SARAH & RACHEL
ROXBURGH
How do you manage so many joint projects
when you live thousands of miles apart, in
Sydney and Italy? As soon as we get a new
project, we start off with a Skype discussion,
to start planning out some of our ideas. From
there, we both do some sketches and often pull
together some fabrics to start getting a sense
of our shade combinations. Luckily, we both
appreciate and understand each other’s style,
so we seem to have some very similar thoughts
when working through our planning process.
Fortunately, during the process of this cubby
house, Rachel came to Australia, so we
worked on the project together, in person.
How long have the two of you worked on
projects together? We’ve always shared ideas
and sometimes come up with similar concepts- for example, there is an Easter bunny that we
both designed independently but which turned
out to be almost identical. Over the years, we
sometimes did projects together but mostly
it has been over the past four-five years. We
definitely get inspiration from each other and
use each other’s sketches for diff erent projects.
Do commissions for children rank as your
favourites? We both definitely love making
things for kids, and that orginally came from
making things for our own children. We tend
to be able to design very ‘cute’ things that
appeal to kids. We have lots of ideas.
What other style of projects do you both
do? We are both really into mixed-media
textiles using a variety of vintage fabrics,
embroideries, threads and trims.
What’s next on the agenda for the team
of sisters at Roxy Creations?
Rachel – I have some markets coming up
in Italy and have been focusing on more
mixed-textile projects, like bags, lampshades
and cushions. I also love Kantha quilts, and
have recently been making a range of items
from vintage designs.
Sarah – I’ve working on some mixed-media
artworks and some mixed-textile projects
for Christmas and Easter.
On average, how often do you get to see
each other? Usually, only about every
12-18 months. Not often enough!
When you have family get-togethers,
do you all love to sit and stitch and chat?
If it’s just the two of us and Mum, we’re happy
to stitch together. Whenever we’re all together,
we also come up with new and interesting
ideas. We love going to fabric and threadstores together and are never capable of
‘just looking’. The three of us have a passion for
Japanese textiles and dream of one day going
to Japan to explore the creative world there.
Are there just you two siblings or are there
other children in your family? If so, are any
of them crafty? We also have two brothers who
are quite creative themselves, although they
don’t tend to do anything too crafty. Our older
brother is making a boat with his son at the
moment, so I guess that qualifies.
Where did you live as children? We grew up
in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. We always had
a busy household, and with four kids, there
were always lots of people over at our place.
It was often the place to hang out after school.
Mum used to always have afternoon tea ready
for everyone. When we were really young,
Mum used to make massive weavings. We
remember that she had large frames covered
in all types of yarns and threads and crazy
designs – it was the ’70s. As we got a bit
older, Mum got into quilting, so she was
always doing some kind of craft, just like
us now. We had lots of neighbours who were
friends, and there were many local kids who
we used to hang out with. Summers were
spent in the pool and winter by the fireside.
We had a noisy, happy and fun childhood.
Do you love where you live and work now?
Rachel – I love parts of where I live in Italy, like
the antique markets, my sewing room and
the history that I’m surrounded by, but I love
Sydney, too. I miss the creative atmosphere
of Sydney and being inspired by my family,
as I miss being around creative people in Italy.Gett ing to know ...
SARAH AND RACHEL’S
FUSIBLE-WEB ECONOMY
TIPTrace and roughly cut out the
largest appliqué shapes first. Then cut
out the centres of the shapes, leaving
about^11 ⁄ 4 in of fusible web inside the traced
lines. See Diagram 6. Use the fusible web
cut from the centre of the large appliqué
shapes for the smaller shapes.SARAH AND RACHEL’S
FUSING TIP Instead of an
ironing board, which is much smaller than
the cubby-house panels, we recommendprotecting a table with a thick, folded
blanket or something similar to create a
large, safe ironing surface. This way, you
can lay out the appliqué pieces for a whole
panel and fuse them in place without the
risk of them moving out of place as you
manoeuvre them on an ironing board.SARAH AND RACHEL’S
LAYERS TIP The cubby-house
panels are fairly large, so use plenty of pins
to keep the exterior and interior layers evenly
together when cutting out the interior window
squares and adding the window panes.SARAH AND RACHEL’S
DESIGN TIP Ask the kids for whom
you’re making the cubby house to draw their
own designs to appliqué on the exterior walls.
Enlarge them on a photocopier, if necessary.
Don’t forget to trace them in reverse if it’s
important that they end up looking exactly
the same as the original drawing.Diagram 6120 HomespunHSP1702_p110-120_My Little Cubby PROJECT.indd 120 12/17/2015 12:32:14 PM