi on the weekend, so maybe some other mums thought the same!

I spent an enormous amount of time cutting this new print this week. I did manage to trial a few different cutting methods, which was a lot of fun, but the finer lines are almost impossible to get just right sometimes - I almost never turn out a print that I'm expecting! Three days straight of markets this weekend and I am the walking dead today, which is why I'm typing and not printing!

And speaking of markets, Balmain was very quiet, but there are some beautiful art and crafts being sold there. If you have a chance to make it one Saturday, drop in and see some of the best handmade prints, children's clothing and jewellery at any market in Sydney.

Softies for Mirabel

2009-11-02T01:22:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already seen this, Softies for Mirabel is a Crafting for Charity project organised by the wonderful people from Meet Me At Mikes. There's still a month or so until the softies are displayed in their Brunswick St shopfront, and then distributed to the kids that need them the most. Not having any talent in the softie department myself, a bag of singlets sent themselves off to Meet Me At Mikes last week, and will hopefully come in handy on some of those withering Melbourne summer days.

All the info can be found on the Meet Me At Mikes blog - and if you haven't already seen their book, check it out also, it's full of fantastic little projects that I'm going to do... one day...

Mushrooms and a Tea Set

2009-11-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

Back to the grind at last, and I'm very conscious that the blog has been somewhat neglected whilst we've been gallivanting around the countryside. All the beautiful pictures I took in and around my mother in law's garden have unfortunately stayed on the camera at her house instead of coming home with me, (very inconsiderate)!

Nevertheless, the images I took inspiration from have followed me back in the form of a couple of new stencils... Not sure what I'm going to do with these yet, but tea towels immediately sprung to mind after the test print! Though I've recently had to admit to myself that I'm shamelessly addicted to city life, whenever we visit the in laws down south I feel a great sense of relief at the simplicity of the country existence. Lots of tea, a bit of pottering around, and three meals to plan and enjoy slowly.

This week it's back to work for me. The Bondi stall on Sunday was an absolute joy, but now I've run out of plenty of stock and it's time to get busy. I also found a fantastic old wooden ladder on the side of the road this afternoon, and it's sitting in the shed begging me to fix and paint it in time for the next market... watch this space!

2009-10-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, there was plenty of inspiration to be taken from last week's theme of olives, however the time to transfer these inspirational thoughts into tangible creations has been somewhat lacking over the last few days! Nevertheless, I made some time to sketch a few things which will later be cut into screenprint stencils.

A lot of people who stop by the stall ask me about the methods I use to create the images that end up on the clothing. I prefer to make some basic quick sketches, then cut the images into acetate using a scalpel to get a more ragged or raw image, and one that can take a fair bit of rough handling! The other thing I love about this method is that you never quite know what you're going to end up with, as the scalpel often has a mind of it's own!

Anyway, our plans for the next couple of weeks have just been wildly altered by pure chance, and as luck would have it we're scooting off for a holiday in QLD before the little man turns two. Beach, here I come! So with these summery thoughts in mind, I'm going out to my mother-in-law's wonderful garden to take some pictures for this week's inspiration piece.

I love a good yarn...

2009-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

As part of this new blogging experiment, I'm hoping to start each week with a little posting about another craftsperson in my local area whose work I admire, and use this as inspiration for any designing that occurs in that week. (Ambitious, as some days I really am a walking sweatshop, but it's ok to dream, isn't it?) So with this lofty plan in mind, I'd like to introduce Knitabulous, whom I found by searching for other local Etsyans :) (thanks to whoever introduced me to that term - I feel as though I'm part of some sort of Star Trek club now).

Anyway, the picture above is of "Extra Virgin" Australian Merino sock yarn, so, you guessed it, I'm thinking olives must be this week's theme. But those tones have also got me thinking about some of the reflective colours seen around the local rockpools late afternoon. See my links on the side to go to the Knitabulous Etsy page for more of this yarn in various gorgeous tones.

P.S. For those of you who have not been told their knitting is "painful to watch", you might be very interested in the Knitabulous Sock and Shawl Club - subscriptions are open now...

2009-10-08T02:12:00.000-07:00

Just look at these gorgeous bloomers by the very talented Ally from Mavis and Frank - how could I not post it! Looking forward to seeing the reaction these and Ally's new line of denim bloomers, shorts and skirts get at this weekend's Bondi Markets - photos coming soon!

Welcome to the blog!

2009-10-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's been a couple of months now since birdhouse and Mavis and Frank joined forces on our first market stall, so riding high on the success of singlets and bloomers I have decided to start a blog so you can check out where we will be next, and see our new designs before they hit the clothesline.

Here you'll find examples of the items we have for sale on our stall, but you can also visit our Etsy stores, (see links on the side) for a wider range, or to make online orders and/or requests. As those who shop with us already know, all our clothing items are made in small runs, and many are completely unique pieces.

birdhouse tops are screenprinted the old fashioned way using hand cut designs, (not computer generated) and are finished with vintage buttons, laces and fabrics. Many are also hand dyed in order to provide unique colours for the infant range. My prints have also recently found their way on to tote bags, and I have a new line of handmade cards and wrapping paper coming out. 2010 will see the launch of a new handprinted fabric range, and with any luck, some beautiful new clothing created from said fabric.

thanks for stopping by, and please drop by for a chat at the stall - especially if there's a newborn to be cooed over!