Thursday 16 July 2009

Secret treasuer trove!

How excited am i!?.......VERY!

Yesterday on my way to pick the Whirl-wind up after work, I decided to try my luck at what looked to be a short-cut down a side street! I still don't know this town very well and I have lived here a year now, but it looked like I was going in the general direction! Well to my delight I found myself walking past an interior designers shop, with a lovely table display of fabric in the window, and a sign that read....Wait for it.!.......'Remnants £3 a meter'. Oh how I swooned! Luckily it was still opened so in I popped. The lady who greeted me was lovely, she explained that she had only put the table up that morning as she had found her remnant box was starting to explode. All the fabrics, were designer quality with regular retail price £25. Seriously, I was like a kid on a candy store, I felt the need to touch everything ( Why do we do that?) There were linens, duck cotton, muslin, taffeta, silk, canvas.....oh the joy!


As they were remnants they were not all solid pieces, some were l-shaped, some cone, etc but I managed to come away with this little lot for a mere £7........Oh the joy!

My favourite has definitely got to be this 1/2 mtr called 'Saga', by a Swedish designer called Sandberg. Don't you just love all those fairy tail castles!.....This will become storage bags for the whirl-winds toys.


And then this 1/2 cone scrap of retro kitch ( 1/2 mtr at wides point, but only 30cm at narrowest, but about 1.5 mtrs in length so still a fair bit!) This one is called 'play time picnic' by Tilley & Marr. ( please excuse the dodgy hand shadow taking the pic!) Not sure what i will do with this yet but i HAD TO HAVE IT!


And finally 2 cotton pieces, one with embroidered multi coloured dots, and one blue with yellow embroidered squares with flowers at the joins ( make sense?) I think these are bags waiting to happen!


........Oh The joy!
Apologies again for dodgy, shadowy pic's ,but photographed them late last night in a very excited ''cant wait to share my good stash'' kinda way!
x K

Saturday 11 July 2009

Blogalicious!


Its official...I have a LOVELY BLOG......oooer get me! Thank you Madam Salami

I am going to wait to pass on the award, There are so many great blogs out there i am gonna find it hard to choose!
x K

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Ruffels, Bows, and Bibs!....and finally something for mamma!

So i actually pulled my finger out this weekend and did some sewing. And i have to say i am most pleased with my little creations. They are all gifts for the numerous babies we know that have been born within the last 2/3 wks ( seriously! one friends wife had a little girl last Mon, and his brothers wife gave birth to twin boys the very same day.....only 2hrs between them all!) In total i have 2 girls and 4 boys to sew for, so I'm half way there!

This was my first attempt at sewing ruffles! I must admit i found it very fiddly!.... Oh how i long for a serger!!!....In the first one i made the ruffles from remnants of one of my favourite prints which has served me well on about 10 different projects and i have just enough left to do another set of ruffles.....I'm thinking knickers for Roo!





For the second i used an embroidery Anglais trim and gingham bias, which you would think would be easier!!!! but stitching on to knit is a real beeeatch!....I love them though, I will defiantly be making more, and adding them to my shop in the next few days.


The third one is a boys set with bib and shoes, i think the set looks lovely together. I have been meaning to do gift sets for a while now! The other 3 boys gifts i have to make will be a set in the Cath Kidston mini cowboys print and the grey mini stars.....I'm all out of blue now unfortunately so will have to have a look see what suitable boy fabrics i have for the last one......I have primarily girly prints, as im sure does everyone else, but they are soo much more fun!

And then i finally got round to making my (first of many I'm sure) Lazy summer day skirt and i just LOVE IT, I am seriously going to have to buy a tun load more of this fabric as i have visions of a matching halter top, a dress, maybe a hat for roo.....I made the skirt early Sat morning and have worn it every minute since......really should introduce it to washing machine now! it is so versatile, i wore it high on the waist (or at least were my waist used to be before giving birth to The Whirl Wind!), with leggings to see my boys on Sat ( Take -That put on the BEST SHOW EVER!) and down on the hips ( again ....where once they were!!)with a little vest the rest of the time.


I am thankful that my 8mp camera does not show up my decidedly stubbly (Yes and stumpy!) legs in the last picture!

The whirl wind has her first day at nursery tomorrow! I'm not sure they are ready for her! ....she had an hour settling in session yesterday and they all commented on how 'confident' and......'loud' she is......That's my baby!......Don't know where she gets if from! Am going to make her a little drawstring school bag now with her name appliqued on it to put all her gumpf in.


x K

Wednesday 1 July 2009

I might actually have to do some work!





When I'm not at home being a dedicated 'Domestic Goddess, Model mum and Creative Genius'!......Oi! Stop snickering at the back! I actually have a lovely little part time job in a local children's designer boutique.

I only work 2 days a week, 10 till 5, and if you read my last post you will understand that is is a far, far cry from my previous life as a Merchandise manager in Gap's London flagship store (The largest gap store in Europe I'll have you know!)

No, Boutini is a very lovely little independent Aladdin's cave of gorgeous treasures for your little ones......But it is designer stuff , Kenzo, Catimini, Noaddedsugar, to name a few, so it ain't cheap! And it is generally quiet, VERY quiet! And in these recession hit days i often wonder how it is Jane (the owner) managers to keep afloat? but the business has been going for a year now and she says she does alright! I guess the days when we only sell one £20 item get made up for by the customer who comes in the next day and spends £400 in 5 minutes (Oh to be so frivolous!) Jane is no longer working in the shop now as she is about to have her 2ND baby, so she employs 2 of us to run it for her.
That's Me and Lucy.

On the days that we work we are on our own in the shop, but can you believe that after 3months working together, or should i say in the same shop, Lucy and i only actually met today!! ( Yes i am currently at work now...Thank goodness for wifi and the smallest laptop known to man!). We have spent the past few weeks communicating vie post-it notes! But today Lucy popped in to say hi, she 's much taller that i imagined!...Very tall,....and we have such low ceilings! Anyway she is lovely!

So the point of my little story is that Lucy tells me she (with a friend) is setting up a new business. Can you believe i have forgotten what their calling it ( You can!...What!... Dipsy! ....me!) The idea is that they will be staging a second hand children's designer/vintage clothing and equipment event, A bit like a 'bring and buy' i guess you could say! They are going round collecting up peoples goods and wears, and will be selling them on at the event, giving folk a 40% return on their profit. They have hired Heartford castle hall on the 5Th Sept to stage the event, and although I'm a bit vague on exactly how it is going to run, the bit that did get my attention was ''would you like to advertise, maybe have a stall or we could just sell some of your shoes for you!.......Hello........Now what kind of fool would i be to pass up the opportunity! I have not done a craft fair before, its not really a Craft fair i know, but i make baby shoes...there will be people shopping for babies! And there will be other independent local producers of children's goods, and all being well they are going to make it a monthly/ bi monthly event!

So i guess i best dust the cobwebs off old Mabel ( poor sewing machine hasn't seen sunlight for a few weeks now !) and start building up some stock.

Why don't i sell my shoes in the shop i hear you ask?....Jane has suggested i bring them in, but i guess to start with i was too nervous about pitching my stuff next to all those labels.......maybe if i get a boost of confidence at this event i might just take her up on it1.......Then i really would have to do some work!

xK