Cat Rabbit & Sausage Dogs

    Today I took the girls for a train ride into the city. It was a beautiful day for it, and I wouldn't even let a squished banana [gross!] mar the day. We visited NGV to say hello to Cat Rabbit in the Great Hall [I just love saying that – Great Hall], who was running a workshop: Dog Mechanics with Soft Stories. The girls sat down and made their own paper sausage dogs and got to admire a hilarious and colourful sausage dog factory which was designed and built by Cat Rabbit and Isobel Knowles.

© Melissa Gaggiano

    This was followed by a roam into the NGV atelier, which housed the Viktor & Rolf for Kids event. The girls sat down and made their own fashion art using a variety of paper materials, staples and a hole puncher. I couldn't help myself! I had to sit down and join the fun. I made a hat that would have made Isabella Blow rather proud. Gwen proudly wore the hat for me and paraded it for the rest of our city trip. Perhaps I missed my calling as a milliner.

     Before heading off to eat lunch [prepared Vegemite and peanut butter sandwiches] I chose a kids fashion activity book from the Viktor & Rolf souvenir shop. On the train ride home I read some of the book to the girls. Going to have some rainy day fun with the girls doing the activities in this book.

© Melissa Gaggiano

    I look forward to returning to NGV to visit the main Viktor & Rolf exhibit.

    The Cat Rabbit workshop will continue to Thursday this week. If you're going to be in the city with the kids and looking for free fun NGV is a great place to go. The paper crafting is good, quiet fun, and the sausage factory on display is worth a good long stare. If you can't make it you can check out this video of the factory.

Inspiration Board

Inspiration Board

Pretty in Pink

© Melissa Gaggiano

    When I came across this small metreage of pink tulle it called... Nae, in a whispering cry it told me to pick it up and pay for it. At the time I had no need for the fabric. There was no master plan for it to be turned into something more beautiful, or alternatively disastrous. Any fabric addict can understand what I am talking about here.

    As luck would happen I did find a use for this gorgeous material, and much sooner than I had imagined would happen. This tulle had me imagining Marie Antoinette, as played by Kirsten Dunst. Of course I didn't have nearly enough material to create anything that grand. The next best bit of inspiration did come along, in the form of Kylie Minogue.

    The previous week I took my daughters to the Kylie on Stage exhibit. All three of us were utterly enamoured and arrived home with stars, pearls and sequins in our eyes.

    This week is my eldest's birthday and I decided to make her a pretty party dress to celebrate. And so a meeting of many wonderful ideas – Kylie, pink, tulle, sequins, birthday, love for my daughters – culminated in my pattern making and sewing this gorgeous slip of a dress, which can be worn with singlet, shorts and leggings.

By the way, did you know the fabric tulle is named after the French city in which it is manufactured.

Inspire You

First Doll of 2017

© Melissa Gaggiano

    This tiny turtle was the first doll of 2017 to be made. She is a birthday gift for a lil' girl.

© Melissa Gaggiano