All posts tagged: Australia

Great Big Sea is Great: or why I’m really in Melbourne

So, I’ve been telling you all about coming to Melbourne for weeks, and about the corset class I’m teaching. And I am super excited about the corset class, but it’s not why I’m in Melbourne. Oh no, teaching at Thread Den is just an awesome bonus. The real reason I am here is quite a story. You see, there is this Newfoundland folk rock band called Great Big Sea. These guys: And they are amazing. Love their music, own every CD, listen to them constantly. And that’s great. But what Great Big Sea is really known for is their concerts. They are supposed to be phenomenal live. And I’ve been trying to see them live for years. I’ve had tickets to their concerts three times, and have missed them at the last minute due to traffic jams/flight delays/strep throat/tornados/volcanos/killer jellyfish swarms etc. etc. (OK some of those are exaggerations). And now I live in New Zealand. And Great Big Sea has never performed in the Southern Hemisphere. Do you know how far New Zealand is …

Australia Part II – Steph!

Published by The Dreamstress

I had a lovely time on the super holiday, relaxing part of our Australia holiday, but the real highlight of the trip for me was getting to meet fellow blogger Steph, the genius behind 3 Hours Past the Edge of the World. I’ve been following Steph’s blog for at least two years now: ever since she started commenting on mine in fact (side note – I try to check every blog that gets linked to mine in a comment, and most of them I end up following). Steph’s blog fascinates me because we have so much in common, and some very distinct differences, both as people, and as seamstresses. We are both expat Americans with antipodean husbands. We’re about the same age, and have been married and in the Southern Hemisphere for about the same time. We both teach and sew, and share a love of vintage styles, and for making vintage styles work in a modern context. We also share a belief in sharing: in making our knowledge as accessible as possible. At the …

Australia: or, How blogging helped me overcome my fears.

Published by The Dreamstress

From tomorrow the blog will be on autopilot while Mr Dreamy and I take a well deserved holiday and spend a week on the beach in Australia. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of posts, and even a ‘Rate the Dress’, but it will all happen without me. This holiday is interesting, because I’ve lived in New Zealand for six years (seven if you count the non-continuous times) and I’ve never once been to Oz. I’ve even refused to stopover in Oz on my way to Hawaii and the US. For someone living in New Zealand who travels a lot, this is very unusual. Oz is where Kiwi’s go on holiday, and for a bit of big-city, big-world right on their doorstep. There is a stunning Baha’i temple in Sydney that I would love to visit. People rave about Melbourne as a vibrant, artistic ‘Australian Wellington.’ There have been amazing costume exhibitions in Oz while I’ve lived here; great stage shows; once -in-a-lifetime concerts; but I haven’t gone. Why? I’m afraid of Australia. Really, really, …