january fabric haul

I went a bit wild last week. At the highest point of my Japanese sewing book fever, I bought fabric. LOADS of it. I had told my husband I was quitting my super-consumer ways and it was going quite well until this happened.

Now that it's all washed and pressed, I am feeling less remorseful about my slip-up. Look at it all! So beautiful! From bottom to top, we have:

 a light blue, soft chambray with a lovely rainbow selvedge

a proper, woven cotton gingham in blue and off-white

a fine cotton lawn in tiny, woven checks

Liberty needlecord in a pixel-confetti print

Liberty tana lawn in a grey/black floral print

The tiny check lawn came from Croft Mill and the rest is from Mandors in Glasgow. I wish I'd taken a note of the Liberty designs, but I forgot. Nothing was more than £10 a metre, including the Liberty designs which were all half price.

I'm not going to stash these away (I have no more room for stashing), so these will all become garments, starting with Stylish Dress Book dress E (the one from the cover). 

marimekko cushions

A set of two cushions that I made last week. For our new sofa.

The fabric is Marimekko's "Jurmo" by Aino-Maija Metsola. (A Christmas present from my husband, lucky me!) She is my favourite Marimekko designer, I think. I especially love her 'Weather Diary' collection.

I used this tutorial to put the zip in. So many nice greys altogether!

There was still a lot of snow around, so I took a picture outside with the shed. I like the weathered boards and the white roof. Reading 'Heidi' as a girl has left me with an undiminished love of cosy, alpine places. Mmmmmm.

japanese sewing books

I have recently become a teeny bit obsessed with Japanese sewing books. I haven't sewn anything for a while, but I'm definitely feeling the bug coming on. Especially since I found out that The Great British Sewing Bee is back on next week - yay!

For Christmas, I gave my mum a small package containing tailor's chalk, pattern paper, enough fabric to make two dresses (some black linen twill and some pretty Liberty tana lawn) and a translated copy of Stylish Dress Book: Wear With Freedom.
This is the first Japanese sewing book I've bought. I've wanted to try Japanese patterns for a while now, but I was always intimidated by the diagrams and the language barrier. However, many of these titles are now being translated into English and I am totally IN.

I know it's really my mum's present, but I have bookmarked all these projects from this book for myself. I've promised to help my mum make her two dresses first, so that's given me time (too much?) to check out other titles and pore over fabric choices.

(Inside my head: " Nani Iro? Is gingham too schoolgirl? Floral or abstract Liberty print? What the heck is poplin?")

I will, of course, let you know.

all images from 'Stylish Dress Book: Wear With Freedom' by Yoshiko Tsukiori

hello again!

It's been almost four years since my last post, but I just wanted to write on this blog again. I don't have the same blog-fever that I started with and I can't tell you how long it will last this time, but I miss having this space to share things, get excited about stuff and have something clean and shiny. (That last one is a bit weird, but that's the only way I can put it.)

I have a lot less time now, so I'm making no promises to myself - but, for now, I'm back.

illustration by marika maijala

papergirl glasgow

Papergirl is an art project that gives away rolled-up artworks to random passers-by and it is happening in Glasgow right now!

It was started in Berlin five years ago and now there are Papergirl events all over the world. Artists send in work and it is all given away for free by volunteers on bicycles, American paper-boy style. On delivery day, Papergirl Glasgow will be handing out 1,000 artworks.

I'm keeping tabs here and here to see if I can catch me some free art!

image via sneakher and papergirl glasgow

help japan

I'm sending some money to help Japan. I listen to the news with my fingers crossed, but it is time to do what I can to help. There are so many creative people donating their work and shops donating their proceeds to raise money and this is a good way of giving, I think.

confetti systems' knot ornament

fen and ned's letter holder

renilde's collage

debbie carlos' raffle

everything in mike perry's shop

hello sandwich's gift-wrapping zine

japanese paper goods from uguisu

monster gallery's godzilla print

life support japan's photographs

(image via confetti systems)

addicted to pinterest

Uh oh.

I am crazy addicted to pinterest. I just joined today and I have been using it for five hours straight. I even pinned while eating my dinner. It's an online pinboard where you can collect images as you find them, without having to mess around with other applications or websites. Once you join (you have to request an invitation, but they got back to me within a couple of days), you drag a 'pin it' button onto your bookmarks and - BOOM! - you're addicted. See an image you like on a website, click 'pin it' and the image saves onto your pinboard with a link to the original website. It is way past my bedtime, my posture is awful and I have blurred vision. Oh, so, so awesome.

image via my pinterest