45.

A selection of delectable sorbet-coloured blankets. The bottom two blankets are still waiting to be made into capes!

44.

I made this Claremont skirt for a customer a few weeks ago. She loved the design but had too many blue skirts, so we decided on this lush forest green linen with contrasting lemon yellow pockets. I think it looks great polished off with the vintage wooden buttons.
Send me an email or contact me via the Crowns Clothing Etsy for your own custom orders.

43.

Yesterday I picked up the latest issue of Idealog, a magazine dedicated to ideas and innovation in New Zealand. I have to admit I'm not in the habit of reading this magazine regularly, but I had a feeling that it might be a good idea to check the Gear page ('Design. Performance. Innovation.' !) in the July/August issue.

What's that? Rechargeable 3D TV glasses? An aerated ski helmet? Oh! The capes?

I was super stoked to see this, and a big old thanks to the folks at Idealog for thinking my ideas are worthy of logging! ♥

42.

I have a legitimate reason for the shortage of blog posts this time: I was hard at work getting everything ready for the SS11/12 lookbook photoshoot! The shoot took place last Friday at the beautiful historic house The Moorings in Wellington, as it was far too cold and a bit drizzly for the original outdoor location.

I was too busy to take my camera along, so this post is made of a mish-mash of a cellphone photo, a shot Louise took of us all and a few I've stolen from Georgia's blog. She made a much more comprehensive post about the shoot on her blog The Velvettes. I won't share any of the lookbook shots yet but here are a few behind the scenes photos!

Georgia adeptly assisting Louise in the lighting; Daisy looking cold!

Attempting to keep Daisy from freezing!

Group photo! Every photoshoot needs one. From L-R:

Louise Hatton (photographer), Daisy @ Red11 (model), Georgia (styling and hair), Grace (makeup pro!) and myself in those ridiculous 70s pants that we deemed too silly to even make it into the real shoot.

I can't wait to share the lookbook photos! In the meantime I have to extend a massive thank you to Lou, Georgia, Grace and Daisy for making Friday so much fun and running (mostly) smoothly.

41.

I've been a bit slack with blogging since my queued posts ran out and university started back. I have ten novels to read this semester on top of what seems like more assessment than usual so it's hard to dedicate time to writing something probably meaningless for a blog over schoolwork.

That's not to say I haven't been busy with Crowns! Rather there have been all sorts of exciting things happening behind the scenes which have kept me very busy. The culmination of this is something big happening next week, which I can't wait to share!

I've started working at the Adam Art Gallery on campus at the university on Saturdays. I'm posting this from behind the desk, in fact! I brought along some orders that need hand-finishing to help pass the time between visitors. Here's a Robin's Egg Madeline Cape enjoying some prestigious company amongst a couple of Toss Woollaston landscapes. Maybe some of the gallery's magic will rub off on the cape? Excuse the rubbish photo, I took it with my phone.

40.

Have a read of this interesting Listener article about the resurgence of crafting. How cute is this dog badge? Made by a 12 year old boy. The picture is the link!

39.

I don't think I ever made a post in celebration of my new URL. The most important part is that I need to thank Dane of Tornadoes and Tigers for gifting it to me!

Dane is a "designer, daddy, husband and teacher" and the blogger behind Tornadoes and Tigers. He has a daughter named James, which I think is very sweet, and not only because my brother's name is James.

Since my discovery of the blog I have become an avid follower as he features great photography and design from awesome New Zealand creatives. He also joint-runs the project Hello Holga which shares photos and things to do with the indie favourite camera. I've posted a couple of my favourite photos from the project.

38.

I made a few Polyvore sets that might give you a sneaky idea about what I'm working on for summer - although I seem to have been on a 70s vibe when I made these! Probably something to do with those ridiculous pants.

1970s inspiration by CrownsClothing featuring wooden bangles

1970s set 2 by CrownsClothing featuring leaf jewelry

Flora simple set by CrownsClothing featuring chunky high heels

Summer inspiration by CrownsClothing featuring bandeau tops

casual by CrownsClothing featuring pleated shorts

37.

A little while ago I was planning on having a stall at a big craft market in Wellington. I haven't had a stall at a market for quite some time, so I had to have a think about how I wanted to display my wares.

It's quite difficult to make a market display of clothing look interesting. You need to make the best use of your table space on top of having a rack, which is hard especially when your clothing items are so big!

Beer crates are a good size for sitting on a table and providing some visual interest as well as acting as both containers and shelves for functionality, too. I couldn't find any in a good condition on TradeMe and have been too busy to go out to second-hand and charity shops, but I did find a lumber company selling beer crate kits. Mine arrived the other day and I had a fun hour or so assembling it. It didn't come with any instructions so it took a wee bit of figuring out, and I'm not a hammer-and-nails expert but it came out looking great! 

Here are some photos I found of authentic beer crates being repurposed for storage and display.

via http://www.flickr.com/photos/shntzl/

via http://thatshappy.blogspot.com/

via http://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmicparachute/

via http://grasshoppersense.tumblr.com/

36.

Recent purchases: silly 1970s crochet flares edition. 

I bought these online with the knowledge they would be too small for me, but they go so well with some of the things I've been designing lately that I just had to have them. Hopefully they will make an appearance in an upcoming look book! They are a slightly unusual fit, I think simply due to their era - in the first photo I've folded the waistband over at least 15cm. The elastic in the waist will definitely need replacing, which will have to wait until I can find the right stuff and have the heart to take to these with a seam ripper!

35.

Another cape! This one was made for my lovely Grandma. Granddad commissioned it and we decided green would be the best colour for her. I managed to track down this great sage green blanket on Trademe after much scouring and at a slightly steeper price than I'd usually pay, but these are the things you do for your family! We didn't tell her about it and she was very surprised and pleased when I took it to them last weekend for midwinter Christmas dinner. 

I don't have any green capes for sale anywhere at the moment but I do have another green blanket in a brighter colour, maybe best described as a cross between mint and grass green. Email me or leave a comment if you're interested in a green Madeline cape.