sinterklaas has left for spain again, so that means christmas is just around the corner! oromono has some suitable seasonal gifts. i know that egg mercantile in amsterdam sells oromono, but i'm not sure if they have the christmas range available. isn't it just a nice idea to spruce up a scarf like this?
loads of sites i come across have giftguides on now and whenever i see something nice on them made of felt it seems to be from branch! branch is all about sustainable living and of course fits right in that category. i love the felt pebbles and i think i'm going to try to make them myself. when i did my felt workshop there was a lady who said she had made felted pebbles using an actual pebble which she cleaned and then covered in wool roving. the rest of the felting process was pretty much as usual: use warm water and a fatty (olive) soap and rub till all the fibers merge.
as i was browsing through the archives of one of my new favourite blogs six and a half stitches i came across a link for praha, a japanese company who make hand-made felt products. lovely designed flower corsages, hair pins, bookmarks, bags, purses and they even make a cute little mini bowling set. fuck it dude, let's go bowling...
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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!
a while ago i did a post about zakka and since then i've been seeing zakka everywhere i look. on monday i ordered some japanese fabrics from superbuzzy and i saw that they sell supercute shinzi katoh bags. i found the illustrations so charming i went looking for more and found the shinzi katoh website. it starts with: "in this site, we have the most famous zakka designer shinzi katoh's wonderful world." and a wonderful world it is! you can find all kinds of items like bags (also featured on do something pretty this week), water bottles, softies, t-shirts, fabric and buttons. i fell in love with the buttons, but i found out since that they are sold in sets of 2 single buttons, not a whole bottle. i'll wait till i really need them before i buy any, it's a pitty to just have them laying around... look like the cute softies are kits you have to sew yourself, but i'm not a 100% sure.
i have been looking for a little pouch to keep papers in since i've had my wonderful leather mammoet bag. the only problem with the mammoet bag is that it's huge and hasn't got a lot of separate spaces. then, a few months ago i saw a seller called etceteramedia on etsy, who makes pouches, cases and bags out of industrial felt. i decided to order the olive file filer and an olive ipod case, they were both so nice! after the first package went missing in the post the lovely kelly of etceteramedia was kind enough to send me another one and it arrived at the beginning of the week. i have to say it's even better than i expected, the quality is amazing and the olive colour gorgeous. while surfing i now found out that they have a website/webstore. and now i've seen that they make really nice handbags too. what's a girl to do?
one of the easiest ways to get started making dolls is to get a kit that has everything together. this little cutie is a good example of a fun project to get you started with. miss button was designed by the talented miss white (there are so many amazing australian ladies out there!) and on sewyourown you can buy the full kit or you can choose to buy just the pattern. the cool thing: when you've completed your miss buttons you can upload a picture of her to their website!
in my quest for all things cute and craftable i keep coming back to japanese craft books. this time i found aranzi aronzo, a company that make products featuring cartoon characters. i just ordered a book with patterns to make their toys out of jersey fabric, but they also have some other craft materials like patches and printed fabric. cute overload!
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!
so you already know about my slipper obsession and my overcomplete collection of sunglasses, but (and this won't come as a surprise to most ladies) bags are very high on my list of wanna's. having already bought two japanese books on the subject of making bags i was still looking for a place to buy the hardware you need. now it looks like i found it and it's an online shop in the uk called u-handbag. they've got everything: fabric, bag frames, handles, patterns, you name it. if that's not enough they have a blog with bag making tutorials. i've started my sewing course yesterday (i'm making a linen skirt), so when i've got some more confidence sewing i'm sure i'll get started on a bag!
since i've been writing this blog i've become more and more amazed at how many creative and talented people are out there. one of them being carly of nest studio from australia. her moopies are so original and fun that it just makes you itch to try and make something like that! well, luckily you can! carly sells kits for her moopies in her etsy store. each kit comes with a pattern and pieces of fabrics, leftover from her toy making.
it's just a couple of weeks before the premiere of the simpsons movie, so these felt donuts from sewdorky should be just in time! who can resist?
