If you love something, give it away

You know those people who only have beautiful things? Like, everything in their house is gorgeous and admirable and stylishly arranged and not dusty? Well, I am not one of those people, but my friends, Lizzie and Ness most definitely are. Like, crazy stylish. All their clothes and their stuff and their house and their new bathroom and their hair... all of it. Gorgeous. It's actually kind of nauseating. Especially when they ask me to make clothes for them. The standards!!!! So, what to do when such stylish people ask for some bespokie-dokie? You use the best fabric you can find and you sew very very carefully.

First up, a plaid skirt for Nessie. This is some spunky plaid wool that Jay gave me about a year ago, which I had been planning on using to make myself a skirt for this winter but never got around to it. Anyway, I thought it was perfect for Nessie, and was inspired by the immortal words of Conor Oberst - if you love something, give it away. I admit, I do have a tendency to take music lyrics very seriously, but this one's good! A good one to live by!

So anyway, the fabric's so great that I left the skirt kinda plain - a couple of little pleats and some vintage red buttons and she's done.

Next up, lyrebirds for Lizzie.

Again, Jay is the source of this tea-towel and yes, it's spectacular. Look closely, and you will see fungus sprouting from the tree behind the lyrebird's head. That's the kinda detail money just can't buy. Well, obviously money can buy it, but it's a heck of a lot cooler than money... hopefully you get my drift. I was particularly proud of the detailing on the pocket, lined with a little offcut of lyrebird tail.

Both ladies requested boleros so, again, favourite fabrics were dug out.

The birds... holy crapola, right? They have banners with their names on them!!

And the yellow-breasted sunbird is on the breast! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Geddit? Yes... I really am that immature. Remember the map of Tassie? But seriously, if anyone has any ideas as to why the 'b' in 'breasted' is lower case, give me a hoy. I'm bothered by such irregularities.

Such birds could only be bound by 'fancy' binding, from back in the day when things were actually made in Australia. Crazy shit.

The pink floral tablecloth was a very new arrival, sent by my incredibly thoughtful and diligent linen scout, Claire. What a boon! I was slightly nervous to use it, since Lizzie had specified that "floral does not make her happy" but seriously, it's gorgeous, so I sent her an email to check. Of course, it was OK. She is uber stylish, after all. Come to think of it, there was a lot of calling and texting and emailing going on during the construction of these items. That's how stressed I was. Coz, apart from being crazy gorgeous, these people are my beloved friends, and I want to make them happy!