More Xmas gifts = more inkjet fabric.

Zip purses for the kinder teachers and after-carers this time. Ok, so it's not exactly a new idea.... (but if it ain't broke, why go fixin' it, I say!). There's nothing quite as appealing as a kid's happy drawings on a bit of inkjet fabric.... a simple little purse....


...and a bit of cheery Curlypops fabric on the back (which just happens to be on sale for another TWO HOURS, but still gorgeous at any price!). I think it compliments the happy little critters in the kid's drawings ...which were, as it happens, drawn as gifts for Ms Curlypops (I photographed them before she took them home).

Speaking of Ms Curlypops, she has another fantastic suggestion for The Perfect Gift at this time of year. A must read. Indeed, a must-do, if you can.

Kindle Surprise

Sice there is absolutely NO CHANCE of the man of the house reading this blog, I feel completely secure in showing the gift the wee girl and I have prepared for him. It will be a complete surprise (and I know he's been thinking about getting one).

The cover design is loosely based on my laptop sleeve design, and is made out of a neoprene remnant I picked up (and hoarded) about 8 years ago. (I knew it'd be useful one day!). The artwork is by the wee girl, printed on inkjet fabric and appliqued to the neoprene.

I know it'll make him grin every time he looks at it, which is pretty-much the effect that this Rudolf-the-red-nosed-reindeer has on me....
I can't believe the wee girl sat still long enough (obviously at kindergarten) to draw and colour this in texta (marker pen). It's about 45cm (half a yard) high - that's a lot of colouring (even Rudolf looks surprised!).

Kinder Surprise

Well... it won't be much of a surprise if any of the kindergarten staff read my blog...

Using my coin purse patterns, some inkjet printer fabric, scraps of fabric and some swivel hooks...

I used copies of my wee girl's art (HERE's how..) and made individual purses for each of the lovely women who looked after her so well this year.


The images will hopefully bring smiles long after the girl herself has gone on to 4-year-old kinder and forgotten all about them.

I should be writing instructions...

...But my girl drew this beautiful UNICORN and I simply HAD to record it for posterity. (I think this one is destined for a bit of inkjet fabric treatment).

I'm looking forward to Friday's blogmeet morning tea.... we have about 20 crafty bloggers booked in to drink tea and eat cake. It's a very full house, and should be a hoot!

In the meantime, I'm not going to get near the sewing machine very often this week - I have HOURS of writing work to do!! Yawn.

Just one more and then I'll stop...

I've been a little bit obsessed with this inkjet printable fabric.
I altered the flap on the Large Tote to show off my wee girl's beautiful painting. It's covered with a layer of pvc and bound with black pinwale corduroy (gotta love that bias tape maker!!).

I thought the lining was worth showing. It's from the Rio range by Marcus fabrics. LOVE IT! Love the whole range, in fact... and ... ummm ...HAVE most of the range in my stash!

The gorgeous Justine dropped in with the newest MixTape yesterday. Our little girls played, we chatted. I think I might have given her a few ideas about ways to use her little one's beautiful paintings (which has got to be better than what I shared with Jodie!).

Meet my latest love... I mean PRODUCT.

I still love my paper-folder, but I ALSO love inkjet printable fabric - so much so that I'm now stocking it. It's $21.95 per pack of 5 (size A4) sheets and it's LOTS of fun!

You may remember the memory chest I made for my mother. It was done by printing out family photos on inkjet fabric.

For my next project, I photographed some of my 3-year-old's paintings....

...inserted the images into text boxes in a Word document, then played around with resizing them.

Then it was simply a matter of printing the document from the computer as if it were on paper - the fabric has a peel-away backing that keeps it stiff and smooth on its trip through the printer. That's ALL there is to it!! REALLY!

I appliquéd the LION drawing and made a denim pencil case (large style - to hold a ruler, calculator and notebook if necessary).

I made a little needle book.
And I'm VERY HAPPY with this brooch I made. My wee girl is also very proud to see me wear it. (Not sure what this creature is - its name keeps changing, but it always "has a sun on its tummy").

HOW did I make the brooch? I didn't think to prepare a turorial until it was all finished, so here's a brief run-down on the process.

1. I fused the some dense felted wool fabric to Fast2Fuse and satin-stitched around the edges with a dense machine zig-zag stitch. (You could use any old felt or fabric, and you could even hand satin-stitch if you're so inclined).

2.I fused the printed fabric to light interfacing and wadding and zig-zagged it onto the felted wool - using basting spray to hold it together while I stitched.

3. The back was made from felt fused to Vilene S520 (I cut the S520 about 5mm short of the outsde edges of the felt). The brooch finding was theaded through slits in the felt (and is therefore supported by the layer of S520).

4. Another squirt of basting spray and the back was held in place for the final machine zig-zag around the (pre-satin-stitched) edge. I did this from the underside (so that the brooch finding was facing upwards).

5. I pinned it on and wore it for the rest of the day!!

Does this sound like fun to you...?

If you'd like to order some inkjet fabric you can email or call Leah in the office. We already have it in stock and are yet to get it onto the website. It will be there ASAP.

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Alternatively, if you spend over $50 with us this month you could WIN some! Every purchase over $50 goes into the barrel for a draw at the end of the month. June is INKJET FABRIC month.

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The May prize of the make-up purse was won by Fiona in Southport, QLD. It's winging its way to her as we speak.

Memory Chest

I made a travelling trunk for my mother - just a small one.

With stamps and labels from the places she's been... young single girl, wife, mother...

I added recent photos of my girl and her art, and then filled it with Mum's photos of the extended family (they used to be in a very ordinary-looking basket).

She seemed to like it.

Technical information: I roughly followed a project in this book, and used a combination of fabric, Peltex, Fast2Fuse, interfacing, Vliesofix and injet-printable fabric. The base fabric is Portuguese linen from the wonderful Méri and some fabric offcuts in prints that were reminiscent of the age in which my mother grew up.

PS. Thanks to all the lovely messages of support re: my last post. I hope that the discussion will make people think a bit more about sharing other people's ideas.

Thanks again, folks. I'm truly touched.