I was recently sent some sweet fabric by Sarah Bulkeley of Mabel and George.Sarah is a secondary art and textiles teacher by day and engulfs herself in drawing, fabric design and sewing. Her fabric designs unique and her colour palette is soft and pretty.
Mabel and George fabrics are printed on high quality Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman perfect for all sewing projects, big or small.
I haven’t had much sewing time lately, but have been admiring these lovely prints and hope to work with them sometime soon!
Just wanted to share with you some beautiful Nani Iro prints I received from Miss Matatabi during the week.
They are so dreamy that I couldn’t keep them all to myself. These are all double gauze – except the coral floral on beige background…that one’s a brushed cotton. You can’t really tell in the pictures, but it’s got little metallic bits through it. So pretty.
Nani Iro fabrics are by far my favourites. I’m sucked in every time they bring out a new season. And the double gauze is perfect for apparel sewing and really lovely to wear. These fabrics were purchased from the gorgeous Miss Matatabi Etsy store. Frances gets the entire range in each season, it’s rare to find another store that stocks the entire range but makes the decision of choosing just a few prints very difficult! If only I were a quilter, than I could stick to fat quarters and get a bit of everything. My usual minimum cut is 1.5 metres though if I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the fabric – that way I can be mostly guaranteed that I have enough fabric to sew something for myself. Happy Sewing! I’m off to cut into some fabric now 🙂
I was recently sent a stack of fabric from fabric distributors, FD Textiles. These fabrics are both from (new to me) Aussie designers, Surface Art and Veritas Design.
Surface Art fabrics are a bold collection of vintage-inspired prints in an earthy colour-mix. This is the first mix of quilting cottons that Surface Art have produced and they are ideal for someone who is looking for a more sophisticated print. I can see them being used for home decor (cushions, covered canvases, lampshades, etc.) and they would also make gorgeous women’s skirts or dresses.
Veritas Design‘s fabric collections are all Australian-themed. But not in a tacky, souvenir shop kind of way. They use vibrant colours which reflect Australian flora and offer a modern approach to contemporary Australian-themed designs.
Surface Art and Veritas Design fabrics can be purchased online at their own stores, or in good fabric stores around Australia.
We all love Saffron Craig, right? She is a fab fabric designer, I’ve been a fan of her stuff for a long time. Even before we became buddies in real life. She pretty much rocks at everything she does.
I was honoured to be asked to take part in her Wombat Wonderland blog tour. Have you seen her new Wombat Wonderland range? I was smitten from the first time she showed it to me…the colours are just lovely – soft and pretty and a beautiful representation of the Australian wombat. I love Saffron’s talent in taking Australian flora and fauna and creating fabric that is modern and contemporary. Prints suited for both children and adults, perfect for sewing clothing, making homewares and bags.
Wombat Wonderland is printed on 100% organic cotton (something I think we’ll see a lot more from Saffron) and has the most luxurious, sateen-y feel. Kind of reminds me of a heavier version of cotton voile. The soft drape makes it ideal for sewing clothing, just what I like!
Saffron sent me a selection of her new fabrics to have a play with. First up, I made a beanbag pod for the kids. Super easy – two 1m diameter circles sewed together!
Cute, huh? I think it will eventually live in the rumpus (when we get around to cleaning it up!) and can imagine the kids playing with their toys on it.
For now, they’ve been enjoying lounging around on it (she comes home filthy from school…)
And it’s been keeping Tommy nice and cosy as he recovers from a bout of tonsillitis this week.
I also sewed Lil a new Summer dress (one day soon it will be warm enough to wear it with short sleeves under!) I used my Fab Frocks pattern and added a contrast strip to the bottom of the dress because she wanted it to be a “down” (long) one! At this rate, it will fit her for the next 3 years!!
Thanks Saffron for sharing your gorgeous fabric with me. It was a dream to sew with!
Make sure you check out Wombat Wonderland in Saffron’s online store.
And to follow the rest of the Wombat Wonderland blog tour, take a look at the schedule here.
Lots of little things going on behind the scenes here lately…
Lilsy has been asking for a mermaid costume for about a year. I had this shiny fabric last year to make her one but it took a church Disney themed activity for me to actually do it! She loooved it and it was really quick. I had enough fabric left over to make her a pair of little green leggings to wear so that her legs blended in with the tail. She was super happy!
There hasn’t been a lot of fabric that has wooed me for awhile, until Erin McMorris worked her magic again with her new line “La Dee Da” – looooove it, love her style and I even managed to make Lil a new dress over the weekend out of it.
The Pernilla Dress was blocked and finished! It’s very cute, but there were some minor finishing set-backs…I’ll take some proper pics and share soon. Plus a bit of jumbo cross-stitch and playing with polymer clay just for fun!
We’ve had a few farm days this month – one at a friend’s beautiful farm (I call it The Secret Garden) for the Serendipity photo shoot. Gumboots were absolutely necessary after a full night and morning of heavy rain – I’m loving my gummies this winter!
Then we visited Hagley Farm School with Oscar’s class for a school excursion. So cool to be going with him to the places that I went on school excursions as a kid!
And my knitting obsession continues to grow – I’m working on a Milo vest now. Beautiful pattern, I’m about half way through and only started 2 days ago! Knitting comes in handy as we’ve got MAJOR MasterChef fever this year. Ben (now in the top 5!) is my buddy from school and we are cheering him along every night! He is doing an awesome job and is as kind, loving and gracious as ever. Can you believe we used to have muffin-making competitions in lunch breaks and free periods at school during year 12! Fun stuff! Go Benny – we’re so proud of you!
Our special Aunty and sister, Ashleigh came for a visit last week. She is a gem to have around and we all adore her. Check out Tommy with her and Uncle Cade below – so glad my kids have family around to love them. I’ve been catching spare snippets of time here and there, reading Bloom by Kelle Hampton. It’s a lovely read, reminding me to stop taking all of my blessings for granted.
(P.S. I Instagram under make_it_perfect.) Hope you’ve had a great weekend! x
Sarah is a secondary art and textiles teacher by day and engulfs herself in drawing, fabric design and sewing. Her fabric designs unique and her colour palette is soft and pretty.
I haven’t had much sewing time lately, but have been admiring these lovely prints and hope to work with them sometime soon!
