Splendid sari fabrics

I sell a wide selection of fabric scraps in my Etsy shop, mostly consisting of vintage Japanese kimono fabrics and vintage Indian sari fabrics and I love it when I get feedback from a happy customer. These gorgeous sari fabrics were bought from a customer in Enfield, London recently and this is what she had to say:

"Exactly as seen, lovely colours and in mint condition.

Arrived safely and well packaged. Thank you."

With each of my fabric scraps packs, I carefully choose the colours and combinations so that they complement each other. In this pack I combined vintage sari fabrics in tones of pink and purple. Each one has a bold design and a decorative border. 

I'm loving this bold purple sari with a contrasting orange border. It could be used for craft projects such as quilting and patchwork or for making into cushion covers.

This pink sari uses a geometric motif made up of dots. The green border adds a lovely contrast to the pink of the main design.

This hot pink is a fabulous colour. Some of my customers have used these fabric scraps to make into dolls dresses.

Each collection of fabrics is sent in a plastic envelope and gift wrapped in pink tissue paper. It would make a great gift for a crafter of for someone who loves sewing.

You can find more fabric scraps in my Etsy shop here.

 

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.

Happy Monday

What a beautiful weekend it was here in the UK! After days of grey skies and rainy weather, the sun came out and all was forgiven! I spent the weekend catching up with good friends, cooked good food and hung out in the garden. I also got busy with some sewing and came up with these three stunning gems, made from one of the saris that I bought from Bazaar a while ago.

Bazaar is run by my good friend Joanna Hall, who travels to India several times a year to source beautiful fabrics, jewellery, clothing etc to adorn yourself and your home. I went to one of her barn shows a while ago which you can read about here. While I was there, I stocked up on stunning fabrics, including an array of brightly coloured saris. I have finally started using them and this is the first attempt which I'm really happy with.

These three beauties are all made from the same sari. What I love about the saris, apart from the vibrant colours, is the fact that each one is about 5 yards long, so you get a lot of fabric to play with. They are all vintage saris, so have a story to tell. They have been carefully hand washed, and then cut out by me, incorporating the beautiful woven design into each clutch bag. You can find all three clutches in my store here.

The sari I used was mostly magenta pink, but had a green section at one end and this drew me to it.

I loved the teal green design against the pink so decided to give this clutch bag a teal lining.

The green of this clutch bag really makes me smile!

I couldn't resist adding a hot pink lining for a juicy flash of colour.

The original sari had a border edge to it, so I decided to incorporate that border into this clutch bag.

I carefully cut along each edge and then pieced it together with other magenta sections of the sari.

Fave fabric Friday

Oops, I almost forgot, it's Friday! This week I am favouriting a stunning sari fabric that I picked up when I was in India last year. It is a gorgeous iridescent olive green colour with a gold paisley motif woven into it. I'm thinking of combining it with a gold obi fabric to make a clutch.