Fran Robertson - Decorator of People and Things
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Caftans, cats, crutches, and crafts! From advertising campaigns to private parties, TVCs to the rugby sevens, Fran has worked on them all.
Catch me making weird things for weird people, complaining about the patriarchy, chatting about disability issues, and unsuccessfully trying to keep the furballs I live with away from my work
Hi hello, once again it's me here showing off the things I've made recently now that they've been debuted!
I had such a blast making this swordfish flower crown for the absolutely delightful , so thank you for trusting me with your headpiece Candie, and for letting me go a bit rogue with it 😅
Some of these shots are from , some are from , some I have pilfered from people's posts in the VLV group, and some I bullied my friends at Viva into taking for me.
I'm great at creating anything but content, so absolutely these reels will be full of unbrushed hair try-ons, chaotic desk spaces, poorly lit work-in-progress photos, and all the usual junk you'll find in the workshop of a full-time maker of nonsense - If that offends you, probably best you leave now 😅
14/03/2026
Popped out to listen to some tunes and watch the Miss Deluxe contest today, which I make the sashes for each year, so obviously the occasion called for a new kaftan - today's choice being 'The Rainbow Barbie' - especially perfect since I found this Barbie x Colourpop lippy that I forgot I bought, which is the ideal barbie pink.
'Vintage Barbie' fabric was from , rainbow checked fabric was a vintage find at the opshop, and these gorgeous buttery yellow leather clog sandals were an excellent score from a different opshop selling through !
I've been absolutely flat out for the last wee while making things for some of my friends and favourite customers to take with them to Viva, but once they're on the plane with all their stuff I'm going to sit down and make myself some things, including a bunch more kaftans (that are all cut out and ready to sew when I get five minutes to do something non-customer related 😅) because they're literally all I wear now and rummaging through the fabric stash is basically my favourite passtime.
25/12/2025
Meri Kirihimete to everyone who celebrates, happy Thursday to all who don't!
Today's kaftan - 'Deck the Yee Haw-lls' - came about as a result of my gorgeous friend sending me a link to this cowboy santa fabric at which is covered in, among other things, pink and red cowboy boots, and as the owner of my very own pair of frankly spectacular pink and red cowboy boots it seemed only appropriate that I plan an entire ridiculous Christmas outfit around this ridiculous fabric and my ridiculous boots 🤶😂
It felt like kismet when I realised how perfectly my Christmas outfit (complete with a mix of and homemade bangles, a homemade Christmas lights necklace, and vintage hair scarves) matched the Christmas lights glasses Sarah made for the BSD team a few years ago, so obviously I had to take it with me to Christmas dinner with the inlaws like some kind of psychopath who brings her own glassware to parties 🤣
We attempted to take very cute festive photos of the boys this morning, but they had wigglier ideas that didn't involve sitting still, so we threw caution to the wind and opened the shoot up to the big cats, who also barely delivered - except Selene, who is perfect and beautiful even if she refused to look at the camera. Iris is a kind of gormless creature who didn't deign to suprise anyone by looking any other way, and Helios insisted that his bu****le be directed to the camera at all times, so those two are once again fired from photoshoots, but Selene can come back any time.
24/12/2025
Another day, another caftan! This one I am calling 'The Middlemore', because despite how incredibly cool both of these vintage fabrics are and how well they coordinate, something about them together feels a little bit reminiscent of hospital gowns 🤣
My little assistants have been entirely responsible for me still being in full present-making chaos mode on Christmas Eve, because it is very hard to stay productive when you have the cutest tiny office mates who just want to hang out, but I'm all done now and ready to settle into a chill evening of mulled wine and cookie decorating with my love ❤️
Just out here educating the boys on the classics 🌈
I've been humming or singing to them since day one, and so far I know they like a bit of jazz and they like a bit of musical theatre, but mostly I think they just like me 😅
(this is not a warmed up voice projecting to a paying crowd, this is me sitting on the floor quietly singing some tiny cats to sleep, so I'm not accepting critiques on my technique at this time 🤣)
The gemini twins are officially teething, so RIP to the teats on their formula bottles 😅🙃
The lads are mastering the art of using the litter box on their own, but there have been some 'sh*tuations'
Mama cats usually stimulate tiny babies to toilet, so they don't get it everywhere all the time while they're still dependent on her and wriggling around, but our boys are flying solo so I've had to do that bit by wiping at their tiny bu****les with a warm damp cloth before and after each feed to get their systems moving. Now that they're a bit bigger and will be starting on some solids soon (they nearly have their tiny teeth!) I'm looking forward to slightly longer breaks between feeds and toilet breaks, and not having to extract p**p from baby cats like a bad magician 🤣
I'm irresistible to kittens - partially because of the lingering smell of Babycat Milk, but mostly because of all the dangly things and pompoms and tassels 🤣😅
Video description - Fran (a plus sized white woman with tattoos and piercings) wears a red dress with black fringing around the neck as a very small grey and ginger tabby kitten plays with her tassels.
Nearly a whole month of life with the babies!
I'm so exhausted, but it's an absolute delight having the boys around and I am really enjoying seeing their little personalities develop ❤️
13/12/2025
Oh hey remember when I wasn't a full-time tiny cat mum and went places occasionally? Well, she's back at it because today I left the house *and* put a face on (in the car, but it still counts 😅) to go do errands, and it was delightful.
This kaftan is one I'm calling the 'Mahjong Night', and I've been unintentionally building this outfit for a while - I found this 1m remnant of Mahjong tile print fabric years and years ago and snapped it up assuming I'd be able to use my impeccable Google skills to find more, but alas, no dice, so as soon as the kaftan situation started to develop I knew now was the time - especially after digging out this super delicate hand painted resin mahjong tile necklace and earrings set that I made for myself a few years back, along with a brooch I made as part of a set for my family.
As y'all probably know, I'm from a really big family, and growing up my grandparents hosted family Mahjong nights, which consisted of up to five tables playing in a rotation - If you won your game you'd move up a table, if you lost you moved down, and if you did neither you stayed put and played there again - and then at the end of the night there was a trophy for the winner (no joke, we have a Robertson family mahjong trophy)
After a few people married into the family who had slightly different styles of play, we had to implement some house rules (a fully laminated pamphlet entitled 'Mahjong - Grandad's Rules' exists and has been consulted at length) with the most important rule being that any disputes that weren't covered by the house rules were to be decided by Grandad.
When I took Tony home to meet my family, I panicked and taught him mahjong like it was military strategy just in case we ended up playing, because there had been people in the past brought along as plus ones who thought they were coming to a chill family games night, and were not adequately prepared for how seriously my family takes these things, or how long their memories are when you screw up enough for them to take notice 🤣
We don't have in New Zealand, so whyyyyyy do I even know that jingle 😂😂😂
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