TinkeringTimes

Where to buy gorgeous printed fabric in the UK

London Landmarks at SeamStar

Does what it says on the tin. Online stockists of some of the finest patterned fabric (by which I really mostly mean cotton) in the UK. I've picked out a few of my favourites below but there are hundreds of gorgeous options. Many of the sites also sell haberdashery, trimmings, patterns and stationery too. Enjoy!

1. Ray-Stitch              2. Fabric Rehab   
3. M is for Make         4. Eclectic Maker  
5. SeamStar               6. The Eternal Maker   
7. Saints & Pinners      8. Celtic Fusion Fabrics

Angie Lewin, Plants and Places

 
I've been planning to blog about this for, oh about a year now...

Angie Lewin's Plants and Places is one of the achingly beautiful books I received as a present last year. I've been a huge fan of Angie Lewin's work since she very first began designing printed Dandelion themed fabrics for St Jude's quite a few years ago.

It shares the process she goes through from quick sketches out in the countryside, to blocking colour in and transferring to paper and fabric prints.

The book is available here, and you can buy Angie's fabrics here.

Colouring in for Grown-Ups

You may know I'm a huge fan of colouring in. It relaxes me, helps me feel free and childlike again, and polishes up my thinking about how to use colour and pattern.

I recently came across a real grown up colouring book Garden Party! with a nod towards those fantastic 1970s vintage children's illustrations. There's a sample page show above, and 29 more inside.

The publishers say it's "Set in a dreamy landcape of stylized patterns, this garden party buzzes with life. Whimsical and wild images of birds, frogs, bugs and other creatures populate flowery fields that pulse with psychadelic energy." 

I've added this to my Amazon Associate favourites - these are the books I love so much I want to recommend them. Nobody's sent me them to review, I don't know the authors or the publishers. They're just books I love and think you might too.

Craft Tutorials

I don't know a single person who crafts that doesn't love a good tutorial. No matter how experienced, enthusiastic, professional or skilled you are, there's always more to learn. Seeing how other people do those fiddly creative things can be so inspiring.

I have lists of tutorials everywhere but I've finally hit on a genius way of keeping them all fresh, in one place, where I can not only find them but see them at a glance too. Pinterest is perfect for such a thing. So from now on I'll be noting them all there, on my Make This board. And then I thought, why not share them with you too. There's already a good stash on there and I'll be adding to it continually.

So far you can find...

Tinkering Textiles on Facebook

It's only taken roughly forever, but I decided it was about time to have a craft page on Facebook. So here it is. Tinkering Textiles. Do head over there and like it. Here's five reasons why...

1. Because I still get that nerdy happy feeling when someone subscribes to a blog, likes a page or retweets a tweet. You can put that nerdy smile in my tummy.

2. This blog you're reading now will, as ever, have craft (and other) news of worldwide interest with some meat to it and my usual careful curatorial ways. But it takes a while to write the posts on here, and you may have noticed, sometimes I find it hard to put that time aside. So...
...the Tinkering Textiles facebook page will have more bitesized snippets. Quick posts. Which means I can share more with you as and when I find or think of them instead of missing the moment, which sometimes happens here.

3. For those of you who are UK or North West there will be more news just for you. I tend not to post local news on this blog because I know it's read by people in all corners of the world. But if you're in the market for opportunities to show, sell, compete or work in craft in the NW and UK then the facebook page is where you'll find it. Don't worry there'll be plenty of big and global craft news too, just as you'd expect.

4. Eventually I'll be moving my Tinkering Textiles shop there. Etsy's pretty much had its day for me so I'm setting up on Payvment and will be listing things I've made as well also craft and interior hardware, supplies and classic vintage offers. (There's just a couple of items now if anyone's in the market for a handmade cushion cover or Debbie Stoller's Stitch n Bitch Knitters Handbook). More to follow soon.

5. Well it's Facebook, you're there anyway right?

Of course blog posts from here will also be sent over there, for facebookers who don't follow it anywhere else. Thanks to the *almost* 50 people who have liked it so far. Can't wait to see more of you there soon. 

A Cushion for Pilgrim

A whole four years (or more) ago I made this cushion. It was possibly my favourite vintage fabric ever bought. Thick dense durable crispy cotton in rich sumptuous colours and bold 1970s popping floral pattern. It sold on etsy and off went the parcel to the other side of the world.

Imagine my surprise when randomly perusing Pilgrim's design lifestyle blog - in fact snooping around her house - when there was my little bold punchy much loved cushion. A double take and a few emails later confirmed that it was indeed the very same item. Such a heartwarming moment to see something I'd made in such an appreciated and beautiful setting.

I'd strongly recommend popping over and having a big snoop around Pilgrim's blog, home and shop. And if you ever bought any of my items, I'd love to see a photo of them in their natural habitat around thehome or being worn. It's so lovely to be reunited with them and see them being enjoyed.

Secrets & Codes, an ending and a beginning

So Secrets & Codes is nearly complete. After 8 or 9 workshops the pupils' works are almost finished. Soon I'll be framing all their textile pieces, and putting together some sort of interpretation booklet.

In the meantime a consultation event will take place, sharing the work of all the local schools involved in the project with their local community. Here's ours. I'm so proud of them all, they've found parts of it challenging in different ways and have all wanted, so wholeheartedly, to persevere and get it done.

But this isn't an ending, as my work comes to a close, the village will open a brand new heritage trail which all the children and teachers involved now own a piece of through their efforts and endeavours. The future and the past of the village are all theirs to look after, and a new heritage trail will soon be launched to commemorate the area.

Achievements

*Disclaimer - the above is not my list but lovely Laura of Cupcakes for Clara...

I'm not one for looking back, or new year's resolutions and such. I try and be the person I want to be in small amounts ever day, and work out how to be better rather than deconstruct what's already done.

But I saw this and it stopped me in my tracks. How often do we stop and remind ourselves how far we've come? How hard we've worked? What difference we made? Recently I learned the importance of saying things out loud; and a certain group of friends around me have said many times this year  'look how far we've come'; and another certain group of ladies have said 'here's what we want to acheive for 2012'.

So I'm going to take inspiration from the lovely Cupcakes for Clara, whose list this is, and remind myself what I have managed to acheive this year, rather than beat myself up about what I haven't. Thanks Laura, for reminding me what's important.

Christmas Craft / art / something else stall available in Manchester this Christmas

If you're an artist, crafter, maker, bathbomb baker or any other kind of creative genius, I just wanted to let you know there are stalls available to sell your fine wares in the run up to Christmas.

This is part of the Manchester Roller Derby* festive bout Mistletoe & Grime held at the Sugden Centre in Manchester City Centre (just near Oxford Rd train station and the BBC). Where else do you get to have a stall with a roller derby match thrown in for good measure? 

If you're interested, the details are as follows... 

Sewing Suffolk Puffs / Yoyos with Year 6

Last Friday's Secrets & Codes workshop was all about starting actual sewing, at last! After some prep for the children's artwork two days earlier, in which they began to draft their final designs, we finally moved on to cracking out the needles and thread.

Firstly I must say someone has done an excellent job of this with them already as they were able to thread the needles beautifully and knew what a running stich was, which saved us all a lot of time. They were very excited about being able to choose the colour of felt for their Yoyo (as it's known in the US - Suffolk Puff in the UK). I took along this little sample (above) which I'd prepared so they could pass it round and scrutinise it to give them some gist of what to expect; and a few of Jennifer Collier's paper versions to give them a feel for some more creative options. 

It was wonderful to see the few who felt they couldn't do this at the start proudly finish their little works and ask to take them home, we did start off with a few 'I can't sew' murmurings, but I promised them they would be able to by the end, and they worked hard to see if actually they could. The teacher said she really enjoyed the session and found it very theraputic (which was also lovely, as the group is quite pleasantly excitable - I imagine a little injection of calm now and again is no bad thing for Miss!)

To make life easier for everyone I prepared a cheat sheet which we had up on the smartboard the whole time. I thought since I'd made it, why not make it available for any other teachers or stitchers who wanted to try it alone or with their class. So you can see it below or download it here You are welcome to make copies and use it as you wish, though please remember to credit the source if you do, thanks.

Japanese Washi Tape

I have a weakness for stationery. If you know me, you'll know this well. Come to think of it I always have. I was a prolific letter writer as a child and a teen, there's always been a treasured box of special paper and pens in the background. Now I'm older the lure grows ever stronger. I could write reams about the addiction and its finer points. For now, for those of you who have yet to discover it, let me introduce you to Washi tape. The gentleness of masking tape with the beauty of Japanese design.

Its uses are limitless. I've done the wrapping of parcels yes, but did you know you can write on it? Or that it sticks to glass? We've made paper chains with it and gently stuck children's tags to oversized maps with it in workshops. I've used it to tag the pages of diaries and twirl round cardboard tubes to make magical  castle turrets which would rival any in the pages of a Grimms fairy tale book. (I have not - yet - stuck it to my keyboard, that's the work of Minifanfan Eng. But I'm not ruling it out...)

And I'll tell you a secret. You can buy it in the UK, you can, from perfectly packaged mail order companies nestled in nice big barns in the country. At perfectly packaged big barn prices. Or, you can buy it where I do, where it suddenly seems more affordable, like you might actually want to use it when it arrives rather than saving it for best (ie never, gathering cobwebs at the back of a drawer). Get your fill from Pretty Tape on Etsy. (Of course you could also go to Japan and buy it there, but for the rest of us...)

Still stuck for ideas?
Try this facebook page, or this Pinterest search,

Mapping stories: a school textiles & heritage project

Session 1 of Secrets & Codes.
After looking at a variety of visual codes and coming up with as many different types of codes as they could, we moved on to the preparatory stages of mapping and pattern making. The children (year 6 / Age 10) got into the gist of the idea well and start mapping some stories by thinking of a special place in their village, writing a story about it, then hanging a corresponding tag on the map where there story took place. Their knowledge of the village geographically, their ability to read maps and generate ideas, and their pride in the things that are important to them were all hugely impressive. The children will continue adding their tags until I go back for session 2. It was really interesting that of those we got through, all but two were in a big long line down the middle of the village.

Next week, weather permitting, we'll be going for a walk to the local, abandoned church hall, which used to be the school, before the newer one was built. I'll be asking them to look at details of the landscape and architecture with the aid of viewfinders, and to use their imagination to think about what it would be like inside, and what the walk to school might have been like in the 'olden days'. I wanted to find a local guest, a member of the community who went to the school, to bring the place to life for them and talk about their experience of it. A quick chat with the headteacher soon revealed that he would be the very person. Serendipity...We might walk a bit further to look at the 1960s estate nearby and talk about why those houses were built; or the big old house on the corner which used to house the family who owned the village's mills. They'll have disposable cameras to photograph the things that are visually attractive to them, for when we start developing our abstract patterns via image transfer and textiles later on.

Secrets and Codes: a textiles and heritage school project

 

Secrets and Codes is the name of a project I mentioned a few weeks back. I wanted to find ways to entice the children into becoming keen detectives of their local area, both geographically and historically. I'm employed as the resident textile artist for the project and will be working with them over nine sessions and curating an exhibition of the work involved (mine and theirs).

We'll be using session one to start thinking about the hidden messages carried in visual codes, and how pictures and symbols can tell us more than we first see.

I have a huge map of the children's village which I'll be asking them to plot events and stories onto, and we'll be exploring some specially made bunting, in which each flag shows a different code. We'll be talking about the use of codes and how they work, and what codes the children can think of themselves, which hopefully we'll have time to add to the bunting. I'm hoping that we will also be able to draw in the wider community by collecting stories from parents and grandparents so we'll be starting that process too.

I want the children not only to learn about thinking visually, but also to understand that heritage is a human thing, something to be connected to, proud of and inspired by. And so one of the flags of the bunting will use the piece above. At first glance its just a swirl of coloured lines, and this is what will be shown on the bunting. As we talk about what this might mean, I'll explain it's actually a map. A map of solar eclipses over forty years. It was charted by my grandfather in 1954. The coloured lines I've recreated are the movements of the sun in each of its eclipses. And I'll be taking the original map in for them to look at too.

I want them to feel the vibrancy of the project, but also to feel something precious all around them. I hope this simple felt tip line drawing and a shabby old special map will help them begin this journey. 

A Brief History of Bobbins

Tour of a Victorian Bobbin Mill, Stott Park, Cumbria from Richard Elen.

Whilst looking for a film about the cotton producing process for a school project, I came across this film from a museum in my region about the history of the beautiful wooden bobbins made for the textile industries of the Industrial Revolution and into more recent times. Despite having heard many many times about the intensity of life and work in those times, it's still an eye opener. Wonderful work from Stott Park Victorian Bobbin Mill in Cumbria. 

Stott Park Bobbin Mill was opened in 1835 to supply the cotton mills of Lancashire (of which the Lake District was a part at the time) with bobbins to carry the thread which was spun into cloth. It was originally powered by a water wheel, later by a water turbine and then by a steam engine. Ultimately, electricity arrived. The mill finally closed in 1971 and then reopened in 1983 as a museum.

Today, Stott Park Bobbin Mill is in the care of English Heritage. The video gives a 20-minute guided tour of the mill by one of the English Heritage staff members to see the different stages of the bobbin-making process, including some of the machines being used by a veteran mill worker.

You'll see the steam engine and get a feeling for what life was like for the mill workers – who, in this case, came mainly from the workhouses of Liverpool and Manchester.

 

Free downloadable tote bag pattern

People seemed keen on the free downloadable quilting patterns so I thought I'd point you in the direction of a couple of other new free downloads. Sewing with Oilcloth is a new book and a little different from the usual 'How To's. It focuses purely on how to get the best from oilcloth and having used this fabric myself a few times I know exactly how tricky it can be, especially without the right sewing machine foot. So I welcome it and wish there were more books out there that looked particularly at specific fabrics and how to make the most of their unique characteristics.

If the full book is too much to contemplate for now, try these two samples from it. A simple Farmer's Market Tote Bag which I really like because it looks huge and has extra pockets (we all need extra pockets); and a table runner. Being honest I have never and probably will never use a table runner so make your own mind up on that one, but what caught my attention was the chalkboard cloth used. I can see the potential for all sorts of things there.

Free Quilting Patterns

 
It's got to be said. I'm not the world's biggest quilting fan on the whole. I have dabbled a little now and again, and there are a few folks on Flickr who blow my mind with their quilting skills - and essentially, the aesthetic judgement they use. My friend Lu Summers has accidentally introduced me to some of its better features and I'm more prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt than I once was. Reading the book Witch Child helped me appreciate the heritage of quilts a little better and that improved my understanding and appreciation a little more.

And so it was I found myself browsing the Moda fabrics website. Hidden away there, was a host of free quilt patterns - click on the black scissors on *this page*. Some of which demonstrated the things I don't like about quilting - I won't name them. And some of which demonstrated the ways in which my opinions are changing: bright colours, contemporary designs, alternative patterns. So if you're a quilting type go, rummage, download and stitch.

Elementals Birds

Following up the Happy Work post, here's the finished product. One of them anyway, I'm making two more in slightly different colourways. The birds are for a project and touring exhibition called Elementals organised by Inga and Andy Hamilton, aka Rockpool Candy and My Tarpit.

When they sent me the invite to take part, here's what was explained to me...
"Elementals is a special experiment to see if artists, printmakers and craftspeople can physically embody feelings of peace, harmony and goodwill in their work and tangibly affect the environment in which it's shown.
  Definition: Elementals - thoughts that once created become attached to their creator and are fed by further thoughts and actions"

Having let the idea mull around my mind for a while I began to think about clouds and summer and this song, whilst at the same time thinking about the small and big science and technology that I find so fascinating in relation to the potential for craft. I wondered if there was a way to include serotonin, the so called 'happy hormone' and began looking for a way to understand it visually. 

I designed and printed some 'little fluffy cloud' fabric, then machine embroidered over it with a connecting pattern made up of the skeletal formula of the serotonin hormone. The wings, tail and beak were added and the bird made up into a stuffed soft toy style model.

There are 100 artists / makers taking part in the exhibition which tours from the...

Richard F Brush Gallery at St Lawrence University in Canton, New York State to
R Space Gallery, Lisburn, N. Ireland
Wharepuke Print Studio, New Zealand 
And a UK gallery still being arranged. 

Happy Work

I've been asked to make something for an exhibition which is touring internationally, which is exciting! I can't say too much just yet but the general theme is about trying to communicate, and in turn spread, happiness, harmony and good will. It's taken me a while to find a way in to this in my mind, it's been mulling around for a good few weeks, but the ideas came this morning and I'm off...

So this is the first stage of my preparation, printing little fluffy clouds.

Textiles and the Trail

I had an interesting and very exciting invitation out of the blue. Would I like to do some work in a rural primary school, working with children to explore a new heritage trail that is being produced guiding walks around their village and the neighbouring one. The school has worked with textiles before and think they'd like to do more in this project. That was pretty much all I was told, except for "oh, and we really like the QR project you do, could we incorporate something like that, maybe with QR codes?"

It was a lot to take in, and to be honest, a tad vague. So I went over to the village to walk the trail and talk more about it. I came away in a complete creative spin - so much potential, so many ideas. It's a stunning place and the school sounds wonderful. We may or may not stick with QR codes but I'm fairly set on codes generally, and some sort of wayfinding, trail marking, navigating, signposting type idea.

The photo above shows the disused church hall which is attached the church which is attached to the school. The more I look at it the more I feel there's something special in there waiting to break out - lost stories, pieces of missing architecture, changed usage. Like a secret waiting to be discovered. I hope it will feature a lot, though I want to work with the children to see what ideas they have and what they find interesting so we may move on from this. But it calls me. 

Meanwhile a hundred textile ideas rush through my head faster than I can catch them. Exciting times. I'll be keeping photos as the work progresses right *here*.

Quietness

It's been a bit quiet here, I know. What that means is I've been hectically busy out there in that other world, the one that sits on this side of the computer screen that you can't see. There are new and unexpected sewing and textile and project plans a plenty. There is exciting progress with this and some work with a school here and some things on eight wheels with these people and more than likely some more of these. There will be proper updates soon, including an explanation of the picture above.