Black Friday, here, there and everywhere!

Its Black Friday and bargains are coming thick and fast online so I am offering some here for 48 hours, starting with 500 Quilt Blocks, 20% discount on the hardbacks I have left- green with purple writing (far right on pic) £10 £8 + £2 postage (UK only).  

If you would like a copy please email me (link in side bar) and let me know the name for the bookplate and your paypal address and I will send you an invoice.  This offer is open for 48 hours!

Over at Sew-Ichigo, we are offering all our patterns at 20% off so if there is one you have been wanting to try, this is a good time and 'Sew Very Christmas' is perfect for gift bags, mug rugs and more:

Again, this offer is for 48 hours only and is in our shop with the code blackfriday , and in our Craftsy shop and Etsy: no codes needed on these, the prices are already changed.

And to finish, an ongoing offer, 20 % off everything at Saints and Pinners.  Here's a rainbow of fabrics to whet the appetite:

Red: Triflora Lipstick, Anna Maria Horner

Orange: Mind's Eye Toast, Anna Maria Horner

Yellow: Darla Gingham Yellow, Tanya Whelan

Green: Coreopsis Lime, Anna Maria Horner

Blue: Kaffe Fasset, Water dots

Indigo: Kaffe Fasset, Shot Cotton Smokey

Violet:  Framed Shadow, Anna Maria Horner

Enjoy your savings xxx

October at Saints and Pinners

It's half term week over much of the UK at the moment so I was thinking of activities on my visit to Saints and Pinners for this month- remember 20% discount automatically taken off all purchases over £10.  With Halloween, Nov 5th and Christmas prep all coming up, my eye was drawn to the beautiful Nancy Nicholson decoration kits, sphere baubles

Lozenge baubles

Little City, 10 buildings and 6 tree pack

And the beautiful bird tapestry kit which comes with fabric to make a sampler book to learn and practice the different  stitches used in the tapestry

That little journey lead me to animal fabric, Zoo Menagerie- Lions

  Zoo Menagerie-Tiger

and then on to Cloud 9, Pod

Cloud 9 Pearl which I have never noticed before and really like!

and if you feel like a bit of everything, scrap rolls in mixed coloursand yellow/orange, pink/red and green/blue

Happy half-term if you are busy keeping the troops busy x  

Saints and Pinners Florals

Florals from the big to the ditsy make up the majority of my fabric stash.  I love floral prints above all others and it is what I am drawn to time and time again.  So, I picked a floral theme for this month's visit to Saints and Pinners.  Starting with queen of the vitnage style floral, Denyse Schmidt and the timeless bouquet prints from Flea Market Fancy legacy in turquoise, red (gold really) and grey .  These still tug at my heart strings.

For a more modern floral I have put a little selection together which have a less obvious floral feel, either through the boldness and simple colours- Kama Stone, the art nouveau feeling of Specimen in raspberry or the organic flow of Cloud 9 Coral Weed.

 Anna Maria Horner revisits florals in a new way in every collection and often within a collection too.  Strickingly different prints from Little Folks range of voiles, Little Honey Gold and Coloring Garden in Berry. 

Lovely melon candy colours in the Lollies florals, in  peach, grass, peach and red.  Soft and pretty colours but not too overtly feminine with the geometric mandala  style design

And big and blowsy, these Philip Jacob roses, English Rose in red, English Rose in lavender. This is a tiny glimpse of a large scale print, for a better idea, look at the Westminster fibres site look here for red, and here for lavender to get an idea of this print in all its lucsious glory.  It would make the most sumptuous quilt back, like an eiderdown!  These last two prints are in the sale at £1.80 for fat quarter.  Remembering the 20% off for every £10 fabric purchase, 2 metres would work out at under £12, and 4 metres is a good amount to think of for quilt backing.   Great value and a real impact print.

No code needed for 20% discount, it is taken off at checkout.  Enjoy the flowers x

 

Sale at Saints and Pinners

Jo and Fran are offering a 20% discount on any sale over £10 at Saints and Pinners at the moment.

So for this month's selection I thought I would look at some of my favourite summery choices.  Starting with this Cloud 9 Fabric Flock Quilt Kit.

Easy to assemble, the kit provides all the  fabrics ready cut to make the quilt top and the backing fabric can be found here.   There are not many of these left.

There is yardage of many of these Cloud 9 prints too if you'd rather come up with your own designs.  Cloud 9 are organic cottons, high thread count and lovely quality- 'Shell' can be found here .

Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voiles are such great prints and there are a good range of solid colours, I especially like the pink.  These  fabrics work well cut into simple shapes like large squares for easy but sumptuous quilts.  

Even easier is to use a longer length and make a lightweight receiving blanket, which would make a perfect summer baby gift, details here.

I love the colour of these Annette Tatum prints, very summery and I think they would make lovely pillow cases, quilt backs or even duvet cases.

Spoilt for choice!  The discount is added automatically at the check out stage and at only £2.50 for UK delivery, you are definitely getting a bargain!

Bleuet

I've been working on one dress, Bleuet, all this week full of Me-Made- May 13 fervour and hugely inspired by this Bleuet by Anna.  I ended up finishing it mid week.   I am so pleased with the result.

I have never made or even bought a shirt dress that suited me or fitted properly.  I have fitted this dress with its princess line panels so that it fits perfectly with room to move and whilst retaining its shape.   The fabric is organic cross weave from Saints and Pinners and it is perfect for it.  Thicker than poplin or shirt weight, lighter handle than denim and a wonderful blue.

I did an HNC in fashion years back and a big influence at the time was Hussein Chalayan and his 'Before Minus Now'  dress collection.  The dresses were beautifully shaped- I've seen a couple in the V and A, they worked 360 degrees all around the body.  

The Bleuet reminds me of them.  It moves outwards and over my backside and belly in such a flattering way.  It is incredibly comfortable and easy to wear.

The bow detail at the back is so easy to do but the neatest detail and what sold the pattern to me in the first place.   A photo shoot isn't complete without Lottie rushing in to be in the picture.

Once I finished this I ended up buying two more Deer and Doe patterns.  The styles are so well cut and seem to work for me with relatively straightforward alteration on the top half and non on the bottom.  They deliver quickly at low cost- no higher than ordering from UK.  Do be warned that the instructions are scant- I relied on my own knowledge and the ever helpful Readers Digest Guide to Sewing (the best dressmaking guide you can every buy).  I have the copy that got me through O lever dress at school and it is incredibly comprehensive. 

For those wanting to make Bleuet, these are the details of my changes. 

• Traced size 36 top half/ 38 waist/38 hip/46 length.  The lines blend as you move from size to size a bit like dot to dot.
• Made alterations over the bust and the back taking the seams in but not at the sides
• The sleeves were a little tight under the arm so those seams were sew with 1/4" seam allowance which made for a good fit.
• One layer of medium woven cotton interfacing rather than two for the collar, non for the cuffs- there are five layers of fabric there, it hardly needs more structure.  I do find pattern designers a little over obsessed by interfacing.
• I used Prym pearl snaps bought from an ebay seller at a very reasonable price.  I have Prym pliers for these which from past experience I have found essential for successful snaps.  I used 16 snaps altogether.  
• The hem facing and collar stand facing are made with a thrifted Liberty shirt ( I was squeezing this dress out of just 2 metres of 120cm fabric so creative cutting was needed).

The fabric I used is a steal at £10 a metre at Saints and Pinners at the moment as there is a 20% discount for all purchases over £10.  Fabric of this quality, organic as well, is hard to find for dressmaking.  It definitely needs pre washing as it will shrink and needs a colour catcher on its first wash and probably its second but the handle and texture is beautiful.  Its also available in blue  the blue in my dress photos captures the colour better) and pink (see Jo's Madeleine skirt in the pink/red here.  They would both be good fabrics for bag making too. 

No code is needed for the 20% discount at Saints and Pinners and there are other treats for dressmaking there such as this, this, this and this as well as the usual quilting cottons.

Yay for bank holiday weekend in UK even if it is a little cool its still holiday time.  I have had a couple of days of turmoil relating to the tricky events of December but now I have a week off and  a bit of time at home with the family and days at the beach.  Enjoy x

Spots and dots: Essentials at Saints and Pinners

Spots and dots are a stash essential, they have a timeless quality and can really perk up a project.  Fran and Jo at Saint and Pinners have a great selection of spotty, dotty fabrics suitable for crafting and clothing.  Starting with a beautiful organic cotton from Cloud 9,  Speckle Grass, this colour has that lovely golden mustard tone to it which works so well with grey and neutrals.

Another organic cotton, this time in pink and aimed at dress making, a light cotton and bamboo blend, shirting weight so very much aimed at tops.

A spotty fabric with a little extra floral doodling, Flower and Dot from the ever popular Flea Market Fancy range.

A large scale print which uses dots as its starting point and expands to make the Co-ordinates print in Midnight from Anna Maria Honer's Field Study collection.

Kaffe's dots are a pleasure to use, the colour combinations are playful and the dots are medium and closely spaced, great as a blenders or along side solids.  This is a low volume pastel example called Water dots.

And this is a much more intense, higher contrast colour combination or orange and turquoise

Can't choose?  There is a Kaffe stack which is very reasonably priced with a 10% discount off the individual prices.

I am off to play with freezer paper (yep they sell that too, by the roll) and little bits of fabric x