52 Crafts in 52 Weeks – Week Twenty Six

 

I love beautiful fabrics, especially the ones we get here from our local material shop.  This little shop is like no other material place I have ever been to; in fact I rarely go into large material shops because I find them to be incredibly boring and far too cluttered.  

As my sister, Nancy, loves to collect things, particularly fabric and vintage finds, she buys pieces of material to add to her suitcase (which is a big old travelling case my grandmother gave to her).  As I saw her collection grow with all the beautiful fabrics she brought home, I knew I had to do more sewing and start my own little hoard...

This small shop which I was busy telling you about is actually a quilting shop and stocks a fair amount of fabrics which aren’t easily found in South Africa.  Stocks always change so there is almost no chance of buying the same piece of fabric twice – unless of course if it proves to be an unpopular design.  Most of the material sold comes in fat quarters, as this is more affordable for the average person who sews for the sheer pleasure of it.  I have also never seen a shop so neat and well kept.  We could spend hours choosing our favourite designs from among the tidy rows of pure loveliness... Of course this almost never happens, but we view any visit, even a short one, as a treat!

A few months ago my mother asked Nicolene, the lady who owns this shop, to show us how to make patchwork handbags.  You may remember this post where I shared a few photographs of the bags we spent a few weeks making.  And since then I have come to enjoy sewing much more.  

Last week I even splashed out and bought a lovely pure cotton fat quarter of fabric and put it to good use by making it into a cushion cover.  At least I used three precious 9cmx9cm squares of it, as well as a few others from Nancy's collection.  We like to trade fabrics and in that way get more diversity without blowing our budget too much!  We have very nearly exhausted my mom’s stock, so now we have to buy our own:-)

This cushion cover was made using the instructions featured in the June 2013 issue of Crafts Beautiful Magazine.  I love the cross stitched rose motif - it adds such an elegant touch and the buttons add some dimension.  I made this for myself, which is perhaps a little selfish, but I just don’t think I could part with it!

What crafty addictions do you have?

Much craft love,

Kelly-Anne