Paisley St Claire

100th Post!

Hello! I'm back from my little blogging break. Its amazing how much housework, paid work and other things you can get done when you're not spending most of the morning writing and reading blogs. But, I missed it so much. Every time I found something cool I immediately wanted to share.

I have been working on my Softies for Mirabel entry. I'm a bit late, I know. Its been a while since I've made a soft toy but given my sewing skills I didn't think it would be too difficult. Unfortunately, the little turtle I'm making is turning out to be a bit of a pain in the backside. I battled with his head and then I made 4 left feet (instead of 2 right and 2 left). He is now sitting, in pieces, in my studio. I say he, but he is pink and green so maybe it should be a she. Anyway, perhaps I should have started with something a little easier and less frustrating.

I also decided, after a long time considering it, to set up an etsy boutique. Don't get me wrong, I think etsy is a fabulous idea for bringing artists, craftsters and designers to the market, I'm just overwhelmed sometimes when I see how much competition there is in the bags and accessories section. A few of us were designing bags and accessories before etsy came along and we had a wonderful niche product. Unfortunately, there is now no niche left. So, I figure, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Although, my prices reflect the fact that I have stockists and have to maintain a RRP so they seem higher than some of the other etsy sellers. I'm sure some etsy sellers must be calculating their labor costs at about $5 an hour. Here's my etsy boutique.

I'm also working on a new collection which will be a bespoke collection. So you'll get to choose colours and designs etc. Stay tuned. Here's a sneak peak.

100 posts! Thanks to everyone for reading Paisley St Claire!

Mothers Day Ideas - part four - Coming Soon

I'm deferring my final Mothers Day Ideas post until tomorrow. I have something special planned but I can't do it today. Please check back tomorrow.

My Studio

It is my daughter's first day at kindy (daycare) today. I know most mothers would probably be feel sad but its been over a year since I have had a day to myself, so mostly I'm excited.

I've spent the day in my studio. Actually I've been making a little sheet bag for Chloe to take to kindy. I tried to make it last night (for today) but she kept waking up so I gave up at midnight. Anyway, I thought I should give you a little look at what's in my studio.

My trusty little retro sewing machine is great for samples and little projects.

Some things I've been experimenting with.

Bits and pieces - this is just a fraction of my vintage button collection.

Some stacks of print fabric.

Some new headband samples.

The makings of Chloe's sheet bag, the apple fabric is for the strap. Feels so domestic to show you things I've made for the kids. The 'e' is a little bit dodgy because I was going flat strap on the sewing machine - normally I would hand embroider this, but at midnight I couldn't be bothered.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing a few of the things in my studio. I always like to sticky-beak at other peoples workrooms but I must admit I feel a little exposed doing it myself.

Time for a Change

The last couple of days I have been at Springboard ('an Australian mentoriship program designed to enable the country’s most promising furniture, accessories, textiles and homewares designers, to create a competitive edge while they develop their professional career prospects both in Australia and in international markets.') I met some amazing people and learnt a few things.

I'm now inspired to make some changes in relation to my business and in the spirit of change I've redesigned the Paisley St Claire blog banner.  It feels a little too conservative to me but I'll wait and see if it fits the new direction. I hope you like it.

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Today is my precious daughter's 1st birthday. No posts today, I've got to make a pink and purple ladybug birthday cake for tomorrow's party. Here's Chloe with the Care Bear we gave her this morning. She loves it.

Sydney

I thought I'd finally post some images of my week in Sydney.

1. The Queen Victoria Building. The yummiest cake is at the Old Vienna Coffee House.

2. My son, Harrison, inside a submarine at the National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour.

3. My little Chloe putting on her first pair of Converse hightops, with my sister.

4. One end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (view from boat).

High heals from Kagui (mine). The red ones were on sale for $35! Converse boots (Chloe's). Between myself, my sister and my mum, we bought 12 pairs of shoes in Sydney.

I'm back!

Hello! I'm back from Sydney and might I say that my suitcase was a little heavier on the way home... with my trophy for Best Accessory Collection - Debut Sydney 2008!!!!

Ok, the shoes and clothes I bought in Sydney may also have had something to do with it, but I'm going to revel in winning for just a little while longer. I'm not a very competitive person so winning doesn't happen very often. I think the last time I won something was in my final year of high school. I won a prize for Best Legal Studies Assignment. Before that... nothing.

Thank you to everyone who posted comments and sent emails wishing me luck. I met heaps of cool people at Fashion Exposed so I'll be sharing some gorgeous fashion labels with you over the next few weeks. Oh, and I'll take some pictures of the shoes I bought.

Images from Six 6 Photography.

Wish me luck...

Righto, I'm off to Sydney to show my new collection, Summers at the Sunset Hotel, at Fashion Exposed.

See you in a bit over a week!

Busy Busy Busy

I am flat out today making samples for this weekend's show.

So, no time to find cool stuff. Here's a delightful image I found yesterday.

Wish I had time for tea and scones (or those cupcakes!).

Jubilee Cushion by Lucinda Chambers available from The Rug Company.

Oh my, runway show

I try to be cool about the success of my label, I know that despite every achievement fashion is fickle. What's popular today may be old hat next week.

However, there are times when I can't help but be completely excited and have even been known to do a little happy dance. Occasions such as landing my first stockist (and my second stockist for that matter - a very cool Sydney store), being mentioned on blogs like Bloesem and The Bag Lady, receiving a huge retail order from New York, and now... my first runway show.

It seems a little surreal, especially given that I design accessories, to think that something I have designed will be walking down a catwalk in Sydney in less than 2 weeks time. I'm going to enjoy every moment of it.

Sing Star, but at what cost?

My sister and I love playing SingStar.

Neither of us are very good singers but that hasn't stopped us from amassing all but one or two of the Sony Playstation games. For those not familiar with SingStar, it is basically a karaoke system that has a couple of microphones that attach to your Playstation. The microphones monitor how closely you sing to the notes and then the game gives you a rating, for example, Wannabe, Amateur, Hit Artist etc. The fact that my sister and I can clear the room when we get going is really telling enough.

However, on the weekend we achieved "Totally Sing Star" status. This is the first time we have ever got that far - we didn't even know there was a Totally Sing Star rating. Our closest high score put us at "Sing Star" which we were pretty proud of at the time.

Now, I'm not just telling you this because I wanted to let everyone know how badly we can sing. Its just that we were quite alarmed that out of all the music choices, we achieved Sing Star for Boy George's 'Karma Chameleon' and our highest achievement, Totally Sing Star while performing Europe's mega hit 'The Final Countdown'.

I'm a bit concerned that the 1980's are simmering a little close to the surface.

Something we won't be doing is recording a video of ourselves playing SingStar and posting it on the  SingStar website.  Although, I'm glad this guy did. His version of Scissor Sister's 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing' is as adorable as it is accurate. Better than me.

Hello!!

This is my first ever blog post. Until about a year ago I never really knew what all the fuss with blogs was about. One day I was googling to find out more about an artist and I stumbled across a blog. I discovered that I liked pretty much everything this person had posted about on their blog - the clothes, art, craft, images even colours. 

I couldn't believe that someone on the other side of the world might have such similar tastes to me. But even better than that, their finds led me to discover websites and shops and things that I never knew existed. From that moment I became hooked. Now I feel a little bit lost if I don't get to read the long list of blogs that I look at everyday.

I'm hoping that my blog will be as interesting to others as the ones I read are to me. I plan to post on all types of things that interest me, from designer fashion to handmade indie finds, arts and crafts, kids stuff, food, travel, books and music, interiors and design and any odd little things that pop up along the way. Hopefully I will be able to bring an Australian perspective to what I find. I also plan to mention anything interesting that may be going on with my fashion accessories label, Jaime Beattie, along with news of sales and new products. I expect there may be some mentions of what's happening in my life but I will try not to be too tedious. Hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much.

I hope anyone who reads Paisley St Claire will enjoy it. Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Jaime.