Wood block printing

I bought these lovely wood blocks while in London as they were so decorative and also because I wanted to try my hand at printing with them.

My first attempts at printing were not successful as I had not realised  it was necessary to remove the white paint first. Until the penny dropped,  I couldn't understand why there were flakes of paint in my prints.  Once I had washed it off, however, I was really pleased with the result.  Luckily I experimented on scrap fabric first.

The printing is  not perfect and here and there are little spots of  paint, but I really don't mind that as it gives the fabric a hand-made look rather than a mass-produced one.

I used a couple of cushion covers which I picked up in Spotlight for a very reasonable price (just in case I was unsuccessful).  Now that I know what I am doing, I would feel more confident using better quality fabric.

I haven't yet used the small paisley block, but have a few ideas in mind.

A little bit French

Ever since I recovered my wingback chair, I have wanted to add a cushion with French typography. Although I had seen these in the shops, I had been unable to find any fabric to make my own and had almost given up on the idea when I came across the Graphics Fairy. What a fantastic site it is. Every day a new vintage graphic is provided free for downloading and a lot of these are French and suitable for transfer printing onto fabric. I spent ages browsing as there are so many to choose from and I had a hard time deciding which one I preferred. I finally chose two and still don't know which I like best. They will just have to take turns sitting on my chair.

I have to say my first attempts at transfer printing were a dismal failure and once again I almost gave up on the idea.  I was using a product sold as suitable for transferring images onto T-shirts.  Well it might work for that but it certainly did not work on my fabric.  Then I tried Transfer Artist Paper which I bought here (I think it is also available at Spotlight for Australian readers) and it worked perfectly.

  At last, I have my French typography cushions.

The cut cloth goes out on a limb

A beautiful new shop has opened in Maylands here in Perth called Out on a Limb. It is based on eco-friendly principles and all products are hand-made in Australia. Mandy and I are very excited that the lovely owners have asked to stock some of our cushions.



I have had my head down over the sewing machine for a while fulfilling the order. Mandy delivered them last week and yesterday Mum and I paid a visit to the shop to see them in their new (temporary) home. I think they look really good and so colourful.



The shop has some gorgeous products and would be a wonderful place to look for that gift which is a bit different.

As an added bonus, a few doors away is a delightful cake shop, Sherbet, which serves wonderful coffee and cakes to die for. It has a lovely nostalgic feel and serves the cakes on lovely old china plates. I can recommend the coconut, blackberry and lemon syrup cake.

For Perthites, the address for Out on a Limb is 194 Whatley Crescent, Maylands. Well worth a visit.

Would you like a cushion with that?

Mandy was excited when she discovered that some of Amy Butler's designs are now being used on rugs. She ordered one for the baby's room and, of course, I had to make a cushion from some of our matching fabric. Love it.

Happy cushions

This beautiful fabric has been sitting on a shelf for some time and I have been itching to make something with it. So when a request for four cushions was received last week I was very excited to be able to relieve that itch.



I think the fabric makes up into fantastic cushions which, hopefully, will look amazing in their new home. They will bring a touch of colour into any room and, I hope, a smile to the face of all who look at them. There is something about the colour yellow which always makes me feel happy.

Something to sing about

I have been silent for a while mainly because I haven't had anything interesting to say and, working on the premise that if you don't have anything good to say, it's best to say nothing, I have kept quiet.


However, today I do have something to say and it is very exciting. The cut cloth has been featured in one of our best homewares magazines, "Inside Out".

What an honour for our cushion to be alongside some wonderful designers.
Thanks Inside Out.

It's all about size

I have been away from the computer, but not 'away'. Instead, I have been up to my neck in polyester filling.

We had a special request for a floor cushion in a size and design we had not done before. As a result we had to make our own insert rather than use a pre-prepared one. As this is a big cushion, it took a lot of filling.





However, while I thought the floor cushion took a lot of filling, it was nothing compared to our next project - an ottoman. Inspired by Danielle, we made this ottoman.



If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that our 'Ella' fabric was made specifically with this project in mind. I was amazed when I saw how it came together at the top like a giant flower.




It is so exciting when something like this happens without it being planned and fascinating to see how designs can take on a whole new look when used in different projects.



Right now at the cut cloth, it's all about size - the bigger the better.

New kids on the block

I have been sewing up the new fabrics into cushions of all shapes and sizes and am very happy with the result. I think the colours all work well and when grouped together they make a very fresh and pleasing bunch.

I particularly like this combination of our "Ella" fabric in peach and stone. I have discovered that these big floor cushions make wonderful props when I am doing my yoga - not that there has been much of that recently. I have been tying myself to the sewing machine instead of tying myself in knots.

Serendipity

When Mandy and I visited Vietnam last year, I bought myself a painting which I really loved. The artist was such a lovely person and was so excited when I said I would like to buy the painting. He and his daughter treated Mandy and I so kindly, making us sit down and giving us each a bottle of water while he prepared the canvas for travelling home to Australia. By our standards, the painting cost next to nothing, yet he was so happy to have made the sale. It made me feel very humble and now, on reflection, I wish I had bought more paintings from him. I hope he is still in his studio in Hoi An because I will pay him another visit if I ever return.
When we returned home, the painting was relegated to the back of the cupboard while I decided what to do with it. The exorbitant cost of framing was one reason for my hesitation, in addition to which I wasn't even sure that I wanted it framed, or even where I was going to hang it. So my painting languished in the cupboard until one day it occurred to me that the cushion I was making was a perfect match with the colours in the painting and I instantly knew what to do with the painting and where I was going to hang it.
Rather than have the painting framed, I stretched it over a canvas frame myself and I really like the effect. I just couldn't envisage this picture with a frame as I thought it would detract from the work. Now it hangs over an armchair which is adorned with cushions in exactly the same colours. Serendipity!

OBE ' d

OBE (overtaken by events as opposed to Order of the British Empire) is a term I learnt recently and which I have been using a lot lately as my whole life seems to be getting overtaken by events. Not in a bad way, it’s just that I seem to be swimming very fast and getting absolutely nowhere. Things which seem important one day suddenly become unimportant as something else arises. It horrifies me how fast the days whiz by and if I can’t look back on my day and see something has been achieved, I am not happy.

Having said that, not all my days have been a waste of time. The Cut Cloth has been moving along nicely and we have been making inroads into our new fabric. When we first saw this Royal Magnolias fabric we wondered if we had made a mistake by including it in our order as we weren't sure how it could be used. However we have now made it up into cushions, hats and even wall art and it looks wonderful. Mixed with other fabrics from the same colourway, it really makes a bold statement.
We have been fulfilling some orders and hope that our customers enjoy receiving their packages as much as we enjoy putting them together. I must say that I would love to receive this parcel in the post.

The sales team

I put my 87 year old mother on a plane to Sydney last Saturday. She is off to catch up with family and friends in New South Wales and Queensland. She insisted that she take with her some cut cloth products so we put a few items in her luggage. She rang me this morning to say that she has sold everything but one belt and so the salesgirl of the week award goes to Granny. What a star!
While the sales team has been doing its thing interstate (Mandy is also on a very brief interstate trip), I have been spending my time sewing cushions and getting to know my new Janome. She is so clever. Her wonderful functions such as needle up/down, knee lift for the sewing foot, automatic needle threader, dozens of stitches to select etc etc all make my other old girl look like a dinosaur. These are functions which have probably been on machines for years, but she has given me such good service I did not feel the need to upgrade until I started to do some research and realised what I had been missing. In fact, she is so clever I can't help looking for the buttons which say 'cushion', 'bag', or 'belt' and all I do is push one of them and Janome produces the finished product. Now that would be something!

Busy Bees

Amanda and I have been as busy as this little bee which was in the garden today.
The week started with a trip to collect our cushion inserts from the manufacturer.
Amanda discovered the company right here in Perth after she had made online contact with what seemed like every cushion insert maker in mainland China and, even more importantly and amazingly, they are cheaper than those from China. We are now so thankful that we didn’t order from China because our minimum order would have been 1,000! As it is, we have ordered 150 and we are overwhelmed by the work ahead of us to cover all these inserts. Not to mention the space they take up. My car will be parked in the driveway for months to come.
We collected these three huge bags in the morning in a borrowed van and in the afternoon had to go back for another bag full, but as the van had been returned by then we had to take the car. The red fuel light was showing as we left, but as we had only a short amount of time to get there before the factory closed and as I knew that my extremely organised husband kept a small container of petrol in the boot, we decided to push ahead. Big mistake! We were on the freeway when the car started shuddering and died. Not to worry I said to Mandy, we will just top up the tank. Yes, you guessed it – no petrol in the boot. John had removed it a few days before to make room for chairs etc which we had taken on a picnic. A frantic call to the RAC and twenty minutes later they arrived with the precious fuel. We had expected to wait up to an hour for them to arrive so were very lucky. Although we arrived at the factory after closing time, it was still open. It took three men to stuff this giant slug into the back seat - one pulling and two pushing, by which time Mandy and I were hysterical with laughter.
When we arrived home Mandy pushed and I pulled and the car finally gave birth.
In addition to all this we have visited a printer to discuss the printing of our business cards, finalised the artwork for our labels, got sidetracked by the new Amy Butler Lotus fabrics which we love and, biggest breakthrough of all, have talked to a screenprinter about producing our own range of fabrics. This is now a definite possibility as Janet, Mandy’s sister-in-law, and an extremely talented designer, has agreed to join us. It is all very exciting, but we have been so busy with all this that very little time has been spent actually producing anything. This will have to change in the coming days and the steam will really be rising from the sweat shop as high temperatures are predicted.

One of life's mysteries

How do people find time to write posts to their blog on an almost daily basis at this time of the year? I wish I knew because I certainly have not had time lately. They must be so much more organised than me because not only are they posting, they are also baking and sewing and crafting. One of my New Year resolutions will be to make more of an effort to keep this blog updated.

I have finished M & S's cushions and I think I have happy customers. They certainly look amazing in situ.
M & S have this amazing standard bougainvillea in their front garden, the colours of which looked wonderful with the cushions.
So now my sewing room (aka sweat shop) has been packed up and returned to its original state as a bedroom all ready for tomorrow's visitors from Queensland. It is going to be a wonderful family Christmas with everyone together for the first time in years. Well worth having to pack away my sewing.