Blog Posts

Liz Scobie

Not every couple can work together but husband and wife team, Liz and Neil Scobie, seem to have found the secret. Combining his talents with wood and hers with textiles they’ve built a thriving business based on their own picturesque property, allowing Liz to travel near and far to share ...

Craft on the small screen

Online and video education is on the rise. One can study everything from languages and guitar techniques to Thai cooking or accountancy. Crafts are no different. Join a class on the internet, or buy a DVD and study at your leisure, either way techno-savvy creative types are soaking up lessons ...

Beading tips

From Marlene Blessing: • Dismantle old designs and use the components again. • Explore seed beads. They take time and patience to work with and you get the satisfaction of using your stitching skills. • Use base metals instead of silver and gold in your designs. • Use semi precious ...

General crafty tips

From Lisa Johns: • Look at what you already have. Recently I found six reels of black cotton stashed at the back of a cupboard. Be a crafty stocktaker. • Keep your eyes open at op shops and community markets. Buy only for projects you have in mind for the ...

Quick ‘quilty’ tips

From Michelle Yeo: • Join an in-store class that also offers discounts on fabrics. • Form or join sewing groups so ideas, books and fabrics can be shared. • Buy the right tool for the right job. For instance you only use a 24” x 6.5” ruler for borders. I ...

Tighten your belt, not your imagination!

Whether you craft for fun or profit, decisions about what you purchase and make are undoubtedly affected by the state of your bank balance. For hobbyists in particular, a crafty outlet might feel like an indulgence but, with clever management, it can actually prove to be an asset (not to ...

Jane Sassaman

Every year since its inception the Australasian Quilt Convention has presented local quilters with the best of local and international quilting talent. This year is no exception and, as AQC moves to its new home at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building, it welcomes Illinois (USA) based quilter, fabric designer, author and ...

Selling yourself

Why your marketing needs to be as creative as your products. While it’s great that crafts and handmade goods are growing in popularity it also means that the marketplace for these items is becoming more competitive. The very things that make it so wonderful to be a modern crafter - ...

Sue Dennis

Not many people can say their quilting career kicked off in a mining region where the dramatic, sometimes harsh, natural environment inspired their work. Sue Dennis can. It was when her husband’s work took her to Mt. Isa, in North-West Queensland, that the stitching bug bit. Since then she has ...

Misty Mawn

“Art for me comes naturally, just as walking does, and if I didn’t have art as a form of expression I would feel just as paralysed as I would if I could no longer walk.” This statement, like no other, probably represents the unique spirit and sensibility of USA mixed ...

A class of their own

Textile education. Today’s textile students tackle the here & now. If you love working with textiles and wish you could be making a living in the area, is 2009 the year you start looking at options? This month ‘get creative’ steps inside the hallowed halls of one of Australasia’s most ...

Freeforming into the future

Creating textured surfaces with Jenny Dowde. ‘Surface Works’ by Australian artist, Jenny Dowde, is about adding surface decoration to plain knitted or crocheted backgrounds. Through more than 30 projects Jenny, using traditional and freeform approaches, provides numerous suggestions for creating textured surfaces in knitting and crochet, using fancy yarns, handmade ...

Knitting in times of trouble

Lela Nargi is the editor of a wonderful book for knitters and non-knitters alike called ‘Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble’. A collection of writings from contemporary authors as well as some taken from the WPAs Federal Writers Project in the USA, the book brings together stories ...

What the heck is a craft challenge?

Even the most avid crafters, the most enthusiastic quilt club friends or passionate guild members need a little creative shake-up occasionally. Craft challenges, the phenomenon currently sweeping both online and in-the-flesh creative communities, can be a solution. Devised to test everything from creativity to speed, fundraising abilities to personal boundaries, ...

Jane Whitfield

Get Creative (GC) studio tutor, Jane Whitfield, does with youngsters at the Port Macquarie Spotlight store. Jane is one of the most popular teachers around and, besides her work with us, also runs her own businesss called Drawn to Art, plus she teaches art classes for gifted children at various ...

Beth Miller

Canberra’s Beth Miller attended her first quilting class in 1981. What started as a hobby became a passion and in 1997 she completed tertiary studies in commercial screen printing and fabric decoration. It was during that period that Beth started making quilts and printing, painting and dyeing many of the ...

Vikki Leigh Martin

Our guest milliner to 'get craetive' magazine Vikki Leigh Martin, has an impressive background in fashion and teaching. A graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology’s prestigious fashion design course, Vikki shares her skills in sewing, garment construction, accessory and headwear making from her wonderful studio in Melbourne, plus ...

Inside the studios of creative women

In the late 1920s the famous English author, Virginia Woolf, delivered some essays that came to be published under the title, ‘A Room of One’s Own’. In the years since, these writings have become famous for one of the key messages they presented; that “a woman must have money and ...

Catherine Howell

In May this year UK-born embroiderer, Catherine Howell, made her debut appearance as a guest artist at the 2008 Craft & Quilt Fairs. She will be front and centre again at the Canberra Fair in August, in New Zealand in September, Brisbane in October and Adelaide in November. She’ll fit ...

Indie craft report

Changes are afoot in the craft scene and major players in the industry are finally sensing the shift. Carrying the moniker, ‘indie craft’, this new trend sees 18 to 35-year-old crafters taking to needle, thread, the computer, the recycle bin, you name it, and coming up with beautiful, cheeky and ...

Just can’t get enough!

The addictive world of beading The last five to seven years have seen a rise in popularity in beading that rivals many other craft forms. Today, most major shopping centres house at least one specialist bead store, most craft markets overflow with handmade creations and the amount of related books, ...

Embroiderers' Guild Queensland Inc

The Embroiderers’ Guild Queensland Inc. celebrated its 40th birthday between May and June 2008 with an eight-day public exhibition, Fabulous Forty, at its headquarters in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. The Queensland group was born of state pride. Four Brisbane residents - members of The Embroiderers’ Guild of New South Wales ...

Sister Sheila Flynn - Keeping five stitches ahead

At the 2008 Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) one of the most striking exhibitions did not come from Australian quilters. Instead, it came from embroiderers working in South Africa as part of the Kopanang Project. In an environment wracked with poverty and HIV/AIDS, this ancient craft is proving a financial and ...

Jenny King

Regular readers of the 'get creative' magazine and visitors to Quilt & Craft Fairs around Australia will be familiar with the woman we have, in the past, referred to as a doyen of the crochet world. Queensland-based Jenny King is a one woman revolution in the crochet and yarn field ...

Projects

Red dragon

Project supplied by one of our favourite Creative Teachers, Jenny King, a beautiful little character

Continuous curves quilt

Inspired by Beth Miller... we’ve tried our own version of this technique.

Felted Purse

Project supplied by one of our favourite Creative Teachers, Jenny King

Black & cream pillbox

Step-by-step... with Vikki Leigh Martin

Pink, cream & olive headband

Step-by-step... with Vikki Leigh Martin

Mauve & black headband

Step-by-step... with Vikki Leigh Martin

Creating background papers

Inspired by Misty Mawn... we’ve tried our hand at creating background papers.

Silhouette quilt

Inspired by Jane Sassaman... we’ve tried our own version of a Simple Silhouette quilt.

Your Inspiration Room