Whale it's about time!

It's taken me a while to rustle up some items in this fab whale fabric I bought a while ago, but I'm so pleased with the result! It's a great little image and I love the way that the whales are regimented in rows. Can you see the odd one that has water spurting out of its blowhole?!

You can find it in my store here.

The lining is made from a matching spotty navy blue and white cotton.

This cute little pouch could be used as a cosmetic bag, handbag organiser of phone charger pouch.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday to all! I always enjoy spending part of my Mondays reconvening and looking back over the weekend. After spending Friday at the Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour, I decided to bookend my weekend with a trip to the London Design Fair, held at the Old Truman Brewery. It holds the largest collection of international exhibitors, designers and brands all under one massive roof. The warehouse feel of the old brewery is the perfect venue to house this event, and there are endless floors and doorways leading to endless design inspiration.

There was a lot of bright colour used. I love the deer heads on the left. The beautiful wall art on the right is made from brightly folded paper pieces.

The top floor housed design from India and was a stunning warehouse space filled with light.

This wallpaper with matching throw and cushions caught my eye.

I love the quirky designs by Miss Print and the yellow and black bird wallpaper below is fab.

I always love a Mid-Century Modern Scandi-esque chair and these two caught my eye.

The mustard yellow of the one on the left is stunning and the one on the right has simple, ingenious coasters built into its arms.

I thought these lights were fun.

They are made from glass but emulate the lightness of balloons beautifully.

Monotone was a popular theme.

And crafty techniques sat beautifully amongst the modern.

Fabric Friday

This week's Fabric Friday is brought to you from the Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour. Twice a year they have an open week for trade and on the Friday the public are allowed to view the most recent home decor collections. It's a great chance to see what's out there, as inspiration for Cheeky Leopard, but also for inspiration and colour palette ideas for the design work I do at Makower UK. It's great to have every showroom under one roof and to get an over all view of trends.

The main atrium had a massive chandelier made from richly coloured tassels.

I love the richness of this Sarasa-inspired fabric at Colefax and Fowler.

The floral above was heavily embroidered and the flower heads were huge!

Scion does lovely fresh colour ways like the one above. I love the use of pinks and mustards with soft grey.

Villa Nova also does some pleasing colour ways. There seemed to be a lot of grey and yellow out there......

....as well as coral and grey. The silhouette leafy fabric above has a lovely soft watercolour feel to it. The collection is called Hana and is inspired by crafts and motifs of Japan.

The Kelso collection by Romo draws on heritage charm and uses delicate florals with plaids and stripes. It has been inspired by the British countryside as well as stately homes and country cottages. The designs are historical but have evolved to suit a contemporary client.

Two little Japanese cuties

It's now countdown time until my trip to Tokyo in November and I'm busily preparing. I will be selling my bags at the Tokyo American Club, as well as enjoying a week of sightseeing and catching up with friends. I've just made these two little Japanese cuties in preparation.

This coin purse uses a cotton fabric depicting little Japanese girls in kimonos.

The lining is made form a black and white spotty scallop design.

This coin purse is made from a pretty stylised blossom fabric and has a pink and cream lining.

Both coin purses are in a stunning shade of red and you can find them in my store here.

Kimono creation

I'd just like to mention this rather gorgeous vintage floral kimono fabric that I'm working on at the moment. It's all cut out and ready to make up into a clutch bag that will have a complimentary red lining for a flash of colour. This is a custom order for my lovely aunt in Australia!

Liberty sighting

Whilst on my shopping trip to Liberty on Friday, I dipped into the haberdashery department and was very chuffed to see some of my fabric designs there!

It was a nautical group that I did for Makower UK and it looked great!

Fabric Friday

I had a fab day in London today, taking in the Georgia O'Keefe exhibition at Tate Modern, and then doing a spot of shopping at Liberty. I also managed to dip into the beautiful Cloth House shop on Berwick street, an Aladdin's cave full of stunning fabrics from around the world. I could have come home with a lot of fabrics, but I was quite restrained and chose just two Indian block-printed cottons.

The two black and cream fabrics go so well together.

I'm thinking of piecing them together to use on the outside of a clutch bag, with a hot pink lining.

The fabric below could also be used as a lining for a bag.

Luckily I have enough fabric to play with both options.

Snail mail

I do love a snail design and this wonderful orange version caught my eye recently when I was at Village fabrics in Wallingford. The design is so simple that at first you can't quite see what it is, and then on closer inspection you can see that it's rows of sweet little snails. I've now made it up into a cosmetic bag with a fab contrasting yellow polka dot lining.

You can find it in my store here.

Back to school

It's back to school time and I'm celebrating with this fun little cotton pouch. It's made from a fab watermelon fabric that I bought on my Paris trip recently. I love the pale pink of the ground and the gold of the melons and I used a grey and white spotty lining that mirrors the watermelon pips on the outside, but in reverse! This pouch could be used as a pencil case or gadget pouch and is the perfect way to see in a new school year!

You can find it in my store here.

Fabric Friday

This week's fabric of choice is a stunning vintage black Japanese kimono from my collection. It had been packed away when I moved house and I only recently rediscovered it. I love the bold florals and use of colour and it appears to have a 1930s Art Deco feel to it. I'd love to know where it came from originally. I picked it up at an antique fair in Tokyo a few years ago, but have no idea of its heritage.

I'm planning to make it into a stunning clutch bag with a vibrant red lining. Watch this space!

I love the bold design and use of the red, yellow and cream colour theme on a solid black ground with a touch of metallic gold here and there.

The blossom design is a traditional Japanese motif and often found on kimono fabrics.

This stylised chrysanthemum design reminds me of firework displays.

Kimonos are often worn in summer to go and view the popular firework displays around Tokyo.

A weekend by the sea

Last weekend was a bank holiday in the UK and our family made the most of it by heading down to stay in a lovely house in Middleton-on-sea, just along the coast from Bognor Regis.

The house had lovely big grounds and a trampoline in the garden.

Every morning I went for a brisk walk along the seafront to blow the cobwebs away.

The morning light was beautiful.

We also spent some time sitting on the beach and playing in the sea.

The beach was only two minutes walk from the house and we practically had it all to ourselves.

Lila made a mermaid in the sand.

The pebbles on the beach were perfect for her scales and seaweed was used for hair.

We enjoyed slush puppies.....

.....that made our tongues go blue!

And we paid a visit to the arcade to play on the slot machines.

 Flo won a bouncy ball and Lila won a lolly, so well worth the £5 we spent!

Fabric Friday

Wherever I go, I seem to sniff out the local fabric shops! I'm currently on my way down to the south coast for a fab long weekend away with my lovely family. I decided to stop off in Chichester and came across a fabric shop selling many of the fabrics I designed for Makower UK. Amongst the mix was this fab French Bulldog/Boston Terrier fabric and I couldn't resist buying a piece.

It's a Japanese fabric produced by Studio Choco and comes in a fab acid green colour.

Who could resist these cute little fellas?!

I can't wait to make it up into a cosmetic bag with matching coin purse and card case....