Saturday, January 4, 2014

fair stash & repros

 so you know
a girl has 'got-to-have' a great fabric stash hey!?
there may have been some great sales on lately ...
my deliberate fabric selection has changed a lot in the last year
i've gone from thinking fabric for items for markets
to sewing more clothing items for me
with some 'tweaking' to the fabric shopping list
in order to 'make' for a friend's new shop being opened in feb
very excited about that
so this bundle may have made its way home with me this week
some for me & some to sew to sell
stay tuned hey!
now back on the topic of 'stashing'
there's some innate desire to stash & own & treasure
with those who sew
sometimes the stashing can get in the way of the making
for women is it the 'gatherer' instinct
is it something to do with the temptation of the 'great sale'?
but i have to say that i love that when i 'need' to problem solve
a design element i can turn to my stash & the answer is there!
lucky me ....
so in the big furniture & sorting re-shuffle that happened
about our home last year with the completion & set-up of 'the studio'
we moved this fabulous wardrobe into my sewing room
(yes i am completely spoilt as i have an art studio & a sewing room!)
we've had this piece for years & its had a variety of uses
was a fantastic op shop buy a few years ago
my FIL fitted the shelves for me
there's a beveled mirror on each door as well
.... & since sewing more clothing having a mirror 
in your sewing room .... is very very handy!
i spent 3 evenings collecting all my fabrics from assorted storage
unfolded, pressed & refolded & sorted
yep ... totally worth it!
so when i say i've raided the 'top shelf'
i mean it .... dualities!

great story behind these little fishies
..... swim fishes swim along the grainline!

i have purchased lots of fabric on line in the past but this
last year has brought on much more expensive 'shipping' to australia
so yeah ..... not so much! to make it worth it you really need to buy bulk
& that's just not always necessary .....
and as well as that i've found more & more
that i like the thrill of finding & handling fabrics
that has a lot to do with the making clothing change
so rathdowne remnants & spotty & darn cheap fabrics
have been more frequented 
..... with no encouragement from others!?
their advice is gold

my recent spotty splash out - top pic
have you been to spotlight lately & seen there
vintage linen range? called?
well i did spot some IG discussion & some disapproval
of Spotty's choice here to reproduce these designs
for people who know 'fabric' to us they are
one of the designs from Denyse Schmidt's
Flea Market Fancy Free Spirit range 
from some years back by Westminster Fibers
 yeah that's true ..... but its also not
they are designs used early last century
that have no 'copy right' & may be used for reproduction
kind of makes you feel like you've been cheated a little huh!
can you spot the difference between them?
which is which?
left :: spotlight version in stores now - linen
right :: flea market fancy - quilters cotton
the spotty one being a linen is slightly more grainy looking of course
i love this design & i have absolutely NO issue with it being reproduced
& with the recent 40% off it made it very afforable
i only bought x1m & am now wishing i'd bought more

i came across this same reproduction issue a few years ago
when i found a little plate in an op shop 
i did .... i wrote to 'amy' ..... she/or one of her staff kindly wrote back to me
saying they'd investigate ... they did & explained
they also asked for my postal address ....
lucky me was sent some ab patterns of my choice!!
so no getting upset peoples .....
we do not live in an ideas vacuum
there really are very few 'original' ideas out there
support our bricks & mortar stores .... we need them
but what i would like to see happen
is some kind of coding as to where the fabrics were
'grown' ..... i'd love to know there fair-trade ratings!!

3 comments:

Karen said...

Oh wow that's really interesting - I didn't know they were old designs - and I assumed that was Denyse fabric. Love the pink in that pile - very pretty and the fish - oh the fish!!

Karen said...

Oh wow that's really interesting - I didn't know they were old designs - and I assumed that was Denyse fabric. Love the pink in that pile - very pretty and the fish - oh the fish!!

Anonymous said...

Hello there Wendy! I pretty much think along the same lines as you. That is handy, isn't it! And for dressmaking fabrics, I do like to handle them. Quilting ones are easy to buy online, as you know what type of fabric you are getting for what purpose, but for garments I really like to be able to assess drape and feel. And I am always very happy to enable you! Love that fabric cabinet - so beautiful, empty and full!
And I am definitely going to have to go back to Spotlight for some of the grey DS-like linen. I stared at it a lot last week and refrained - but have been wishing ever since that I hadn't! You've now enabled me and tipped me over the edge.