In September 2010, Josephine Ryder swapped her desk job for a sewing machine and launched Frances Baker, a Melbourne-based independent clothing label. Three collections later, the label has become a champion of conscious consumerism. In between sewing, designing, bookkeeping and planning her return to university, Josephine talked to us about her handiwork.

Tell us about Frances Baker.

It's the small, handmade clothing label I run from the second bedroom of the flat I share with my boyfriend. My aim is to make clothing that has minimal impact on the environment by using organic and sustainable fabrics in my designs. I think clothing should be long-lasting and reflective of individual style rather than trends.

Photo: 'Autumn Sky', a hand-printed and dyed skirt.

How and when did the label get started?

In 2010 I returned from a long trip overseas and ended up in an office job while I tried to work out what to do next. I found that whole work environment incredibly stifling; I spent my days dreaming about creative projects I could be doing if I wasn’t wasting so many hours there. It took me getting to that point of frustration and boredom to push me to give Frances Baker a go.

What inspires your collections?

I actually majored in Film Studies at university (where I spent a lot of my time looking at costumes) so I get a lot of inspiration from films. I also love historical clothing and some of my favourite periods to draw from are the Georgian and Edwardian eras. The 60’s and 70’s are an endless source of ideas and fun.

What has been Frances Baker's biggest achievement to date?

It’s hard to say but receiving customer feedback is always a big deal for me! Often, I will interact quite a bit with a customer about what they want before they make a purchase, and sometimes make customisations for them.

In a small businesses it’s not about how many people you reach with your work, but whether or not people feel a connection with what you make.

Photo: 'Little Squirrel', a winter dress with gold print detailing.

Visit the Frances Baker online shop for the full product range.

British design duo Thornback and Peel always have a beautiful idea up their sleeve. They are purveyors of screen-printed goodies—think handkerchiefs, lampshades, notebooks and t-shirts—populated by tortoises, dandelions and leaping rabbits.

This Easter, they've launched an online egg hunt. The prize is £100 worth of Thornback and Peel goodies. Three eggs in a cup are hidden next to some of their best-selling products at thornbackandpeel.co.uk. All you're to do is rootle around, find the eggs, then fill in your answers on this form. The competition runs until 7th April. Good luck!

Today's reader photo is up close and personal. With a cup of English breakfast tea, squeezed lemon, pencil and pins, that is. Oh, and the bottom of Oh Comely issue 9. 

The image was taken by Libby who blogs at looking-for-stars.blogspot.co.uk. Libby takes still and heavy photographs of the world around her. I particularly liked her photo series, for instance, on January 2013's first snow. You can almost hear the sound of snow melting at dusk.

We'd love to see what your copies of Oh Comely are up to: you can send pictures to [email protected]. 

We asked illustrator and potter Charlotte Mei to fantasise about issue fifteen. In her dreams, or nightmares, the magazine has taken an aesthetic turn and Oh Comely is following the candy-coloured road. This will be the SASSIEST issue ever.

Thank you, Charlotte! Oh Comely will have to sit down and have a chat about your ideas for a redesign.

Issue 15 will be with subscribers in the UK by April 8th and in shops from April 11th.

Charlotte creates a small world every time she puts her pen to paper or brush to clay. I can only liken it to being introduced to the offspring of a macaroon and a comic strip: sweet and witty. Above and below are examples of her work. Check out more of it or buy some ceramics here.

Hello again on this chilly spring Tuesday. We’ve emerged from our blanket fort with numerous layers of winter clothing to bring you this week’s edition of Five Questions and a Song, the column where we pester musicians with a quintette of questions and ask them to share one of their tracks for your listening pleasure.

Today we’re talking to Blackpool native Rae Morris. Rae is a talented young songwriter and pianist. There’s a defiant maturity to her vocals that belies her age but with a hint of vulnerability there too. Rae has been headlining a tour throughout the UK these past couple of months, finishing up tomorrow night with a sold-out show at London’s Village Underground. Her From Above EP is released on the 22nd of April and her debut album is out in the summer on Atlantic Records. Have a listen to the eponymous lead single from the EP below. 

Photo: Rae Morris by Dan Curwin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello, well my name is Rae. I'm 20 years old and live at home in Blackpool still. I've lived there all my life so far, but have been enjoying spending quite a bit of time in London recently. It's exciting to be in the city. I play piano and have done since I was small. It's where I write all my songs and playing the piano makes me the happiest version of myself. I also started singing when I started writing my songs, which makes me very happy too. 

Have you ever made any terrible (or brilliant) mistakes during a performance?

I have actually. When I was on tour with Bombay Bicycle Club last year, I came out onstage in Portsmouth and said “HELLO PLYMOUTH!” That did not go down very well at all...

What is the best advice you've ever received from another musician?

I received some really valuable advice the other day, not actually from a musician, but from a friend who has a lot of expertise in other fields. It was to really listen to that gut instinct, that place that your music actually comes from, when sharing your work or life with others. I believe in that, that place in your gut that speaks only of the right thing to do for you. It deserves to be heard. 

If you had to get abducted by aliens and taken to a better planet, would you go and what instrument would you bring? You can never come back, and it's not guaranteed that Scott Stapp won't be there on the space ship. [asked by previous interviewees Night Moves]

Hmmm, I guess I’d have no choice to go because I wouldn't want to kick up a fuss or be a diva. I think I’d take a guitar because it would be the perfect opportunity for me to learn to play it, what with all the time on the ship I’d have spare. It sounds quite nice really. 

What can you tell us about this song?

I typed the words 'From Above' into the notes part of my iPhone back in September last year when I was at a gig at the Scala in London. I was stood on the top balcony, right at the very top of the venue, looking down on the people in the audience below. I knew I wanted to write about the feeling I had, of not being part of something I wanted to be part of. I wrote the song a few months later.

www.raemorris.co.uk

French photographer Marie Lenail-Chouteau look this rather beautiful picture of Oh Comely Issue 13 alongside stems of freshly-picked clover. She has been living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for six months and recently discovered the magazine.

For more on her work, visit Marie's website: there you'll see photographs of Malaysian life and also these unusual, layered drawings. 

And if you'd like to share photos of Oh Comely at home, drop a wee line to [email protected]. We'll share them here! 

Like a zombie with a score to settle, we’re back again with another edition of Five Questions and a Song, the weekly column where we pester musicians with a quintette of questions and ask them to share one of their tracks for your listening pleasure.

Today we’re talking to John Pelant from Minneapolis trio Night Moves. Their debut album Coloured Emotions is out this week on Domino Records, filled with psychedelic-laced Americana and hazy twangs. Have a listen below to the first single off the record, ‘Country Queen’.

Photo: Night Moves by Nick Walker

Tell us about your band.   

We are a three-piece band from Minneapolis. We have been together for 3.5 years, maybe longer. We met in high school and continued to make music in college, which eventually blossomed into what is now Night Moves.  We make music in the vein of Frankie Valli, Debbie Boone and Cream Sleeve.  Our first record was self-released in 2011 and recently rereleased by Domino in late 2012. We are currently writing more songs and touring behind our love for songs and music. We are not a Bob Seger cover band or a prom dress company.  

Are there any staple food items that accompany you on tour?  

McChickens, Hennessy, Triscuits. 

What were your childhood nicknames? 

Mark Ritsema: "Tits-ema"
John Pelant: "Johnny P"
Michel Alfano: "MICKY"

Do you have any secret talents?

Pancake makin'.

What can you tell us about this song?

Wishes, desires, dreams and moving away from past people and places. You could say this was the first Night Moves song and also bears the name in its lyrics. The song comments on how illusive your surrounding scenery may be in times of duress.

www.nightmovesmpls.com

Attention time travellers: Wilfred Bagshaw's Time Emporium is coming to town. Held inside London's Village Underground, the Time Emporium is an immersive, theatrical adventure into another age. The dates are the 22nd and 23rd of March but the year is decidedly 1381…

The team behind the Winterwell Festival are offering you the opportunity to be transported back to Medieval England, a time of politics, plague and plenty of pageantry. Of course we couldn’t be there the first time round but we’d rather face the Black Death than miss it the second.

Ready to step into Wilfred's "time portal to the unknown"? Get your tickets from their website now: www.time-emporium.com