Softest Loveliest Fabric for Toys ..... Ever!

It's that time of year when I am frantically making. Everything from pompom garlands through advent stars to mince pies. In the midst of all this frantic festive creativity I am making a few presents for some of my smaller and newer relatives. Those small beings are getting these soft squishy dolls, my designs (I call them Spotty Dolls, these are 18cm tall but are also available 40cm tall and more like a cushion.) and from my Spoonflower shop and oh my are they soft!

I would love you to feel this fabric as I don't think I can quite explain how tactile and lusciously soft it is. When it arrived in the post the other day and I showed it to various family and friends their instant reaction was to stroke it while oooohing and arrrrrhing and gently rubbing their cheek on it.

What am I talking about? The new farbic from Spoonflower called Minky! I ordered my dolls on it out of curiosity and Oh my! It's lovely. The colours are crisp and bright and, importantly for babies, it is beautifully soft. There is a slight furry texture or knap to it and just a little jersey style stretch. As it is so soft and floppy it is slightly more fiddly to make than when using the linen cotton canvas, but nothing some tacking doesn't overcome.

I love it. My next Campervan and the Surfies will be ordered on Minky. I think it's the loveliest fabric for babies toys.

Am I going on a bit about this lovely soft fabric called Minky?

O.K. I'll stop.

But just to remind you here is my Campervan and Surfies, but on the usual lovely but not so soft Linen Cotton Canvas from Spoonflower.

Finished Farm Quilt

My 'Farm Quilt' fabric finally finished and entirely hand sewn. I must admit, as my first ever hand quilting project, it's not perfect but has been quite hypnotic and a lovely task with a satisfying end result! It is a simple process to make, being a sandwich of batting and fabric stitched together. The design is available from my Spoonflower shop.

New Fabric Designs - Farms, Robots and Bubbles

The Farm - Quilt

Snoozebot Robot

Undersea Bubbles - a cut and sew dress

I get so excited when my samples and test swatches arrive from Spoonflower. I have some tweaking to do but most will soon be available at my Spoonflower shop

There are two of my 'cheater quilt' designs, 'The Farm-Quilt' and Snoozebot - Robot These are designs made to make quilting easy and quick to make. Also a sweet cut and sew dress for a 5 to 6 year old called Undersea Bubbles.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, I was too impatient to wait for good lighting!

Illustration Friday - Toy

A repeat pattern soon to be available on Spoonflower as a fabric. The toy train is taken from a tiny linocut print.

Doll Cousins

Just a quickie to say that finally, by popular demand, my dolls are available individually as fat quarters of fabric (specifically Linen Cotton-Canvas) here at Spoonflower. They are very easy to cut out and sew, all you need is a little patience a needle and thread, some pins and something to stuff them with.

These four little guys were inspired by my two boys and two of their cousins. The girls use their dolls as cushions on long car journeys.

Retro Kitchen Fabric

'A Winter Casserole'

I've created a vintage style fabric with kitchens in mind called 'A Winter Casserole'. There are two colourways, this vibrant burnt orange or a gentler on the eye, grey version. I have also created a complimentary smaller design called 'Carrot and Onion Soup' for both colours which is multi-directional, a table cloth perhaps?

The main motif is a block print created a while ago and I've been itching to tweek it into a fabric for ages. The push came from Spoonflower (the amazing company that print my fabrics using environmentally friendly inks and fabrics), who are running a contest this week with root vegetables as the theme. Once I have checked the samples the design will be available for sale on my Spoonflower shop.

This burnt orange is my new favourite colour and I fancy kitchen blinds in the big bold 'Winter Casserole' fabric, it has a large 12 inch repeat. I think it would suit the Linen Cotton Canvas that prints with a beautiful crisp vibrancy from Spoonflower.

'In the Kitchen' Fabric Collection

Little Boat Upon the Waves

It was so surprised to find a these photos posted by the very talented Anna from Goteborg, Sweden, on my Spoonflower shop. She bought some cotton jersey fabric of my design called 'Little Boat Upon the Waves' and made this lovely child's jacket. Have a look at her blog, lillab-butik.blogspot.com. She makes the most amazingly beautiful kids clothes in fabrics that are fun with stories to tell.  Thank you Anna!