Fabric Geekery: Liberty of London and Little Folks Voile

Yesterday I made a substantial investment. I purchased two yards of Liberty of London cotton lawn from my favorite local shop; Fancy Tiger but YIKERS, it's pricey! Worth a trip across the pond just to get a reasonable price.

The design I picked is called Yoshie, in charcoal. It also is sold in a cherry red color. It was designed by graphic designer Yoshie Watanabe.



Anyway, brought it home and pre-washed it, along with my Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile yardage, which has such a similar hand. The Liberty is more densely woven and of course, the designs are iconic, though the one I bought yesterday is modern. But the weight of the fabric is so similar. I really LOVE the AMH voile and hope she and other designers continue to use it.

It washes so well, makes me want to only use these high thread count fabrics in the future. Normally when I wash quilting cotton, I have to remove it from the dryer and spend a substantial amount of time pulling the fabric apart that have become intwined in one another due to the frayed edges. Yes, I know you can pink the raw edges to avoid this but I'm too lazy. Anyway, I spend a long time cutting off the frays before drying it so they don't get tangled up again in the dryer. The Liberty and voile fabrics hardly fray at all, they are a dream to wash.

And on the topic of Liberty fabrics.... I made my first Liberty blouse back in the 80s when I lived in St. Louis. I still remember picking out the expensive fabric off a roll at a fabric shop that sold high end fabrics. I have no idea where the shirt is now but I used the scraps in a quilt and took a photo. It wasn't as tightly woven as the Tana lawn, you can kind of see that from the photo:



And lastly, I actually found a scrap of Liberty of London fabric at at thrift shop once! I used it to decorate a linen pillow cover. Now if I could only find an entire roll at the thrift shop, that would be nice. Stranger things have happened, but usually when you're not expecting them.

Rooftops Fabric Alteration

Oh my. I hit a record number of views and comments on this teeny weeny project I started for the {Urban} HOME Goods Swap! I feel like the credit really should go more to Lara Cameron of Ink and Spindle because she created the fabric, I just sewed on bits of color. (and um, it's on SALE) In my next life, I think I will come back as an Australian fabric designer, they turn out the most amazing designs!

Urban Farm Euro-inspired LINEN Apron

It started when I saw "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" the other night and the gorgeous Penelope Cruz was wearing these amazing aprons all the time over her Greek peasant dresses (like Penelope Cruz could ever be a peasant!), anyway, I decided I must have one of those aprons and it must be in linen!

So I did what I always do, ordered a TON of fabric, all linen, 11 yards in all, gorgeous, dreamy, peasant-like colors with names like "asphalt", "willow" and "chardonnay".


Then I made my prototype, which I wore all day over a t-shirt and yoga pants. I loved it! It made me feel so much more feminine and I even used the pocket to pick roses out in the yard, it was great! I'm pretty sure I became Jane Austen for a short while.


After the prototype, I made a more polished version which is now in my shop.

Craft Hope Project 8

Last night I spent a couple of hours sewing together cotton chenille, terry cloth and sherpa into 10 x 10 and 14 x 27 piece squares/rectangles which will be used as RAGS! Yes, you heard me! And I actually got a little teary thinking about it because the rags will be used by the The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies to clean the oil from marine animals in the Gulf of Mexico.

The project is being coordinated by Craft Hope and you can read all about the project here.

At first I thought, well, some corporation could just donate a bunch of new towels for this, how can I make a difference? But then I realized that big circle of life where everyone is involved and that if I can exert some energy toward the effort to help, it just might be a step in the right direction. I hope that made sense! Anyway, Craft Hope is an amazing organization, YAY Craft Hope!

Happy Easter and Living Room Makeover

Here in Colorado we are just starting to see hints of green. My little rock garden crocus came up earlier this week before we got a blast of cool weather again but it's definitely Spring.

I've been so buy with projects like a complete living room makeover; painting, new furniture and everything. We're not finished yet but getting there. Here are a few photos of the adventure.

Although we have painted the walls, ceiling, stripped and repainted the window frames and got a few new pieces of furniture, we are waiting on slipcovers for the sectional. Once we get those, new curtains will have to be put up and I'll probably finalize what I want up on the walls.

Here are some before and after so far:




I found this funky little cabinet from Housefish and had to have it, we thought it would be perfect for the TV but still be usable later if we chose not to use it for the TV. It's really well-made, sleek and modern. The wood is walnut, doors are painted steel. However, the DISH box didn't fit in the cabinet and we couldn't use the remove if the doors were closed so I found this piece of glass that used to be a console table and I had it stored in the basement. I found 4 acrylic containers at the Container Store, filled them with river pebbles and voila! I was very proud of my little invention. Oh and the TV is new.


My favorite part is finding new things to complete the look! The tax refund money was pretty much gone by the time we finished painting so I was looking for bargains and found a few. (rug was a splurge though I did get a super deal on it)

Home

Perfect place for a rocker and a cold lemonade, in the summer

Nice open great room, taken from the big kitchen

I really would love a new house. I look at houses ALL the time. I am living in my first home, that I bought alone, that I didn't intend on keeping when I got married. It's tiny and cozy with a huge yard and some days I'm really happy with that, and other days I want to pull my hair out.

Instead of sewing, I've been spending ALL my very precious and little free time looking at model homes AND looking at ways to remodel our current cottage.

About a week ago I went to the Martha Stewart model homes close to us. There are three of them and surreptitiously photographed each one as I walked through (with my new Droid). Of course, they are perfectly decorated with Martha's paints, furniture, linens, everything!

I can SEE myself waking up in the light filled bedroom, walking down the soft carpeted stairs into the great room and that big open kitchen, making coffee, sitting on the porch watching the new garden grow. There is a lovely little second floor room with an alcove where I would set up all my sewing things and look out onto the park while whipping up quilts.

Ah yes, dreams.

We COULD sell our house and move but I've lived here now for 11 years and the thought of keeping it neat and clean to show, not to mention fixing it up to show, and all that work, I just get depressed. I rarely have time to dream about moving, much less do it! Not to mention that bigger mortgage payment.

So I leave you, as I'm now late to work and my husband is asking me why I'm not getting ready, (um, because I am enjoying the garden, sipping coffee with my perfect non-shedding dog by my side? REALITY CHECK). Enjoy my little dream.

Master Bedroom, tastefully decorated with Martha furniture and linens

Master Bath with optional cabinetry which I LOVE


Perfect little crafty area


Perfect reading spot, overlooking park

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