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new patterns in print

Fresh from the printer this week are printed booklet versions of previously PDF-only Kit, Chloe and Louise and Mr & Mrs Gnome. We made them up for shops to sell (wholesale shop here) and are happy to have them in our shop for everyone else as well. PDF versions are also still available.

I love getting boxes of patterns from the printer (for these booklets we use PsPrint). They’re so pretty, the stacks and stacks of them in their bright happy colors. Of course it’s a little panic inducing too, as in oh man that’s a lot of patterns to sell but overall it makes me very happy. Designing works to be printed is a fun challenge and Tim does such an amazing job with the layout and design. Can’t beat the lickity splitness of PDF but having an excuse to design endpapers is pretty awesome too!

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really, I had no other choice

I was remembering the other day when I was having my fabric shortage troubles, that the reason I started making toys was because of the nature of my fabric collection. I’d been thrifting fabric for years for my vintage clothing shop and had amassed a collection of cute but unruly fabric…scraps, pieces cut out from clothes, aprons and scarfs, sheets and pillowcases, just a lot of bits and pieces. So when I sat down to make things for baby Oscar all those years ago I kept running into walls. I didn’t really have the fabric for baby clothes or for quilts but it was perfect for toys! Thrifted sweaters to felt for bodies, scraps of vintage prints for outfits or the linings of ears. And the best part is it was easy on my stash so I rarely used anything all up which is hard for stingy old me.

The Kims at True Up are as hooked on vintage as I am. They’re the next stop on the blog tour and there is a giveaway of some of my vintage fabric over there if you’d like to go sign up.

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The Ellie Bag

Ellie knows all to well what it’s like to be forgetful and lose track of one’s baubles and little necessities in life. She does not want you to suffer this same fate. At just the right size to carry your notepad and lip balm, Ellie is here to save the day.

I thought I’d blog here and there in the next few weeks during the blog tour about some of the projects in the book. Maybe share some sketches, some inspirations.

This Ellie bag was going to be a mouse, a kitty and a bunny before I settled on elephant. All were cute but in the end the big ears won me over. I had lots of other bag and accessories idea. I was really loving the idea of piggy and kitty change purses and little felt money. I think I could do a whole book on stuffed animals as bags. I love them!