Encircled will be appearing at the Red Lantern Markets

My little brand 'encircled' will be making an appearance at the Red Lantern Markets in the Newcastle Hunter Street Mall this coming Saturday night, 20th November, 4 till 10pm. I will be having a selection of girls dresses, pencil cases, coin purses and hair clips all made from upcycled fabrics and many items hand screen printed.

The initial Red Lantern Market will feature rickshaw rides, a body-painting exhibition, street performance, Earthen Rhythms African Drumming, ‘Efendi Jaenudin’ Indonesian Music Ensemble and a fire-twirling exhibition.

Additionally, ‘Livesites’ will collaborate with the Night Market and produce an evening of ‘Dancing in the Streets’, at the David Jones end of the mall’.

Stay up to date with the happenings of the market on their blog: http://redlanternnightmarket.blogspot.com/

Upcycled Ladybirds in the making.

Upcycled Ladybirds in the making., originally uploaded by [mummalu].

These are currently being made by me. They are little ladybird purses with a zip through the middle. The dots have been screenprinted onto the fabric of old shirts. The little eyes have been sewn on using a free machine embroidery method. I can't wait to see them finished.

What do you call them: ladybirds, ladybugs or ladybeetles?

Yes, I'm still alive.

softies, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

Here are some little softies I made a few months back. It's not the best photo, but I am quite proud of the screen printed fabric. I did a photo emulsion of some lace on to a screen. I can now jazz up some old fabrics with a bit of lace texture :)

A little update

Although things have been fairly quiet around my blog, my real life has been very busy. I am now back at work, hmm a real job, I am studying 2 days a week, helping a friend out with her ladies 2nd hand market and juggling a very active 2 year old.

School (TAFE) is moving along very slowly, but that's what you get for only going 2 days a week. This semester we had a good play with some screen printing which I have been loving. The last couple of weeks we have been doing up some screens with photo emulsion. I made a screen with my label 'encircled' on it so that I could use them for tags on the items that I am creating. The sushi fish was part of a project that had to be japanese inspired. We are in the middle of making a skirt that had to have one of our screen prints on it.


The pillow is made up of lots of upcycled fabrics including parts of my favourite pair of jeans and many men's shirts. I did some self cover buttons and attempted some piping for the first time. The circles pattern was made using some fabric paint and printing bubble wrap onto the fabric. I then free hand machine embroidered over the top.

Raid My Wardrobe

Raid My Wardrobe, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

Finished screen printing the t-shirts for the Raid My Wardrobe event on this Sunday in Newcastle, Australia. It's a second hand ladies clothing and accessories market. There are going to be 40 plus stalls. Come and check it out if you can: http://raidmywardrobe.com.au