Peach Patterns

Fabric paint pillows

I put my hand up recently to do a parent activity with the children at Miss Wink's pre-school.  

As always, you can count on Pinterest for some handy inspiration: I had seen this colour-it-yourself Ikea fabric floating around the web in various guises: as dresses, skirts & cushions.

Ikea Tidny fabric: Image source: Ikea website

I bought a panel and we had a round table paint session for an hour or so one morning.  

I then found some colourful backing fabric and made the panel into two 24 inch floor cushions for the kids to use in their pre-school room.  It was heaps of fun and everyone had a go at painting including the teachers.

PROJECT DETAILS:

Ikea "Tidny" fabric (1 metre) pre-washed.

We used everyday acrylic paint in various colours mixed with a "fabric medium" product from Spotlight to fix the colour (you need to heat set with an iron after painting). This made the project much cheaper and easier than trying to source actual fabric paints.

Pillow inserts, backing fabric and zips from Spotlight.

I used a tutorial from Design Sponge blog here for the zippered pillow covers which I'd never attempted before.  It was very easy and I learned a new technique!

Hello Ba-birdy!

This is "Ooshka" the Babushka and the "Hello Birdy" Pillow.  They're samples I made from fabulous new patterns and kits by the lovely Lisa of theredthread (posted about here).  The patterns and kits will be available at LIsa's stand at the Stitches & Craft Show so if you're in Melbourne and dropping in to the show you'd definitely want to check them out!

Both patterns were such fun to make.  Easy and yet totally customisable so you can go to town choosing fabric and adding bits and pieces to make them unique.  Also, unlike smaller softies, the larger size of these patterns makes those usually tricky curves a total cinch to sew, stuff and close.  They make a great impact in a room as well.

Don't you just love the way Lisa styled the pattern cover for the "Hello Birdy" Pillow?  Move over Amy B!
 

French house cushion (et mon anniversaire)

This is a cushion and softie rolled into one.  The fabric, trims and button were just asking to be put together:

 

Also, it is my birthday today and I'm in a give-away kind of mood.  Leave a comment and I'll draw a winner for a little kit to make one yourself. (The one in the photo has been appropriated already: "Hey, is that for me?" and put on the bedroom chair).  I don't have a pattern as such but will give you the general directions (v. easy) on how to make it.

We're away for a week from tomorrow but I'll mail out in a week's time to the winner.  After that I might put the remaining fabric, trim and buttons in the shop in kit form.

Hope you're having a lovely Wednesday....

Wink Designs $20 Christmas sale

I have a little sale going in my shop this week.  Everything has been reduced to $20 or less.

That includes aprons and bunting (were $29):

Cushion covers (were between $25 and $34):

Art totes (were $32):

 

Girl's denim and dots skirt (was $27):

 

No need to enter a code, it has all been marked down in the listing prices.  There are some cute last minute gifts amongst the stock and packages should arrive in Australia before Christmas.  Express Post can be arranged by request.

Cushiony cuteness

Here's some new cushion covers which I've added to the shop. (That's Jade's little softie that jumped into shot to grab a bit of the limelight!)

The one with the mobile print did eventuate from this pile, as predicted.  The other print is a gorgeous Japanese mid-weight linen/cotton mix with birds and hot air balloons.

 

Perfect to brighten a dull spot in a child's bedroom or play area.  I've backed both with linen and a patchwork strip of coordinating cottons which you can see in the shop photos.

I managed to save a little strip of the bird and balloon print to make a bookmark for Cee Cee.  Just the thing to mark your place in a Babar book (we all know Babar loves a spot of hot air ballooning....)

 

Guys & dolls

Some more cushions and bunting - this time in matching sets.  I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this very cute Kokeshi fabric and love the way these came together:

 

And the cowhide print in this set is just fabulous.  It's a lovely chocolate brown on cream.  The cowboy fabric was fun to work with too.  Not too cartoonish like many of cowboy prints around:

 

I'll put some more photos of the back view of the cushions on flickr (because these things are important, you know!)

These sets will be making a showing at Mathilda's but I'm hoping to make up some more for the etsy shop after that.  This is probably my last pre-market post, so if you're in the area on Sunday drop in and say hi:

Festive, fabulous, fun....

What can you say about cushions & bunting?  Nothing much except that they are festive, fabulous & fun to make.  These are the last of the Matryoshka cushions that will roll off the Wink production line (can't find that little Russian doll print fabric anymore - let me know if any of you have a secret source?!) teamed with some bunting made from Prints Charming and other coordinating fabrics:

 

And some bunting for the boys:

More Matryoshkas (oh, and mushrooms!)

 

There are some really popular motifs in craft land that never seem to fade away.  Two starting with "m" have been making a regular appearance around here lately.

I've been making this Matryoshka cushion design with the little red and white Russian dolls as seen here.  They've been really popular but just to mix things up a bit I ordered a different (and very cute) fabric to try out.  The linen is also a new one from Superbuzzy.  They call it "the perfect linen" and as you can see from the the detail shot below, it is definitely has a gorgeous weave, colour and finish.  Not as easy to work with as the linen/cotton mix I usually use, but that's the trade-off I guess....  This one will go in the shop.

Here also is a detail from a little mushroom project I've been working on - not finished yet.  Don't you just love the adorable selvedge on the fabric? 

On the subject of selvedge, I particularly like these projects that have popped up recently: Tree Fall Designs' pincushions and this scarf by Ric Rac.  How clever!

Seeing spots

It was so nice to meet up with some lovely Sydney bloggers today and shoot the breeze about all matters crafty and about life in general.  With topics ranging from bias binding to copyright fraud (!) we certainly covered the spectrum! And I was very lucky indeed to be on the receiving end of the very sweet "Hoot" pouch made so beautifully by Jade.

And now to the subject from which this post takes its title, a very big thanks must go to Julie from On the dot creations for featuring my Matryoshka cushion a couple of days back on her gorgeous blog.

Julie is a lover of all things dotty and spotty and showcases independent designer work on a daily basis.  She also has an etsy shop where you can order some stunning custom wallpaper for your desktop.  Such great ideas abound on etsy!

Here below are some of said cushions in the process of being packaged and shipped today.  In the second shot you will see a very cute (and, whilst we're on the theme, spotty!) handmade mushroom twine dispenser from Jen of Scissorspaperglue.  Yet another great idea from etsy and such a fabulous addition to the Wink Designs production and packaging line! 

Lovey dovey

Prints Charming love birds cushion, made by me and lives in my little studio!

Simple "Valentine Card" with tiny red heart and single Swarovski crystal, part of a small run, made  by me for a florist customer.  Magnetic Objects card purchased at kikki k.  Have a happy day!