Spinners for MeMe

I am very privileged to have a wonderful friend who recently began her foray in the world of Etsy shops.  Jen is an amazing woman and mother who somehow finds time to continue to explore her love for design and all things sewing.

Jen's store, Spinners for MeME sells amazing hand crafted spinners (AKA dresses) in sizes 1-4.  I recently took on a collaboration with Jen.  It is a perfect union in my book, I get to make lace and Jen gets to sew and the outcome is a stunning handmade dress with handmade lace features.

The first creation of our collaboration is a dress called the Petticoat Spinner.  In Jen's words -
 It is a classic design, with a lightweight blue cotton over a silver grey cotton voile lining, the full lining drapes into a half circle skirt which peeks out below the outer dress. In our house dresses are known as Spinners, and each new design gets its own name, so this dress has been named the "Petticoat Spinner".





I have designed a handmade lace cloud which hovers over the dresses silver lining.  We are very proud to have had one sale so far and I hope this is the beginning of many more lace collaborations with Spinners for MeMe.

The bonus is this particular dress has been specially designed for the #makeforgood campaign, raising funds for Plan Internationals "Because I am A Girl" project, which supports women in developing countries access education, healthcare and with protection of human rights. 20% of the sale price will be donated to the campaign.

To see more of Jen's wonderful creations and inspiration please check out Spinners for MeMe and Facebook and Instagram.

Veteran Community Story Writing and Art Competition

The Story Writing and Art Competition (SWAC) is an annual art/painting, craft, photography, story writing and poetry event run specifically for members of Victoria’s ex-service community.  The competition is open to current and ex- service men and women as well as his/her partner, children and grandchildren.

The competition began in 1962 at the Repatriation General Hospital in Heidelberg, Melbourne, as therapy for returned soldiers. Today, it continues to enhance participants’ health and wellbeing by providing the opportunity to develop new skills, interests and social support.  This year there was a record number of entries from those currently serving, demonstrating the power creating art has at such times.

My grandfather served as a Commando in World War 2 and encouraged me to enter an artwork I completed many years ago that reflects upon war.  I noticed there was also a textile and fibre category so decided to take the opportunity to enter some wire lace.  I thought this would be an opportunity to exhibit and allow a wider audience to see this style of lace.

My grandfather accompanied me to the opening and to my surprise and our delight my lace piece entitled Gum Leaves had won third prize.  I am looking forward to attending the award ceremony in November.

 This award, along with my recent recognition at the Triennial Lace Awards has encouraged me to continue to explore the world of wire lace and continue to develop my own style and designs using this medium. 

The Australian Lace Guild - Trienial Lace Awards for 2015

The Triennial Award is a competition held every three years by the Australian Lace Guild.  The theme for 2015 was Gold.  There are various categories including bobbin, needle and mixed laces as well as group entries.  This year I decided to enter a piece under the bobbin lace category.  This was a huge step for me as until this year, I had never entered a piece of lace into anything other than a country show.

As per my previous post I participated in a lace demonstration at the National Gallery of Victoria ealier this year as part of their Exquisite Threads exhibition.  The exhibition coincided with my decision to make a piece for the Trienial Awards so I went along looking for inspiration for my design.  I certainly found it.

Below is the piece I made. It is made with copper wire.  The design is made in three sections and then joined.

Here you can see where I found my inspiration at Exquisite Threads.  These are strong connections to the shapes lines and form of three of the pieces from the exhibition.

The winners for the award were announced at the AGM during the National Conference.  To my delight I was awarded Highly Commended.  It is an honour to learn that my piece is regarded highly amongst the lace community. 

I really enjoyed designing this piece and creating it.  The whole process just seemed to flow together.  It has certainly inspired me to continue designing and creating pieces in wire.

The theme for the next Trienial Award is footprints.  If I pulled this piece together in four months lets see where my imagination, skills and drive can take me in three years........