Creative collaboration between Liz Baillie and Pippy Sheehan delivers a dream

It's also an apt term for Pippy Sheehan, the Brisbane-based artist behind the Darling Creative surface design business helping make it a reality.

Spending her early years at Dirranbandi and her school holidays soaking up the bush life there and at Injune and Roma, Pippy describes herself as country at heart.

Her work as a journalist with Channel 10 binds her to the city but she says also being a surface pattern designer - designing artwork to decorate surfaces - means that bits of her are all around the bush on the work of clients and her own designs.

It's her expertise, gained after undertaking an online course following the birth of her son in 2020 and a refocus on what had been her Little Note Co gift card business, that's the enabler for Liz and her own dreams.

Liz opened her Sew Barcoo bespoke bush boutique bricks and mortar shopfront 18 months ago on Blackall's main street, and followed that up with the launch of the Sew Barcoo web shopfront last December, which takes pre-orders as well as selling ready-made pieces, and is keeping her very busy.

"It's just me - I have a sewing room at home too," she explained.

One of her biggest jobs was to make 40 dresses for Red Ridge the Label's Georgina collection, which showcases western Queensland Aboriginal art through fashion.

"I won't have time to do that anymore - I need to put time into making my own label grow," Liz explained, still marvelling that she can say that.

"I never though of creating my own fabrics - it was a complete surprise to me when Pippy got in touch."

Liz's work, particularly her ant print toddler overalls, had enchanted Pip on Instagram, where she was following bush businesses such as Sew Barcoo.

"I sent her a message saying, this is what I do, if you're interested in creating fabrics of your own," Pippy recalled. "She rang the next morning - I could feel her fizzing with excitement down the phone line."

"I wish I'd started earlier," Liz says now. "I just wonder what designs I could have come up with before this."

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She's still to get fabric samples back for her first design which, going against everyone's expectation of Australian natives, features guineafowls, the busy little gamebirds seen in so many back yards on rural properties.

"I just love them," she said. "I'm planning three colour ways, plus a check background for linen and draperies."

It's quite a process to go from making the design in collaboration with Pippy to getting the fabric printed and shipped and then made into clothes, but Liz hopes she can hold a launch party before the end of the year.

The name of the label, One Day, represents Liz's dream that one day she would have her own clothing line and she says she's been blessed with the opportunity to be able to grab that dream.

For her part, Pippy says learning surface pattern design has not only showed her how to make art pay but is doing wonders for her mental health.

"I wanted something that would make my art sing," she said. "I love how so many female bush businesses are picking up on it."

Clients and customers range from Blackall, Cloncurry, Quilpie, Emerald, Toowoomba, Roma, Bundaberg, Mareeba, Grafton, and Uralla, plus plenty more through market sales of her table linens and greeting cards.

"I love partnering with bush businesses - there's something about people whose souls are grounded there."