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Five minutes after the Sydney Stitches & Craft Show opened at Rosehill Racecourse, some of Sydney’s most die-hard crafters were already through the door. But half of Australia has already had a sneak peak of the show highlights, thanks to an early-morning live cross on Channel 9’s Mornings with Kerri-Anne. Living Creatively’s garden stand soon became the must-see exhibit for in-the-know visitors, and dwarf lop bunnies Naughty and Nice [the former named so for her escape artist tendencies and aversion to cuddles] the undisputed stars of the show.
Spread over three levels inside the racecourse’s grandstand and the adjoining pavilion, the show featured retailers selling all the craft supplies and finished products you could think of, and then some more. The girls on the Customer Service desk impressed with their ability to interpret enquiries and send visitors off in the direction of retailers stocking “those things – you know, about so big, they’re terrific for scrapbooking/quilting/overlocking”.
The third and final city on this year’s Stitches & Craft Show calendar marked a new beginning for the Living Creatively team, who had recently acquired event management responsibilities. Long-time visitors to the show can look forward to seeing some additions and innovations to the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney shows in 2009.
Talk show host Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s appearance at the show on Day Three attracted huge crowds of visitors keen to get the low-down on crafting innovations from the scrapbooking fan. Ten lucky competition winners shared morning tea with Kerri-Anne and husband John Kennerley– including one fan who entered the competition 41 times! – before Kerri-Anne took to the stage for a Q & A session with visitors. A “product highlights” segment unveiled the hottest crafting tools and finished products to the audience, during which Kerri-Anne and Living Creatively stage host Claire Stewart threw questions back to the audience of discerning crafters.
The sugar fairy mascots of the Cake Decorators’ Guild of New South Wales, whose cake-shaped costumes and magic wands alerted visitors to the guild’s sugar art display in the pavilion, gave Kerri-Anne a memorable welcome to the show. When Kerri-Anne invited them up on stage to spruik their wares they doused the TV star in fairy dust [glitter]!
The hundreds of Essential Baby members who attended the show on Day Three with children in tow was proof enough that the face of crafting is increasingly young and internet savvy. An Essential Baby club on the ground floor offered parents some peace and quiet away from the madding crowd, with feeding and changing areas and a Gymbaroo for the kids. Even for those who’d never heard of Essential Baby, if you were spotted in the crowd with a pram or baby sling by one of the website’s friendly members, chances are you were invited down to enjoy the facilities.
Already a hit at this year’s Brisbane and Melbourne shows, Living Creatively’s inspirational garden stand and gathering of indie crafters won over visitors who were looking for a breath of fresh air in the crafting stakes.
The Living Creatively garden, with its mail box and picket fence, vintage wheelbarrow and garden implements, looked like a scene from a Beatrix Potter story book – especially due to the presence of bunny siblings Naughty and Nice. One visitor pointed out rabbits were the perfect mascots for a brand that’s all about creating, since they were so good at procreating themselves. But the silver-tipped bunnies proved best at eating – be it fresh lawn, carrots, or rose buds in the garden’s picnic tea party– and had nearly doubled in size by the end of the week. Their expanding girths didn’t seem to deter the many visitors who volunteered adoption duties – or in the case of one young crafter, offered cold hard cash to the Living Creatively bunny watcher to take Nice home with her.
A Hills Hoist displaying finished products from Living Creatively’s Create Now section – in particular, glamorous aprons in vintage fabrics – showed visitors there was nothing dowdy about handmade clothes, or being chained to the kitchen sink.
Textile designer Kristen Doran did a roaring trade on her Matryoshka fabric panels, which allowed novice sewers to simply cut, sew and stuff their own Babushka softies. Her screen-printed cotton and linen swatches also struck a chord with some of the oldest visitors at the show, proving that good style has no age barrier. Kristen told Living Creatively she was thrilled her products appealed to someone who, she’d estimated, might have learnt to sew on a treadle-powered sewing machine. “She said, ‘A friend of mine saw your stall yesterday and told me that I just HAD to come and see it for myself’,” Kirsten said.
The popularity of all-in-one crafting and sewing kits – where buyers make a finished product without visiting a haberdashery store, or even getting up off the sofa – showed no signs of abating. Whether it was a traditional cross-stitch project, a vintage-inspired softie [Audrey and Maude], or a funky clutch purse [Nicole Mallalieu Design], they proved a practical way for crafters to dip their toes into new areas.
The “Make and Take” stage, set up in front of two old-school garden sheds, allowed visitors to experiment with papercraft tools from Fiskars and Kaiser Craft. “The purpose of the stage was to highlight the techniques you can use in papercraft and show people how to use the tools – it was a real case of ‘try before you buy’,” said Living Creatively stage host Claire Stewart. The key theme was “encouraging”, and it was great to witness visitors – amateur and seasoned crafters, young and old – wandering past the stage, getting commandeered onto a craft table, and emerging 20 minutes later with their own handmade card or bag tag to take home.
The same concept for sewing was created at the other end of the Living Creatively floor. Sewing is the new knitting and both Birch Haberdashery and Brother were keen to help teach the younger audience how to sew and show them it’s just not that hard. Birch offered easy sewing and felting activities and Brother attracted those new to sewing by offering free ‘Start Sewing Now’ workshops. Hobbysew also created a storm by offering free show bags – something everyone loves!
Whether crafters took home show bags, new gadgets, or handmade products, the most enduring – and cheapest! – souvenir available was a healthy dose of creative inspiration… and that’s one thing that the Sydney Stitches & Craft Show had in spades.
Birch Fiskars Hobbysew Kaisercraft
Alison Bennet | Alison Bennett Art & Design
Cathy Porter & Louise Pappas | Audrey & Maude
Caroline Davis, Melinda McBride, Leeza Gratton, Manuela Strano, Madeleine Reynolds | Dandi
Kristen Doran | Kristen Doran Designs
Justine Telfer | Mix Tape Zine
Jade Ghenzer | My Art is My Outlet
Nicole Mallalieu | Nicole Mallalieu Design
Susan Filer | The Pattern Place
Belinda Andresson | Tutti Fruiti
Penny Alexopoulos, Theodora Antonopoulos | TreLes Creations
Michaela Laurie | Wren’s Nest Studio
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The display floor’s set up – with each indie crafter selling and displaying their wares on tables surrounded by chairs – allowed visitors to take a seat, and watch and learn from them. It also enabled the crafters to spend some quality face time with the friends they’d come to know through their blogs.
