Woof woof! Giveaway!

My workroom has been run amok with these little chaps this weekend. The Handmade Craft Fair team put out a request for samples for their goody bags to be given out to the first 200 visitors to the craft fairs. These went down a storm last year at Handmade Oxford. I spent a while thinking of something I could make that reflects my work and is small enough for a goody bag. So I came up with these mini versions of my dogs.

They are based on the larger dogs, made with vintage fabric, a little stuffing and backed with felt. I've made two versions, one with a loop for hanging and another with a brooch back so it can be worn as a brooch or pinned to a bag.

I've also made some flower brooches for the goody bags. These are a very good way of using up vintage flowery scraps, but I've enjoyed making these so much I think I will make some more to sell as well.

I also need to pick a dog or cat to donate to the Handmade Cambridge raffle. The Blue Cross will be raffling off lots of handmade lovelies to raise money for their animal adoption charity - so one of my dogs or cats would be perfect! But which one should I put up for adoption! Its a tough choice. This is where I need your help. Have a look at my Fabric Nation folksy shop and leave a comment to vote for which cat or dog should be entered into the raffle. Everyone that leaves a comment with a vote on this post will then be entered into a draw on 1st April to win their own little Fabric Nation goody bag with one of my mini doggies, a brooch and gocco print. Happy voting!

The fabric of my life

It's about time this blog started living up to its name! I have collected fabric since I was in my teens, always making a beeline for the curtains piled high at jumble sales in search of barkcloth beauties to turn into skirts, dresses and shirts. As teenagers we even had a stall in our local Saturday market called 'Swallows and Amazons" selling these homemade creations along with vintage clothes and hand printed dresses (it never rained in those days!)

In more recent years I have been developing other uses for these fabrics including cushions, bags, brooches, collages, purses and stuffed animals. No fragment goes unused as I am only too aware that it's amazing that this fabric has survived 50 years or so. I love the distinctive 50s atomic designs as well as the more pop-style flowers and swirls and, through work by people like Jane Foster I have become a fan of Scandinavian designers such as Stig Lindberg.

I'm not sure why I love these fabrics so much. But they make my heart sing! So each week I plan to have a little display of my fabrics. This will also help me organise my fabrics a bit more and build up a set of samples so I don't get carried away snipping out all those cats and dogs! If any of you have these fabrics as well it would be lovely to hear from you, especially what you've used it for (or plan!) or if you know who the designer was, or if I get my facts wrong! As this week is feeling springy, I've started with some of the green and flowery fabrics I'm working with for the Handm@de Fair. First up is the beautifully named "All in a row" by Genia Sapper for Moygashel.

This next one I love. It is labeled 'Home Fashion' and comes in a heavy weight silky linen. The final one has no selvedges, so the designer is unknown to me. At the top of this page is a heavy cotton fabric I use a lot, also unnamed.

Gotta lotta bottle

I had forgotton how much fun Brick Lane can be. I spent most of last Sunday rummaging in shops stuffed with vintage goodness and chatting to their delightful owners. I was most pleased with the selection of tea towels I found, I might frame them. The Dairy Council tea towel features a slogan from the 'jingle king' Rod Allen. He is credited with saying "We wanted to get away from the middle class, worthy image that milk had and we went particularly for a very young boisterous approach. We quite literally broke all the rules" and the slogan is said to be responsible for "changing the personality of milk" in the early 1980s! I don't actually like milk, I just liked the design, but haven't been able to discover who the designer was.

And when my friend held up this apron, we were speechless! I think a trip to our local bingo hall might be in order. A visit there is long over due as it's in a marvelous old cinema with the original interior. The pockets look perfect for holding dabbers! The shop owner told us a lovely story about her dad's business that made and supplied such aprons to local department stores, delivered in mixed batches of a dozen tied up in brown paper and string.

The nice owner at Hunky Dory vintage let me take a picture of this wonderful apache scarf display. Apparently the owner sported one just like these when he was a wee lad!