Fabric Friday: Circus at Night

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my! The circus is in town - carousels, ballerinas, elephants, monkeys - they are all featured on this fabulous printed cotton from Cosmo Textiles, Japan.

When I first saw this fabric in Japan I just knew that we had to stock it. We initially only picked up a small amount but we have just received another shipment which means that there is more than enough for any project you can think of.

There is just something about this fabric that makes my want to make it into ruffles. How old do you have to be before you are too old to wear a ruffle skirt?

-Ky

Wishlist Wednesday: A special one for Curlypops

One of our favourite bloggers, Curlypops is not feeling very well. So this week, we are dedicating the Wishlist Wednesday to her & hope that she has a speedy recovery.

We need to start with a card. I like this bright, happy one from Little Mo & Friends. It says "Sunshine Wishes for You" and it would look very pretty on her treasure shelf after she gets home.

Some Ruby Slippers would be perfect for lounging around the house while curlypops recuperates don't you think? These are made by alifecrocheted and have the best buttons on them.

There is no point lazing around either. Curlypops is always crafting so we would also need to pop in a Surprise Goody Bag from JamboChameleon for her to play with.

And we would wrap it all up in some vibrant, eco-friendly, recycled paper from PaperbyForgetMeNot. I think the yellow would be the best colour to match the card.

We know this is only a 'virtual' present but we hope it cheers you up Cam. Get well soon!

Cloud & Ky

New Dress

I have been working on this dress for quite a while now and have only just managed to finish it.
The pattern is Vogue 2902 and it is only the second Vogue pattern that I have attempted to make. As Vogue patterns are notoriously difficult, I enlisted some help from my sewing teacher, Alison. Even with help it was a difficult pattern to fit due to the strange way that the bodice is constructed. I don't think I have ever done as much unpicking as I did on this dress.

The top band and straps are sewn as a seperate piece that is then topstiched over the main bodice piece. The fit can't be checked until this step has been done. Unfortunately for me, it is the point where I discoverd that the dress needed to be taken in approx 2cm on each side. I had to unpick and resew the side seams on the lining, bodice, piping and top band to do the adjustment.

The front darts are very short and deep and difficult to sew without having pointy bits at the front of the dress. Madonna in her Gaultier stage is not the look I was going for! In the end Alison suggested turning the darts into fake princess seams so that they could be eased out over a longer distance and the pointy bits avoided.

The waistband also proved to be problematic. It took several attempts to get it straight. I also made a belt to hide any remaining wonkiness.

The outer fabric is a Yuwa print that I picked up on sale while I was in Japan earlier this year.
I have lined the dress with cotton voile which ended up costing 2 or 3 times more than the outer fabric. It is worth it as cotton is much better than a synthetic lining in the Brisbane summer heat.

Overall the dress has turned out ok and the skirt has a satisfyingly high twirl rating.

Ky

Flickr Group

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Ghastly Bats Now Available

Ghastly Bats from Alexander Henry has arrived in store.

Hand drawn by Phillip De Leon (co-owner of Alexander Henry Fabrics) these fabrics are part of the Ghastlies Halloween range. We have more designs from this range on order and they are scheduled for delivery in August.

Cloud has demanded that I make her a circle skirt or fifties dress out of this fabric. I told her she can make it herself. I'd better supervise though because Cloud has had mixed results with clothes making. Rabbits are fine. Clothes, not so much :P

Like all Alexander Henry products this fabric is of a very high quality and can be used for dressmaking, craft, quilting... anything you can think of really.

Ky

Finally Finished

Yay, I managed to finish the booties over the weekend. I find fiddly embellishments very tedious which is why these ended up taking so long to make. Overall the pattern is fairly simple and they could be made with out all of the frills and bows.

The pattern is from Sew Hip Magazine Issue 16 and is sized to fit a 6-9 month old baby.

-Ky

Fabric Friday: Vintage Paper Dolls

Did you ever make or play with paper dolls when you were a child? Cloud did, which is why we couldn't pass this fabric up:

Aunt Lindy's Paper Dolls. Designed by Sibling Arts Studio for Blue Hill Fabrics

Sherri Marquez reproduced the design directly from her Great Aunt Lindy's personal collection of adorable paper dolls which are thought to have been from the early 1900's. We are stocking two fabrics from the range. The first is a panel featuring 8 dolls (2 Boys and 6 Girls) with lots of clothes. It measures approx 110cm x 60cm / 43in x 33in. It would be gorgeous sewn up into a soft book as a present for a little person or mum-to-be. It can also be stretched over canvas to make a vintage nostalgia wall hanging in a kid's bedroom.

The second is another panel featuring 4 different dolls which can be sewn up as a soft toys approx 30cm tall. It measures approx 110cm x 85cm / 43in x 33in. The contrasting 'back' to the dolls is just too adorable and so are the animals that you can also make into smaller, matching toys.

Cloud can't resist and is going to made up the dolls. I think she is doing it so she can keep the little white rabbit and the kitten. Which doll do you think is the cutest?

Ky

My Creative Space

After making the dresses for the twins last week I still had a small piece of Apple Dot in each colour left. I had a look in the newsagents last Friday and found a new issue of Sew Hip Magazine which has a pattern for Booties in it. What a perfect way for me to use up the remnants.

I have 2 pairs of booties in various stages of completion because they are taking a bit longer than they should. It would appear that I have very little patience for small, fiddly sewing. Hopefully I can get them finished over the weekend.

Head over to Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.

Ky

Adventures in Wonderland Now Available

The Adventures in Wonderland fabric range has now been listed in the shop, all 9 fabrics are spread over 3 listings.

Red Range


Black and Green Range


Panel

Windham fabrics have a free quilt project available for this fabric range available on their website.

-Ky

Wishlist Wednesday

Today is cold and rainy outside so we need a bit of sunshine to cheer us up.

Golden Yellow Swarovski pearl Earrings by Jewelry by Angelene




Ray of Sunshine - Top by Eve Drage Designs



Carnation Tissue Poms by The Bride Gene

I'm feeling warmer already :)

Ky

Sneak Peek - New Fabrics

We can't wait to show you all the new fabrics that arrived yesterday! Here's a sneak peek at the first range.

Delicious! The Adventures in Wonderland range from Windham features a large quilt panel (top) with co-ordinated stripes, textured look plains and smaller illustrated fabrics. The images are based on the original drawings of John Tenniel & are beautiful.

I cannot wait to get my hands on some! We will be busy photographing so we can get these listed in our shop for you as soon as we can :)

Cloud

Fabric Friday: Ornament by Kokka

We are a *little* bit obsessed with rabbits. It is why we love Etsuro Echino Ornament from Kokka. The cute silhouttes of squirrels, horses and birds all individually framed by floral wreaths were just a bonus.

A small amount of this fabric can go a long way. You can use a single strip of the ornaments to create a beautiful embellishment on a skirt, bag or cushion or you can cut out the individual ornaments and use them to create patches on just about any project you can think of. It is a cotton / linen blend so it is a bit heavier than regular quilting cotton and it is truly lush. Perfect for bags, skirts, cushions, curtains & purses.

Another cool thing about this fabric is that it (and a number of others) are on sale until the end of month at our store.

Ky & Cloud

Spoonflower Fabric of the Week Competition: Aprons

Ky has designed an apron (with full instructions) printed on one yard of Spoonflower fabric for this week's competition. Please vote for her! The apron features cute little bunny skull & crossbones (based on a doodle I did at the day job). When it is made up it is a cute retro inspired ruffled number (see the pic for a view of the finished design).



The designs appear in a different order for each person who votes in the contest.

Vote by clicking on the images of Ky's apron. It is called Bunny Goth Apron by VoodooRabbit. A green box will appear around the design you select for voting. Your vote is submitted only after you reach the end of the voting pages and click the button to submit your vote.

You can vote for Ky's design as many times as you like until the competition closes next week.

Cloud

The Twins

I visited my friends Leesa and Scott and their new twin girls today. I delivered the bibs and dresses from Tuesday's post and Leesa loved them. I think that I can confirm that there is no real need to put a pocket on a bib especially for a newborn, also the Dysfunctional Family fabric was a hit.

I know you all want to see pictures of cute babies so here they are, aren't their hats just adorable.

This is Rose, you can tell because she is wearing a rose coloured hat:)

This is Kate, she isn't wearing a rose coloured hat.

-Ky

My Creative Space

New Spoonflower fabric swatches to show off this week, I haven't come up with a final name for the range yet so I would love any suggestions. Some or all of these designs will be available for purchase from the Spoonflower marketplace in the next day or so.

This bunny design is based on a quick doodle that Cloud made when she was designing her felt bunny badges. He was so cute that I though he would be perfect to turn into a fabric design.

We made up this design especially so we could make self covered buttons.

For more Creative Spaces head over to Kootoyoo.

-Ky

Wishlist Wednesday

In celebration of the birth of Leesa's baby girls, this Wishlist Wednesday is dedicated to twins.

Twin Purple Wooden Gnomes by greenfairythings

Monkey Twins in a Big Tree Wall Decal by designedDESIGNER

Backstage at The Follies 4 x 6 Print by matouenpeluche

Evil Twin Magnet by mindseyecards

And, finally, because I just can't resist kawaii creepy cute...

Pink Tabby Conjoined Kitties by wholelottalisa

Cloud

Last minute Baby Gift

I was thinking on Saturday that my friend Leesa had been pregnant for a while now and must be due to give birth in the next month or so. I contacted her and found out she was due on Tuesday. Crap! I am so unorganised that I hadn't managed to find / make a present. I didn't want to just run to the shop and buy something, so on Saturday night I started trawling the net for baby patterns. The only pattern I found that I liked was this bib pattern.

Of course I had to add a little irony so I used Dysfunctional Family by Michael Miller for the front and plain white fabric for the back. I used less than a fat quarter of each fabric to make both bibs. There was a pocket on the original pattern but I couldn't see the point of it. They are newborns - it is not like they need somewhere to keep their pocket money or a snack for later. If anyone can tell me why there is often a pocket on bibs I'd love to know.

I wanted to give more than a bib to each baby but I couldn't find any other patterns online that I liked. Then I suddenly remembered that I own a number of magazines full of patterns. Success! I found a very cute and easy Size 0 Swing Dress pattern in Sew Hip Issue 9. It probably won't fit the twins until they are 6 months old but that will be just in time for summer.

I used Apple Dot Autum and Spring by Michael Miller for the main fabric and a plain cream cotton from my stash for the contrast. I made the bias binding and used my awesome bias binding foot which made attaching it a breeze.

Leesa gave birth to Rose and Kate this morning and I hope to go and visit them in the next day or so. Hopefully they will like their new Voodoo Rabbit wardrobe additions.

Ky

Q&A: What is a Fat Quarter?

We are often asked, what is a fat quarter and what can I use it for.

Generally when you purchase a quarter of a meter / yard off the roll you receive a long thin piece that is the width of the fabric by 25cm / 8.8in long.

A "fat quarter" is one meter / yard of fabric folded into four and cut along the folds, thus giving a squarish piece of fabric approx 50cm / 19.5in on a side.

By cutting the fabric into quarters, you get more of the pattern and a much more useable piece than you would from a traditional quarter metre / yard cut.

Fat quarters are usually used for quilting but they are also great for other projects. A fat quarter is usually more than enough fabric for making plushies / toys, handbags, hair clippies, cosmetic pouches, cushion fronts, apron pockets, bias binding... the list is endless. There are several books specifically about sewing with fat quarters, here are a couple we found, we haven't personally read them but they have good reviews.
Small Stash Sewing by Melissa Averinos
Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts by Various Designers

- Cloud and Ky

Bacon Haiku

Need a late Friday afternoon pick me up? Go check out the Team Bacon! blog for some funny bacon inspired haiku's.

Cloud

Fabric Friday: Pipi's Kitchen

New in the shop this week is Pipi's Kitchen by Kokka.

This super kawaii fabric feaures Pipi the Pig baking up a storm in his kitchen. Pipi loves to bake such scrumptious items as pretzels, croissants and donuts for his friends.

Pipi's kitchen has a blue backgound and is printed on 100% cotton. Perfect for children's clothes or an apron and chef's hat for the little (or big) chef in your house. Although, Cloud also thinks she could make an awesome Lolita skirt from it too :D

My Creative Space

This week I have been working hard on finishing off a design for an upcoming Spoonflower Fabric of the Week submission.

It is a pattern for a sewn apron that fits onto a single yard of fabric and must include instructions. I have the apron design complete, now I just have to finish off the instructions.

Finished items this week include more bunnies from Cloud...

...and a manbag, hopefully this one will be metsy approved.

For more creative spaces head over to Kootoyoo.

Ky