wow, i can't believe it has been more than a week since my last post! lots of things going on here, so time flew by. i'll be going on holiday in a week, so i better get my ass in motion now. aaaaanyway, i came across some beautiful fabric by rapture and wright, an english company that specialises in hand printed wallpaper and fabrics. in their own words their products are 100% british, using skills that are rapidly disappearing in the uk.
.jpg)
for some reason there aren't a lot of contemporary fabric shops to be found around on mainland europe. most of the really nice stuff seems to come from japan and the us and are difficult to get here. enter volksfaden: some very cute fabrics by the likes of amy butler and moda that are excellent for quilting. based in berlin (one of my favourite european cities) linda gaylord, who used the be a dancer and teacher, runs this online shop where she sells the fabrics she likes to work with herself. apart from the fabrics sold by the meter she also sells little bags of scrap fabric that are really useful to the starting quilter. you might also want to check out the quilts, aprons and bags she makes, they are gorgeous!
one of my favourite fabric producers has to be the finnish company marimekko. they have been around since the 1950's and have always been known for their bold and graphic prints. i can't think of many other companies who have been around for more than half a decade and still rock it!
about 8 years ago i saw a gorgeous bag on a girl in london. i was to shy to ask here where she got it, so instead i just got a bit closer and saw it said 'orla' (the rest i couldn't make out) on the little label. when i got back home i did some research and found out it was a bag by the irish designer orla kiely. ever since her name has been popping up left, right and centre and she's been added to my list of design heroes. she's most famous for her stem print bags, but she does fashion, homewares, luggage and much more. tinsmiths sell a couple of orla's oilcloth fabrics, but stock is very limited.
i've had the link to the st. jude's website for a long time, but i kind of forgot about them. skipping through my bookmarks i rediscovered them and remembered why i bookmarked the site: their lovely dandelion fabric. it's a limited edition screen printed fabric designed by artist-printmaker angie lewin, who studied fine art printmaking at central st.martins college of art and design. i think the print has got a bit of a retro feel to it, but it might also be the mustard yellow colour that does it. i'm totally loving that colour lately! the bad news? dandelion one on heavy weight cotton is £38 a metre and dandelion two on heavy weight cotton is £32 a metre. yikes!
one of my favourite stores for fabrics has to be reprodepot. it was started out of a love for vintage fabrics, but they sell much more than that alone. they've got a very nice selection of japanese and marimekko fabrics, but also some lovely amy butler patterns (shown in an earlier post). plus on top of that their shipping charges are very reasonable. above are the japanese fabrics i just purchased. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with them, but i'm sure i'll think of something since i'll be beginning my sewing course this thursday!
while we are on japanese crafts i would like to introduce you to furoshiki. it is basically a way to wrap gifts in fabric, instead of wrapping paper. on the craft magazine blog there's a little article about how the japanese government (links to a pdf of the folding techniques) are trying to promote this old craft, to cut down on the waste of paper. smart, no? if i get a present wrapped in fabric i would certainly keep the piece to re-use, but with paper it would go into the paper recycling bin. you could use scraps of fabric or even make a little patchwork of different pieces of textile.
quilten is zo'n hobby die een, laten we het zeggen, suf imago heeft. ik denk gelijk aan oude amerikaanse vrouwtjes en de amish. op your daily awesome zag ik iets wat me van gedachte deed veranderen! deze quilts zijn van quiltsrÿche, die quilts maken van oude rock t-shirts en anders stoffen die je erin wil laten verwerken. je moet er maar op komen!
je ziet iets en denkt: tof, maar dat kan ik toch zelf maken? deze accessoires van uniform-studio zijn daar een voorbeeld van...
ik zag deze toffe stofjes op de site van michael miller fabrics. ik ben er nog niet helemaal achter waar je hier in nederland echt leuke stoffen kan kopen, maar ik vind de winkeltjes bij de albert cuypmarkt een ware schatkamer. heel veel stoffen, van heel goedkoop tot echt chique, maar ook een hele goede fourniturenzaak. ik ga over drie weken beginnen met een naaicursus bij de rotterdamse snijschool, dus ik kan wel wat stofjes gebruiken! ik ben trouwens altijd op zoek naar nieuwe adresjes, dus als je een tip hebt hoor ik het graag!
