On Easter Saturday we had so much fun creating and making Easter treats with kids from 5+.

The most popular activity was the Easter Bonnets. I was very impressed with all of them, one of the gals in particular used the lovely cotton owl print fabric to make a rim and decorated the rest with all sorts of coloured buttons..

Much fun was had by all, a big thanks to Greenwich Market for the space for the day, we are now looking forward to our next half term workshop on Tuesday at Ottie and the Bea

Easter is one of my favourite times of year, not mentioning the fact that it is so close to my birthday It symbolises much more than a spiritual or religious festival. Over on this side of the world, we link Easter to Spring and new beginnings, bright and beautiful flowers such as tulips, daffodils, freshly cut grass, blue skies and the wonderful freshness that summer is well on it’s way. In Australia, where I was born, it’s the opposite time scale, a time of saying goodbye to Summer and preparing for the Autumn and winter months. Both are wonderfully reflective times of the year and Easter has always allowed me that ‘pause time’ to catch up with friends and family, have a little break to think of new wonderfully creative ideas for my next projects and most of all, time to eat chocolate     (read more…..)

Every year I like to celebrate Easter Sunday with a lovely meal with friends, family or whoever will join me on the Sunday… But Easter wouldn’t be Easter without some sort of crafts and sewing activity. This year I am running an Easter Bonnet decorating session at Greenwich Market. So I’m sitting here surrounded by lots of fantastically bright, colourful and fluffy materials and I start to hum a little tune that I remember seeing Judy Garland sing in the 1948 American musical film “Easter Parade” with Fred Astaire (music by Irving Berlin, I’ve attached a you tube clip to it here just in case you haven’t seen this one)

Wearing new clothes at Easter is where the tradition of the Easter Bonnet originates, while doing some research it states that the “Easter bonnet” was fixed in our culture by the musical, whose reference was the festive Easter parade in New York City heading down Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In any case, Easter is the welcoming in of the new year and the promise of new beginnings, it’s either celebrated in Autumn or Spring, depending where you live, I’m lucky enough to have had both seasons for Easter in my time I think the Easter Bonnet is a great fun tradition and I love being involved with both children and adults in making and creating, decorating hats and generally getting crafty…

If you’d like to join us making and creating Easter Bonnets, we will be in Greenwich Market on Saturday 30^th March from 10am  

Judy Garland:-

Here is the fab lyrics by Irving Berlin….

Never saw you look quite so pretty before
Never saw you dressed quite so lovely what’s more
I could hardly wait to keep our date this lovely Easter morning
And my heart beat fast as I came through the door
For In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade

I’ll be all in clover and when they look you over
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade

On the Avenue
Fifth Avenue
The photographers will snap us
And you’ll find that you’re
In the rotogravure

Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet
And of the girl I’m taking to the Easter parade

To the Park we’ll go
Round Rotten Row
The photographers will snap us
And then you’ll be seen
In the smart magazine

As it’s half term, I was invited into the Childrens Shop ‘Ottie and the Bea’ (Blackheath Standard) to run a magical day of sewing, crafting and creating with kids.  I hosted a sewing workshop designing, making & creating outfits for a favourite teddy, bear or rabbit.  Read more…
The craft table was set up as the shop opened for a day of shopping and sewing for children.  

We were all so eager about our kids sewing day – I heard some of the crafters were up at 5am – far too excited to sleep anymore!  Fabrics were chosen including funky cotton prints, flowing organza, super glitzy sequins, then designing began… We designed, snipped and created 20 friend outfits throughout the day, from fashionable felt coats with buttons, nightwear with contrasting slippers, even a camouflage ’onesie’ with matching captains army hat, ‘move like Jagger’ zebra trousers with a rock n roll star t-shirt and  a cool tattoo print dress with matching hairband and sparkly shoes.

A big thanks to all those involved especially Ottie and the Bea for the location and loyal following, parents that stayed and helped and most of all the mini designers who made the magic happen

The great sense of pride for the kids & love for the craft I gain from running these types of workshops is by watching, teaching and being a vessel to help find solutions to design quandaries while the children create with a ‘no holes barred’ approach, from a particular way they would like something to look, to being very protective over a certain button or colour. It gives me a fantastic shake up every now and the feeling of ‘anything is possible’ – and yes indeed it is.. We don’t have to stay at 5 years old to know this, it’s just an amazing fact, that indeed anything is possible if we believe it is so….

Here’s to childrens sewing, craft and creativity and long may it carry on without limits..

We decided in advance to make fascinators, so I created a crafty space for the gals to come and join in the fun of making. Lots of feathers, sequins, lace, flowers, wire were used as we sewed, created, and even glued the fascinators in place..