reversible scarf

Here is an idea for a quick Xmas present....a reversible scarf using soft corduroy on one side and snazzy polka dots on the other. The scarf finished measures 30cm x 2,35cm. Both fabrics are from Stenzo and because they are 1,50cm wide, a meter of each fabric is more than enough for the scarf and will leave you with enough fabric leftover to make yourself a pouch or, maybe some cute heart Xmas ornaments? The fabrics can be found here.

2. advent

have a lovely 2. advent......ich wünsche euch allen einen fröhlichen zweiten advent

lacemakers

Charlotte Lancelot "Lace Runner"
Citterio "Architectural Lace"
Demakersvan "Lace Fence"
Anne Wilson "Topographies"
Barbara Schulman "Lacemaker Daughter"

Vermeer "The Lacemaker"
Isn't it great that the ladies seem to attract the most attention at the Louvre! Not only do crowds gather around the Mona Lisa but they also gather around Vermeer's very beautiful"Lacemaker". Here is a small tribute to maker's of lace today!
Barbara Schulman
Anne Wilson
Demakersvan
Antonio Citterio
Charlotte Lancelot

new kokka

Some new Kokka fabrics finally arrived, they were a very long time coming but they are here at last. Cute retro prints , echino "Cars" in black, animal silhouettes, matroschka dolls, and leaping frogs can all be found here.

yinka shonibare

You all may be familiar with this guy's work, but I just discovered him after finding a an amazingly beautiful book about him in the Louvre bookshop. Yinka Shonibare was born in England in 1962 and raised in Nigeria. In his works he explores the issues of race and class and features the use of Dutch wax fabric. Absolutely brilliant. Pictured above is also an Xmas tree he was asked to design for the Tate Britain in 2001 where he wrapped 102 cone branches in shredded fabric. Here is a link for an "Alien Christmas Angel" designed by Shonibare.

happy first advent

The weekend before last I took a few days off and went, with my daughter, to one of my favorite cities on this earth, Paris.
To wish you all a Happy First Advent and to officially kick off the holiday season here are two of our pics of the Xmas decorations at the Galeries Lafayette!

Aura Herbal Wear

I just added some new organic cotton fabric to our "Organic Fabrics" category. These fabrics are from Aura Herbal Wear. Aura was founded by Arun and Sonal Baid and they are based in Ahmedabad, India. Their motto is "We live and dye naturally" and their dream is to offer the option to all users to choose an herbally dyed textile over a chemically dyed one without design, quantitiy, or quality limitations.
Aura uses only medicinally rich herbs, plant material, minerals & oils like, turmeric, Myraballm, castor oil, sea salt etc for dyeing fabric or yarn. They have aspired to achieve and retain the medicinal qualities of the herbs by immersing the plant material directly in the dye bath for the same reason.
Fabrics are exposed to direct sunlight, use of a natural grass base and animal manure starts the bleaching process.
To make the colors bright and fast natural mordents such as Myrballams, rubhabs leaves, oils, minerals, alum, iron Vat etc are used. They do not use heavy metal mordents like copper, chrome, zinc, tin etc.
They recycle their waste products through filtration into the farming industry.
Aura Herbal Wear also does custom printing starting at 100 meters.
I am constantly on the look out for affordable organic cotton sources and am pleased to have found this company. The fabrics can be found here.