Frayed edges

Over the Christmas holidays I played around with a bit of fabric origami. On Sunday I finally got around to trying out an idea I've had in my head since then.

Instead of the usual neat edges and precision folding, I opted for a more rustic approach - deliberately fraying linen and using the raw edges as a feature. The folding and stitching was anything BUT precise and the effect is... rustic! (But the beautiful Japanese print lifts it out of the realm of the hayseed... I think).

...so it doesn't look out of place on a black linen Evening Bag (my pattern). This bag was made using 12mm polyester boning in the strap and it has interfacing and wadding to give structure to the bag body.

I have a few other ideas to play with along the lines of origami.... can you hear my brain ticking?

On a completely different note - the wee girl and I had a lovely evening out yesterday, celebrating the launch of this book with lots of wonderful crafty types....

Well done, Pip and Co. It's a great achievement! (And sorry the wee girl talked all through the interview so nobody up the back heard a thing....).

A present for Hamish

A dear friend, her partner and new baby boy visited today. I thought they might like some new bibs (made yesterday). The blue one is my Fabulous Fifties Bib and the other is a little snap-closure one I make sometimes. I was right... they loved them!

The dog print and its co-ordinating paw prints (on the binding) is something like*** Paws and Whiskers (I THINK a Kauffman print...?) from GJ's - on sale for only $8 per metre - and I bought mine at the 25% off sale. Yay! I love GJ's!! (And no - I don't have shares in the company!!).

The red print is from the Wee Play range from Moda.

*** I can never be too sure of print ranges these days, because before I start using a fabric I cut off the selvedges to send to Jodie, and then instantly forget from whence the fabric came. But I think seeing what Jodie comes up with is MORE than compensation for my failure as a fabric-geek.... don't you?

I've also been playing with my new patternmaking project and a few little fiddly origami things. I've only used fabrics that I'm not precious about - just to test the processes - and strangely enough, I believe they'll do as Christmas decorations next year.

I'm not through trying all the designs I picked out to try and already I'm getting ideas about mutating the forms of these lovely Japanese designs.... thinking raw edge and unusual fabric combinations....probably a bit of assymmetry... ???

SO MUCH TO DO ...and less than a week before reality kicks in again. We open for business again on the 12th Jan. Yikes!