Ink & Spindle fabrics

Ink & Spindle are a boutique textile studio in Melbourne. I first ran across their fabrics at the Melbourne Design Market. That particular trip was noted for my purchase of cushions, as I went home with my spare bag full of three cushions and two cushion kits.

Ink & Spindle have many lovely designs however at the moment they are experiencing a supply issue and the available designs are limited. They make use of organic base fabrics and environmentally friendly, solvent free inks. The fabrics are screen printed by hand! I love the natural tones and bold prints, and am trying to figure out how I can convince C that we should use their fabrics to make curtains for our new bedroom.

These three patterns will be heading my way shortly. I am still looking for inspiration for the fabric for my footstool (no sense in rushing into things!), and I am thinking that I will grab the blue version of the Kangaroo Paw print once it is back in stock.

Rooftops on Tamarillo
Kangaroo Paw in Red Orange and Snow
Ginkgo in Black & White on Yak
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On the Melbourne list

My friend NM just came back from a week in Melbourne. It was a business trip so she did not have a lot of time to play, but she did come back with a couple more shops to visit.

Lupa describes itself as "an independent clothing and contemporary art & design store located in Northcote, Melbourne". It does sound very interesting and has an impressive list of Melbourne designers. They boast that all of the clothes are designed and made in Melbourne. My kind of store!

i dream a highway boasts stocking "a wide and unique range of Australian designers". I am intrigued to drop in and see what I can find!

NM and I have been talking about a shopping weekend next year. Hopefully I will have the budget for flights and accommodation, although I might have to limit my spending on clothes!

To allow us more money to spend on clothes and food, maybe the Melbourne Oasis Hostel would be a good start to reduce our living expenses!

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Melbourne expedition

Last weekend we went to Melbourne to watch the Dockers beat Carlton. Thankfully they did, although I was on the edge of my seat in the last quarter as they let Carlton back into the game. For the boys, it was a football trip. For me, there is no way I could go to Melbourne without doing at least a little bit of shopping...

Saturday morning C and I had breakfast in Fitzroy and I realised that Queen Clothing was just around the corner. Perfect! Early on in the shopping experience they pointed C to a chair and even gave him a box as a footrest when he got cheeky with them.

I tried on a few different items and in the end settled on a couple of Strange & Strange 100% merino cowl necked tops. I am always on the looking for layers of wool to wear and these are a little more stylish than my Icebreaker outer layers. I purchased one in black and one in charcoal. I forgot to check where they were made before I purchased, I was relieved to find that they were Made in Melbourne.

We went for a wander up Smith Street and did not find much to tempt us until I saw in.cube8r. I had read about this store so was curious to see what was in there. C was not particularly impressed (no power tools!) but they had some lovely wall decals and I found a gorgeous organic cotton jumper I had thought to buy for a friend’s new baby. That is, until I asked and found out that the jumper was made overseas and the local content was the screen printed car on the front. I was happy to pay the price they were asking if it had been locally made but was not so keen given its unknown origins and misleading labelling – it said “Designed in Australia”. To be fair, the philosophy of the shop is to showcase local designers so most of it is made in Australia. I just have a talent for picking up the outliers!

We headed back into the city to catch up with C’s mates in anticipation of an afternoon of drinking before we went to the game. A couple of text messages from NM (she spent last year in Melbourne and ferreted out lots of great clothing stores!) and I was under Flinders Street to find The Cats Meow. They had some great clothes, but I was focussed on wool and bought myself a Wool/Cashmere/Linen/Cotton skirt by Kylie Jane. They also had more great wool and wool blend skirts but the fabric was not as heavy and the cute owl and flower details would make them more for casual wear rather than work clothes.

Sunday morning and we headed to the Sunday Arts Market. I had decided that I wanted a new bag and was keen to check out the Mattt bags if I got the chance. They had a stall at the market and I spent some time deciding on style and fabric. In the end I bought an A4 shoulderbag with Ink & Spindle Gingko fabric. There were many beautiful prints to choose from and a particularly gorgeous green suiting fabric. Yay! The bag looks sturdy and well made. The main fabric is backpack material and the zippers are YKK so hopefully it will take whatever I throw at it! There is a zip pocket for my purse inside and also a pocket for my mobile phone. The gingko panel hides an outer pocket. Other than that the inside of the bag is a cavernous pit for whatever I wish to carry. It will be great for serious shopping expeditions and I may even be able to fit my lunch in it to carry to work.

That was it for my spending on locally made and designed items. Not a bad effort for a quick weekend trip!

Cordless drills...

Chad's drill shirt arrived last year and was in the largest size that Shiften offered - XL. I thought that we would give it a bash, Chad is usually an XXL, but the sizing looked like it could work.

He likes the shirt (or so he tells me) but it is a little tight across his shoulders. I noticed just now that the shirt as advertised on the Shiften's madeit.com.au site now comes in sizes up to 4XL, so we are covered!

Maybe I should get him a screwdriver shirt next...

PS Chad's shirt is grey. Green clashes with his eyes!

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Ink and Spindle Sale!!

Melbourne screen-printing studio Ink & Spindle are having a sale! Check out their funky fabrics.

I already have some Ink & Spindle cushions and fabrics. I love their fabrics, prints and colours!

Elly Oak

Beautiful linens and cards available from Elly Oak, hand screen printed in Melbourne.

A flying Melbourne trip - November 2009 - Day Three

It was pretty wet in Melbourne. I am not entirely sure what the weather was doing. It had been cold and wet in Perth before I flew out, and I had been holed up at home in bed or on the couch so I was in prime position to watch the weather outside. It seemed that it had followed me to Melbourne, and N and I wandered around tramping through puddles.

We met my cousin KF for breakfast in Lygon Street, Carlton. Lygon Street is known for the many Italian restaurants that line it, and N had taken C and I there for dinner when we were over in September. KF had arranged to meet us at Trotters where I had very tasty home made baked beans and toast. They were vegetarian too! I have still to try to make my own.

After lunch we wandered down Lygon Street and browsed the shops. There was a great toy store where N found some lovely wooden Christmas decorations, and a gourmet store selling a great range of organic foods. I was very jealous that we do not have similar at home.

Once we had exhausted the shopping on Lygon Street N and I headed to the Sunday Arts Market at the Arts Centre, just south of the CBD. N and I approached it from a different direction than C and I had, and I discovered a whole new section of the market that we had completely missed last time! I bought myself a a reversible bag from Minx Design, and a gorgeous t-shirt for a newborn from Retrobub.

The Retrobub t-shirt had this giraffe pattern on it. The t-shirt was red with funky fabric for the giraffe. One of the shoulders of the t-shirt had press studs, which I thought was a great idea to make it easier to put on!


We were just about shopped out now so it was back to N's apartment via the London & American Supply Stores and the Queen Victoria Markets. There I packed my case and we drank tea until it was time to head to the airport.

A flying Melbourne trip - November 2009 - Day Two

It has been a month, I am going to struggle now to remember where we went! However that is the point of this blog - helping me to remember where I have shopped - so I will give it a go.

We started with breakfast at Birdman Eating in Fitzroy. I had the yummiest Black rice, coconut, yoghurt and mango dish, and I am inspired to try and replicate the flavours at home! We then went shopping! We went to Queen Clothing, where both N and I bought items. They stock local labels as well as their own! We also wandered into Zetta Florence and Kami, two lovely stationery shops. We checked out the funky items at Third Drawer Down and enjoyed some of their more unusual items. There was a visit to Wilkins and Kent thrown in as well, a store with lots of interesting items! I had found their Little Bourke Street store on a rainy day when C and I were over, and bought a great Otto & Spike beanie!

Our (eventual) goal for the Saturday was the Rose Street Markets. My sister had visited Melbourne recently to my trip and had recommended a visit. I was happy that we did - I bought a couple of skirts from So! indesign and also ordered a t-shirt for C from shiften. The style of skirt that I bought is shown in this picture from the designers website. The t-shirt for C is similar to this picture from the designers madeit page, with a more appropriate tool. I cannot remember what colour I actually ordered, I suspect grey and blue! I have to catch up with N's sister and get that from her hopefully this week.


E kindly lent me her copy of the Melbourne Design Guide, a great resource for Melbourne design and art! It contains maps of many areas of the city and references designers of clothing, accessories, textiles, furniture and all sorts. I am so jealous that we do not have anything like this for Perth - at least that I am aware of! N and I made use of it while I was there to read up details on some of the stores that we visited. Read a review at The Design Files, the source for the picture below.


It was a fairly humid day, and pretty soon we were in need of some more sustenance - churros! N took me to a little cafe and we shared a dish of chocolate and churros. Yum! I took this opportunity to consult the Melbourne Design Guide and see if we had missed anything of note on our travels.

I am in the hunt for a bridal dress, and my friend D had suggested a place in the area that I would like - Gwendolynne. It was nearby to the Churros so we set out there to have a look. The dresses were gorgeous! They were however well out of the budget that I had set for the entire bridal outfit so for now it is a matter of looking and admiring.

Our walking finally led us to Dizingof, a collection of bold colours and styles. I found a dress that was my style, lovely soft fabric with a beautiful silk panel at the front. I justified the purchase of this dress by earmarkig it for a wearing to a wedding next year. We have three weddings to attend next year, as well as our own, so lots of excuses to dress up!

I now had two dresses, two skirts and a top, so it was definitely time to slow down the clothes shopping! I was happy though, as I had some more clothes to add to my work wardrobe, as well as a dress for a special occasion.

A flying Melbourne trip - November 2009 - Day One

About a month ago I headed over to Melbourne to visit N. I had already been to see her in June, and since there was a good chance that she was going to be moving back to Perth in early 2010 I thought that I had better go and see her again and check out some more shops, just to make sure that they were good! The first time I went I had a budget for spending to buy items, and I stuck to it within I think a dollar! On that trip I mainly purchased homewares, and this time around I updated my wardrobe!

I was sick in the week before I flew out to Melbourne. I had booked myself onto a Thursday night red-eye, which seemed like a good idea when I had booked it but not such a good idea after a few days of not much sleep and weakened system. I still did not feel like eating rich food for most of my trip to Melbourne, but thankfully there is so much variety to choose from!

Originally I was going to catch the Skybus into the CBD and meet N for breakfast. She would give me a key and I would then catch the train or tram back to her apartment to drop off my suitcase. Even though I was only going for a few days I thought that a suitcase was necessary to bring my purchases home! Given my recent illness however I ended up catching a taxi from the airport directly to N's apartment. She let me in, gave me liquids and after about an hour of catching up she kindly let me nap on her bed, while she wandered off to work! N's flatmate F was sleeping when I arrived, it had been her birthday the day before and she had celebrated well the night before! She was awake when I woke up from my nap, and it was lovely to catch up with her again.

I had organised to catch up for lunch with my friend D; I went to primary and high school with D and we had both been to high school with N. Eventually it was settled that D would pick me up, it was shockingly hot that day (high 30s) and I was happy to be ferried around in my groggy state! We ended up eating near N's work, and she was able to join us. It was great to be back where good food is a rule rather than an exception.

After lunch D dropped me into the CBD, and my first afternoon of shopping was fairly tame, I headed into Myer, and was somewhat pleased to read the signs that said the store was being renovated. The building that the Melbourne Myer is in is quite old and awkward with different levels and escalators that do not make sense!

I also did some generic browsing in Lincraft, Dymocks, Haigh's, Kikki-K and looked for one of my favourite clothing shops Ink Clothing. I was disappointed to see that it was no longer on Little Collins Street, I had spent quite a bit of money there previously and was hoping to find some more wardrobe staples.

I also took the opportunity to purchase my Christmas Cards from the Oxfam Shop, and browse their products! I found an advent calendar Christmas card that was perfect for my sister!

N met me at Dymocks, and took me to the shop where she had bought tights. I was excited by the thought of tights, not many people in Perth seem to wear anything other than standard stockings - me included - and I was hoping to buy some thicker , patterned tights to wear to work to keep my legs warm! I was disappointed however, the designs that they had were a little too garish and bright.