Foxes Go Ballooning

Courtesy of the fabric enablers on my FB page, another couple of prints have hit the shop! 

After the enthusiasm for Owls and Foxes from my last haul, I asked if people wanted even more choice in fox-related fabric.  I mean, who wouldn't?  People who hate foxes, obviously.  So here we have two organic single jerseys in exceptionally-coloured retro combinations: Orange on deep brown and Dark red on yellow.  Like myself, the foxes look slightly skeptical and have embraced the side-eye but everyone knows they are essentially adorable.  Unlike the aforementioned Owls and Foxes, these jerseys are 100% cotton without an elastane component so there isn't as much stretch recovery as cotton/elastane blends.  However, the fabric is a hefty 195 gsm so it's very stable without much curling at the edges, and the organic cotton means it's softer than its non-organic single jersey relations.  In short: lovely.

And Pink and Blue Balloons have welcomed a more 'gender-neutral' Grass Green. 

I am tiger, hear me roar

Those of you on Instagram will have seen that I bedecked myself in tiger glory yesterday for a soiree with Friend Sarah.  Despite taking my camera into town (and also not losing it), it was too dark for shots so I put it right back on today so my family could take turns taking terrible pictures of me.

First up was Jamie. Despite asking if he could take pictures of my new skirt, we returned inside with a dozen head shots.  So we went back out and got a bunch of extreme close ups of skirt only.

Here's my bum. You're welcome.

Next up was Steven.  He told me, 'look like you know something no one else knows'.

And then, 'Look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders but you're essentially benevolent'.  Nailed it.

And then I got photobombed and things got derpy.  In conclusion, I love my new skirt and I hate getting my picture taken.


 

Submitted to the Train to Crazy 'Make It, Wear It'!

Coming Soon to a sewing machine near you...

First pictures and feedback from Official Skater Dress Tester KID, MD are in and it's looking good for imminent release!

Rainbowphantastic

The second saddest thing to happen to me recently (the first of course being the general and continuing lack of snow) was the sudden and dramatic selling out of Rainbowphant meterage. 

I anticipated its popularity and duly ordered double my normal amount, but the whole shebang was gone in just over a week! Blue Vikings, you have been replaced in the Fastest Selling Fabric Awards.

Savvy, sneaky folk emailed me for commissions before I could list them in the shop.  The lesson to those who missed out: be more savvy and sneaky.  But all is not lost, I just checked and I have a couple of irregular pieces so I've put limited listings up for the tennis skirt and trousers.  But the most hopeful news of all is they might be doing a reprint, please let it be so.

**EDITED TO ADD: They're all gone again, you scamps.  Let's all collectively cross our fingers that I can get some more.

Snowmaggedon

After a week of everywhere else in the UK getting snow and Edinburgh cruelly not, we finally got our just desserts.

One glorious inch of it.

Thankfully we got out for snow-jinks early yesterday morning as it was all gone by the afternoon.

It was just enough for a spot of light sledding.

More than enough for snowball fights.

And plenty for snow angels.

With more on the way this week, I hope we get some more play time.

Without the schools being closed, Edinburgh Council.

** If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend heading over to Capturing Childhood's post on how to take great pictures in the snow.  I'm glad I read it the night before!

New Fabric Alert!

Those of you who follow the Facebook page will have seen that I received a box of new fabric... those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen that I actually received a second box of fabric a mere couple of hours later!

Without further ado, the six new organic jersey prints!

• Dala Horses: This striking fabric has rows of dark red be-saddled Dala Horses, pink, orange and green flowers and light green hearts on a deep petrol background. Buyer beware: based on initial reactions, I probably didn't order enough of this.  If you want it, go forth and snatch.
• Firemen: This fun fabric features a scene of a multitude of fireman going about their fire-fighting business... hosing down fires, rescuing cats, driving trucks and smoking pipes (of course). There lots of firefighters, trees, cats, houses, trucks, clouds, hydrants, and hoses in orange, white and royal blue on a cherry red background.
• Happy Elephants: This adorable fabric has rows of smiling white elephants on a bright cherry red background. Fun fact: a different colourway of these elephants was what spurred me on to open a fabric shop a year and a half ago!
• Owls and Foxes: This lovely fabric features a smattering of foxes, owls, squirrels, and sweetly-smiling flowers on a light minty blue background. The foxes are bright orange with white tipped tails, and the squirrels, owls and flowers a mixture of light and dark brown, white, and sky blue.  With both foxes and owls, that's two ticks in the zeitgeist box. 
• Vikings in green:  This fantastic fabric has a riotous scene of Vikings going about their Viking business-- fishing beside their longboats, cooking at campfires, brandishing weapons, drinking from flagons. The background also includes mountains, tree, clouds and a smattering of raindrops. The colours include black, white, dark green and bright orange on a mossy mid-green background. The blue Vikings was my fastest-selling-out fabric first time around (although Rainbowphant is a definite challenger) so I'm so happy to have Vikings again........ and also in:
• Vikings in grey: Same as the green (and blue before it) but with deep navy blue, white, lilac and rusty brown on a steely mid-grey background.

I've also added another three organic jersey solids: petrol blue, golden orange and dark red.

The more solids I stock, the trickier it gets to differentiate between their nuanced shades so I'm including comparison shots with the prints.

• The petrol blue naturally coordinates with the Dala Horses, but would be a great contrast to many other prints.  
• The golden orange coordinates perfectly with Dala Horses and Fireman, but it also is in the same yellow / orange family as the Green Tigers and Brown Tigers!  I know there there has been some consternation that the Green Tigers is hard to match with other colours (except of course black), but despite being a couple of shades darker this golden orange would look great with the tigers.  I also have a non-organic orange jersey currently listed, this is a true bright orange that coordinates with the orange in Owls and Foxes and Rainbowphant.
• The dark red is in the cherry red family, and a shade or two darker than bright cherry red.  I actually sold out of the other (plain) red that I used to carry this weekend; the new red is cherry (whereas the older red had an orange tone) so it coordinates with more of my prints.  Dala Horses and Firemen as above; but it also coordinates with all of the fabrics with a cherry red tone- Rainbowphant, Starflower, Red Apples, Happy Elephants, Red Clouds, En Route and more!
• In Coordinating Viking News: the grey pairs with the navy and the green with the dark green.

As I said in my last fabric post, I'm currently stocking solids by two manufacturers. As more colours become available I'm hoping to switch over completely to the organic jerseys as they are the exact same weight and handle as the printed jerseys.  At a glance, the organic jerseys in my shop are scrunched up in pictures and the plain jerseys are not.

Christmas Makes and Outtakes

Two weeks and a bit to get my second Christmas post written, that must be a record of irrelevancy for me!  Better late than never though, no?*  The pajamas you have seen, but what about their Christmas day outfits?

I finally got a chance to  use the tigers for my kith and kin.  In related news, I'm desperate to use this green version for something for me.  But what? The correct answer is All The Things, but I will also accept more specific answers. 

 

And the girl got a Hansel and Gretel skater dress. 'Wait, a skater dress?  I've never seen one of those on her before!' said no one ever.  I think the current count is a dozen.  No judging, once I release the pattern you will make a dozen too.

In conclusion, they both got green clothes ergo they are 'Christmas clothes'.  In my defence I did attempt to sew my very own green dress on Christmas Eve but it was a massive fail- more on that at a later date. So I wore a red dress and gave a cursory tick of the Christmas box too.

One reason why I have fallen deeply in love with Instagram is the chance to have a peak at the 'real' lives behind the online personalities I know.  Not that what we put forth an 'unreal' portrayal on our blogs, but the temptation (for me anyway) is to show the very best pictures / most flattering angles / two square feet of the house without detritus on the official Kitschy Coo web presence.  Instagram obviously has this element too, but it seems there is more humorous side dish of #keepingitreal there, which I love.  So in that spirit, here's a behind the scenes of what 98% of my photo shoots consist of...

*Strictly rhetorical question.

New Fabric Alert!

I received a gigantic box of fabric a couple of days before Christmas and have finally wrested Maia off the computer* long enough to list them! 

 

They are all organic 95% cotton / 5% elastane jerseys with the smooth and stable quality we always get from Lillestoff: the very best.  From the top, we have Hansel and Gretel, Rainbowphant, Penguins, and Starflower.

Hansel and Gretel depicts the fairy tale in a riot of colours with white, golden yellow, orangey red, dark brown, and dark green on rich forest green background. There are Hansel and Gretel running along a meandering path, a candy cottage complete with candy cane chimney stacks and a resident cat, the crone-ish witch, a gingerbread man, slumbering fox, and robin in a tree, clouds, flowers, candy canes, and mushrooms.  I've already used it and it's a dream to sew.

Rainbowphant provoked a bit of a debate on Facebook as to what the German translation meant in English.  It was suggested that it was a conglomeration of Rainbow and Elephant but I maintained there were no elephants..... turns out I was wrong!  This glorious retro-style fabric has bright rainbows, cascading small raindrops, smiling larger raindrops, multi-coloured stars and hearts, suns, clouds, and tiny elephants on top of of the rainbows. It's a riot of bright rainbow colours (red, orange, yellow, green and blue) plus white, on a deep navy background.  I think this one is going to be hugely popular, and the fact that the manufacturer sold out in the pre-order stage definitely supports this!

The Penguins you have seen already in the Christmas Sewing: PJ edition.  It's an adorable fabric with a winter scene featuring penguins in the various snow-related activities; ice-fishing, sledding, skating, sliding down mountains on their bellies. True to form, the penguins are black and white with orange and red hats and scarves, and the background features snow-tops mountains and snowflakes in shades of petrol blue and a minty-light blue.

Finally, we have the lovely Starflower.  This beautiful retro-style fabric has rows of assorted flowers and stars in a riot of colours with white, soft pink, light blue, bright yellow, and red on a deep navy background.

Oh- the hugely popular En Route is also back in stock!

I've also added some more plain jersey solids to mix and match with the prints.  Sky blue, dark green, and deep navy join plain red and lime green from this manufacturer; fuchsia, mid blue, brown, orange, turquoise and black are from a different manufacturer.  The former are smoother and curl less at the edges, the latter are a bit heavier and are a wider width.  In News That is Nuanced, I've included a picture above of Mid Blue and Sky Blue next to each other.  Mid Blue has a more purple tone, Sky Blue is a brighter true blue. In the picture at the bottom, Sky Blue is next to Starflower and Rainbowphant. As you can see, the blue coordinates with the blue in Rainbowphant. The lighter blue in Starflower has a purpley tone that goes with the Mid Blue!


*If I hear the CBeebies panto one more time I'm going to set fire to the computer. Provided, of course, that it doesn't set fire to itself first as it's making very sinister sounds and shutting itself off constantly.