Key fob wristlet

This cute little key fob wristlet is made from a great berry print fabric from Liberty of London. I love the colour combination and the bright colour palette means it's easy to find in your bag.

The main body is made from a stiff interfacing with has been covered with the Liberty fabric and then folded over and top stitched in white thread on either side. There is a sturdy silver D-loop attached and a removable ring attached to that which keys can be added to.

This key fob wristlet  makes a great little gift for someone special.

 

Liberty coin purse

 We love a Liberty print here at Cheeky Leopard. The fabric is made from a soft lawn cotton and the prints are beautiful and classic. They are perfect for making into coin purses.

This purse has a pretty matching red and white cotton polka dot lining.

Use it to store earphones in, or use it as a coin purse for storing small change.

This is the perfect gift to give someone special as a birthday present.

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Feeling blue

 Liberty prints are so iconic, printed onto a beautifully fine cotton lawn fabric. They are perfect for making into coin purses and key fobs and even better when they match! You can choose from a selection of blues in my Etsy store.

A trio of coin purses in varying shades of blue and lilac.

Mix and match key fobs with the purses.

The key fobs are sturdy and perfect for wearing around the wrist.

Use the coin purse for storing small change in.

The purses are also great for storing earphones/airpods in.

Each purse is fully lined with a co-ordinating cotton fabric.

The perfect gift for her.

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Liberty love

 I love a good Liberty print and this one is gorgeous! It comes on a soft cotton lawn fabric and is perfect for making into matching accessories.

This purse is great for storing small change in or for using as an earphone/airpod case.

My key fobs are a great way for carrying keys and are designed to be worn on the wrist.

The bright print makes it easy to find in your bag and the metal fixings are sturdy.

Why not match your Liberty face mask to your purse and key fob wristlet?!

This face mask is double sided and washable as well as being breathable and pretty too!

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Happy Monday

Happy Monday! I hope a good weekend was had by all. Mine was lovely, with a great combination of city visits and country walks. On Saturday I went to the Tower of London and I loved it! I hadn't been since I went on a school trip when I was about ten years old and I was very impressed by it. There is lots to see and even the views over London and the river are really spectacular from the ramparts. It reminded me of what a great city I live in. On Sunday I went for a lovely brisk walk in the Oxfordshire countryside, ending up at a pub for lunch. It's a stunning time of year and the leaves on the trees were all changing to vibrant shades of orange and red.

On Friday I ventured to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace to check out what's going on. It's always great to see everything under one roof, to see the fabrics I've designed and to also see what other people are doing.

It was great to see that bright colours were very popular. I loved the selection of scarves above and the use of the kantha stitching. I might use that technique for some of my Cheeky Leopard scarves.

It's always great to see the Liberty floral fabrics. They come in all shades and look so pretty lined up.

I love a folk-inspired print and have designed a few in the past which you can see on my website here. The one above is a lovely multi colour version.

There were a lot of quirky novelty prints at the show. I loved the polar bear print on yellow and the multi colour umbrellas.

Higgs and Higgs had a selection of lampshades made out of the Sophia fabrics I designed for Makower UK. They looked really pretty hanging up.

These cute panda bear heads would work well in a nursery. I love the gender-neutral yellow and mint green colour palette.

I came home with some beautiful sari fabrics from Bazaar. One piece is a vibrant pink colour and the other piece uses softer pinks. I love the combination.

 My sari purchases came in this pretty little bag, also made from sari fabric! I can't wait to get creative with the fabrics I bought and think both pieces would make stunning clutch bags.

Autumn delights

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing colour and the weather is beginning to turn a little colder. To celebrate this I decided to add some autumn-inspired items to my store which include sweet apple designs and bright leaves in lovely fall colours. The leaf fabric is a cotton furoshiki that I bought in Japan. Furoshiki is a traditional fabric used for wrapping presents and they come in many interesting varieties. When I first moved to Japan I was intrigued by the choice of colours and patterns on offer and bought many of them for my fabric stash.

With the apple fabric I made a coin purse and card case combo. The red and white polka dot fabric was the perfect lining for both items.

The leaf fabric is a bold orange and beige colour and I decided to make a fab little tissue holder and glasses case. The perfect lining for these items was a brown and beige leaf fabric from Liberty.

Liberty in Fashion

On Friday I went to the Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. It's been on my to-do list for ages and finally I made it there! The exhibition celebrates the 140th anniversary of a company that had a massive impact on British fashion as well as being an originator of key trends.

Liberty fabrics are known the world over and have been recognised as the leader in floral, paisley and patterned prints. Their most characteristic are the Tana lawn cottons - named after lake Tana in Africa where the cotton was originally made. Liberty have their own in-house design team who recreate the original designs in new colours as well as adding new designs to the collection which compliment the traditional designs.

Arthur Liberty started the company originally as a warehouse supplying fashionable goods from the Far East. The opening up of Japan in the 1850s meant that the Japanese look became a popular look for Liberty, who took inspiration from items such as the kimono, for dressing gowns and wraps. The pretty pink garment above uses a kimono shape and has an Eastern-inspired image of birds and flowers printed onto it.

Liberty was friends with many artists and intellectuals of the Aesthetic movement, which used a fluid, romantic way of dressing. The garments of the East suited this loose style. I love the colours of the dress above, set against an iconic Liberty print wallpaper.

Before the First World War, Liberty began producing delicate floral prints. Prints on dark grounds in the 1920s then moved on to prints on light grounds in the 1930s to reflect the romantic mood of the era. This mini floral is still seen as the quintessential Liberty print today.

From 1958 to 1960 there were a series of Art Nouveau exhibitions which brought the style back into fashion. Liberty realised the potential of his Art Nouveau archive and commissioned designer William Poole to redraw original Art Nouveau patterns in vivid shades. This was one of my favourite sections of the show as I love a bit of colour!

Design duo Collier Campbell were two of many designers who collaborated with Liberty. They applied their vivid colour sense to this skirt design, as well as many other fabrics used for fashion and home furnishing.

These Jimmy Choo shoes work perfectly with the delicate Liberty print. Check out that green heel!

A little claim to fame

Sorry, I had to brag a little bit! I went into Liberty on Saturday and saw some of the fabrics there that I designed, including this chicken and egg group which was rather fitting for the Easter period!

I also the saw the Great British Sewing Bee book and they have my stripe fabric on the front. I was rather chuffed! The fabric was shown in the opening credits of the show and is also on their Facebook page!

Liberty floral

Happy New Year! This is the first coin purse of the year - a pretty Liberty floral in blues and greens with a matching Japanese shibori lining.

You can find it here.