From sewing Barbie doll clothes as an eight-year-old, to producing award-winning World of WearableArt entries as an adult, creativity is in Leanne Day’s genes. Her far north home is the embodiment of her love for craft, colour and clever design.

Words Sara Faull,  Photos Helen Bankers 

From the way Leanne Day dresses, to the artistic pursuits she has perfected to bring in an income, or to challenge herself (such as her entries into the World of WearableArt competitions), it is the process of creation that brings her joy and keeps her hands constantly busy. Even the house she and husband Rick have designed and built in the far north has creativity and connection at its heart. The connection of family and friends, our place in nature and the connection between fashioning something beautiful and lasting, from the existing, the foraged and the imagined.

Undoubtedly, Leanne was destined to live a creative life, since artistry, Leanne explains, is a family trait. A farm girl from South Auckland and the eldest of five, Leanne enjoyed many holidays with her maternal grandmother, who was a tailoress and dressmaker. ‘We spent time sewing, embroidering and crafting,’ Leanne remembers. ‘From a young age, my grandmother taught me that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right and this has stayed with me.’ 

Gifted her first treadle sewing machine when she was only eight, Leanne began her journey with needle and thread, making fancy Barbie doll clothes. At high school, she began sewing her own clothes as well as outfits for friends and their siblings. By 17, she had left school and set up her own dressmaking business, making her first wedding dress. For even the most able dressmaker, a wedding dress – with all its intricacies and emotional charge – can be a challenge. But a bridal gown made by a teenager can only bear witness to two things – the quality of her sewing and her quiet self-belief.  

This ability to create something eye-catching, exquisite or extraordinary can be seen in every aspect of Leanne’s life.

‘My whole life since then, I have sewn … designing and making wedding dresses, veils and ball gowns,’ says Leanne. ‘I have also sewn for some special, long-standing clients who usually wanted something a bit different, so that was always fun.’ Word of mouth rather than advertising grew her business and tenacity stitched its success. ‘I am self-taught in many areas – patternmaking and sewing techniques practised until perfected. And I have always thought that I can just make it if I really want it enough.’ 

This ability to create something eye-catching, exquisite or extraordinary can be seen in every aspect of Leanne’s life – from the house she and husband Rick have created behind the dunes of the Karikari Peninsula, to the many interior design flourishes she has fabricated herself within the home’s interiors. Creativity taken to its most extreme can be viewed in the stunning and timely clock bra, entitled Don’t Waste Time, Get a Mammogram, which is on display in her studio. This was one of her most successful entries into the World of WearableArt competition, along with Engolfed – a piece made from recycled golf bags and clubs. Leanne won the award for Sustainabilty for this entry in 2019, and to her delight, it was purchased for their historical collection where it still remains.

Leanne and her husband Rick (the man she met at 19 and married at 21) decided to retire and live on this Northland Peninsula after Covid, when they had sold their Clevedon house and Rick’s business. ‘We had been holidaying next door at my family’s bach for over 30 years and loved this area,’ she explains. But the move to the bach they had purchased six years previously did not come without the usual challenges of uprooting and down-sizing.

‘The move was hard for me as everything we owned was in storage and our bach was tiny and I had no creative space. I had left behind friends and family, my large garden and dream home, but kept reminding myself that we needed to down-size and change is good,’ Leanne reveals. ‘But I’ve made some lovely friends here from the bootcamp I go to. We have lots of laughs as well as getting fitter and stronger.’ 

Having decided to build on their bach site, Leanne collated a scrapbook of ideas with looks and styles including kitchen layouts, flooring, lighting, tiles and wall coverings. 

Leanne Day’s Journey to the World of Wearable Arts

Leanne first entered this competition in 2015 after being inspired by attending the show. Her first entry was not accepted, but she kept going as she knew she was capable and it was an exciting challenge. Leanne has had particular success with two of her entries – a bra fashioned from watches, Don’t Waste Time, Get a Mammogram and Engolfed, a piece made from recycled golf bags and clubs. A wedding dress made of bridal magazines won the Supreme Award in a Christchurch WearableArts competition. Here are her tips for entering:

1. Go to a show first, so you can be WOW’d and you can see the standard of work.
2. Your entry not only needs to be perfectly executed on the outside, it must be tidy on the inside as well.
3. Your wearable art also needs to be comfortable enough for a model to move around in.
4. Imagine it up on stage under lights and with movement added.
5. If you are a literal thinker and creator, it can help to have a witty name made up too.
6. Find someone to feed you, as the process can become all-encompassing!
7. Sharing ideas with other creatives is great – creativity rubs off.
8. You may not always make the cut, but how good does it feel to have created something extraordinary? Move on and keep creating … 

‘Rick is very clever at drawing and designing spaces, so together we came up with a basic plan and had it drawn up by a friend who is a draughtsman,’ explains Leanne. ‘We wanted something modern-looking and different from our Clevedon house, which was rustic, French-style, with large gardens. Here, we wanted our domestic space to take advantage of the morning and afternoon sun and the different wind conditions.

‘We also love cooking as a family, so a central kitchen was important. I wanted a big island to gather around and a walk-in pantry so all food, glassware and appliances are easily visible and on hand to anyone.’ 

Opting for a neutral palette for walls, flooring and doors allowed gorgeous, rich colour to be added in the form of furniture, creations and collectibles. ‘I also imagined dark and moody bathrooms with gorgeous tiles and fun wallpapers – to make them memorable for guests coming to stay. I spent hours searching Pinterest and all my house magazines for ideas and inspiration,’ Leanne enthuses. Furniture is a blend of a few pieces from their previous house and the old bach, to mix old with new. Leanne painted several pieces with chalk paint to change their look – a paint that she favours for its fast results and forgiving nature.

Leanne describes her design style as ‘eclectic’. ‘I do love colour and also collections of things grouped together such as plants, plates, shells, cushions, keys, bottles and books … always books,’ she says, laughing. Some of the favourite interior touches she has created are re-covering the outdoor furniture (from beige to a bright French stripe), the blue glass lamp in the lounge (Leanne re-covered the shade using leftover fish wallpaper) and the candelabras.

‘I realised I had way too many, so I kept a couple or three and decorated them with seaweed that I dried and painted,’ she explains.

 

The Days’ seaside retreat is a house with hospitality as well as creativity at its core. Family is always a priority and with an adult son who’s a very clever cook and a fashion designer daughter with her own bridal label – Brit Day Bridal in Sydney, the creative genes continue. One day, she might move to be closer to her daughter in Sydney, so they can ‘create magic together’.

For now, Leanne and Rick Day love living in this carefully designed and curated home by the sea. It is a very easy house to live in, they agree, because it is light and airy and makes the most of the all-day sun. Keen on fishing, they are either out on the sea or savouring its many calm and stormy moods, and with no light pollution the night sky is sparkling with stars that seem especially close. Plus, the Days admit, living here feels like they are on holiday every day of the year.

Leanne’s final advice for ‘creating a unique home’ is to be brave with colour, to have the home reflect your own personality and to use what you love, every day. ‘Have all your precious things out. They are no good hiding in a cupboard. The same with your clothes – wear your beautiful shoes and garments because they make you happy,’ she encourages.

And speaking of happiness, Leanne has multifarious creative projects on the go. There are samples to sew for her daughter, stripy mohair ‘Happy Jumpers’ to knit and sell, old blankets to embroider, lampshades to re-cover and paints to pick up again. As for her inspiration, Leanne cites a quote by Oscar Wilde: ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’